The Static Walk Cycle

A static walk cycle is akin to a camera following a character as it walks; also it is the type of cycle you will produce if you want to make an animated "sprite" for a videogame. The character remains stationary in the field, and walks as if they are on a treadmill. Those who have worked with After Effects can see the advantage in this, being that you can move the whole cycle as an object to simulate walking.

1. Start by drawing frame 1 of your character. Be sure to leave space around your character especially a little more at the top. Make it a full stride; this will also mark off the widest points for the drawing. This is a "Key Frame", not unlike those used in lightwave, but the role of this frame is to mark the height of an action. Secondary animations like hair, clothes, and arms need to be addressed, but for simplicity I omitted them from this exercise.

2. Now we jump to frame 5. Using "Onion Skinning" (like using tracing paper) we draw frame 5 with the character in mid stride, and here is where you need to decide what leg is on top, unless you are using an undefined solid color figure. Essentially one leg will be bent and held up, while the other is straight and supporting the character. Note this, the character will be taller in this frame due to their leg being straight under them. Think of it like a protractor, the further you go from 90 the lower it gets. This is also a key frame, even though we used the first frame as a guide this frame marks off the second height of the motion.

3. Jump to frame 3. This is an "In-between Frame," the process is also called inbetweening or tweening. Using frame 1 and 5 as a guide draw frame 3, but think ahead about where the feet are going and coming from. Also bear in mind that this process will be repeated for frames 2 and 4. These three frames are where you will time out your anticipation, follow through, and squash and stretch. Essentially, drawing the leg higher than the middle will make it seem like the character is stomping or hurried, while drawing it lower than the mid point will make it seem like they are walking softer or sneaking. You may wish to exaggerate the motion for a more toony appearance. Remember to flip the pages/drawings back and forth between frames to see the motion. In Photoshop and illustrator you can click the eye next to the layer to hide the image, then click it again quick for the same result. It's a little odd, but can work.

4. As above, do the imbetweens for frames 2 and 4.

5. Continue the process for frames 7, 6, and 8. You will still be using frame 1, it can be used as frame 9, however if your character has definition beyond being a stick figure you will need to draw frame 9 from frame 1. If you used a stick figure you now should have a successful 8-frame static walk cycle, frame 9 is dropped being that it matches frame 1 causing a lull in the animation if both are used.

The Dynamic Walk Cycle

A dynamic walk cycle is much like an actor walking past a stationary camera; these are also where you will do a cycle using perspective. The whole character will be moving and quite possibly changing size and shape all together. The key is to remember that the feet are the anchor points for the figure, and that the body will move in little humps much like the protractor analogy above. The basic idea is the same; you can use almost all the same steps as above. The only difference is that you will be drawing frame 9 and using it and frame 1 to tween frame 5. Map out where you want your character to go and start drawing!