THE 12 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION

Paraphrased from the "Illusion Of Life" by Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston.(pp.47-69)
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

1. SQUASH AND STRETCH
This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. Also
squash and stretch is useful in animating dialogue and doing facial expressions. How
extreme the use of squash and stretch is, depends on what is required in animating the
scene. Usually it's broader in a short style of picture and subtler in a feature. It is used in
all forms of character animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person
walking. This is the most important element you will be required to master and will be
used often.
2. ANTICIPATION
This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to
perform, such as, starting to run, jump or change expression. A dancer does not just
leap off the floor. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. The
backward motion is the anticipation. A comic effect can be done by not using
anticipation after a series of gags that used anticipation. Almost all real action has major
or minor anticipation such as a pitcher's wind-up or a golfers' back swing. Feature
animation is often less broad than short animation unless a scene requires it to develop
a characters personality.
3. STAGING
A pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience the attitude, mood,
reaction or idea of the character as it relates to the story and continuity of the story line.
The effective use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles also
helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of time in a film, so each sequence,
scene and frame of film must relate to the overall story. Do not confuse the audience
with too many actions at once. Use one action clearly stated to get the idea across,
unless you are animating a scene that is to depict clutter and confusion. Staging directs
the audience's attention to the story or idea being told. Care must be taken in
background design so it isn't obscuring the animation or competing with it due to excess
detail behind the animation. Background and animation should work together as a
pictorial unit in a scene.
4. STRAIGHT AHEAD AND POSE TO POSE ANIMATION
Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to drawing to the
end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and proportions with this method, but it does
have spontaneity and freshness. Fast, wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to
Pose is more planned out and charted with key drawings done at intervals throughout
the scene. Size, volumes, and proportions are controlled better this way, as is the
action. The lead animator will turn charting and keys over to his assistant. An assistant
can be better used with this method so that the animator doesn't have to draw every
drawing in a scene. An animator can do more scenes this way and concentrate on the
planning of the animation. Many scenes use a bit of both methods of animation.
5. FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION
When the main body of the character stops all other parts continue to catch up to the
main mass of the character, such as arms, long hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress,
floppy ears or a long tail (these follow the path of action). Nothing stops all at once. This
is follow through. Overlapping action is when the character changes direction while his
clothes or hair continues forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be
followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new direction. "DRAG," in
animation, for example, would be when Goofy starts to run, but his head, ears, upper
body, and clothes do not keep up with his legs. In features, this type of action is done
more subtly. Example: When Snow White starts to dance, her dress does not begin to
move with her immediately but catches up a few frames later. Long hair and animal tail
will also be handled in the same manner. Timing becomes critical to the effectiveness of
drag and the overlapping action.
6. SLOW-OUT AND SLOW-IN
As action starts, we have more drawings near the starting pose, one or two in the
middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer drawings make the action faster
and more drawings make the action slower. Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action,
making it more life-like. For a gag action, we may omit some slow-out or slow-ins for
shock appeal or the surprise element. This will give more snap to the scene.
7. ARCS
All actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a mechanical device), follow
an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially true of the human figure and the action
of animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Think of natural
movements in the terms of a pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns and
even eye movements are executed on an arcs.
8. SECONDARY ACTION
This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the
character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A
character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful, aggressive,
and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary
action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk. Also, the possibility of
dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to accentuate
the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk action. All of these
actions should work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as the primary
action and arm swings, head bounce and all other actions of the body as secondary or
supporting action.
9. TIMING
Expertise in timing comes best with experience and personal experimentation, using the
trial and error method in refining technique. The basics are: more drawings between
poses slow and smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper.
A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the
movement. Most animation is done on twos (one drawing photographed on two frames
of film) or on ones (one drawing photographed on each frame of film). Twos are used
most of the time, and ones are used during camera moves such as trucks, pans and
occasionally for subtle and quick dialogue animation. Also, there is timing in the acting
of a character to establish mood, emotion, and reaction to another character or to a
situation. Studying movement of actors and performers on stage and in films is useful
when animating human or animal characters. This frame by frame examination of film
footage will aid you in understanding timing for animation. This is a great way to learn
from the others.

10. EXAGGERATION
Exaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all
the time. Its like a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and
actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and mechanical. In
feature animation, a character must move more broadly to look natural. The same is
true of facial expressions, but the action should not be as broad as in a short cartoon
style. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head turn will give your film
more appeal. Use good taste and common sense to keep from becoming too theatrical
and excessively animated
11. SOLID DRAWING
The basic principles of drawing form, weight, volume solidity and the illusion of three
dimension apply to animation as it does to academic drawing. The way you draw
cartoons, you draw in the classical sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for
reproduction of life. You transform these into color and movement giving the characters
the illusion of three-and four-dimensional life. Three dimensional is movement in space.
The fourth dimension is movement in time.
12. APPEAL
A live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal. Appealing animation
does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether
they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to
read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve
the audiences interest. Early cartoons were basically a series of gags strung together
on a main theme. Over the years, the artists have learned that to produce a feature
there was a need for story continuity, character development and a higher quality of
artwork throughout the entire production. Like all forms of story telling, the feature has to
appeal to the mind as well as to the eye.