Timing for Animation, 40th Anniversary Edition, 3rd Edition

Timing to Suggest Weight and Force—2

To give the impression that a character is wielding a heavy hammer it is important to time the movement carefully.

The start position is as Fig. 34-1. The man is relaxed with the hammer head resting on the peg which he is going to hit. To start the movement he lifts the hammer. If it is heavy, he cannot do this in the position shown in Fig. 34-1A as he would then be off-balance and would topple over. In order to transfer the weight of the hammer over his feet so that he is balanced, he must step forward and grasp the hammer near its head (Fig. 34-2). He can now slide the hammer toward himself and lift it above his widely spaced feet (Fig. 34-3). As the head of the hammer rises above shoulder level, he starts ...