The 12 Principles of Animation
There are 12 basic rules, or principles, used in animation that need to be fully understood to be able to create an animation that has realistic moving characters. These rules where first set in stone by animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
1. Timing and Spacing
Timing and spacing are what makes the character or objects move in a realistic fashion, without them everything would look robotic.
Timing – Is the number of frames that are in between the start and end pose. The most basic example of this is a ball moving from right to left in 24 frames.
Spacing – Is how each of the frames are placed. Using the ball again if each of the 24 frames are put close together then it will look like it is moving slowly across the scene but spacing the frames further apart will make it look like it is moving faster.
2. Squash and Stretch
Squashing and stretching an object will make it seem more realistic and in animation you can get away with exaggerating it a little depending on the style of animation that you are doing.
Going back to the ball if you look at the way that it falls you will see that as it starts to speed up it will start to stretch out before hitting the floor. As the ball hits the floor the impact it will start to become squashed.
Most of the time this is used in the character’s face to exaggerate what they are thinking or felling.
3. Anticipation
As the name suggests anticipation is setting the audience up so that they know an action is about to happen along with making the movements even more believable.
If you look at someone about to start walking you will see that they move back slightly, this is to build up the momentum as well as being a cue for the audience.
4. Ease in and Ease Out
Whenever something is moving or coming to a stop there has to be a point for it to accelerate, ease in, and for it to deceleration, ease out. Without this everything becomes jerky.
To understand this at its best you have to have a clear idea of the way spacing works. If you look at someone standing up the positioning of the spacing at the start will be close together, as they ease in to the action, along with when they are fully standing, easing out of the action.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Follow Through – Once a character has stopped moving different parts of the body will keep on moving. When a character has stopped walking the rest of them will not stop dead at the same time, instead the arms will swing forward a little before stopping as it is still affected by the movement.
Overlapping Action – When one part of the character is moving other parts of the body will move at different times. For example, when you are waving your shoulder will be first to move, then your arm, followed by your elbow and finely your hand.
6. Arcs
You may not notice it but everything in real life more or less moves in an arc and this little detail can help to make your animation smoother. The best way to think about this is to look at the way someone turns their head, they will dip it down slightly forming the arc.
7. Exaggeration
You can use exaggeration in both stylized and realistic animation to help make current movements stand out and to make the action more appealing.
In stylized animations it can be used to make the movements look cartoony whereas in realistic animations it can be used to make the movements more readable for the viewer.
8. Solid Drawing
Solid drawing is use in both 2D and 3D animation.
In 2D it is used to create a character who is accurately drawn out with the right volume and weight as well as thinking about the balance and anatomy. Whereas in 3D animation it is thinking about the rigging of the model and making sure that it also has the right balance and weight in the pose but also isn’t “twinning”, meaning that the pose is the same on both sides such the character having both of their hands in their pockets.
9. Appeal
You can add appeal to a number of different areas to an animation. This is mostly done with the character so that they are seen as being unique along with the animation standing out in the viewer’s mind. The easiest way to do this is in the design of the character so that the audience can form a connection with them and relate to what they are going through.
10. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose
There are two different ways in which you can animate, going straight ahead or going pose to pose.
Straight ahead – A linear form of animation it involves creating each pose of the character one after the other as you are going along. If the character is jumping up then you would start with them standing, followed by them kneeling then crouching down and so on until they are standing again after jumping.
Pose to Pose – This does involve being more planned out and only drawing out the more important poses that are needed to show the action, this way you can control the timing of the pose before adding in the details of the other poses. For example, with the character jumping you would draw out them standing, crouching, being in the air and back to standing again before filling in the rest.
11. Secondary Action
You may not notice it but when you are watching a character performing an action there is normally a secondary action going on as well to help support it and making the animation look more convincing to the eye.
One thing to keep in mind is that the secondary action shouldn’t be that noticeable that it takes away from the main action. For example, if two characters are talking and one of then starts to tap their foot then the foot tapping would be the secondary action as it is not taking away from the characters talking.
12. Staging
The last thing that you need to think about when creating an animation is the way that you layer everything out in the scene. Working out the staging of the characters, what happens in the background and foreground and what camera angle to use are all important to creating a successful animation.
This could involve making sure that the camera is set up to show the character’s face clearly so that the viewer can understand what they are thinking.
