Scene 3: Walk Cycles

I knew that I would have a few different walk cycles within my film. I wasn't looking forward to making them as I've never been very good at them, but I knew that once they were done to a decent standard I would be able to re-use them throughout my film. I needed a walk cycle for the witch, the Familiar in cat form, and the Familiar in fox form. I already had the Familiar in deer form due to earlier animation tests so I was glad that I already had that under my belt as this was going to be a time consuming process.

This is the walk cycle for the Familiar in cat form. I think that it's turned out quite well to be honest. I knew that a 4 legged walk cycle was going to be very difficult so I found a helpful template for a dog's walk cycle and changed it to fit my needs by making it look like a cat instead. It's not especially fluid but it gets the job done and I'll be able to transform it again for the fox walk cycle. I think that the colour works very well too - I like the darker parts that I've put on the extremities of the Familiar, it helps to break up the flat grey colour. I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out, I'm much better at setting and character design rather than actually animating things so I knew that it wasn't going to be amazing but it's definitely not the most terrible thing I'e ever done.

This is the walk cycle for the witch. It took a really long time to get right as there weren't any helpful templates that I could use. I'm not thrilled by how it's turned out, but again, it's not dreadful either. If I had the time to go back and change it I would - she's very 'wooden' and her movements aren't natural. She almost looks like a paper cut out doll animation. In a way, it may look quite effective once I have her on the backgrounds, as I've always wanted my film to look like a moving picture book, but we'll just have to see. It will do for the film, and her walking shots aren't very long so I think I'll be able to get away with it. Hopefully the quality of the backgrounds will distract from my sub par animation skills!

This is the walk cycle for the fox. I think that it's the worst out of all of them. It's very stiff and unnatural, the movement isn't great at all. Like I said before, if I had more time I would work on these walk cycles and improve them - but I don't. I used the cat walk cycle as a template for this one and I'm pleased with the aesthetic of it, it definitely looks like a fox, but the there is definitely room for improvement regarding the fluidity of movement.