Critique weight shift & Planning and blocking for walk cycle animation.
Philosophy of Walking
“Walking is the process of falling over and catching oneself just in time.”
This simple yet profound observation highlights the forward-leaning posture inherent in walking—a controlled imbalance that propels us forward.
“Walking is the process of being stuck in place for a moment before moving ahead.”
This personal reflection adds a philosophical layer to the act of walking, emphasizing the interplay of stillness and motion that defines each step.
Here’s a revised and polished version of your text, broken into sections for clarity and flow:
Philosophy of Walking
“Walking is the process of falling over and catching oneself just in time.”
This simple yet profound observation highlights the forward-leaning posture inherent in walking—a controlled imbalance that propels us forward.
“Walking is the process of being stuck in place for a moment before moving ahead.”
This personal reflection adds a philosophical layer to the act of walking, emphasizing the interplay of stillness and motion that defines each step.
Walking Styles: Personality Through Motion
Each character has a unique way of walking, which can be crafted to reflect their personality and mood. By manipulating timing, position, and offset, animators can develop distinct characteristics that make every walk cycle feel alive and meaningful.
Inspiration: Ryan Larkin’s Walking
Shows how tiny changes in posture, rhythm, and style can portray various personalities and moods through the simple act of walking.
Body weight shift critique
Overall, this is a good attempt; however, more focus needs to be placed on the centre of gravity (COG) and physical accuracy. Some of the proposed poses in the blocking phase are unrealistic and impossible to recreate with the human body in real life. Therefore, it is advisable to always cross-check the poses against your own body movements to ensure they are achievable and grounded in reality.
Vanilla walk cycle blocking exercise
The purpose of this exercise was to understand how the walk cycle works. Due to the complexity of the movement, where all body parts are in motion—and each can be broken down into principles like the bouncing ball—it is particularly challenging for beginner animators to animate a walk solely based on reference. To address this, George provided full guidance through the animation process, demonstrating how to block a walk cycle in 24 frames per cycle.
My submission on Syncsketch: Walk Cycle -> Walk_cycle_front