12 Principles of Animation
An overview
The 12 principles of animation are the most important tools in any animator's arsenal. Whether you're animating for Disney or for a school project, this is the foundation upon which all animation is based and focused.
The 12 basic principles of animation are:
1. Squash and stretch
2. Anticipation
3. Staging
4. Straight ahead action and pose to pose
5. Follow through and overlapping action
6. Slow in and slow out
7. Arcs
8. Secondary action
9. Timing
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid drawing
12. Appeal
Stretch and squash
There is immense importance placed on this principle as it is used often to portray weight and volume in an animation. The ability to stretch an animated object to its limits or to squash the same object flat is important in demonstrating the proportions of a character/object in its environment. It is most certainly used often and will come in handy in animating characters, more so for those with especially cartoonish figures and mannerisms. For example, stretch and squash may be used to display the reaction in a character's face or the weight of the same character on diving board.
Anticipation
Much can be said about the effect of anticipation on an audience, even in real life. The importance of this principle lies in the build to any major event or occurrence. Take the compression of a spring before it launches Wile E Coyote into the air and then again the anticipation created from his shadow growing larger on the ground just before he slams right into the road and eats dirt. Anticipation is crucial to make it clear that something important is about to take place within an animation. Sometimes anticipation may even be neglected for comical effect. This demonstrates how important this principle is, that even though it is missing, it is noticeable enough to make an impact on the viewer.
Staging
The principle of staging is crucial to the presentation of idea, character or motive in an animation. This is where story boarding comes in as often planning the lay out of the scene helps when staging the animation. The trick behind staging is to always make the story behind the animation blatantly obvious for the viewer. An animator is given a limited number of frames or seconds to portray and entire story, therefore it is important to plan staging ahead of time and to make use of every frame to portray the idea as simply as possible. The background of a scene is crucial when thinking about staging as the two act as one in animation.
Straight ahead and pose to pose
Straight ahead and pose to pose are two very important methods of animating. While straight ahead entails the animator drawing the scene from start to finish using spontaneity and creativity, the pose to pose method dictates the use of guideposts to help the animator plan the scene from frame to frame. Both methods are great and have their pros and cons, however, the best method is to combine the two for the creation of movement. In this way, there can be rough guideposts while before the animator begins to draw the scene from one frame to the last managing to maintain creative freedom and improvisation in the process.
Follow through and overlapping action
Timing is key when it comes to follow through and overlapping action. This method ensures that things move within the physical dimensions of the world and that when a character halts, everything (including his hair, clothes, arms, etc.) do not simply stop at once with him. This is also where overlapping action come into play as it dictates the manner in which a character's accessories continue to move in the same direction as the previous frame despite the character's sudden change of direction. Both these principles are crucial in simulating a real, often comical, reaction to a change in motion.
Slow in and slow out
Another method where timing is a crucial factor. Slow in and slow out has to do with the frames in-between and how their spacing relates to the overall appeal of the animation. It tends to be more visually appealing for a character to slow out of one pose if he is slowing into the next pose. This is usually done by controlling path of the object in the frames between two poses to make it more life-like. For example, when a ball bounces, it slows down when it reaches its maximum height and then slowly speeds up as it head towards the ground.
Arcs
The natural movement of the human body pans out through the use of arcs. Whether this be a head turn or a kick to the chest, the body's motions are formed in arcs. In animation, arcs are used to make characters seem more life-like as even a punch to the head is exaggerated in the form of an arc from the fist to the face.
Secondary action
A secondary action is the result of an extenuated gesture used to portray an impact in the frames following an important action. This is usually how the audience can tell that an action is important, so much so that it has effected its environment or is causing another action. The most clear and obvious example would be the skipping of a pebble on water and the ripples that are created as a result. Another example would be the shaking of the ground and the falling of leaves on trees as a giant walks by a neighborhood.
Timing
While I've touched on timing in earlier principles, here's where the true importance of timing comes into play. Timing is crucial when it comes to using well spaced frames to create or enhance the personality of a character. Whether this means frames being used in quick succession to demonstrate the urgency of a situation or long drawn out scenes which build anticipation in preparation for the next frame or pose.
Exaggeration
Using design to accentuate and idea helps to make a point clear as well as to provide comical relief in most cases when animating. Exaggeration is a powerful tool when used right and with moderation. This method could be used as simply as in a facial expression or a subtle gesture. It has the greatest impact when used to relieve stress from a scene or to push an pose to that extra limit making it clearly dominant in building up to a scene that clearly defines the story.
Solid Drawing
This is the concept of giving character true three dimensional life, whether through the extenuation of weight or volume. Solid drawing means that in-between frames should be drawn to stand out on their own and tell a piece of the overall story in an animation. This is so crucial to ensure that no quality is lost in the rush of pumping out animations from pose to pose or from keyframe to keyframe.
Appeal
A very important principle, while most principles manage to catch the attention of the audience, appeal helps keep it. The appeal of characters within an animation makes it relatable and memorable. When all aspects of a scene are attractive and keep the audience wanting more, then the animator has done his job in creating a good animation with the use of appeal. The audience should be effected and should experience the emotion the animator was intending when creating the visual animation. Appeal is created when characters have a lasting effect on the minds of their viewers.
In conclusion
The aim of this post was to summarize and simplify the 12 principles of animation. Upon learning them in class the other day, I felt doing research and blogging about the principles would be a good way of learning them better and keeping them in mind as I progress through my Computer Animation course this semester.
Animation is interesting and appealing and has always been one of my passions. I am glad that I get to explore it in far more detail this semester. I realize that it's going to be hard work, but then again nothing worth it every came out of smooth sailing. Here's a neat video that ties the 12 principles into an animation (a trailer for Ice Age):
Source of research:
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