Guest post
Author: Jibril Sy.
Jibril Sy is an illustrator and concept artist with a background in storyboarding
and a deep passion for all forms of visual storytelling.
Contact Jibril
Artstation: artstation.com/djbrl
Linkedin: Jibril-sy
A Dive into the Dance of Walking Cycles
A useful tool for visualizing the fundamentals of human mobility is the walk cycle, also called a gait cycle. They're also a really effective way to convey emotion or character, but it can be challenging to make walking look natural. This is the use of walk cycles.
A character's walk communicates far more than just movement. After all, a person's gait, walking pace, and body language can reveal a lot about them. Therefore, it's crucial that you make sure your work reflects these components.
In this article we'll talk about the mechanics of the walk and how we can take advantage of simple animation principles to create flavors of walking.
The Hip 'n' Shoulder Shuffle
Like most movements, animating a walking cycle is all about planning and understanding how bodies move. Picture hips and shoulders in a dance-off creating a rhythm, when one swings left, the other swings right! The character's head tries its best to stay centered while arms and legs move the entire crew forward. That dance is not just a weight shift; it's what defines the character's signature walk. Not two people on earth walk the same(allegedly !). By playing with these these parameters we can decide how our characters walk and give them a specific intent, emotional tone or signature.
Which of these two had a successful date?