Animation

With this animation, we were tasked to create an eight frame simple walking animation. Below is my exploration of the topic, and my introduction to animation.

Approach

For my eight frame animation, I aimed to create a stickman with a simple walk cycle. However, I also aimed to have an object in the background, which would create an illusion of the character walking past something. I included the post box to add to the illusion of the character looking like they were walking past an object. The character design was a simple stickman. However, if I were more experienced in art and drawing, I would have preferred to draw a character which was more complex than a stickman, and appeared to have a 3D look.

Research

The research I conducted was that I was provided with a exemplary website which provided a good walkthrough on how to create a simple walking animation (Rusty Animator, 2017). This walkthrough gave details on the key poses of a walk cycle, a breakdown on each key pose, and the personality of a walk cycle. These details can assist a beginner at animation, and will definitely help them with future walking animations, and they would have the fundamental knowledge of where to begin and where to end.

Skills Learned

I had learned the fundamentals of animation whilst creating this animation. One fundamental was the squash and stretch action. This action suggests that an objects physics have been manipulated due to gravity. One example of this is a tennis ball being struck and the tennis ball being stretched as it has been hit. Another fundamental is Overlapping Action. This technique shows delay in an action with an object. One example of an overlapping action would be a cape on the back of a character continuing to move after the character has stopped moving.

Improvement

I would include two prominent improvements to this animation, if I were to recreate the animation. One improvement would be to add more variety to the steps. One inspiration for this would be the Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks sketch (Monty Python’s Flying Circus, 1970). Through more experience I would be interested in creating my own version of a silly walk. However, I feel at this time I am limited as to what I can create. The other improvement I would suggest I could attempt is the character design. The character design is very simple, and I believe it could be improved by creating a more detailed character, where the viewer is able to tell where the characters joints bend.

References

Face the Press (1970) Monty Python’s Flying Circus, series 2, episode 1. Directed by Ian MacNaughton. Written by Monty Python. [TV Programme]. BBC One. 15 September, 23:00.

Rusty Animator (2017) Walk Cycle Animation. Available Online: https://rustyanimator.com/walk-cycle-animation/ [Accessed 15/11/2021].

Below is my walking animation cycle.