Learn Character Design, Rigging and Walk Cycle Animation

Create the head layer by adding anchor points and shaping curves with Bezier handles. Refine with smoothing and adjust anchor positions, then apply skin color fill for a finished head.

Learn to create the hair layer in Illustrator by drawing smooth intersecting curves with pencil or brush, then expand appearance, simplify points, and apply color with the eyedropper tool.

Create the ear and neck by drawing an inner ear ellipse and a neck rectangle, locking other layers, and using the pencil trick to shape curves and set colors.

Create the body layer by shaping the upper and lower torso with anchor points and curves, then apply a black stroke, fill, and smooth the silhouette using the reference file.

Create the sleeve and arm by drawing rounded rectangles, aligning to a reference, using the minus front shape mode, and color with skin-tone to complete the layered artwork.

Create arm layers and hand outlines in illustrator using the pencil tool, stroke 1 point, overlap technique, then expand appearance, color outlines, and add joints with the ellipse tool.

Create the leg layer by drawing the ankle with the pencil tool, refining curves, smoothing edges, and applying a folded pants filter, preparing for shoe leather in the next lecture.

create the shoe and facial layers with the pencil tool to build outlines, adjust anchor points, and apply color; set up eye, smile, and eyebrow elements for animation readiness.

Assemble all body parts by unlocking layers and placing each piece on the reference file, then refine and duplicate layers for proper rigging in Adobe After Effects.

Rename and arrange character layers, and toggle visibility to identify parts. Prepare a lean head, torso, hands, and legs set for import to after effects for a walk cycle.

Learn to install Duik in Adobe After Effects on Windows by downloading the plugin, replacing older files, and opening the Duik panel from Window to enable rigging tools.

Import your illustrator character into after effects as a composition with all layers preserved, using retain layer sizes. Use drag‑and‑drop or right‑click import to keep every Illustrator layer intact.

Prepare the character for rigging by organizing the interface, decomposing each limb layer into its own composition, and using the puppet tool to create bones for animation.

Rigging the front leg by creating bones and puppet pins, switching the puppet engine to legacy for smoother mesh, naming joints, and parenting joints for coordinated movement.

Rig the back leg by creating bones for ankle, knee, and hip, renaming and copying them, and using locked guides to keep the setup clean.

Rig the front arm by aligning guides, placing joints with pins, enabling legacy puppet settings, and creating a null controller to drive the arm precisely.

Rig the back arm by painting bones with puppet pencil, add bones and controllers, set constraints and ik options, then render with the puppet engine.

Rig the body layer by setting up guides, creating three pins, and building a simple bone structure with proper parenting to prepare for labeling body parts and animation.

Label and organize character rig layers by color-coding, hiding unused layers, and parenting to the body while adjusting anchor points for head and neck to prepare for animation.

Set up the walking phase reference in the timeline, reveal only phase one with a rough mask, adjust scale, and darken the back layer with curves to prepare for animation.

Begin animating the legs by resetting leg positions, using guides and reference frames, and keyframing knee, ankle, and heel rotations for the first phase of the walk cycle at 25 fps.

In phase two of leg animation, add keyframes for the front and back legs, adjust masks and anchor points, and refine rotations and positions for knee bends and heel rotation.

Create hold keyframes for the legs, extend masks and anchor points, and cross-paste keyframes between the front and back legs to complete three walking phases.

Copy and align keyframes across the fourth and fifth walking phases, adjusting anchor points and hiding irrelevant phases to build five-cycle walk animation. Prepare middle phases for the next lecture.

Create the leg middle phases by aligning a reference file and mask, adjusting anchor points and leg poses, and applying rotation and hold keyframes to match the reference.

Fix the walk cycle by adjusting leg positions and ground contact across key frames, using a reference file and cross-copying phases to maintain natural animation.

animate the arms by setting up controllers, adjusting anchor points and masks, and creating keyframes across five phases, copying frames to mirror front and back arm movements.

Animate the body, neck, and head by adjusting body down, middle, and up layers with keyframes and rotations, then apply hold frames and easing for smoother motion.

Extend the walk cycle to 24 frames per second for a slower, smoother animation, adjust keyframes and copy them across legs, and apply ease-in transitions to all phases.

Import the character into a new composition, trim the work area, set full hd 25 fps 10-second background, and apply time remapping with loopOut to animate a continuous walk cycle.