How To Keyframe in Walk Cycle Animation

The most challenging about animation is that you have to create numerous drawings for a second of movement. Worse, all the drawings must show a smooth transition or else, it will be an unnatural movement. That is why drawing the keyframe first is very important before drawing the frames in between.

Keyframes are called as such because they guide a cycle of animation into a smooth transition. So, it wouldn’t be so obvious that a cycle has ended and immediately begun if you know how to make effective and correct keyframes. Practice doing this today with a walk cycle. Walking may seem easy but not if one has to animate it. Follow the guide below to create the keyframe for a walk cycle. Take note that the steps will not detail how to draw the character because it will depend upon your taste. Just follow the general guidelines and you’ll do just fine.

* Draw the guideline. This will be the ground where the character will be walking. Draw a straight line to indicate the ground. Each keyframe should have the same guideline if you don’t want to lose the consistency of the animation.
* Draw the first keyframe or the so-called “contact pose.” This is the start of the walk cycle animation. How the character should look like to emphasize that it is the start of this cycle? Take note that if the left foot is forward, the right arm should be forward. That’s how a person normally walks. To emphasize that the drawing is the contact pose, make sure that the forward foot’s ankle is touching the ground while the toes are up. The other foot’s ankle is raised while the toes are touching the ground. If one arm is forward, then the other arm should be at the back. Observe that this contact pose gives balance to the opposite—one arm forward and other backward, toes raised and the other is touching the ground.
* Draw the opposite of the first contact pose. If you have a backlight, better use that to trace the ground of the first frame. Use it also to determine the proper distance of the character from the first frame to its reverse pose. Imagine that there will be about four frames between the two keyframes.
* Draw the second keyframe opposite of the first. Therefore, if the left foot is forward on the first keyframe, then on this, the right foot should be forward. Everything is similar and direct opposite except for the hips, which will be slightly upwards on the second keyframe.
* Draw the last keyframe. This is exactly the same as the first keyframe, only that it will be farther on the frame. Some animators don’t do this anymore because the first keyframe can already sustain for the last keyframe.


Now, you can start drawing the in-between movements. Imagine how the feet, hands, and body of the character will move from the first keyframe to the second keyframe. Check the accuracy of your drawing by flipping the page from one frame to another. The sequence of drawing should follow a logical order or you might end up drawing some of the frames again.