Run Test 1

This is my first pencil test of my cat run cycle. Since I'm animating on paper by hand, I'll be scanning in all the frames individually and saving them in Photoshop before importing them into Flash. The Flash file is set at 24 frames per second, so all frames will be doubles.

I kept it quite rough to begin with and didn't bother adding all the character details like the patches and whiskers, since it saves time and I can add those later once I've ensured the animation works. I also left out the tail since that will need to be animated separately to the run. (I need to do research into the movement of animal tails before I can draw it convincingly) I wasn't really sure how to go about animating such a small character running fast, especially since the cat's legs are so wide from its stuffing which makes them overlap a lot more than thinner legs would. I know easily definable poses are essential in animation, but at the same time I feel a thinner cat would lose its squishy, rag-doll, plush toy look, so I really want to make the run feel convincing. While reading through the Animator's Survival Kit in search of run references, I discovered the that the four drawing run is best suited for small characters with short legs like mine, since it takes fewer positions for each stride to look convincing in less time than a taller character, because the positions all overlap.


I tried to vary the the poses slightly on the downward contact position of the run like the book suggested (to help the viewer read the two legs separately), but I didn't really like the idea of my cat just holding his arms out in front of him while running, so I decided to adapt the arms so they swing back and forth like they would for a taller character. I used the arms swings from a five drawing run formula on another page as reference for this, though I had to be careful of the spacing and made sure they worked as I went along by always flipping my paper back and forth.

I also tried to make the cat's feet squash slightly more when in contact with the ground to show his weight and to again emphasise how soft he if really. Overall I'm really pleased with how the run turned out! I was afraid it would be too fast once I'd got it playing on Flash, but it seems to be just the fight speed for what I want at the moment, since I want the kitty to be running in fear and confusion. Now I can add the rest of the detail and concentrate on animating his tail.