Character Animation Micro-Project Walk cycles

Walk Cycles are one of the most difficult tasks for an animator. This is because both mechanics of motion and character and personality must be infused into that walk through your timing, spacing and poses. A solid understand of technical shifts in weight and acting choices are key to making a successful walk cycle. 

                                                                                   -Thinking Animation.com

Starting off with a walk cycle I feel is a good starting point for me. As there is much I can do with this alone. although it may seem basic, the knowledge of creating convincing walk cycles are Fundamental. It is something all good character animator would have done and something I want to gain a good bases of.
  
  

After showing this to my tutor and peers the feedback was to further exaggeration the walk give him more personality. 

Overall I please with this walk after adding the improvement suggested by my peers and tutor  i am happy with the outcome. From this I now wanted to go on and create some character personality walks

Carrying out some more research into walk cycle Thinking Animation Brought some good theory of what facts the animator should think about when making a walk cycle.


CHARACTER, STATE OF MIND, AND PERSONALITY: Character and personality are what make the walk real and make the audience identify with it on an emotional level. Disney always said "the mind is the pilot" and that is where every motion you create must start. Before even drawing a pose, you need to establish in your mind where your character's head is at. The lead is one quick way to establish this through the posing of your walk cycle. Remember this is a very simplified approach is not the "end-all be-all"...only a stepping stone to understanding how to infuse character into your animation. There is one little trick that can help you find your way inside the character. This is just one little trick, there are many other facets to a walk that also contribute to a personality, this is just one suggestion.

THE LEAD tells the audience where you character's head is at and how they view themselves and their place in the world. Actor/Actress/Musician/Personality examples below illustrate how the lead in motion can define a character and state of mind. After you familiarize you with the lead of a walk, try walking around the room aware of what part of the body is leading. Observe how this changes your attitude and sense of self. 


 Source Thinking Animation.com


Bearing this in mind I created an angry walk cycle and running cycle the following to animation.   
  
Angry walk cycle

I feel there are problems with this walk which makes me it the the weakest of the three.

Run cycle

Compilation

 Usefully tutorial