Run cycle: execution

My third blog post sees the completion of my run cycle's first pencil test. It has been quite an eye-opening experience to make the transition from theoretical study of the run cycle to the actual execution thereof. To start with, I found how the key poses radically affect the feeling and energy of the final outcome. To start with key poses makes life easier, but to start with the RIGHT key poses is what makes the work look so much better. I had to play around with them for quite some time before I found some that I felt did the job. After that, a bit of inbetweening and a little tweaking were all that was necessary. Here's the test, it's a bit of a saggy jog:

Gearing up for run cycle

This week, I began to sink my teeth into the intricacies of the run cycle. I have performed a walk cycle in the past (a rather energetic one at that), so I figured it wouldn't be so terribly different. It turns out, there are several marked differences, as well as a different overall feel. So, I'm going to outline a few of the things that stand out to me as important about the run cycle.

For starters, and as Muybridge proved with horses, a character that is running will have all (both, in the case of humans) its feet off of the ground at some point during the cycle. You could think of a humanoid run cycle as a series of leaps and bounds through the air. This gives a more frantic, energetic feel to the motion as opposed to the walk cycle, in which the character is never airborne. This guy is at the point in the air just before landing:

Another thing, the faster the character runs, the further forward he or she will lean. The above businessman, while also being restricted by his suit, probably isn't running all that fast. Someone who is really blasting off like this, however,

will have a much more dramatic tilt to the torso. This guy seems like he's just about to launch off the ground, he's leaning forward so far. This steep an angle is only really found in a full-on sprint, however, so this was a bit of an extreme example.

First animation blog post, flow animation.

My very first blog post also marks my first foray into the daunting, yet ubiquitous art of flow animation. I'll admit, upon first receiving my first flow animation speed exercise and homework assignment, I  thought it would be very difficult indeed. I found, however, that with proper guidance and a good strategy, it could be done with relative ease. The speed exercise, though a bit rough, turned out well enough because of the references I received, also aided by the fact that I work better under pressure anyway. Since I had time to plan out the motion for my homework assignment, however, I saw my results improve. Here's my first motion test:

I like to map out key portions and arcs of my motion beforehand, so I selected two points on my line that would serve as major bending points, mapped out their arcs (including overlapping action and ease in/out), and drew the line frame by frame. Then I drew in the character and cleaned it all up. Here's the finished product: