Locomotion
Curriculum Summary
12-week course breakdown:
Week 01 Quadruped Walks: The Cat
Jason Martinsen will cover basic quadruped walk theory as well as animate a “vanilla” quadruped walk demonstrating personal workflow techniques in Maya.
Week 02 Creating Weight in
Four-Legged Walks
Tom Gibbons, Senior Animator at Tippett studios, covers believable weight distribution in your animation walk cycles in creatures.
Week 03 Understanding
Animal Locomotion
Jim Brown, Animator at Pixar Animation Studios, explores complex weight, locomotion, force, and momentum with quadrupeds.
Week 04 Advanced Four-Legged Walks – Walkthrough
Brian Mendenhall, Animator at Tippett Studio, walks through the essentials of animating a complex quadruped walk.
Week 05 Understanding Weights
and Physicality
Jess Morris, animator at Industrial Light & Magic, explains weight distribution in different physical creature movements.
Week 06 Understanding Animal Locomotion & Performance
Jim Brown, animator at Pixar Animation Studios, explores how character and anatomy affect locomotion.
Week 07 Predatory Movements
Marco Merenghi, Animation Director at Animal Logic, shares professional tips on how to portray stealth, strength and power.
Week 08 Bringing Reality to Fantasy Creatures – Theory and Walkthrough
Animator Kenny Roy approaches a character that his pure fantasy by incorporating concepts from previous lectures.
Week 09 Pushing Reality: Exaggeration in Realistic Movement
Pete Kelly, Lead Animator at Cinematico, highlights the importance of using exaggeration to bring creatures to life.
Week 10 Advanced Predatory Behavior – Walkthrough
Will Groebe, Animation Supervisor at Tippett Studio, demonstrates his personal workflow techniques from blocking to final.

Week 11 Production Polish
Will Groebe discusses how adding details and nuances to the polish pass is key to making character feel alive.
Week 12 Review of Introduction to Animal and Creature Animation
Shawn Kelly and other instructors reinforce key concepts covered in the past 11 weeks.
Get Ready to Animate Creatures
Creature Animation: Locomotion starts the week of March 29, 2021.
Register Now