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Flash Frame-By-Frame Animation: 8-Frame Basic Walk Cycle

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5 of 10

Animating the Legs II

With those two frames drawn, you should be able to add the legs to your second and third frames easily enough. The second frame is where the forward-thrust leg begins to bend to catch weight transferred from the back leg as the back leg pushes off of the ground, and the entire body dips to its lowest point--which means that in order to keep balance and keep the frame stable around its center of gravity, the backwards-bending leg has to bend more and come a bit further down, as well.

Thinking of balance is a good way to judge by eye whether your figure looks right in its current frame of motion; if it looks like it couldn't possibly hold that position for a second at the momentum depicted in the scene, then there's probably something a bit wrong with it.

In the third frame the balance shifts a bit--the forward leg straightening a bit more and thus capable of supporting more weight, while the backward leg begins to lift off the ground and come forward. Here you can use the second and fourth frames to help you estimate that position, by looking at halfway points between the knees, the joining of the upper legs, the heels of the feet.

One thing you'll want to remember is that the knees, etc. won't be at the same elevation for each frame, because the body is dipping up and down and the legs are bending.

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