RANDOM THOUGHTS ABOUT ANIMATION WALKS

Sometimes a funny story begins with a doodle of a funny character. You like how the character looks and you just have to see what would happen if you gave him a walk.  In the act of doing the walk you see unexpected things that you like, and they redefine the character. When you have a funny character who can do a funny walk you almost can't help but think of funny situations that would justify that walk. Before you know it you have a funny story.

I don't know what this woman (above) was doing in real life, but the pose suggests a  funny walk where the girl leans way back and walks with her hands on her hips.

NOTE: I wrongly omitted the label that would have identified the source of the really interesting photo above. It's from a site called "photocase.com," and the photographer's username is "erdbeersuehtig." I'll put that info back in.

Leaned back torsos are more common in runs...I guess people are more able to accept the  unrealistic weight distribution that way. 

I like this guy's attitude. He runs with his arms close to his side. He takes big strides but looks up in the air, as if he's on an idealistic quest of some sort.

   

Almost any character's going to look good on top of long, red legs like these (above). Doesn't seeing this just make you want to draw?

Let me digress to make the point that tall people are underrepresented in animation. When they're used at all, they're just dim-witted sidekicks for some short guy. Maybe tall people will rebel and then we'll have lots of tall heroes with short, dullard sidekicks. Of course we'd have to have vertical TV sets.

This pose (above) suggests a character who doesn't look where he's running. Open manholes, curbs, and tree trunks are all problems for this man, but he's in too much of a hurry to do anything about it.

Can you really buy a funny walk clock like this (above)? Where do I sign up?

Above, another collage doodle. How would you describe a walk like this?

Here's (above) a walking vehicle. I like the foreground foot in the photo because it seems to imply that the foot comes down in discreet, floppy stages. First the heel, then the arch area, then the pad beneath the toes, then...one by one...the toes, ending with the big toe.

Sometimes an idea for a walk might begin with an idea for an unusual shoe (above).

This man's shoe (above) makes me imagine a guy lying on his back on the sidewalk with his legs doing the walking and dragging the man behind, The man might read a newspaper while his legs do all the work. Or maybe he  has a laptop on his chest and he's catching up on the latest post on uncleeddiestheorycorner@blogspot.com.

ANIMATION EXERCIZE

I had some random walking and sitting poses in a file and it occurred to me that some of them could be combined to make a nice little one minute pencil test film.

I'd start with a funny walk. Maybe the character leads with his stomach. Maybe he leans back and forth as he walks, as in the sketches above.

Anyway, start with a funny walk. The character gains through sc. [no offence to gays intended here...I just like the lead-from-the-hip walk].

Cut to a stool or a chair. The same character walks into sc., stops in front of the chair, turns and sits down. I'm sure the sitting motion above works fine, but why not try something more flamboyant?

Ben Washam said the sitting pelvis should act like a canon ball thrown into the chair, dragging the rest of the body along with it. I imagine the arms would be forward rather than backward as in in this Edward Lear-type pose (above), but this is a funny idea and I'd like to try to try it some time.

Sometimes sitting requires two seating motions: one to sit on the edge of the chair and a second to re-adjust to a more comfortable pose farther back.

Bad posture is funny. I can imagine a character that takes great care in his preparation to sit properly then unexpectedly flops into a slouch like the one above.

Maybe our guy breaks out of his walk cycle to kiss a girl then resumes walking again. Okay...this is getting too elaborate!

Note: none of the drawings or photos here are mine.