2D Animation: Walk Cycles & Character Movement
Pro Animators Mentor You to Be Successful
Our mentors are working studio pros. In this 6-week workshop, you get live Q&As and weekly 1:1 feedback on an assignment designed to build your skills. Your mentor reviews and critiques each of your assignments and provides you with a video of their feedback so you can improve your work.
Why Take 2D Animation Walk Cycles & Character Movement at Animation Mentor
1-on-1 Feedback From a Studio Pro
During this 6-week workshop, you'll have live Q&As with your mentor each week, plus a weekly assignment your mentor reviews and critiques with a personalized feedback video.
Traditional & Modern Workflows
Using a mix of traditional and modern animation workflows, you'll bring your 2D character to life through physical performance and dynamic movement.
Live Weekly Q&As
Join weekly live Q&A sessions with your mentor. All Q&A times are shown in Pacific time so you can pick the mentor and schedule that fits you.
Take the Next Step in 2D
Make your 2D character walk, run, and dive right into their own adventure, guided to success by mentor and longtime Disney animator Jay Jackson.
What You'll Be Able to Do
- Animate a convincing walk with strong mechanics in an important skill for every animator to master
- Tell a story through 2D by linking the parts of a walk cycle into a believable performance
- Bring personality to your work to create memorable characters
- Learn to craft clean drawings in sequence, so each part of your flows into the next and your work remains clear to the audience
- Apply the principles of animation to full body characters and performance
- Incorporate weight and momentum into dynamic character runs
- Use body mechanics principles to animate exciting, athletic movement like climbing, jumping, and dancing
- Gain intermediate-level skills with digital tools and software, like Toon Boom Harmony or Rough Animator
Skills You'll Gain
What You'll Build
Across the 6 weeks you'll animate your own 2D character through a complete arc of movement (walk, run, and athletic action), building rough cycles into a believable, story-driven performance.
A Rough Walk Cycle
Block out the parts of a walk cycle, from the contact pose through the passing position, into a convincing locomotion loop for your character.
A Dynamic Run
Push your character into a run, incorporating weight and momentum to create dynamic, energetic movement.
Athletic Character Movement
Take on more complex examples of body mechanics (jumping, climbing, dancing) to apply weight and physicality in a compelling performance.
The 2D Animation Walk Cycles & Character Movement Curriculum
Walks and Locomotion
Animate a convincing walk with strong mechanics, an important skill for every animator to master.
In this opening week you'll look at the core structure of a walk and how to approach blocking out your animation using 2D techniques and workflows in Toon Boom Harmony or Rough Animator.
- The core structure of a walk
- Blocking out your animation
- 2D techniques and workflows
Personality and Character
Push your walk to design an appealing character in animation that conveys personality.
A walk can do more than move a character across the screen. This week you'll learn to design an appealing character and apply the principles of animation to convey emotion and personality.
- Designing an appealing character
- Conveying personality through movement
- Applying the principles of animation
Weight and Momentum
Add the mechanics, weight, and momentum that make a character run feel real.
This week you'll dig into the critical components of body mechanics. In this session you'll study weight and momentum and apply these concepts so you can push your character into a believable run.
- Critical components of body mechanics
- Weight and momentum
- Animating a dynamic run
Dynamic Movement
Bring your character to life through physical performance and dynamic movement.
In this session you'll study the body mechanics of jumping and landing. You'll also look at how to use staging, anticipation, follow-through, and overlap to create dynamic, engaging movement.
- The body mechanics of jumping and landing
- Staging, anticipation, and follow-through
- Dynamic, engaging movement
Athletic Movement
Take on more complex examples of body mechanics: climbing, dancing, and more.
This week you'll tackle more complex examples of body mechanics. You'll learn to apply weight, balance, and exaggeration to create a compelling, athletic performance.
- Complex body mechanics
- Weight, balance, and exaggeration
- A compelling athletic performance
Review and Recap
Pull it all together: polish your work and build a complete, story-driven shot.
In the final week you'll complete our discussion of body mechanics and character performance. We'll put a final polish on your work and bring it all together into a complete, story-driven 2D shot.
- Completing body mechanics and performance
- Final polish and refinement
- A complete, story-driven shot
Ready to Start Animating?
2D Animation: Walk Cycles & Character Movement is a 6-week workshop with live weekly Q&As and 1:1 mentor feedback. Choose your mentor and Q&A time, then enroll at Animation Mentor.
- 6-week workshop
- Weekly live Q&As + 1:1 feedback
- Traditional & modern 2D workflows
- $899 USD
Frequently Asked Questions
2D animation is the art of creating movement in a two-dimensional space, frame by frame, to bring characters and stories to life. In this workshop you'll focus on locomotion and character movement: walks, runs, and dynamic, athletic action.
2D animation works in a flat, two-dimensional space and is typically drawn frame by frame, while 3D animation poses and moves models in three-dimensional space. This workshop uses 2D, traditional and modern hand-drawn workflows.
Traditional animation techniques are the hand-drawn, frame-by-frame foundations of the craft. In this workshop you'll combine those traditional fundamentals with modern digital tools and workflows.
This is a 6-week workshop. Each week you'll have a live Q&A with your mentor plus an assignment to build your skills, which your mentor reviews and critiques with a personalized feedback video.
Review the available mentors and Q&A times before you register. The workshop uses 2D animation software such as Toon Boom Harmony or Rough Animator. All Q&A times are shown in Pacific time. Taught in English.
Registration is open and seats are limited. Choose your mentor and Q&A time, then register at Animation Mentor to reserve your seat in the 6-week workshop.
