ANIMATION PRINCIPLES

In the 1930's, animators at Walt Disney Studios created a list of twelve principles of animation to help aid in the training of their new animators. These principles are now the basis for virtually all animation education curricula, though the original list of twelve is sometimes modified and shortened by some educators. Though the list was originally created in regards to traditional animation (i.e., hand drawn, with an emphasis on character animation), most, if not all, principles directly apply to animation techniques associated with motion graphics.

What makes cartoon characters get into any kind of a shape? What creates that elasticity? What makes Japanese animation more robotic or rigid when compared to the animation ones? What makes certain styles more appealing then others? 

The answer is Animation Principles Over the years experts have evolved the principles mentioned below as the GOLDEN RULES for creating animation to its best form.

The principles of animation were created in the early 1930s by animators at the Walt Disney Studios. These principles were used to guide production and creative discussions as well to train young animators better and faster. These principles became one of the foundations of hand-drawn cartoon character animation. The principles, as they are commonly referred to, also helped to transform animation from a novelty into an art form. By applying these principles to their work these pioneering animators produced many of the earliest animated feature films that became classics: Snow White (1937), Pinocchio and Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), and Bambi (1942).

The principles are mostly about five things, acting the performance, directing the performance, representing reality (through drawing, modeling, and rendering), interpreting real world physics, and editing a sequence of actions. The original principles are still relevant today because they help us to create more believable characters and situations. They can be applied to almost any type of animation, even though they work best for comedy. But, some of these principles require updates, and a few new additional principles are also needed to address the new techniques and styles of three-dimensional computer animation. Animation techniques and styles, and the scope of productions, have changed tremendously since the 1930s. The dominant, almost exclusive, style of animation then was hand-drawn pose-to-pose cartoon narrative animation. Today we have more styles including non-linear interactive videogames and non-narrative music videos. In the 1930s some animation techniques and capabilities were underdeveloped, camera moves and lighting for example, or misunderstood: rot scoping or stop-motion. Consider too the new tools that have transformed our craft: hand-held cameras, television, non-linear editing, compositing, motion capture, computer graphics and procedural tools. Other art forms have greatly evolved since the 1930s, creating new languages and new principles. It is time to do the same with animation, it is time to reinterpret and expand the original principles.

Animation Principles are:

• Key Drawings / Frames - Frames are the individual images that make up the timeline of the animation.Keyframe show important incremental stages in the animation of the subject
• Posing - Creating essential key frames that carries the action of the character in a specified path of action
• Inbetween - Drawings that come between key drawings
• Path of action - The path along which the action follows
• Arcs - The visual path of action for natural movement
• Staging - Presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear
• Timing - Spacing actions to define the weight and size of objects and the personality of characters
• Spacing - Allocation and placing of the inbetweens
• Stretch & Squash - Defining the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action
• Anticipation – The preparation for an action
• Slow-in & Slow-out - The spacing of the inbetween frames to achieve subtlety of timing and movement
• Exaggeration - Accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the action
• Follow through & Overlapping - The termination of an action and establishing its relationship to the next action
• Straight Ahead and Pose-to-Pose action – The two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement
• Secondary Action – The action of an object resulting from another action
• Appeal – Creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys watching
• Solid Drawing - Basic principles of drawing form