Storyboarding Essentials

Walking cycle example by Preston Blair

Walking cycle example by Preston Blair

http://www.angryanimator.com/word/2010/11/26/tutorial-2-walk-cycle/

A walk cycle can be described by four distinct poses: 

Contact, Recoil, Passing and High Point. 

Here is the contact pose in front and side view.

When the right foot is forward, the right arm is back, and vice versa. This is called “counterpose”. This is how nature keeps everything in balance when you move: one side of the body “opposes” the other. Good animation has these “opposing actions” all the time. If animation seems weak or unnatural to you, it is frequently because it lack opposing action. You can think of a walk as a series of “falls”. The character propels himself forward by leaning into the walk as he moves forward. His trailing foot constantly swings forward to catch himself before he moves on to the next “fall” in the sequence. It shares many attributes with the bouncing ball in tutorial 1. Look at the front on view.