Walk Cycles

The most challenging aspect of this project I've found so far is getting 'Sol' to walk. I still don't know the proper way of doing a walk cycle - but the way I did it was by watching youtube clips of people walking, and pausing them to draw very simplified versions using Toon Boom Studio (another piece of software I'd never used before). 

Here are some test cycles:

Front view:

Side view:

Diagonal view:

Using these as a guide, I copied the shapes of the legs and drew Sol's legs accordingly. It took a very long time to get them right, but I'm glad with the outcome.

Another method I used to make the walk more realistic was through using shadow - I drew the shadows in photoshop, turned down the opacity levels and transferred the layers into After Effects. In some shots, I'd use keyframing to make the shadow stay under the character. In others, I'd draw the shadows in with the walk cycle according to where Sol's feet were placed - which ended up looking far more effective! I also had to change opacity levels for some of the shadow layers in After Effects, as some turned out darker than others.