1. Before you start creating your walk cycle you should at least have created symbols for the following body parts.
   • arm-hand
   • body-head
   • straight leg
   • bent leg
   • straight foot (toes in neutral position)
   • bent foot (toes bent upwards)
   • (Optional) bent foot 2 (toes bent downwards - for characters without shoes)
2. IMPORTANT: Your walk cycle will be made inside of a MOVIE CLIP SYMBOL. Make a new movie clip symbol (Insert menu > New Symbol... or Apple F8). Name this symbol "MC_WalkCycle."
3. Create a new guide layer and name it “guides.” Draw a colored horizontal line that will represent the ground level.
4. Set up your character in the contact position (without arms for now), putting body parts in separate layers.
   
   NOTE: It is best if your character is in the middle of the frame (the cross hairs indicates the center)
   
   NOTE: It is VERY important that you name your layers. It can get very confusing. So that you can follow along, I recommend that you use the following naming convention. NOW (when naming and creating layer) is the time that you think in terms of "left leg" and "right leg."
   
5. Remember, in the contact position, the leading leg should be straight while the trailing leg should be slightly bent. The leading foot should be a straight foot while the trailing foot should have the toes bent
6. Once you’ve finished creating the contact position, go to the “guides” layer and add a horizontal line marking the location of the top of the head.
   
7. BEFORE YOU CREATE ANY NEW KEYFRAMES you must reset the center point for each symbol ON THE STAGE. This time use the transform tool to set the center points. (The payoff for setting the center points the first time comes when you swap symbols - if you don't get it, you'll just have to trust me). Again, when you rotate the symbol, this is the point around which the symbol rotates. If your symbol was a throwing knife you'd put the center point where the blade meets the handle. If your symbol was the hand of a clock, you'd put the center point at the base end of the symbol.
   
8. Make a new column of keyframes (for every layer) at frame 17.
   

NOTE: in the figure above, just below the playhead is the frame number indicator, it reads "14." READ this indicator when selecting frames.

Continue To Part 5