PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION

This principle gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as they move. This is done by expanding and compressing the character’s body.

• Squash and Stretch

• Anticipation

• Staging

• Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose

I s used to let the audience know that a major action is about to take place. To do this, animators will often work in a smaller action or two, right before the major action to signal that something is coming.

• Staging

• Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose

• Anticipation

• Squash and Stretch

The principle that every pose or action that a character makes should convey a clear intention.It also applies to the movement and placing of the camera.

• Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose

• Anticipation

• Squash and Stretch

• Staging

Refers to the techniques by which animation is crafted. It involves drawing the key poses that you’d like the character to take first and then filling in the transitional poses second. It's technique is more nuanced and involves an animator literally crafting one frame after another.

• Staging

• Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose

• Anticipation

• Squash and Stretch

This principle argues that when a character is in action and stops, nothing stops all at once. So when a character is running and stops, their main body will stop, but the other parts of their body will keep moving for a bit after.

• Follow Through and Overlapping Action

• Slow-In and Slow-Out

• Arc

• Secondary Action

Is another principle designed to add realism to the movement of characters. When characters are performing actions, animators will draw more frames at the start of the action, less frames in the middle, and more frames again at the end of the action to create this effect. (Kind of like a pendulum!)

• Arc

• Follow Through and Overlapping Action

• Slow-In and Slow-Out

• Secondary Action

This principle suggests that almost all actions in life have a slightly circular motion. When a head turns or an arm moves, rarely will it thrust straight in and straight out. Often it will have a little curve to it.

• Arc

• Secondary Action

• Slow-In and Slow-Out

• Follow Through and Overlapping Action

Is an additional action that reinforces and adds more dimension to the main action.

• Follow Through and Overlapping Action

• Slow-In and Slow-Out

• Arc

• Secondary Action

Helps create the illusion that an action is abiding by the laws of physics. By adjusting the this of a scene, animators can make that scene look either slower and smoother (with more frames) or faster and crisper (with less frames).

• Exaggeration

• Timing

• Solid Drawings

• Appeal

It is all about overstating certain movements in a way that helps evoke a point, yet doesn’t ruin the believability of the scene.

• Exaggeration

• Timing

• Appeal

• Solid Drawings