Learning from the Masters Series -102

Learning from the Masters Series - 102

Weight - Mass & Destiny
      Mass of a character or their density affects every action that takes place within the shot. There are environmental elements that also play upon the characters mass and density.
The first element is gravity, gravity affects all objects differently due to mass (displacement) or shape.
    A good example of this is how characters walk. Characters come in all different sizes, shapes and demeanor. What ever action that a character takes they will be affected by these elements. Imagine a character walking down the street. An average person or "Basic character" would have a normal gate and their arms would swing back and forth in rhythm the stride.

As you can see in the image above that there is many ways that the characters body moves due to the effects of gravity and density. Because of this, characters will behave differently and move differently then the "basic walk" that is taught to all animators. The original nine use to have drawing sessions where they would challenge each other to draw as many different walks they could. Some where casual and close to basic, but some where drawn so exaggerated you would think their legs would snap from so much twisting. Pushing the boundaries on how the body moves without breaking the laws of physics is a fascinating exercise to say the least.
      The mood or disposition of the character also affects the way the move and interact with the object in their surroundings. If someone is happy they have more energy in their step, when they are sad they have the tendency to drag their feet, slouch and mope slowly. There are hundreds, even thousands of different ways yo can draw your characters walk, it is all dependent on all these internal and external elements that play upon your character. The way to navigate and understand the purpose for your character is to give them a goal or direction to navigate. Once they have this purpose and direction you can then figure out the path that they need to follow. Don't always stick to the norm when animating your characters or stories, find how you can stretch the boundaries of both the story and your characters.