Storm Trooper Animation by Mark Masters

Above is an excellent piece of locomotion animation by Animation Apprentice student Mark Masters, created as part of his studies on the Animation Masters' Degree at Buckinghamshire New University.  The assignment brief for the first module, DA701 PR1, is to create a short piece of human locomotion, with character and personality. 

Walks and Character Walks

"Journey of Life" by Robin Herrmann

One of the first challenges for junior animators learning their craft is to learn the art of locomotion, specifically how to animate a walk cycle, and later a character or personality walk. What makes a walk happy, or sad? Angry, or fearful? Masculine, or feminine? Animators must learn to observe how humans act and move, and be able to replicate that character and personality in their motion. 

Locomotion Resources

There are many free resources on walks (and locomotion generally) at Animation Apprentice. Follow the links below to find out more about walks and character walks.

• How to Fix a Floaty Walk Cycle
• How to stop feet sliding in a walk cycle
• Why animators need treadmills for walk cycles 
• Why Walk Cycles Need Sine Waves
• Animating the "ZigZag Walk" on "The Thief & The Cobbler" 
• Two Ways to Animate a Walk Cycle - Which is Best?
• Character Walks by Alexander Savchenko
• Why animators should always take two steps
• Character Walk reference by Houman Sorooshnia
• 100 Ways to Walk by Kevin Parry

To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our next classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.