Walk cycle research

In today's task, we have to observe two body movement and one of them must walk cycle. So, what is a walk cycle?
In animation, walk cycle is a series of frames or illustration that loop in sequences in order to create an animation of a walking character. Each person has individual walk cycles, for example, a toddler might walk wiggly and hurried,  upper body lean forward and stretch the arms out as they just learn to walk and need arms to balance the body.  Whereas the adults are completely different, their walks are constantly steady because of experiences. 

Secondary Research - Website

The walk cycle consists of four poses and a handful of in-between drawings. Contact, Recoil, Passing and High-Point.

Primary Research - Recording walk cycles

In order to observe various walks from different people, I recorded some classmates' walk and made it into the short video below. 

From this video, we can clearly notice that everyone have their own style, for example, Genia walked as a cat lady that the pace of her revealed a feminal charming. Tz walked like a dancing hippie, his hand's in the  pocket, swing the body... It looks so funny and characterizes himself as in a relaxing mood. Chelsea and Daniel walked slightly fast, we can see that the distance between the legs was pretty far. Lastly, Levi looks like a shy boy that walked steadily and slowly. Sometimes, personality can be revealed from the walk postures. There are thousands and hundreds walk cycles, which every have their own style. I realized that I have to observe more and analysis other's walk in order to become a good animator. 

I tried to walk as a thief. 

Second Action - Throwing Ball

This is the video of me throwing a ball. I reduced the speed down so the viewers can observe the motion clearly. 

Then, I used Rotoscope to traced my motion frame by frame. In this process, I found out that every part of my body had moved as I leaned back, for example, my left shoulder and arm had risen up whilst the other arm's throwing the ball. Another thing is that my leg had gradually bent down to stable my body weight in order to prepare my power. 

Theft walk 

Library Research - <<The Animator's Survival Kit>> 

Referencing List

Dermot (2010) Tutorial-2:Walk cycle. [Oline Website] Available from  http://www.angryanimator.com/word/2010/11/26/tutorial-2-walk-cycle/ [Accessed 11 November 2016]

R Williams, I Sutton (2009) The Animator's Survival Kit. Expanded edition. London: Faber Limited, p.102-131

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