Animation test: Pulling something heavy

In class we were tasked with animating a character pulling or pushing something heavy< this is my animation:

Christmas Animation

Merry Christmas! Be sure to keep your puppies away from the presents! Seriously my pup destroyed my tree and opened here gift too early!

Animation class 18/11/16

In class we were tasked with making a run cycle without any examples, we could run in the classroom to get an idea on how to animate it but that was about it.

Instead of running around the classroom I looked up examples online on how professionals make them, I then sketched out an idea in Photoshop before moving onto Adobe Animate.

The Sketch:

The first animation:

After creating this animation I was asked to make him/her run on the spot, this is a good way to see if things don't match up or are out of place.

Once this was done I was given permission to make edits, I added a secondary action, ears.

When I have some free time I want to polish this up and add some more features to turn it into a  character, possibly add more than one to give depth.

I really want to improve so constructive criticism is welcome! Feel free to comment on what could be improved or what doesn't look right.

Animator Review Bill Plympton

Born on the 30th of April in Oregon, United States, Bill Plympton(see fig1) served in the National Guard from 1967 to 1972 and during his time in the National guard he moved to New York and studied at the School of Visual Arts, from here he spent 15 years as an illustrator and cartoonist designing the following magazines:

Cineaste, Filmakers Newsletter, and Film Society Review.

Plympton also had his illustrations in the New York Times, Vogue, House Beautiful, The village voice, Screw and Vanity Fair.

(Figure1) Bill Plympton [Photograph]

In 1975 Plympton started a cartoon strip called "Plympton" in The Soho Weekly News, it was a political comic and by 1981 it was syndicated in over 20 papers by Universal Press Syndicate, a subsidiary of Andrews McMeel Universal.

Loving animation from a very early age Plympton sent his drawings to Disney as an attempt to be hired, however considering he was 14 they politely refused his offer, however he would later be offered a place as Director and Animator for the film "Boomtown"(1985) by Valeria Wasilewski of the Android Sisters.
The film was about Ronald Raegans administration and how his spending on defense was causing fear and speculation in america.

After "Boomtown" Plympton created two films, one of these was called "Your Face"(see fig 2) which won an Oscar in 1988 which began his career in commercial animation, working with the likes of "Taco Bell", "Trivial pursuit", "Nike" and "Mercedes Bens".
Eventually Plympton had the chance to create a feature length film "The Tune" which consisted of over 30,000 hand drawn cels was a hit and won Houston WorldFest Gold Jury Special Award as well as a Spirit Award nomination for Best Film Score.

(Figure 2) Your Face [Still]

Plympton has created many films since he first started, currently he is working on Hitler's Folly a mock-umentary about Hitlers love of animation and a film called Revengeance which is being partially funded by a Kickstarter.

Bibliography:

Bill Plymptons biography [Website] http://www.plymptoons.com/about/[Accessed 17/10/16]

Boomtown (1985)[Animated Musical] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088839/ [Accessed 17/10/16]

Cineaste Magazine [Website] http://www.cineaste.com/ [Accessed 17/10/16]

Filmakers Newsletter (1967-1970) [Magazine] Suncraft international, New york

Film Society Review (1963-1965) [Magazine] The Federation, New york
House Beautiful [Magazine and Website] http://www.housebeautiful.co.uk/ [Accessed 17/10/16]
New York Times [Newspaper and Website] http://www.nytimes.com/ [Accessed 17/10/16]
Screw (1968 - 2003) [Magazine] Al Goldstein, USA
Soho Weekly News [Magazine and Website] http://www.sohoweeklynews.com/ [Accessed 17/10/16]
The Tune (1992) [Animated film] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105654/ [Accessed 17/10/16]
The village voice [Magazine and Website] http://www.villagevoice.com/ [ Accessed 17/10/16]
Vanity Fair [Magazine and Website] http://www.vanityfair.com/ [Accessed 17/10/16]
Vogue [Magazine and Website] http://www.vogue.co.uk/ [ Accessed 17/10/16]
Your Face (1987) [Animated Musical] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094364/ [Accessed 17/10/16]

Illustrations:
(Figure 1) Bill Plympton [Photograph]
(Figure 2) Your Face [Still]