Animating animals/creatures

So the first point of research is techniques into animating animals. I thought it would be a good idea to review the principles in relation to animation of creatures.

There is a note in the 'the animator's survival  kit', Richard Williams about animals (pg.327). This section focus's on the movement of four legged (quadrupeds). There are a few key points, where he uses the principles to show how you would depict the movement of creatures. He also mentions animator Milt Kahl, who was one of Disney's master animators:
http://disney.go.com/disneyinsider/history/legends/milt-kahl

In June 1934, Milt applied to The Walt Disney Studios and was hired to work as an assistant animator on such shorts as "Mickey's Circus," "Lonesome Ghosts" and "The Ugly Duckling," which won an Oscar for Best Animated Short. Over the years, Milt contributed to such Disney features as "Melody Time," "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," "Cinderella," "Lady and the Tramp," "101 Dalmatians," "The Jungle Book," and "The Rescuers," among others

Kahl swore by The Muybridge Books, finding them to be better than studying films, due to the grids. This is an interesting point to note when it comes to compiling references, as filming the action in front of a grid makes its easier to see accurately slight changes in shape when a person or animal moves.

This video here shows this animator making his references the same way, with a few good tips on animating creatures in 3D:
http://vimeo.com/33660586





I would like to include a study on The Muybridge books, and research the methods to compile my own references in a similar way.

Animators seem to agree that most animals walks are alike. The same principles to animating a human can be applied when animating animals, in this case quadrupeds. This short video gives a quick overview of some of the principles in a walk cycle:


I like this example Williams uses, where the legs of a dog can be considered as separate walk cycles almost, and the body will move and squash and stretch in accordance with the legs. Notice in his drawing how the dogs spine curves as the shoulders and hips drop and rise with each step.


 

Most animals seem to walk in similar ways, but its agreed that the best advice is to gather as many references of your chosen animal to animate. This would include photos, drawings, videos (the Muybridge books - animals in motion), sounds and also information on habits would help in thinking about your animal character. Other information, such as where the animal lives, its diet etc. would help in thinking about the setting for the character.

 Williams includes a very useful
http://www.animationmeat.com/pdf/featureanimation/4leg.pdf