Lesson 3: A Basic Walk Cycle

The basic walk cycle of a character has four main components: Contact, Recoil, Passing, and High-point. 

The Contact is the starting point of the action. In the walk cycle, the Contact refers to the initial moment that the foot touches the ground.

The Recoil is the natural reaction to the Contact. Just like the Couch in the jump cycle, the recoil creates a tension in the body. The pattern of tension-and-release is how movement is created.

The Passing component is pretty self-explanatory. In this component, one leg passes in front of the other.

The High-point component entails the leg moving to it's highest point before beginning its descent back to the ground. 

Finally, when the foot comes back down to the ground, the body is back in the Contact position, though with the other foot. The body goes through the cycle again, but with the other foot. 

This is what the full walk cycle looks like. Make note of the Contact-Recoil-Passing-High Point cycle. 

ACTIVITY ONE: Creating a walk cycle 

Based on the character you designed in Lessons 1 & 2 as well as the diagram above, draw a similar cycle for your own character. Take note that the first Contact and the last Contact frame are exactly the same pose. This means that you only need to actually draw it once. In total, you should have eight drawings of your characters. 

If your character is too complicated, why don't you try drawing a walking cycle with a stick figure first! Good luck! 

Lesson 2: The Basics of Character Movement

If you have not done so already, please complete the activities mentioned in the PREVIOUS lesson.

This focus of this lesson is learning more about the character you yourself have designed. These activities may be done in any order, so feel to do whichever one you want! 

ACTIVITY ONE: Character Expressions

Take a piece of paper and fold it into four squares. On the bottom of each square, write a different emotion. For example, Happy, Sad, Angry, Surprised. Then, draw your character making those expressions. If your character is very animated, exaggerate the features. If your characters is more reserved, do not make the expressions too energetic. 

Once you have done that, you may choose to either show the same expressions in multiple angles (like a Turn-Around, but for the face), or you can experiment with other emotions. 

ACTIVITY TWO: Character Jump Movement

Take a piece of paper and fold it into sections. In each section, draw two horizontal lines. One line will represent the top of head of your characters, the second line will represent the bottom of the "fee". By setting these boundaries, you can make sure that your character stays the same size throughout the whole jump cycle. 

1. In the first box, draw your character standing naturally. 
2. In the second box, draw your character crouching. 
3. In the third box, draw your character mid jump. 

The Jump cycle is actually made up of five basic steps (standing, crouching, lift off, landing, standing), but as  you may have noticed, the last two steps look similar to the first two frames. This demonstrates an important aspect of animation: repetition. If you have already drawing something once, there is little need to draw it multiple times. 

Lesson 1: The Basics of Character Design, Part ONE

So, you think you've got what it takes to make amazing characters?

Of course you do! With a little knowledge of the basics, anyone with a pencil and a bit of imagine can learn to create memorable characters! 


That being said, it is important to realize that while anyone can design a character, it takes a certain bit of knowledge to design a GREAT character. To illustrate this point...

Can you recognize these characters?

Chances are, if you have had even a little bit of exposure to Micky Mouse, Spongebob Squarepants, or Stewie Griffin, then you can recognize these characters instantly. What this exercise demonstrates is the benefits of a strong SILHOUETTE. 


A silhouette is generally defined as "the outline or general shape of something." The term silhouette is actually a reference to a historical figure -- Étienne de Silhouette, a French politician. 

One story goes that de Silhouette practiced such bad economics while in office during the Seven Years' War that when an art technique was developed that would allow for portraits to be rendered quickly and cheaply, it was named after him. So, Silhouette's name lives on, though probably not in the way he would have hoped! 


The silhouette is a very powerful tool that a designer can use to create some very amazing, very memorable characters. This technique can be used when designing all sorts of characters, from small cute animals to more  realistic human characters. 

See what I mean? 

From Pikachu to Batman, the silhouette technique can be used to see if your character design is one destined to make an impact. As you've seen up to this point, the characters with the strongest silhouettes are not necessarily the most complicated characters. 

Complicated =/= Memorable

Keep that little equation in mind when you go forth and create your own characters! Sometimes, it is the most simple of characters that are remembered for years. 

But you might be asking yourselves at this point if the only purpose of the silhouette is to see if the character design makes an impression. While this is a big reason to check a character's silhouette, it is not the only reason. By checking a character's silhouette, you can see if the overall character displays the emotions you are trying to get across. For example, the character may be smiling, but if the silhouette reveals a very tense, agitated body, then people look at the character will actually feel the agitation more than the smile. 

Essentially, the silhouette reveals to the designer what they are saying about the character...without saying a word. 

Which of these characters is in the better mood? 

Even without knowing anything about the character's personalities, their expressions, or even the situation, the silhouette reveals the emotional impression any average viewer will have of the characters.

ACTIVITY ONE

Before you can start using this silhouette technique to check the effectiveness of your character design, you have to have a character first! If you have never drawn before and would like some some help getting started, check out the diagrams below. 

Despite what the final products look like, once you deconstruct the images, it is easy to see them as just basic shapes. 

Once you have a character design you like, test the silhouette! The outline of the character should be simple enough to be arresting while being unique enough to be memorable. 

ACTIVITY TWO 

Once you have a character design chosen, it is time to create what animators like to call a Turn-Around. As the name would imply, a Turn-Around is a reference sheet containing the character in multiple angles. At this stage, the design must answer questions such as how thin a character is, how the limbs (if there are any) are connected, how the character stands (does the character have military baring or does it slouch?), and many others. 

The Turn-Around is one of the most important reference images an animator has, so take your time on it and, when it is finished, keep it somewhere safe! 

-To Be Continued In Lesson 2