43. slacker arm delay swing

Experimenting with the scoop of the body today I decided to work on the arm swings a bit more. Instead of using them to support the body weight I opted them fora a lazy slacker walk similar to walk No.12. The main difference is in keeping a realistic bone structure, a push and drag of the back foot and pushing the chest forward. Additionally I wanted to have the arms floppy and a bit lazy so they have a full frame deal in the actions in the swing of the forward body momentum. This gives the character a light step appearance even though the push off frame is small with a lean forward. 

42. pendulum scoop

Going back to the simple walk cycles I wanted to add another layer to otherwise normal walk. I added a strong swing from left to right on the push off step, giving a body a pendulum swing forward. 

In order for this walk to function I had to lower the low key frame adding an scooping in-between allowing the body to have momentum in order to swing backwards. 

The foot is dragged across the floor in order to provide additional stability to such an action and the forward step is at an onward angle giving a drag gin power to the body at hand. The arms are used to balance the figure during the option and the head is loose with neck holding it anchored to the chest as the figures centre changes with the swing forward creating a sickle arc. 

41. silhoutte geo-step

This time I wanted to concentrate on overall shapes of the body when doing a walk instead of individual movement. I started with a triangular body and the momentum would be built in within the geometric shape until it reaches trapezium only to become a triangle again. Once the shape looked like it was doing a walk I added the motion of legs filling in the negative shapes in order to retain geometrical and stylised walk cycle. Finally arms were added last as a counterbalance to the whole cycle. This walk style offers a lot for style and creation of momentum, however it does not have much opening for a bounce without loosing the geometric silhouette qualities. 

40. mountain dwarf

Continuing with a short and compact body figure, today I worked on a dwarf walk cycle. Using a stereotype of a mountain jolly miner the body is a bit smother and less angular than the swagger of last week. The motion is of a character who is accustomed to walking on the incline, hence there is a slight back lean into the forward step. The arms are swinging upwards without a twist in the elbow and lightly relaxing before arcing downwards. Altogether this gives the figure a happier motion and adds enthusiasm in the walk. 

39. stumpy swagger

Today i integrated the simplicity of a straight forward movement with minimal adjustments in order to achieve more character. I used a stereotypical cartoon character shape with a over-sized head in order to work on the balance of the body and overall connection. 

In order to achieve a self gratifying swagger in the character subtle movement of the hips and shoulders in contrasting direction was added, keeping the whole figure more volumetric. This hourglass movement add to the figures propulsion and a large head adds a further challenge of overall balance. In order to portray certainty in the character the step is wide with a forwards sink on the knee and the arms go to chin level, elbow leading. 

38. snake torso menacing wiggle

I wanted to revisit the serpentine walks, but this time concentrating more on the torso manoeuvring. The body is worked on a striking angle on the each step. To achieve this I created a line on which the head would be travelling. Then I worked out the body arrangement with the legs. The body is torqued on the lowest key frame sink. It then whips upwards on the push off, only to strike with the step forward. Once the balance is regained the same happens to the body. So the torso arc of action was drawn first, it was then combined with the leg step, then the torso was added on. 

Finally the arms came as the latest stage, reinforcing the movement and adding stability to the figure. I wanted the force to be led with a spine whip forwards and to leave any shoulder swaying for the latter smaller adjustments once the arms are added in.

37. futurist blur zippy walk

I tried something a bit different this time, concentrating on the representation of the movement. Using futurism and it's representation in the arts as a basis as well as the theory of 1930's blurring and zipping alongside 'long headed inbetweens'.

The walk is classical in it's simplicity and I've kept it plain. The interest arises with trying to represent more than one movement in  each frame thus breaking with the barrier of single frame story. Similar would be happening in fast movement in pre war times when the practice of dry-brushing was included in this. It is somewhat similar to speed lines of comics and newspaper cartoons, a way of capturing the movement and giving an impression thereof using only one picture. Here I've kept the blur dry brushing to the legs alone for clarity. An interesting technique which could be utilised in future for a certain visual style.