In the 1981 book “The Illusion of Life – Disney Animation” by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas it states that there are 12 basic principles of animation. These being: Squash and Stretch,Anticipation, Staging, Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose, Follow Through and Overlapping Action, Slow In and Slow Out, Arcs,Secondary Animation,Timing ,Exaggeration,Solid Drawing and Appeal. Today I will be explaining them along with some helpful animations created by “The Illusion of Life“.
Squash and Stretch
This is where you can define how rigid or soft an object is, by distorting the shape. This can be used to show movement or help exaggerate character’s expressions. It gives a sense of weight and flexibility to objects. It can be applied to simple objects, like balls, or more complex objects like a human face.
Anticipation
This is an action that tells the viewer what is going to happen next. For example, throwing a punch or looking down before you fall. As a more detailed example, a dancer jumping off the floor has to bend their knees first. This technique can also be used for less physical actions, such as a character looking off screen.
Staging
Staging is where you present your idea so it makes sense thus conveying a message. This is often a combination of many theories. Its purpose is to direct the audience’s attention and make it clear what is of greatest importance in a scene.
Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose
Straight ahead is the process of animating each frame in order to create a fluid , dynamic and stylised animation. It is better for producing realistic action sequences. On the other hand, it is hard to maintain proportions and create exact poses along the way.
Pose to Pose , also known as keyframing, is where animations are blocked out with the main movements or poses in place. This is used with 3D animation software such as Maya. This works better for dramatic or emotional scenes, where composition and relation to the surroundings are of greater importance.
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
This is a general heading for two closely related techniques which help render movement more realistically. It gives the impression that characters follow the laws of physics. Follow through means that loosely tied parts of a body should continue moving after a character has stopped moving. Overlapping action is the tendency for parts of the body to move at different rates.
Slow in and Slow out
This is where objects speed up and slow down. For example the movement of the human body and most objects need time to accelerate and slow down. For this reason, animation looks more realistic if it has more drawings near the beginning and end of an action.
Arcs
Most natural action tends to follow the trajectory of an arc. For example, the swing of our arms, or when we wave to each other. Animation should adhere to this principle by following implied arcs for greater realism.
Secondary Animation
These are extra little bits of animation to support the main movement or animation ( these are often hands and facial features). The important thing about secondary actions is that they emphasize, rather than take attention away from the main action.
Timing
This is the number of frames between movements. It refers to the number of drawings (frames) for a given action, which translates into the speed of the action on film. On a physical level, correct timing makes objects appear to obey the laws of physics.
Exaggeration
This is pushing movements and poses to extremes. It is especially useful for animations, as perfect imitation of reality can look static and dull in cartoons. The specific level of exaggeration depends on if you would like your animation to look realistic or not.
Solid Drawing
This is where you take into account forms of 3D-space, or giving them volume and weight. The animator needs to be very skilled and understand 3D shapes, anatomy, weight, balance and light.
Appeal
Appeal in a certain character corresponds to what charisma you would like in a character. Villians, monsters , heroes etc. There are several different tricks for making a character more likable to the audience, a baby face tends to be rather effective. A complicated or hard to read face will lack appeal.
If you would like to read up more on the 12 principles of animation. You can read these articles
http://jebmation.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/12-principles-of-animation-geris-game.html
http://blog.digitaltutors.com/understanding-12-principles-animation/
and watch this video series:
Jacob Scaife Development Blog 