103. Holiday season post

During the holiday times a walk cycle animation was definitely due. Fuelled by mince pies and some seasonal cheer (with sherry) Santa veers into the zeitgeist of Christmas with occasional fumble as he heads to the home in his ice fort of solitude. A fun progressive walk cycle.

101. Weight Walks - Bipedal boulder pusher

A truly Sizifian task. To kick off (or push off) the next series of walk cycles a humanoid pushing a heavy boulder. The boulder is circular so it can be pushed, but I wanted to convey the sense of something heavy which needed a lot of power to shift. The boulder is a little bit oval, lending to this, and also escaping the paradigm of becoming too geometrically perfect. It’s unevenness gives the sense of movement and rhythm. The man is pushing with his whole body. His calves are tense and there is a point where not much seems to happen. I hold him in one place for an extra frame adding the additional weightiness to his struggle. His body is further portraying tho as he strains pushing from his hips keeping his arms outstretched in contrast with tucked in head and top heavy heave-ho. 

100. Quadrupedal Rudo the Bear

And for the happy number 100 of the walks here is Rüdo the bear. This one harks back to the youth. A dancing bear would be brought by it’s ‘trainers’ whenever there was a fair or carnival in town, so practically in autumn this would happen a lot. Spring had it fairly frequent. I presumed that bears bears were on holiday during the summer and they hibernated during the winter. 

For this quadruped I studied a video of a bear to get it’s realistic movement down. Most of the locomotion comes from hind legs as the weight is shifted to the from of the animal. As the bear steps up, it’s weight is distributed throughout the body trunk sinking to it’s bottom. There is a very small push with the front paws, though this is mainly for the balance as the limbs relax very quickly, The bear then uses these as an additional balancing anchor as it walks forward, giving impression of dancing. So for the last one of the quadruped arc we’re going back to the biped model. Next week I’ll be compiling all the 50 quadruped walks into one happy sequence.

99. Quadrupedal PassiveAgressive gait

Today we have a character, developing notions of neutrality. The hind legs and the front ones go through balanced passive and aggressive phases. The walk is done on a tight ‘H’, with back leg landing before the front is raised giving a little wave of the spine. The front limbs arch sideways, posturing and benching forward, grabbing the airspace only to relax and go into the reverse push motion. 

The paw does a figure ‘6’ in this arc, as the movement originating from the shoulder travels down to the high wrist joint. The back legs do an aggressive dig, ground scratch. At this point the rear end goes through a little circular se-saw loop. After the leg presses into the ground it eases out, knees outstretched in a lazily passive momentum. As there is a lot going on with the legs I’ve kept the head momentum fairly simple, following the body pass. 

97. Quadrupedal baboon butwalk

After a bit of hiatus WWO is back! I’ve had a lot of projects on and an additional two personal skill developments. One involves Blue, Red, Sakuga, He-Man, Naruto and a wealth of fightyiness, but I’ll be posting more on that once the project is completed.  Once this arc of quadrupeds is finished I will be going onto a weighted models. Dragging, pulling etc. The format of updates will change somewhat. The outcome will be hundred walk over a period of a year. This will allow me to do more complex kinetics and have more playful characters. I will still be spending around 3/4 hours weekly on it, but the updates won’t be daily. The quality of walks will be increased as a consequence as I peel into another layer of kinetic knowledge. 

So back with a walk. This one is a quadruped baboon like creature, the dog-like mammal differs from other monkey genus in the thorax link and it’s gait is more like that of a canine (alongside it’s muzzle - probably a link between two species - baboons are known to keep dogs within their groups). Style of the walk is in a tight ‘H’ as each limbs flows in a quick succession. The front arms are posturing raising the chest, view and the importance of the monkey. The back is a swaying butt, similar to a caricatured boxer a while ago, se-sawing at up to 45 degrees on each side. The head bobs along in a nodding fashion (quadruped equilibrium does not need a complex head system like ours). It could be having a stroll alongside it’s dingo companion.

96. Quadrupedal Dölf the Christmas horse

Finishing off the quadrupeds with a Christmas theme. Today I worked on a X-Mass horse. The shape of the figure is inspired by a large Maurovic painting I’ve seen as a child. 

The large over exaggerated musculature of the body and top part of the limbs creates a powerful animal. Dölf is walking with a parade march, his front limbs resembling that of a soldier, while the back leg push offs are closer to a classic equine placement. They both push off and slide on the ground moving the large trunk in a forward attentive pointer stance. The front legs are also breaking the joints on their way down creating a stronger swing arc and accenting the solid stance frame afterwards. The neck is doing a figure eight with a small loop at the front and a large one at the back. 

95. Quadrupedal Doom Yoga Metal Ocean

Today's walk has been largely inspired by a Yoga session and a healthy smattering of Ahab (doom metal German symphonic music with a distinct aquatic theme). The figure itself has joints which are broken in many ways compared to a standard animal. 

