Principles of animation

In previous steps we have discussed six of Disney animators’ Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston’s twelve principles of animation:

• squash and stretch
• ease in and ease out
• arcs
• anticipation
• secondary action
• straight ahead vs. pose to pose

Below is a brief description of the other six principles. You may find them useful for analysing existing animations or for having a go at creating your own. Staging Staging is used to make sure that the most important actions in the story are noticed. Audiences can only process so much at once and we need directing to the key action. This can be achieved through a combination of framing, lighting and composition as well as ensuring that the backgrounds and other objects and characters do not create distractions and clutter. Follow through and overlapping action This principle is to develop realistic movement. When a character, or moving object, stops, then some of its attributes will keep moving or ‘follow ‘through’ – for example the superhero’s cape. If the superhero changes direction then the cape will take time to catch up, changing direction a few frames later, creating ‘overlapping action’. Timing Timing refers to the number of frames used to create an action or part of an action. The shorter the distance between positions, the slower and smoother the action; the greater the distance, the faster and sharper the action. Timing can be used to establish how characters interact, as well as their feelings and emotions. We have also discussed how animators can alter timing by using ones (24 frames) or twos (12 frames) to animate. Exaggeration Exaggeration is an important tool for animators to create drama by accentuating actions, emotion or expression. The amount used is a matter of taste, style and purpose. Solid drawing This is the principle that animation drawing should appear to have the weight and volume of the three dimensional asset being drawn. In other words, helping the sense that it is ‘real’ and (where necessary) subject to the laws of gravity! Appeal Animated characters need to be visually and emotionally appealing, regardless of whether they are the hero or not. For the story to function we need to be engaged with the characters. Thinking about examples from your own viewing experience, how useful do you find the twelve principles?