AM Masterclass Assignment 2

My second assignment was really fun and interesting to do. I had to block out a vanilla walk cycle - an exercise to get a better understanding of the quadruped body mechanics. A vanilla walk is a term used to describe a walk exercise that explores the body mechanics without personality. They don't have to be on a treadmill, so next time i'd like to attempt animating a vanilla walk through space. After the first two attempts didn't go very well, the third time I found a workflow that worked for me.

I got an A- grade for this assignment, which i'm very happy with, but there are a few places that could make it better:
1) Move the scapula forward and backwards with the arms,
2) Lift the paw so that it flicks of first, then the wrist/palm, instead of breaking the wrist first,
3) The shape on the back paws needs to be pushed further in the flick off on f1,
4) The bend of the back right paw on f9 should only appear when the foot has landed,
5) Roll the front paw from the outside (in Z axis) as it places down on the ground.

In the planning and sketching stage, I hadn't quite grasped the pattern of the foot fall, as you can see in my first drawings...

Once I saw the problem I checked my reference videos over and over again and then sketched the walk cycle once again, this time leaving out the details of the body and just focusing on understanding the foot fall pattern. I left out some poses at the end because I felt confident enough with what I had and I was dying to just get into Maya and start working! Plus i'm not a big fan of lots of drawing.

Now that i've blocked the walk cycle and got my feedback, i'm going to add another layer of detail and start polishing it.

Check back soon for more updates!