Anticipations, Hips and Footwork

Anticipation and Hips

It is SUPER important to track the arcs of your hips. Your hips will dictate how the rest of the upper body, head and arms react. Use your video reference to spot out the ups and downs, lefts and rights.

In this video example I show how there is almost always an ANTICIPATION in every single move you do. If you try to step Screen Left you must move your hips Screen Right in order for the weight of your torso to lift off of the Screen left foot so that it can lift itself up. If you don't do this when you lift you foot up your balance will be completely off and you will fall. Because when we stand our weight is balanced perfectly on both feet. STAND UP AND TRY THIS ON YOUR OWN.  
(I learned this from Shawn Kelly's e-book from tips and tricks site: www.animationtipsandtricks.com)

This concept basically applies to every single move. If you want to lift your arm up, dip down a bit (anticipation) and then go up. If you want to step left, anticipate right and then go left. If you want to turn the head to the right, anticipate a tiny bit left before you go right.

KEY: All these anticipations are very small, and they all have nice little arc. (Well everything should have a nice arc, unless you are purposely dirtying up the arc) Be careful not to over do, unless you really want a build of energy or momentum. Of course with any rule, there are exceptions where you just want the arm to spring up. But it always feels soooo right when you have a tiny anticipation.

Footwork

Every time we do any move we are constantly throwing ourselves off balance and then recovering our balance.  When we do this, it's usually not a simple plant of the feet. They are usually doing all sorts of tiny adjustments and steps to regain the perfect balance. I KNOW it's hard to animate all these little steps, but it's absolutely ESSENTIAL! Don't fall into the common mistake of cementing the feet throughout your shot and your legs stretching like crazy to adjust to the hip moves.

Here is a video where I am doing a variety of moves, pay attention to all the little steps I have to take to regain my balance.

KEY: Don't be lazy and put in every single one of those footsteps you see in your video reference. Don't try to be slick and skip one or two, get them ALL:)

Feet Landing and Drag

Running Feet Landing

Side Note: Every rule can be broken, but you must fully understand these concepts before you can turn into a rebel animator.

Animation is super hard so take the time to sit back and enjoy your accomplishments in this crazy  field we all love.