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Funny looking tokoyami (chap 380) and baby tokoyami and shadow (chap 381)

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Learning how to animate like Milt Kahl (of Walt Disney Animation Studios)

Recently I found myself fascinated by the work of Milt Kahl. He worked at Walt Disney Animation Studios from 1934 to 1976 and was famous for his way of animating “head swaggles.” He is widely regarded as one of the best animators to ever live. However, I haven’t found many examples of people trying replicate his techniques. It feels very much like “Oh his work is so amazing, I could never animate like that!” 

WHY NOT? If Milt Kahl could figure it out, why can’t someone else? So here are a few rough animations I made trying to figure out the head swaggle. 

-The First Head Swaggle Test

This first attempt was made before I really dissected how Kahl actually animated the swaggle. The bulk of this was animated in about 45 minutes. Mostly I was testing the waters here. It’s not quite right, but I’m still pretty happy with it. 

-The Look and Pivot Swaggle Test

Around here, I realized that there is a trick to the swaggle: they are all guided by the nose. Many of Kahl’s best head swaggles are on characters with very pronounced noses or muzzle areas (Shere Khan from the Jungle book, Edgar from the Aristocats, Tigger, etc). Very often the nose acts as a pivot point for the swaggle. It will stay relatively still while the whole head swivels around it. Even though I had figured that out, I wasn’t fully satisfied with the swaggle in this animation. Too subtle. I had to try again.

-Full Pivot Swaggle Test

I wanted to fully commit to the pivot swaggle with no ease in or out. Having a slightly more defined head shape definitely helps with making it appear more three dimensional. The secondary action of the ears also helps sell the movement. While still a little rough, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out!

-Final Thoughts

It was a lot of fun trying to figure this out. I’ll likely continue to study Kahl’s work to further improve as an animator. I’m not going to say it wasn’t hard, because it was! Even with using animation software and animating on twos, it was hard. 

I would love to see more people give this test a try! Milt Kahl was an extremely talented and skilled animator. But, I worry that others see this level of skill as unobtainable. It is obtainable! It’s not Disney magic, but it is a cool magic trick ;)

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shoutout to the slow artists. the artists with hardly any time for art. the artists who reach the end of the day with no energy for art. you got this i believe in you and you are no less valued than anyone else

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Here's another one of my G3 My Little Pony Ponyville backcards. This one has a bunch of different sets on it. ^v^

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everyones talking about Krupp and the Oncler sharing voice actors but no ones talks about Andy from the Office

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no context underpants day 1!

posting some here - first time reading this book in color!

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Don't talk to me and my daughter and her daughter and her daughter ever again.

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I don't want my cellphone to have AI I want it to have 3 days of battery time. I don't want my computer to have AI preinstalled I want it to have seven usb ports and high ram at affordable price. I don't want my games to have AI built levels I want them to be so optimized I could run them on a nokia.

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I know it took me a while but here it is @mayor-of-stupidtown

I have a lot of questions about the Krupp au, Like why of all the Krupps, why the Krupp show? He is the most irresponsible XD- BUT I LOVE THE IDEA!!! I wonder how George would have reacted, aaaaaannndd

I'M SO SORRY I JUST HAD TO 😭😭😭

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This is mostly au stuff and uh-

WARNING BLOOD

Smoll man

In case some people don't know why he wasn't taking care of the children

first time I choose the color palette

I'm almost done with the animation also thanks to the people who liked the mini comic thank you all have great day ^^

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Small lil doodle of my au :)

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captain underpants sparkledog au because i CAN! (i cant figure out color scheme or patterns for krupp and cap yet)

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NO CONTEXT UNDERPANTS IS BACK ON INSTA!!!

I WILL BE POSTING UNDERPANTS AGAIN! MAYBE ON HERE TOO!

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he can get it though 👀

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Hello again this are all silly post

Oh yeah and this

Hey captain 😏