Cartooning and Animation 101: The walk cycle

To view a collection of Eadweard Muybridge's photographs, illustrating the human walk cycle, click here.

Human Locomotion, man walking, taking off hat by Eeadweard Muybridge, 1887, courtesy of Boston Public Library Rare Books and Manuscripts Department

PRINTABLE WORKSHEETS

Assignment #1:
Download this image to the photo library of your IPad, IPhone or IPod Touch. Upload it into the app, 'Animation Creator' and duplicate the frame 6 times. Use the eraser to erase all but one figure in each frame. Voila! You have just created an exact duplicate of the animation running in a loop at the beginning of this post. 
Congratulations! You have successfully taken your first step to becoming an animator!

ASSIGNMENT # 2:
CREATE YOUR OWN ORIGINAL WALK CYCLE ANIMATION 


Use these walk sequence individual frames to help you get started

Upload these stick figures into animation creator.
Add a layer and create your own, original, character on top of my stick image, using the same approximate proportions. When you are done, delete the stick figure layer and add your own details, color and a background. Be as creative and detailed as possible. 

From Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion

Click on the link below to read my review of the iPad App Animation Creator HD in the Spring 2014 issue of Scholastic Administrator Magazine:

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/scholastic/administrator_2014spring/index.php#/28

More reference pictures:

Human movement cycles gathered from around the web:

Some human movement cycles from my own animations:

Some animal movement cycles:

Below is the walk cycle tutorial I created for my high school students when they began using Adobe Animate:

Below are some walk cycles developed by my computer animation students using Wacom drawing tablets and the programs Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Animate