12 PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION

SQUASH & STRETCH

Principle's main objective is to give objects a feeling of flexibility and weight. The easiest way to understand how it works - watch the bouncing ball. SQUASH & STRETCH helps to  exaggerate and make movements more interesting. An important aspect of this principle is that if the object is changing shape, it won't change it's volume

STAGING

The purpose of STAGING is to make sure that all characters, their facial expressions and actions are clear and understandable to the audience.

ANTICIPATION

ANTICIPATION is used to prepare the viewer for action that should happen. This principle is important to make the moment more realistic. For example, a man should sit down and bend his knees before making a jump.

POSE TO POSE

These are two different approaches to the process of drawing in this principle. In the first one you create each pose or drawing one after another. But in the second one firstly you create key frames, and only after that fill in the intervals.

FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTIONS

This principle describes the idea, in which parts of the body will continue to move after the character has stopped.

In real life, everything is moving at different speeds and at different times, so that's why FOLLOW THROUGH & OVERLAPPING ACTIONS are so important, in order to capture the reality and smoothness of the movements.

SLOW IN & SLOW OUT

Every object or character needs a speed up or speed down while moving or stopping. Without it movements would look unnatural and robotic. For example, when the car starts to move, it doesn't begin to move immediately at full speed. First of all it need speed, boost.

The calculation of the intervals is very necessary in SLOW IN & SLOW OUT.

ARCS

All living creatures have always followed an arc-shaped paths(trajectories).The only case in which something can move in a perfectly straight line, if you animate a robot, because it is very unnatural for humans to follow absolutely straight paths(trajectories).

SECONDARY ACTIONS

SECONDARY ACTIONS give more life and realism into characters and their actions. It is an expressive detail that emphasizes and supports the main action animation. 

It is important to remember that SECONDARY ACTIONS usually are unconspicuous, they must not distract from the main actions.

TIMING

TIMING means the number of frames between the two positions, such as moving the ball from the left side of the screen to the right. But calculating time you also must consider such things as weight, volume and emotional state of the character.

EXAGGERRATE & CARICATURE

EXAGGERRATE & CARICATURE principle is especially useful in animation, as the perfect imitation of reality may look static and boring in cartoons.

SOLID DRAWINGS

The animator needs to be a skilled artist and has to understand the basics of three-dimensional shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadow, etc.For the classical animator, this involve taking art classes and doing sketches from life.

APPEAL

This principle can really add more appeal to the different areas of your animation, such as interestingness of the pose. The most obvious example is the design of the character, you want to have a character with whom the audience can contact with.

You can create the most unique design, which will be stuck in the viewer's memory for a long time.