Character design & half a walk cycle

[kdog]

hey all, here are a couple sketches of a bird char I'm working on from front & side view, as well as the first half of his walk cycle. Front & side view still need some work, but I'm pleased with the walk cycle so far. Might need a little more bounce, but the general look I want is there.

any opinions & crits are very welcome, what does everyone think?
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s276/kdog7777/LWC.swf?t=1174964585

Edit: I dont like the player I used, anyone know one that will allow frame by frame viewing?

Edit again: got it a little bit better at least all frames are shown

[vicjperry]

Not a bad looking character and a half decent walk cycle. My only critique is to switch the (wheat, grass, straw???) to the other side of his mouth as it makes it look like his mouth is open. Nice work.
http://www.geocities.com/crea8it/mouth.bmp

[kdog]

Thanks Vic. I will give it a try on the other side, will be an easy change when I do the final inking, I just scanned those in real quick. I think I'll also make his head tilt slightly to his left in frame 6, right now he just goes from center to right & back to center, but I think it will have a better feel if it goes right, center, left, center...

Anyway, thanks again for the crit.

[kdog]

Well, just finished a bad job of inking, but here is the finished walk cycle I've been working on. I want to change frames 8 & 9 to make it look like his leg swings out more to the side, but other than that I think I like the movement.

Im anxious to hear what people think, please fire away.

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s276/kdog7777/th_LWC.jpg (http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s276/kdog7777/?action=view&current=LWC.flv)

[pixelmark]

Great stuff! You are carrying a LOT of detail along, so I know it is a real feat. Something I noticed, and it may be intentional to get a style of walk, is that the arm and leg on the foreground side have a lot of frames going one way, and then only one going the other. For instance his right arm (with the fishing pole) goes up through several frames and goes all the way back in like one frame. If this is intentional maybe it could be one of those tweens where it sort of stretches from one point to the other with some motion lines. Overall, great character. Makes me want to go fishin':)

[kdog]

thanks alot pixel! I went with alot less detail on the second half, no shading or anything there, I figure I'm gonna go over all of that in toon boom anyway & it just adds to the file size. I know what you mean about the arm, I need to either insert another frame or do something like you suggested with motion lines. I wanted it to look like he bent his right arm out & down as he bounces down on his left foot so as to keep his balance, but it does go by too fast. Same thing with his right leg in a couple frames, I have it going straight back, but I want it to look more like he swings it out & around.

Glad you like the character too, I'm really enjoying his development right now. If you want to see more of him & his buddies, check out my blog, I'm using that to chronicle the development of the series I'm working on right now. Coming along slow but sure...