How a Bear Walks - Quadruped Locomotion

Bear Walk by Amanda Costa

How does a bear walk? All animators need to learn how to animate a quadruped walk cycle.  All quadrupeds walk in more or less the same way, allowing for anatomy (herbivores have less flexible spines than do carnivores). 

To the left is a bear walk cycle animated by Amanda Costa, showing the live action reference used to create the animation.  

Quadruped Walk Tutorial & Thumbnails

32 Frame Walk Cycle with a Bear

At Escape Studios we have many video tutorials at Panopto and our

Vimeo Channel on how to animate animal & creatures. 

Quadruped Walk Tutorial

We don't have a tutorial specifically for bears, but since all quadrupeds walk in more or less the same way, you can use the  Horse Animation Tutorials at Vimeo to get the main positions of the feet.  Just follow the tutorial using the bear rig. 

Bear Rig by Truong

We recommend the free bear rig by Truong. Follow this link to download it.

Thumbnail Sketches

Also follow the thumbnail sketches on the right to plan the walk cycle.  These follow the same basic pattern as the Horse Animation Tutorials - starting the cycle with the rear right foot contact position. 

Simplified Cycle

The Horse Animation Tutorials are broken down into sections, based on a simplified breakdown of a quadruped walk, using basic techniques to get a fast and accurate result.  

Bear walk by Joris Van Laar

Work Method

1. Begin at frame 1 with the Rear Right Foot Contact.  Frame 33 must be the same as Frame 1. 1 & 33 must be identical for the cycle to work.
2. Then do frame 17 - a mirror image of frame 1 and 33.
3. Then do frame 9 - front right foot contact, and frame 25, front left foot contact. Frame 9 and 25 are mirror images of each other.
4. Now do frame 5 and frame 21 - the high point at the shoulders, and the low point at the back. These poses are also mirror images of each other
5. Now do frame 13 and frame 29, the low point at the shoulders and the high point at the back. These poses are also mirror images of each other.
6. Finally, tidy your curves. 

Resources

To see more resources on how to animate animals and creatures, follow the links below:

• How to Plan Character & Creature Animation
• How a Bear Walks - Locomotion Tutorial
• Animate a Crab Scuttle
• Animate a Fish Swimming
• Animate a Horse Running
• Leopard Walk Tutorial at Vimeo
• Spider Animation Workshop
• How to film animals and creatures for live action reference
• Ziva muscle systems tutorial with Michael Davies
• Scorpion Animation Tutorial at Vimeo with Alex Williams
• Horse Animation Tutorials at Vimeo with Alex Williams
• Horse Run Tutorial with Marc Stevenson
• Dragon in Flight Tutorial with Jamie Floodgate
• Quadruped Transitions with Maria Robertson
• Bird in Flight Tutorial with Marc Stevenson
• Putting Animals on a Path with Marc Stevenson
• How Animals Move with Stuart Sumida

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects.
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