A character’s walk is often used to introduce a character. The character’s movement communicates his or her personality. Getting the movements to appear natural involves many animation principles including opposing action, center of gravity and others.
John Pomeroy shares his traditional 2D animation techniques in this online animation course. John Pomeroy, animator and directing animator, has animated, supervised or directed many beloved characters including Winnie-the-Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Rabbit & Christopher Robin in “Winnie-the-Pooh & Tigger Too”, Feivel in “An American Tail”, Littlefoot in “The Land Before Time”, “The Firebird” in “Fantasia 2000″ and many others.
John Pomeroy begins the introduction with an overview of his background and of character locomotion. In the first lesson, John describes the use of animation principles in the walk including opposing actions, arm and leg movements and center of gravity. He also describes the importance of references and shows a walk sequence of Dexter from the video game Space Ace. John then walks through the steps of animating a walk including using an exposure sheet. He then describes the student assignment. Finally, he shows his completed walk sequence and how adjusting the timing affects the animation.
Once you have completed the walk animation, Animating a Run is the next logical step.