Class 1 Week 10

Hello everyone! The term is drawing to a close, and things get hectic! So for anyone out there struggling or stressing out, “Keep your chin up. Someday there'll be happiness again in Nottingham, you'll see.”

Check out this video from my favorite Disney movie. After watching it for fun, go back and watch the first 10 seconds or so. These walks have some cool character to them! And that's what Week 10 is all about for class! Walks with STYLE!

This week you get to be a little creative...or a lot! Before I get started with some tips I have for you, check out this Trooper Tip, it may or may not be useful this week, but its a good tip to know:

Courtesy of Anders Ancker as usual :)

Ok so what does it mean to add character? For this walk cycle I recommend planning a lot..well you should always plan a lot :)

--Is your character male or female?

--Light and nimble? Or Heavy and slow?

--Happy, sad, excited, depressed, sick etc.

Next think about how you would act if you meet some of these criteria. If you are light and peppy, are you super bouncy? Or do you make a long stretchy stride, etc.

Here is a great collection of walk cycles.

There's some long strides, athletic, drunk, and a few more I think. This can give you some inspiration.

Next thing I want to emphasize: KEEP IT SIMPLE! When I did this character walk, I wanted ballie to walk thru a puddle, and flick his foot, and blah blah blah. Well it turned out not so good :)

So don't overcomplicate your walk cycle.

That's the next tip: Do a walk CYCLE! Animate a walk that could technically be played over and over, and it appears as if Ballie just keep walking to that style. If you add in some weird stuff it might not work as a cycle. For instance my foot flick, not only did it look too jerky, but it doesn't work well as a cycle.

Another huge tip this week is don't forget to observe. It might be kind of weird to go to the mall and watch people walk around, but it is very useful! See how people compose themselves under their circumstance. Do they have a limp? Or maybe a little girl is skipping circles around her super tired parents. Don't ever stop observing! I struggle with this, and I'm sure some of you may as well. It comes with time and practice.

So go to the mall, watch some cartoons, and have fun with this project.

Before you EVER even open up maya, I highly recommend you know what kind of walk you want to do. I know first hand how hard it can be when you open up maya and you only kinda know what you wanna do...it's a pain! Plan plan plan!

I hope some of these tips are useful and let me know if you have any questions!

~Peer Trooper Brandon