29. Ssssnakewalk

To finish the week off. I've chosen a somewhat more complex and time-consuming walk. Still adding a bit more detail to the figure, in order to observe it's muscle movements I wanted this one to be darting forward like a snake. I started by sketching the first and final key. Afterwards I've animated the arc of movement which the figure would fulfil. 

It was then a case of adding in the key frames, following this arc, and a single lot of in-betweens. Once I had a nice arch with the spine, as I wanted for this to be a walk the final part had to be done from a push off frame. The sliding foot darts forward and the body folds in creating the moment of the 'bite' before going back to the main key on each side. I wanted to give the motion a bit of a sway as well. To represent a snake swaying side to side before striking. 

So I've added two additional accents either side one going right and other left respective to the figure's viewpoint. An arm would have to be used balancing this out as the movement is originating from the hips along a shoulder arc. I could emphasise this further by stacking more frames around each side to create something more ominous in future. A fun though complex exercise. 

28. Muscleman stomper

I concentrated upon a specific part of a walk today. The point when the foot hits the floor. The figure is stomping in a aggressive intimidating way. Around the contact key there are four additional in-betweens in order to exaggerate the actual stomp. The foot up, leading with knee happens very quickly leaving no in-betweens, just a snap. The heel is on the floor on the next frame as the legs are in the scissor position. It is at this point that the character crouches/lounges into a low shape. In order to understand how different muscle groups are affected at each point I made this figure relatively muscled. 

This way I can see what needs to contract and expand in order to propel it upwards before the next stomp. Each time the figure goes down the elbows follow suit, only to snap with the wrist in a downward motion at an accent frame creating the counterbalance to the high knee. 

27. Fatman tight walk

After having a lot of fun figuring the physics of the canine lupus legs supporting a hominoid torso I wanted to try out some more body shapes. this time I stayed more grounded in reality and added wight to the character. Fat people move differently than skinny and bony, tall differently than short etc. For this figure I started in the mid push-off instead of the usual key of lower grounded pass. I wanted the figure to have elegance in it's walk and a bit of a swing in the step. The character places the foot forward with a short step carefully and to portray this the head is pointed at the ground. The arms are swinging but more in around the body creating centrifugal motion allowing the character to propel forward quickly. On the downside pass all the weight drops down especially around the stomach and bum area as the figure is primarily pear shaped. On the push-off the head is clearly pointed in the way the fat goes. 

26. Dogman walk

This time I wanted to move away from human realism of bipedal figures and try to achieve something more fantastical. Not quite a satyr (though I may do that later) this character is based on one of my dogmen from 10'000 characters project. 

The lower half is that of a canine while the top is relatively humanoid with some ape qualities. I did a purposeful walk with this figure, trying to keep it simple as the physics of 'tiptoe walk' would add another joint to be manipulated. On the pass position it's knee is almost touching the ground as a consequence. Shoulders and top back add a sway in order to balance the large body being held with small paws. The arms shoot forward parallel to the head, eye level giving it an impression of drag through the air. I think a walk on (short) stilts would be similar. A good and interesting exercise with potential for future exploration. 

25. Double bounce air punching walk

Similar to the last walk, this character is assuming the duck pose with his posterior. There is more gaiety as the figure is more of a jogger/walker and air punches are light with the body swinging with each one. 

The knees are raised higher in order to give a lighter feel and the the arms lead from the elbow twisting in the waist to follow in the shoulder on the accented keys. In order to give a double bounce 'happy' feel the mid key is lowered, when the figure would be ordinarily hitting the high peak of the walk wave. The circular locomotion of the foot with a floppy front add to this propulsion. 

24. Raging bull, pugilist walk

Today I've gone for a classic pugilist. I wanted to reign in the looseness of last few days and enforce a classic walk with some tightness. 

I've kept the buttock to the back, as the figure is advancing primarily with it's chest. The guard is down and the hands are swaying with the movement. The forward motion is coming from the hips and extending through the knees which are flipping forwards and allowing the feet to pull the figure onwards. Elbows are perpendicular to the ground and the head is only mildly rotating forwards. The figure is walking like a duck. 

23. Stretch, break and snap walk

Having a break from the Sakuga studies after some full immersion. A lot of the techniques would require longer study and would be breaking my limitation and the aim of this objective for walking, though I think that in future I may do some Sakuga based weekend projects for my portfolio. I wanted to have a play with what I learnt so far. My understanding the walk cycle has grown. I found the Sakuga treatment of the animation frame rate very interesting as they frequently work on a limited animation. Also I wanted to utilise some traditional techniques here. Having started with a plain stroll I added the stickiness of one foot which would snap and break only to extend further before coming down with some force. There are a few things which I needed to do for this to work. Firstly I had to add more inbetweens to the central key in order to emphasise the re-composition of the wight in the figure.

On the stick key, arms and body would have to be positioned so they struggle against the gravity, providing adequate tension. 

With leg extension the same happens as torso hunches balancing the long leg and assuming kick like stance. 

The break is added before this in order to accent the snap out movement with toes first leading like a ballerina. 

The head is kept at a minimal movement corresponding with the body.