Secondary Action - Figure 8 Path of Action

(To help a fellow animator and anyone else who wishes to know how to do this.)

For animation, you must always make a Path of Action or else the animation won't look right. To do an action that requires something with a rope like qualities, you need to use what's known as a "figure 8" Path of Action. A figure 8 is a ice skater move where they carve an "8" shape into the ice with their skates. A quick google search will help you figure out what that is if you're still a bit lost. The green line in this picture is this example of the figure 8. See the "8" shape? This is what your animation is going to follow.

Now, see that pink dot at the base of the lines? This is your Anchor Point. The Anchor Point is where your lines must always attach in order to get a consistent animation. If you were drawing a tail or something, it will attach somewhere on the back side of the animal. Your lines must never detach from this line.

From the Anchor point, start drawing out your action lines. It doesn't have to look exactly what's up in my example but it would be a wise idea to do this as practice. Action A starts from line 1 with a very slight "C" shaped curve and follows the arrows to the right loop of the "8". As the action lines continue through the numbers above, the "C" curve turns into "S" curves and increase in intensity as it goes. Look at line 2 and you'll notice at the bottom of it that the "S" curve is starting at the base but very slightly. Remember, the "S" must always start to appear at the Anchor point first and increase from there.

Line 6 is where we get our snapping motion to show that the line of action is going the other way and returns to the "C" curve shape but with much more intensity. It's sometimes a bit tricky to get this right so if you find yourself struggling with this action, try adding an extra line between 5 and 6 or move the tip of 6 closer to where 5 is. Just remember that the action lines must ALWAYS be the same length. It's to stay consistent and makes the animation believable.

Now that we are at line 6, you will notice that we are in the inside loop of the "figure 8". Follow the lines until you hit Action B and you'll find yourself half way through the "figure 8". Action B is the exact opposite of Action A and if you notice, line 16 repeats the action at line 1. You have just completed 1 cycle of your animation. Congrats. Now just follow 1 line per frame with whatever you want to wave around and you'll be good to go.

Honestly, there's nothing more I can tell you about this. After you practice this a few times, you're well on your way to creating a lot more secondary actions for your animations.

Extra Notes:
-When you get closer to the loops of the figure 8, you must increase the amount of lines. This is because your lines are beginning to experience drag and are beginning to slow down. The more lines you add, the slower your action will be. After the snapping motion, the lines will speed up because the drag is no longer there so space out the lines a lot more in the center of the "8"
- The "figure 8" does not have to be this large. You can increase and decrease the size easily but remember to always curve this figure 8 like it is shown above. Animation follows Arcs when something is moving. It's more interesting this way.
- This animation above is following a 2 hold frame rate. This means when the animation is playing at the standard 24 frames per second, each drawing is being held for 2 drawings and so rather than have 24 drawings to complete 1 second of animation, you actually have 12 drawings in 1 second of animation. Most animations follow this rule but there are times when they must have 1 drawing per frame. For example: a quick motion or preforming what's known as a wipe. If you wish to know what a wipe is, let me know and I might make another example of it.

I believe that's just about it. If you want to know anything else, just comment below and I'll answer at the best of my ability.

Artwork (C): ~DarkTheHybrid