How To Animate Animal Walking Frame By Frame

In this tutorial I will be taking you lot through the steps of how to breathing a iv-legged character walking in place.

Animating a iv-legged walk is usually done when animating animals such as dogs and horses (or very athletic humans that like to walk that manner!). In this case, nosotros will animate a canis familiaris, considering who doesn't similar beautiful niggling doggies?

We will exist creating a walk that loops infinitely. If we were to contain a walk similar this into a movie, peradventure the groundwork would be scrolling from right to left behind the grapheme to give the illusion of forward movement.

So let's get to it!

If you have washed my other tutorials on Envato Tuts+, you might be familiar with my walk cycle tutorial equally function of my Animation for Beginners series.

When we see a human walking, we are working with a basic two-legged walk.

With a four-legged walk, non only do you lot accept two legs to animate in forepart, you also accept the ii legs in back to go along rail of. That's a lot of legs! Accept a expect at this line-up of homo and dog walking. Bank check out the domestic dog. The front and dorsum legs are not mirror images of each other; the back leg is a half stride ahead of the front leg (more on this later).

A annotation on terminology: In past tutorials I take referred to the grapheme's arm or leg as the "due west leg" since that is the leg or arm closest to the west. Or I've called it the "east leg", being the leg closest to the east side of the screen. This way we don't become caught upwardly with "is it HIS left or MY left??"

That's a practiced system, but a four-legged walk tin exist confusing as it is. We take 4 legs to bargain with instead of 2! So I will exist referring to the legs equally the dog'south "front left leg" or "left back leg", etc.

The dog's front left leg and the back left leg will e'er be the leg farthest from us since the domestic dog is facing right on the screen.

diagram of dog showing which leg is which

OK now that we've gotten that out of the style, time to…

i. Draw Our Animation!

Step 1

Start past drawing the floor guidelines. We are animating a unproblematic contour walk for our domestic dog. I also made a guideline for the height of the dog's head so we can keep track of the slight bobbing up and downward.

Pace 2

Let's commencement with drawing i. I am going to be working rough, and we will clean up and add facial details later. The leg (back left leg and forepart left leg) farthest from united states will be in crimson to analyze the legs furthest from us. I'm starting in mid-stride. The back left leg is in mid step passing the back right leg.

Footstep 3

Allow's do cartoon ii. The back left leg is crossing the front end right leg. Now look at the dorsum legs; the back left leg is also passing the back right leg.

Take a look at this slide—drawing ane is in light grey. Notice how the trunk is higher up now. In about cases, dogs (and people) practise not stay the same elevation as they walk—they bob up and down every bit ane leg passes the other. Fifty-fifty though the leg farthest from the states is partially blocked by the front leg, let's make sure the leg "attaches" correctly to his hip on the side farthest from usa. Don't exist afraid to piece of work rough and sketch through the body to work out where the leg attaches.

Step iv

Let's practise drawing number three. The dorsum left leg makes contact with the footing before the front left leg does.

The back leg is a half step ahead of the front leg. Scout whatever video of a canis familiaris walking and you will find that this is the case. This is likewise the case with horses and many other four-legged animals.

Step v

Permit's draw our fourth drawing. The back right leg lifts up as information technology leaves contact with the flooring, and the front right leg continues to slide back. And every bit the dorsum left leg also continues to slide a little further back, the front end left leg starts to swing further down toward the floor.

Stride vi

Let's practise drawing 5. Now the front left leg makes contact with the basis every bit the dorsum left leg slides further back.

The back right leg starts to laissez passer the left leg every bit the front right leg is still planted but slides further back.

Stride 7

Let's practice cartoon half-dozen! Almost there! The front right leg starts to lift upwards from the floor, and the back right leg swings forward. The dorsum left leg slides a little further back, and the forepart left leg starts to slide farther back.

Step viii

Let's do cartoon number 7. The back left leg now starts to lift from the flooring, and the front left leg continues to slide back. The back correct leg makes contact, and the forepart right leg starts to swing frontwards. The correct back leg makes contact with the floor, beingness a half step alee of the front leg.

Stride ix

The forepart right leg lowers further to the flooring every bit the back left leg completely leaves the floor. And this drawing hooks up perfectly with cartoon 1, making it our bike.

Let'due south take a expect and see how our animation looks so far!

That is an awesome pup! Cracking work! Now it's time to tighten upward our drawings and add together a little detail.

2. Clean Upward Our Animation Drawings

At present that we accept our animation looking sweet, we tin can lose the floor guidelines. Allow's clean up and neaten the drawings and add facial particular. I'grand working loose with a blackness ink line, but making things neater.

Step 1

Clean upwards cartoon 1. Nosotros take a generic dog—I gave him a cute smiley confront and kept the floppy ears. I gave him a beautiful lil' chubby tail.

Step 2

Let's make clean up drawing 2. Make certain the anxiety yet look grounded.

Stride 3

Clean up drawing three. Notice how I am not closing off the line on the legs; the legs look more than every bit if they are a function of the body.

Step iv

Clean upwards cartoon four. I didn't requite the dog a long tail; I give him a sort of stubby tail. The tail yet moves and flows with the body.

Stride 5

Permit's make clean up drawing 5.

Step 6

Let's make clean up our cartoon vi. Virtually washed!

Stride 7

Now clean upwards drawing 7—we are well-nigh there!

Step 8

And at present cartoon viii. You did it!

Now permit's take a wait at all your hard work!!

That looks swell! That's one perky pup!

If y'all really want to be adventurous, you tin add together a blink or two to your walk wheel. In the below example, I extended my walk wheel so that information technology loops four times and the blink happens in the third repetition. Calculation a blink really brings the graphic symbol to life.

3. Bonus Round: Color Your Drawings

Stride 1

Your animation is looking really neat! Y'all are really getting the hang of animating! Let's have some fun and colour our drawings. Color is non the be-all and end-all of blitheness, but it brings a splash of life your animation. Let's colour drawing 1. I had fun and gave him a white belly and a blue nose.