This was a personal project for me to get more familiar with character animation. I wanted to have a firm grasp on simple movements so that I could comfortably include some light character work in my services. Also: character animation is really fun and I wanted to do more of it.

I started with the core of any decent walk cycle (or character work in general really) and settled on a design that would highlight the center of gravity in the character. Using that as the core of the design I wanted to simplify and see where I ended up.

Where I ended up was working backwards mentally, first reducing the movement until I went from a full character to a rectangle with attitude and legs, and eventually a rolling cube. With that evolution established, going through the entire cycle felt like a logical conclusion and I chose to make the whole thing a little loop, starting at one of the first things character animators learn before ever touching an actual character, and ending at a simple walk cycle.