Animation Test 5

A front view of the walk cycle

     Here's another walking cycle I did back in October. It has 8 drawings looped at 12 frames per second, just like most of the other ones. This is another test from the Preston Blair book, only this time, I didn't have a specific example to go off of, just the silhouettes. So I had to figure out how to make the figure work in a logical space. And with that said, I think this cycle turned out better than the first two.

     The line work was much better this time around. The closer forms have thicker lines, while the forms further away have thinner lines that aren't too thin. The legs felt like they were more solid, and the feet actually felt like they were hitting the ground as opposed to looking like they're just floating in space. The back leg in the fifth drawing shows that idea best.

     There are still some problems with the construction, though. While the feet do feel like they're hitting the ground, they still don't feel like they're connected to the legs. The second drawing looks like a train wreck; the front foot doesn't look like it's connected at all, while the back foot feels wonky and unnatural. 

     I'm not so crazy about the head cycle either. The face could have been smaller in all the drawings. The down position doesn't really feel like it's looking down at all. It just feels like face was squished down on the bottom of the head. The up position isn't too bad, but it still looks kinda sloppy.

     The torso wasn't very thought out at all. I should've been thinking more instead of merely copying from the book. The arms feel like they're swaying on a 2d plane, and they contradict the 3d legs. If I'd thought about it, I should have tried to see what the arms looked like going forward and back instead of side to side.

     Still, this cycle was a major improvement over the side-view walking and running cycles. There's still a lot of problems, but at least it's a step in the right direction.