Fox Gallop Critique

GavinButler33

This is the latest from Gavin Butler. Been working on this with my old teacher, Jessica Murray, in between projects at college, as well as the past few weeks. I had somehow fit in about a week or two's worth of animation by the time I graduated. I guess it adds up after a while. This is what I have so far: https://syncsketch.com/sketch/134056#201486.

Edit:
Thanks whoever drew that critique on SyncSketch! I updated my animation (and the link above).By the way, sorry about the quality last time around. There was actually a compression issue that I somehow missed, so you did not see about 25% of my frames (thus the clipping at the beginning and the fact that my frame number dropped from 19 to 12). That said, the animation was more or less accurate overall, so I just went with it seeing as how I already had the critique by then. Problem frames are still in the animation regardless of what is in between, so went ahead and tried to fix everything. If anyone could look at the updated (properly compressed this time, I swear!) animation, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks in advance! 

GavinButler33

Thanks b.adams for the critique on Syncsketch! I updated the link above with the applied critique, but here it is again: https://syncsketch.com/sketch/134056#187237. If anyone could take another look at it, that would be great! Thanks in advance!

tiagosol

Hi GavinButler33
Looking at your animation. I would advice to block first some nice golden poses.ex: Where the fox each time is making contact with the gorund.
I saw this little reference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dKq5H0X0e4 and from what i can see, foxes legs are more rigid and their pace is faster. Check out lots of reference and try to study it. Hope it helps.

GavinButler33

Thanks tiagosol! I updated the link above. The legs are going to be hard to see when they are straight because I upped the speed. Might want to scrub the timeline. Should I adjust the timing on the legs some so we can see the bend, or perhaps straighten the legs more during the part where the fox leaves the ground? I doubled the framerate to get it to go faster, so do not be surprised when it is exactly the same length as before in terms of frames. It was kind of funny how that worked out. I brought in additional reference for timing, and it turned out that my animation was going at exactly half the speed it should by my account. Looks a little zippy, but foxes do go 31MPH, so I am not sure if I should slow it down some. I posted the reference I used to SyncSketch. It was a little closer to the gait I was using in my animation than tiagosol, although tiagosol's reference did demonstrate the correct approximate bend for the fox legs, although for a gallop it is a little different. Kind of blurry, but foxes really do not gallop that much unless they are in danger. They hunt more by stealth than speed, even though they can outrun most of their prey with one exception being rabbits. I have been using an animated reference just to be able to see what I was doing. Usually prefer live reference for all of my animations, so was a little reluctant to share, but that is uploaded to SyncSketch as well. The reason I doubled the framerate was to smooth out the rather choppy animation I was getting when I cut out half of my frames. Might as well use the extra frames to smooth out my animation if I had already done the work. I am enjoying the creative freedom while it lasts. Please take another look at the animation. Thanks in advance!

GavinButler33

Thanks to whoever circled a portion of frame 7! Guessing it was too bent, because when I took out the bend I could notice a difference. I updated the link above, but here it is again:  https://syncsketch.com/sketch/134056#193538. If someone could give it a look, that would be great! Thanks in advance!

GavinButler33

Thanks einjil! I uploaded another version and updated the link above, but just in case, here it is again: https://syncsketch.com/sketch/134056#199140.  If someone could please take another look at it, that would be great! Thanks in advance!

GavinButler33

Thanks whoever drew that critique on SyncSketch! I updated my animation (and the link above), but here it is again: https://syncsketch.com/sketch/134056#199140.  By the way, sorry about the quality last time around. There was actually a compression issue that I somehow missed, so you did not see about 25% of my frames (thus the clipping at the beginning and the fact that my frame number dropped from 19 to 12). That said, the animation was more or less accurate overall, so I just went with it seeing as how I already had the critique by then. Problem frames are still in the animation regardless of what is in between, so went ahead and tried to fix everything. If anyone could look at the updated (properly compressed this time, I swear!) animation, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks in advance!