I was fortunate at the beginning of my career to apprentice with some of the finest Master Animators who have ever been. Luminaries like Ken Harris (Warner Brothers), Art Babbit (Disney), and Richard Williams (3 x Oscar winner) would share their knowledge and their knowledge and their thoughts with me as I stood at their shoulders and watched them work.

When they could trust me, they allowed me to assist them. When they considered me well enough, they allowed me to animate small parts of what they were working on, until I eventually became a director/animator in my own right. This was the process that created Master Animators. Sadly, my teachers and the apprenticeship system are long gone so. So now, towards the end of my own career, I want to share a similar process with you. I cannot create virtually the complete apprenticeship experience, but I can enable you to effectively set at my shoulder and hear my thoughts as I explain the principles of animated walks to you.

All of my teachers in the early days would say that "Walks" are the hardest thing to animate convincingly. However, if you managed to do so, you could pretty much animate anything - as the principles involved in making characters walk well are used all movement, not just walks.

The following 6 walking explanations are broken down into two parts in general, with a couple of "bonus" pieces thrown in. The process of good animation is twofold - "blocking" and "polishing". So with each of the walks I am presenting to you - i) "Generic" walk, ii) "Double Bounce" walk, iii) "Sneak" walk, iv) "Sad/Lazy" walk, v) "Limping" walk and vi) "Front" walk - I am first showing you their blocking process, then their "Polishing" process. At the end of each one, you should be equipped to handle that kind of walk quite competently, whether you are a 2D, 3D, Claymation, Stop-frame, or any other kind of animator.

I will be adding other apprentice courses in the future but hope, in the meantime, this will provide you a process that will serve you well when animating walks, or indeed other actions that utilize the same processes.

Tony.  :)

Note: These courses are presented using "MOHO" software. For them, I used a specific rig which - unless you decide to create for yourself - can be downloaded here. The basic "Arnie rig" will prove perfectly adequate for the first 5 sections. The sixth, the "Front Walk" is just a demonstration that does not require you to use the rig. Instead, it just presents you with the principles of "Balance" in a walk, that you should incorporate in all your future work, regardless of the tools or techniques you use.