It resembles an insect/ arachnid or a hand. I wanted to play with the form which would create quadrupedal walk  cycle if I broke all the rules I learnt so far. So the figure is propelling itself forward by using the top torso, it’s spindly legs dragging itself. On an odd accent beat the back leg catches up and pushes forward becoming so stretched by the figures spine movement that it rubberises and turns tentacle. This then slams in the ground bouncing off in a ‘normal’ step for such an odd figure. These walks are taking a lot longer than 30 minutes currently as they are more developed. A twisted cycle today.

94. Quadrupedal burly bison

After the zany walks of last week I wanted to create something a bit more conservative. A powerful and somewhat slow animal like a bison would be ideal for this task. 

Though it has some similarities with the ‘raging bull’ of the past post this figure is much more ponderous and slower moving. In order to emphasise it’s size a 45 degree angle was used in it’s front feet comparative to the ground creating an reverse obtuse angle and a powerful negative shape which allows it to move forward with grace whilst emphasising the weight. The front legs curve and unravel while the back ones stretch out. Majority of the muscle mass moving it forward is in it’s powerful upper torso. Maybe it will create small puddles as it navigates the prairie. 

93. Quadrupedal floppy sniffer from Melmac

Having more fun and playful animations. The walk cycle is of a lazy canine like creature. 

The movement is floppy all the way through, keeping only a semblance of bone structure and entering into rubber-hose, without any rubber. The concept was to imagine that the creature crawling is a sock puppet. The front limbs raise only slightly, while the back legs curve  as they flop into place in order to create forward momentum. The head is forced into bends as the bottom pushes on the torso unnaturally bending over itself (an influence from a bloodhound from early Termite terrace walk).  The only snap is in the head. This would could be slowed down with 8-10 in-betweens in order to give a lazy character illusion. 

92. Quadrupedal twisty froggy

Continuing with odd and twisted walks today I went with an amphibian crawl. To make it more interesting I attributed the walk onto a humanoid figure. 

The back legs break and twist back as they supersede the front ones. The front legs shoot forward with a snapping force stretching out. This is transferred back with elasticity which moves the entire torso and the head forward for another stretch as the whole body duck down to balance itself.  Each of the accents is revisited and the pose re-framed in order to create them into additional keys. A very amusing walk where one of the limbs is shooting out at all times.

91. Quadrupedal brawny bulldog

I went with a more complex quadruped today. Having re-watched some early Spumco, and a host of other nineties toons in the background I think that feel of animation permeated into today's walk. The overtly muscled bulldog has echoes of Mark Anthony whilst having playful motion. 

I aimed for him to be moving forward in a corkscrew motion, front legs crossing each other, back legs leaping through air on a spiral arc reaching under the body and crating a huge accent for the next front arm movement. The action is mirrored with a mirrored change in the motion on the action arc between the front and back leg. There is a lot happening in this arc and I could have kept animating it for a lot longer, adding more in-betweens but time crept up. The whole action is kept away from realism using what I’ve learnt with the quadrupedal studies grounding it in unreels cartoon world. 

90. Quadrupedal dynamic walk

Getting to the end of the four legged walk cycle. I wanted to combine all that I’ve learned for the final run of walks. I also wanted to have all of these be very fun and playful to animate. I eventually took longer than allocated thirty minutes for this one. One cycle is done with 26 frames. 

Consequently there is a lot going on. The figure is similar to lion/dragons/hounds of victorian times. It is advancing in a cautious yet threatening mood. The back legs are grabbing at earth like a bull would be, pushing the hips high and tensing all the frontal torso. The back feet slowly rotate and then quickly strike the ground. The front legs claw at the air, like the figure is swimming like a gorilla striking the earth only to pull itself like a reptile in a sprawl forwards as it;s spine straightens. The head is swaying side to side at a larger arc than that of a feline it’s momentum originating at the nape of the neck and then curving with the final skull movement. A fun walk altogether. Only five left!

89. Quadrupedal high soft walk three solid feet

For today’s walk I wanted to play around with a recent walk. (85) In contrast with the one legged push off here there are three feet on the ground at all times. The figure is a strange twisted humanoid. 

The movement starts with one of the from feet rolling forward by hyperextension at the elbow joint. It follows by the opposite leg creating the ‘X’ walk formation. The body squashes each time the two back feet catch up and knees hit the ‘elbows’. The movement becomes jerky and alien, especially as I tried to keep the head still in the same position. It has a semblance to ‘Star Wars’ four legged war walkers whilst remaining organic. Having a lot of fun with this I added a bit more render to the walk. 

88. Quadrupedal pointer sniffer

A while ago I read a host of books about dog training. I believe I was around 6/7. My uncle used to have hunting dogs and I was eager at helping train a pup. This reminded me of working dogs. 

There is very particular economy of movements when they are at their job. I remember that well. They would sniff and freeze point to a place of prey continuously haven their little heads pointing in the direction as they would carefully ‘feel’ the air. So using that experience as a jumping point I’ve animates a sniffing pointer. The figure is advancing forward, the front legs resembling a sneak, with paws raised high to clear any grass and air enabling the smell to reach the nostrils. The hind legs, slightly sprawled for balance are the main propulsion. The head dip like a wave capturing as much aroma as possible in it’s search. 

