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Since I had done a pretty generic walk cycle, I decided to also focus more on personality while filming myself.
At first I thought questions such as:
What is my intention throughout my movement?
In what way will they move?
How does the body language differ from this experiment to my previous experiment?
INSPIRATION FOR RESEARCH
Before filming myself, I decided to take inspiration on what would be extremely effective for my movement. One person that I found in particular online was 'Kevin Parry'. Kevin Parry is a Stop motion animator who had previously worked in LAIKA and has a ton of experience when it comes to the industry. I first found his work through his video 'Stop Motion Dancing Can'.(1)
I found this video extremely interesting, since he was able to create so much personality and movement in an inanimate object by using the principles of animation. I can already identify that he used 'Squash and Stretch' as well as 'Anticipation'. It works extremely well since the movement of the object looks extremely natural as well as smooth.
What I noticed throughout his work is that he shows the Making of as well, so it really helps people understand how he is able to achieve the work that he is able to produce.
So, while researching his You Tube career, I noticed there was a video he made called '100 Different Ways to Walk by Kevin Parry (Animation Reference with Music)'. This really helped inspire me on what type of walk to focus on. (2)
What I really liked was the idea of him using the treadmill, so he could create multiple cycles of a singular walk. This is quite effective since it really was useful on trying to use it as a reference especially for my project where the Walk Cycle should be in a loop.
It was really fascinating to see how he was able to capture a large variety of personalities in a singular video.
On the timestamp 3:32, I noticed there was a movement named 'Stepping over Stuff'. I decided instead of using that movement specifically, that I wanted to try creating a sneak movement since it would really allow me to experiment with weight.
BOOK RESEARCH
Another form of research that I decided to use to help inspire the movement that I wanted to capture were by using books. One of the books I focused on were 'The Animator's Survival Kit Expanded Edition by Richard Williams' (3). By using this book, I was able to focus on specific chapters such as:
Weight Shift
The Belt Line
Summing up the Knowledge
Weight Shift
For Weight Shift, It really allowed me to understand how the body moves through the hips, butt, stomach as well as shoulders within a walk cycle. I found this interesting since it allowed me to learn that the shoulders are always going in the opposite direction compared to the hips and stomach (front side) or butt (back side). I also found it interesting the way the body squashes and stretches depending on the positions of the body as well as the posture.
The Belt Line
This focuses on the walk as well as a side view, which is what I wanted to focus on specifically when trying to do this movement. It shows how the belt line sort of moves forwards and backwards depending on the movement of the legs. It also shows the shoulders moving sideways depending on the legs. The only time when the shoulders are in a fixed position, is when the legs pass each other. Little details like this, really allow me to be extremely careful when trying to animate the armature.
Summing up the Knowledge
This is the final chapter that I had used and it was a page that basically recapped of what I learnt from the past few chapters. Personally, it was important to put this in as well, since it is what I had learned summarized in a single page. This page also feels like a check list in its own way, so I can make sure that I am doing things correctly as I am animating. So, I will have my blog open to be able to make sure I am doing things correctly.
Another book that I ended up using was 'The Animator's Sketchbook: How to see, interpret & draw like a master animator'. The chapter that I ended up using specifically was 'They Key Pose Animation Process'. Even though, this is more helpful when it comes to 2D Animation, it is still pretty important to note that being able to spot Keyframes is pretty important. (4)
Here is the page that I ended up using from the book, there are more examples through other explanations but I felt as though this one was the best to use. The reason I chose this was because, this perfectly explains the different extreme poses from a singular movement.
PERSONAL RESEARCH - VIDEO REFERENCE
So to answer my questions from the beginning:
(Q) What is my intention throughout my movement?
(A) I decided that I wanted to create a sneak type of movement. I wanted to try to mimic the kind of movement of someone trying to walk quietly from one point to the other.
(Q) In what way will they move?
(A) Well, the weight of my movement will have to be extremely light, since the whole idea is meant to be me not making noise.
(Q) How does the body language differ from this experiment to my previous experiment?
(A) Since this is a more stylized motion, it is going to have to need a lot more personality being shown. As mentioned in my previous answer, there will be quite a bit of animation on the arms. Not saying my previous experiment doesn't but the movement of the arms will be really important, since the arms will allow me to balance myself. Lastly, my movement is going to have to be extremely slow and my body is going to be using a lot of the principle 'squash and stretch'.
Attempt 1:
This was my first attempt, in the beginning you can already tell that I was overthinking it a lot. I was trying to familiarize myself with the movement. I got the hand movement correct, however, the feet were harshly hitting the floor which was the opposite of someone trying to sneak.
Attempt 2:
So I notice, the movements of the hands were not what I originally wanted, however it did create this realistic look of someone not trying to make noise. The feet again were off by how heavy they were by pressing the ground but they did feel a bit lighter.
Attempt 3:
This was my final attempt for this experiment. I realised that I was able to walk extremely slowly and that the use of weight on my feet came out extremely well. I was able to correct all of the flaws that I had done in my previous attempts and I was able to create something I felt extremely proud of.
CONCLUSION FOR WALK CYCLES
I was quite surprised that I was able to create two two blog posts about the different walk cycles that I had made. I was pretty worried that I was going to be unable to find a lot to research but I was surprised by how much I had read and watched. I felt a lot more confident about my work after this since the experiments were extremely effective and that as a whole it really allowed me to have a better work ethic.
All in all, I was extremely satisfied with the work that I was able to produce throughout my research.
REFERENCES
(1) STOP MOTION Dancing Can (2018) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlIvalt6uio (Accessed: February 23, 2023).
(2) 100 Different Ways to Walk by Kevin Parry (Animation Reference with Music) (2018) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVjIqr8CTtQ (Accessed: February 23, 2023).
(3) White, T. (2017) “The Key Pose Animation Process,” in The animator's Sketchbook: How to see, interpret & draw like a master animator. Boca Raton: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, pp. 17–18.
(4) Williams, R. (2009) The animator's survival kit: Expanded edition. London: Faber and Faber.
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