Animation Foundations: The Walk Cycle

Hello Students,

Your newest project is an exercise in creating a cartoon walk cycle animation. A walk cycle is one of the earliest forms of animation character development. The way a character moves is part of their "animation skin". Does a character walk with the head forward or back, do they skip, stroll or have a leggy gait? The character's walk cycle should be a way to convey they characteristics and display their personality, be it serious, goofy, subtle or excited.

Project Resource Links:

Tutorial: Walk cycle animation

Walk Cycle Animation Project Specs:

• Use your previous character design in this project, research animation principles relating to the walk cycle and think about how your character should walk.
• Walk cycle should consist of 9 frames suitable for a looping animation.
• Walk cycle must be sketched in pencil on printer paper, use the light table and use 3-hole punched paper for alignment later on when you photograph the individual frames
• Capture your frames with a digital camera or scanner, sequence them with Photoshop or After Effects and post an animated Gif to your blog.
• Write a short summary of the principles, tips, insights that you learned while researching

Due on 25th