By carefully thinking about this when the reason for the animation will be clear to the viewer and not leave them confused.
1. Timing and Spacing
Timing and spacing are what makes the character or objects move in a realistic fashion, without them everything would look robotic.
Timing – Is the number of frames that are in between the start and end pose. The most basic example of this is a ball moving from right to left in 24 frames.
Spacing – Is how each of the frames are placed. Using the ball again if each of the 24 frames are put close together then it will look like it is moving slowly across the scene but spacing the frames further apart will make it look like it is moving faster.
2. Squash and Stretch
Squashing and stretching an object will make it seem more realistic and in animation you can get away with exaggerating it a little depending on the style of animation that you are doing.
Going back to the ball if you look at the way that it falls you will see that as it starts to speed up it will start to stretch out before hitting the floor. As the ball hits the floor the impact it will start to become squashed.
Most of the time this is used in the character’s face to exaggerate what they are thinking or felling.
3. Anticipation
As the name suggests anticipation is setting the audience up so that they know an action is about to happen along with making the movements even more believable.
If you look at someone about to start walking you will see that they move back slightly, this is to build up the momentum as well as being a cue for the audience.
4. Ease in and Ease Out
Whenever something is moving or coming to a stop there has to be a point for it to accelerate, ease in, and for it to deceleration, ease out. Without this everything becomes jerky.
To understand this at its best you have to have a clear idea of the way spacing works. If you look at someone standing up the positioning of the spacing at the start will be close together, as they ease in to the action, along with when they are fully standing, easing out of the action.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Follow Through – Once a character has stopped moving different parts of the body will keep on moving. When a character has stopped walking the rest of them will not stop dead at the same time, instead the arms will swing forward a little before stopping as it is still affected by the movement.
Overlapping Action – When one part of the character is moving other parts of the body will move at different times. For example, when you are waving your shoulder will be first to move, then your arm, followed by your elbow and finely your hand.
6. Arcs
You may not notice it but everything in real life more or less moves in an arc and this little detail can help to make your animation smoother. The best way to think about this is to look at the way someone turns their head, they will dip it down slightly forming the arc.
7. Exaggeration
You can use exaggeration in both stylized and realistic animation to help make current movements stand out and to make the action more appealing.
In stylized animations it can be used to make the movements look cartoony whereas in realistic animations it can be used to make the movements more readable for the viewer.
8. Solid Drawing
Solid drawing is use in both 2D and 3D animation.
In 2D it is used to create a character who is accurately drawn out with the right volume and weight as well as thinking about the balance and anatomy. Whereas in 3D animation it is thinking about the rigging of the model and making sure that it also has the right balance and weight in the pose but also isn’t “twinning”, meaning that the pose is the same on both sides such the character having both of their hands in their pockets.
9. Appeal
You can add appeal to a number of different areas to an animation. This is mostly done with the character so that they are seen as being unique along with the animation standing out in the viewer’s mind. The easiest way to do this is in the design of the character so that the audience can form a connection with them and relate to what they are going through.
10. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose
There are two different ways in which you can animate, going straight ahead or going pose to pose.
Straight ahead – A linear form of animation it involves creating each pose of the character one after the other as you are going along. If the character is jumping up then you would start with them standing, followed by them kneeling then crouching down and so on until they are standing again after jumping.
Pose to Pose – This does involve being more planned out and only drawing out the more important poses that are needed to show the action, this way you can control the timing of the pose before adding in the details of the other poses. For example, with the character jumping you would draw out them standing, crouching, being in the air and back to standing again before filling in the rest.
11. Secondary Action
You may not notice it but when you are watching a character performing an action there is normally a secondary action going on as well to help support it and making the animation look more convincing to the eye.
One thing to keep in mind is that the secondary action shouldn’t be that noticeable that it takes away from the main action. For example, if two characters are talking and one of then starts to tap their foot then the foot tapping would be the secondary action as it is not taking away from the characters talking.
12. Staging
The last thing that you need to think about when creating an animation is the way that you layer everything out in the scene. Working out the staging of the characters, what happens in the background and foreground and what camera angle to use are all important to creating a successful animation.
This could involve making sure that the camera is set up to show the character’s face clearly so that the viewer can understand what they are thinking.
By carefully thinking about this when the reason for the animation will be clear to the viewer and not leave them confused.
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