12 Principles of Animation

Squash and Stretch

The most important principle is squash and stretch, which gives the animation a sense of realism, by doing this it, changes the complexity of the animation. Squash and stretch is a traditional principle that involves changing the weight and dynamics of the character/object.

Anticipation
Anticipation is the technique used to make the audience notice that the character is about to do something for example; running, jumping etc. Anticipation is a skillful use of motion curves, expanding or the ability to put it all together to create a anticipatory effect.

Staging
Staging is a quite a useful technique in animation, the point of using staging is to alert the audience that something is happening on the screen plus it shows importance of characters on the screen. There are a few things that can alter the staging on a scene for example; placement o the character, the use of the light and shadow and the angle and position of the camera.

Malik Tahir

MGA

12 Principles of Animation
Straight Ahead or Pose to Pose
There are two diferent types of actual drawing process, they are both very different but some aspects of them are a bit similar. Straight ahead is not as detailed as pose to pose due to the fact that you start of with a character and you work bit by bit to complete the animation, which could make the character out of proportion therefore causing the animator to backtrack and lose time. While pose to pose works better for very dramatic scenes, pose to pose consists of the starting point of the character is added to a scene then the character will be moved to another position instead of changing the character every time now instead the animator can just ill in the missing movements

Follow-Through and Overlapping

Follow through and overlapping are one of the principles that not everyone thinks about the little things that fall under the category of this principle such a arms, long hair, clothing, coat tails etc. There are many things that can be animated to create a realistic animation or even an over exaggerated animation still needs follow through and overlapping.

Slow-in and Slow-out

Slow in and slow out is the movement of all moving objects in animation, the object needs time to accelerate and slow down. By using this technique the object becomes more realistic.

Arcs
Most things follow an arched trajectory; by following this principle the object/character will achieve a greater realistic character. For example; a limb moving or a thrown object.

Secondary Action
Secondary action is the main action that gives a scene more life, its as if each part has its own specific movement. In simpler form the secondary action means that every movement is noticed for example the movement of the arms while a human walked.

Malik Tahir

MGA

12 Principles of Animation
Timing
When timing is used in the same context of animation it is meant as in frames and number of drawings, by having the right timing things appear to have the laws of physics which makes the audience more intrigued by the character.

Exaggeration
Using this principle it gives the character a less static and dull look, a very good example of exaggeration is employed by Disney. Exaggeration is used in many animators work especially in cartoons etc.

Solid Drawing
The basic rules of drawing are form, weight, volume solidity and the illusion of three dimensions. You can transform sketches into characters and also you can give them movement and life.

Characters Appeal
An animated character has appeal while a live performer has charisma. All character have to have their own clich (heroic, comic, cute or villainous) They need to have a personality, and there has to be a character development going through the animators mindset.

Malik Tahir

MGA