AWKWARD ZOMBIE

So I'm working on a 6-legged walk cycle for my Animation class (I decided on a walrus on crutches), and I feel like I could use more eyes taking a look at this rough, right here. There's a bunch of things I know I want to change already (that bandaid)) but feel free to shout out anything more I should take a look at.

It seems like when facing away, his head doesn't tilt as much as it does when it's pointing closer to the camera.

You've got an excellent sense of weight in the torso/shoulders, though. Hella impressive.

Ooh, yeah. And thank you!

Side note: what do you (or anyone for that matter) think of the teeth?

It did strike me as a bit weird for them to bend, but I don't really see how you could get the cycle without doing it.

Keep in mind I'm not an expert in animation, I've only ever done one walk cycle.

EDIT: Actually, hey, I wonder why I never posted that.

Could y'all give it a look?

(If I did post this before then ignore me)

^ aw i like that! my only critique (if you're asking?) is that he has too much...lead up and then doesn't actually do anything with it. he looks like he's about to take off at a sprint but then kinda awkwardly hops forward. if you were trying for a silly sneak run you nailed it, but he either needed more outward leg movement for a run or to stand up a bit straighter for a jog

other than that it looks good and i like your secondary movement a lot! your anatomy is way better than mine haha

Do you mean the way the head (and by extension the whole body) is moving downwards on a weird interval? It's been ages since I made the animation, so I'm not as familiar with it as I was at one point and I'm having trouble seeing it. Has it got to do with the center of balance moving around?

the best way i can describe the feeling i get is when you think there's a step down to something and there isn't actually a step and you kinda fall forward awkwardly?

forgive my horrid terminology, it's been a while since i've really talked with anyone about animating so i've forgotten my lingo, haha, but the "extension" phase of a run looks more like this:


legs waaay outstretched, knees up. this guy is going for a leisurely sprint apparently (its from an old school project of mine, don't laugh haha,) obviously leg movement varies with speed; but basically your guy's legs are at a jog but his upper body gotta go fast. the head movement is kinda driving the feeling that he stepped off the curb wrong, though if he had a bit more extended of a stride it'd be fine i think. over-exaggeration is never bad when animating

also, on his extention, he doesn't really lift up any. You kind hop up when you run so your head actually bobs quite a bit. here's an example from my book because this guy shows it better than i can explain and i dont wanna draw this myself:

this is a walk but you see what i mean. it'd be a greater curve during a run (he does illustrate this as a run but not as plainly.) this usually, with traditional, be accomplished just by moving your frame up a bit in post but since you drew the line for him to run on i thought i'd point that out!


man it's been too long since i've done any proper run/walks (my current project is a retro game so its all very low-frames, weh) and now i really want to but it's pretty much midnight :'[

Great Handsome Oppressor requested Kira with Kakyoin sunglasses























But yeah just kidding, warm up doodle

I'm really liking the new Pokemon for X and Y.

What do you guys think of the sketches?

Tatzel, I'm noticing that when you try to draw what I'm assuming is an older character, you draw a young person's body and face and just add lines to it. It doesn't work very well. Try experimenting with the face shape and molding it so that the lines look less like they were just drawn on a person's face and more like they're adding actual volume. If you want your character to have prominent cheekbones, make sure the shape of his face matches that!

The man's neck is also really thin and that bothers me a little. It might look better if you made it slightly thicker.

Thanks for the advice though, but come on gimme a break it's really only a warm up doodle slash sketch :B

YCobb wrote:It did strike me as a bit weird for them to bend, but I don't really see how you could get the cycle without doing it.

Keep in mind I'm not an expert in animation, I've only ever done one walk cycle.

EDIT: Actually, hey, I wonder why I never posted that.

Could y'all give it a look?

(If I did post this before then ignore me)

I mean I wanted them to bend for comedy, but I feel like they need some changes. Maybe making them wobble a bit...

As for your cycle though, I agree completely with shazza. You may want to try taking out some frames too, since the way the body's moving looks like he's running at a faster speed than he actually is. I might stretch the torso out a bit more too, or alternatively calm the legs down a touch if you don't want him really running.

And Marc, I like 'em but it looks like some of the details are shifted from the position that looks most natural for them (like the eyes and such). How do you normally construct your drawings?

I go about making my drawings in a kind of unconventional way. I have absolutely no skill at visualizing, so I'll take reference images, like these,



draw the outlines, add inner details, and then do the shading, and end up with this.



If my drawings seem kind of off in some way like I didn't do so kind of fancy art yahoo technique, it's probably because I've never heard of doing that and don't know how to. This is all based on zero formal art experience.

That's pretty much how I learnt to draw. Start off copying things I liked until I understood them well enough to draw them without copying, eventually the skill of 'observing and applying' can be applied to drawing from life.

Wait, you didn't learn to do the fancy sketch thing using basic shapes and using that to make your drawings somehow not suck?