The Basic Principles of Animation

There are 12 basic principles of Animation. They were developed by the 'old men' of Walt Disney Studios, in the company of them was Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, during the 1930s.

1) SQUASH AND STRETCH

This is the first principle of animation. This action gives the confusion of weight and volume to a character as the character moves. Squash and stretch is also useful in animating communication and making facial expressions. It can be used in all forms of animation from a bouncing ball to the weight of someone walking. Squash and Stretch is the most important principle and you will need to use it the most. 

2) ANTICIPATION

This is the principle where the action prepares the audience that the character is going to perform a big action such as jumping, running or changing facial expression. It would look weird if a boy jumped straight into the air! 

A backwards motion happens before the forward action is carried out. This is where the word 'anticipation' comes in. 

3) STAGING

A pose or action clearly shows the audience the attitude/mood/reaction of the character as it relates to the story and flow of the story line. The use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles also helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of time in a film, so each sequence, scene and frame of film must relate to the overall story. You should only use one action at a time to get the message across to not confuse the audience. 

4) STRAIGHT AHEAD AND POSE TO POSE ANIMATION

Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to drawing to the end of a scene. Faster and more wild action scenes are done this way because you can lose size, volume, and quantity with this method but it does have naturalness/freshness. Pose to Pose is more planned out and plotted with key drawings done at breaks throughout the scene. 

5) FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION

Follow through is when the body of the character stops but then all other parts of the body continue to catch up to the main part of the character. This could be arms, long hair, floaty dress, etc. This happens because nothing stops all at once. When the character changes direction and their hair or clothes continue forward, it is called overlapping action. 
"DRAG" in animation, for example, would be when Snow White starts to dance, her dress does not begin to move with her immediately but catches up a few frames later.

6) SLOW-OUT AND SLOW-IN

As action starts, there are more drawings near the starting pose, one or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower. Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action, making it more life-like. 




7) ARCS

All actions follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true for a human figure character and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. 

8) SECONDARY ACTION

A secondary action is an action that results directly from another action. Secondary actions are important in adding interest and adding a realistic involvement to the animation.
Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful and aggressive, the leg action is basically a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk.

9) TIMING
Skills with timing mostly comes from experience and practise using the trial and error method to find out which timing is best for your certain action. The basics are: more drawings between poses slow and smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper. A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds interest to the movement. There is also timing in the acting of a character to show mood, emotion, and the reaction to another character or to a situation.

10) EXAGGERATION
Exaggeration doesn't always have to be violent action or distortion of a drawing but could actually be a cartoon of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head turn will make your film more appealing. Use good taste and common sense to keep from becoming too theatrical and unreasonably animated.



11) SOLID DRAWING
You usually draw cartoons in the classical sense, using pencil sketches. You transform these into colour and movement giving the characters the illusion of three-and four-dimensional life. Three dimensional is movement in space. The fourth dimension is movement in time.







12) APPEAL
An animated character needs to have appeal. Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, cruel, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture the audience's interest.


Reference: http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_principles.html