First of all what exactly are animation principles and what are their

parts? I know almost all of us here are not familiar with animation
principles so let us explain them to all of you here;

There are twelve parts of animation principles such as:

First, what are the animation of principles?

The principles of animation are a set of guidelines for creating

the illusion of movement and bringing characters and objects
to life in animation. And the process of photographing various
puppet postures or drawings in order to give the impression
that they are moving when a movie is exhibited as a sequence.
And the common mistake by beginners in animation is that
everything moves at the same time on the same keyframes.
They literally animate every part of the body at the same time
which results in poor action. This is the reason why observing
what is going on with everything that moves around us is very
important.

The 12 Principles of Animation is a group of key

teachings for the professional animator.
There are twelve parts of animation principles such as:

1. Squash and stretch: Used to give a sense of weight and

volume to a character or object.

The squash and stretch rule is about giving a sense of

weight and flexibility to drawn objects. It works on simple
objects, like a bouncing ball, and complex compositions
with human bodies. The most important aspect of this
principle is an object's volume. It should not change when
squashed or stretched.

2. Anticipation: Preparatory action that sets up the action and

prepares the audience for it.
Anticipation is used to prepare the audience for action and to
make the action appear more realistic. It’s about showing a
small opposite, contrasting movement, before the actual move.
Before a man runs, he bends his body in the opposite direction
and crouches low, raising his shoulders and one leg. It’s based
on real-life actions: a dancer jumping needs to bend their
knees first, and a golfer making a swing has to swing the club
back first. It seems to be a natural way for creatures to move;
few movements in real life occur without some kind of
contrasting, opposite action.

3. Staging: The way that an action or event is presented

visually to the audience.

Staging in animation is similar to staging in theatre and film.

Its purpose is to direct the audience's attention and make it
clear what is of the greatest importance in a scene. This can
be done in various ways, such as the use of light and shadow,
the angle and position of the character, or the weight and
colors.

4. Straight-ahead action and pose-to-pose: Two different

approaches to drawing an animation sequence.

Straight Ahead Action creates a more dynamic illusion of

movement and is better for creating realistic movements, but
it makes it harder to maintain proportions and create exact,
precise poses along the way. Pose to Pose works better for
dramatic, emotional, or even exaggerated scenes, where
composition and relation to the surroundings are more
important.

5. Follow-through and overlapping action: Used to show how

an object or character continues to move after the main action
is finished.
  Follow Through means that loosely tied parts of a body
should continue moving after the character (skeleton) has
stopped. Also, these parts should keep moving beyond the
point where the character stopped only to be
subsequently "pulled back".
 Overlapping Action is the rule for the animation of different
body parts. They should move at different rates. In
character animation, an arm will move at a different time
than the head.

6. Slow in and slow out (also called ease in and ease out):
Used to make the action look more natural by gradually
speeding up and slowing down.

The movement of objects in the real world needs time to

accelerate and slow down. For this reason, more pictures
should be drawn near the beginning and end of an action,
creating a slow-in and slow-out effect. It helps to achieve
more realistic movements.

7. Arcs: Most natural actions and movements follow an arc,

which gives a sense of flow and smoothness.

Most natural action tends to follow an arc, and animation

should reflect this rule for greater realism. This could have
something in common with the weight of objects, but,
whatever the reason is, most living organisms moving will
follow some kind of arc. For example, when animating a
pointing finger, the animator should make sure that in all
drawings between the two extreme poses the fingertip follows
a simple arc from one extreme to the next. Animations based
on drawings with straight in-betweens can completely kill the
essence of the movement.

8. Secondary action: Supporting actions that reinforce the

main action and add depth to a scene. Adding secondary
actions to the main movement gives a scene more life and
makes it look more natural.

The important thing about secondary actions is that they

should emphasize the main action. They should be planned
wisely because if they conflict with or becomes more
interesting or dominating than the main action, the entire
animation will suffer. Secondary Action should work with
characters’ or objects’ features, so the expression is
emphasized and the scene looks outstanding. The best
solution is to start by animating the main action and then
slowly add other movements and secondary actions. Used
correctly, Secondary Action will add richness to the scene,
and naturalness to the movement, and will support staging.

9. Timing: Refers to the number of frames used to depict an

action and the pace at which the action is shown. The number
of frames used in any movement determines the amount of
time that action will take.

Timing is about the speed of the action. On a physical level,

correct timing makes objects look like they follow the laws of
physics. Timing is critical for establishing a character's mood,
emotion, reaction, and staging. It is also a great way to
communicate a character's personality. Timing helps to show
that character is relaxed, excited, nervous, or lethargic.
10. Exaggeration: The use of extremes to emphasize an action
or expression for comedic or dramatic effect.
This principle is an effect especially useful if you want to make
your animation look more like a caricature of realism. The
level of exaggeration depends on the effect the animator
wants to achieve. The classical definition of exaggeration,
employed by Disney, was to remain true to reality, just
presenting it in a wilder, more extreme form. If a scene
contains several elements, there should be a balance in how
those elements are exaggerated about each other. If a
character is sad, he should be sadder, if he is bright - make
him brighter.

What are the main purpose and use of animation principles?

The main purpose of these rules was to provide the impression

that cartoon characters followed the fundamental laws of
physics, but they also addressed more ethereal concerns like
emotional timing and character appeal.

What is the first and most important principle in animation?

The squash and stretch rule is about giving a sense of weight

and flexibility to drawn objects. It works on simple objects,
like a bouncing ball, and complex compositions with human
bodies. The most important aspect of this principle is an
object's volume.

This is the explanation of our group about the animation principles. And other group will explain what
are the importance of these twelve principles.