87. Quadrupedal gorilla aping alter

Round two! Going back to yesterdays gorilla strut I decided to break the frames down and insert more life  (animus) into it.

 I added the squashes and stretches especially to the arms which i bent and then broke in order to convey more imminent dynamic forward. The movement is still coming from the shoulders but the elbows follow suit as the arms swing in a wild and wide arc impacting the ground as the head overbears the central line off-llining the spine movement. The legs are very similar but with a little bit more twist on the feet/hands as they swing back. The two cycles need to be looked next to each other to compare the evolution of the movement. Whilst the last one has realistic conventions this one is leaning towards the stylistic aesthetic primarily playing with negative and positive spaces and geometric propulsion. 

86. Quadrupedal swinging gorilla

Here we go! A posturing and seining gorilla. The ape was partly inspired by the dominance of raging bull and partly by brilliant impersonation by CJ Markham (Animation supervisor on K.Kong). I’ve tried to mimic the movements demonstrated on myself and then proceeded to imbue them into the figure. 

The character is displaying aggressive display in his walk. The back legs grab at the ground sharply throwing the dust at the imaginary opponents behind. The whole torso is twisting like a shark searching for a prey (animals moving like fish next? aquatic?) with each of the fists smashing into the ground. In order to maximise the visual impact they are further raised at an elbow, after the shoulder momentum takes them to each side. The head followed the shudders giving a wide vision arc as he tries to smell his own butt (dog chasing tail next!) The movement on the right side is a little bit faster emphasising the uneven nature and giving more ‘full animated’ look. 

85. Quadrupedal one leg push off

Today I decided to do another playful walk. I enjoyed the gravity defying movement of the ‘raging bull’ and its jumps from yesterday. This has led me to try another somewhat complex pattern. I wanted to use a figure on the right low end of ‘The Big Triangle’ (S. McCloud).

My character would start off on all fours. It would then proceed to push itself forward balancing on front left leg, then transferring to right leg followed by hind left and hind right. At any of these frames the figure would have all of its weight balanced on one limb. It would descend down only to do the same forward propulsion with a back leg kick off. Only this time it would start with front right leg etc. in the opposite order. What I got is a very playful walk which was a lot of fun to do. The body and head support the entire momentum. This is another walk which would benefit for additional accents and at least one set of in-betweens. The cycle is already hitting over 24 individual frames though and took just over an hour to develop. Maybe in future I can try doing some longer walks, leading them to finish. (one for the walk idea book)

84. Quadrupedal raging bull II

Going back to walk 24 this time with a quadruped and a literal raging bull. I wanted a matador adversary, a drawing reminiscent of El Castilo. A powerful bull committing to more than just a walk. The bull is displaying threat and dominant behaviour. 

To achieve this he is wildly stabbing the air on both of his sides, while digging in with his paws to the ground. The front legs are stamping. The right hind leg digs for the dirt and then steps forward in an arc which uplifts the bull’s powerful torso. The other leg follows whilst the front right leg goes under the hind sprawl continuing one sided dirt/dust digging pea-cocking. I break the hips in order to give an exaggeration with the bulls movement. Head swings side to side but is otherwise locked with the powerful neck in order to prevent any injury. The whole cycle is done on key frames and given more time would benefit from some in-betweens in order to give dramatic tension to the movement. Some more animal-specific behaviour may be coming in future (add-note)

83. Quadrupedal revisionary head-down

Going back to the simple walk i decided to do a hominid. For this walk I wanted to translate into animation the emotional movement of the body as opposed to purely figurative. To achieve this I went on all fours and started to practise different walking styles. I settled on a kind of snifter one (juxtaposition to the first accidental ‘H’ cycle).

 However I did not concentrate on the motion of the character, but how it felt when I was moving. How my leg felt it moved as opposed to how it actually did move. So much in animation is conveying the emotional message and connecting with the viewer one can become bogged down in the physics and aesthetics of it all and disregard the complex emotional side of movement, and not just blaring out character traits and tropes, or character acting. I found my hips felt that they were hyper-extending forward and my whole body is moving forward wishing to collapse over itself, to roll, to become a steamship. The legs followed suit, ankles twisting back and feet becoming shovels. The front limb preventing the fragile head hitting the floor were busy high-riving it repeatedly, pushing off and allowing for the legs to rotate and roll the body forward.

82. Quadrupedal funky plutonic walk

Fresh from the BAF I’m feeling imbued with inspiration. As a result here is a rather playful walk. I used a figure of a cartoon canine for this one. I wanted to give myself a little more time and try to capture lot’s of playful elements in one cycle. Inevitably there are echoes of Pluto here. 

The front legs are moving in a slight stomping motion as the head bobs up and down in  a pretzel movement arc from the centre. As each of the front limbs is raised the back ones push the body forward and the movement originates in the ‘shoulder’ joints and then follows through. For the hind legs there is a classic boxer sprawl with the dogs behind being high up in the air. As each leg moves forward the knees explode upwards (exploding legs could be fun for a walk) and then digs into the ground creating a 45 degree propulsion from the ground. This movement add the pretzel to the head and a pendulum to the entire body. A very fun walk to animate.