Ch 3, 6
Appendix Principles
Blog 3
(Remembering & Understanding) PRINCIPLES 1 What are the 12 principles of
animation? Define each in
one or two sentences. Include an example (you can link to work published online
if you wish). Think
of this blog as something you can go back to when working on a project that
includes animation
The 12 Principles of Animation were created for all animators to use, and were discovered as new drawing techniques, over the years the techniques developed and are now used to this day.
The first principle of animation is squash and stretch, the main goal of this technique is to have a fixed shape move about on the paper from one drawing to the next. In simple terms, it is a shape with a mass being transformed or "squashed" and then it stretches back to its original form or mass, animators learned that elongating drawings made it easier to follow and give more snap to the action as well. One example (see picture below) is a ball being thrown , as the ball is thrown and it hits the ground it transforms from a "regular ball", to a squashed shape and then returns to its regular form.
The second principle of animation is anticipation, this is achieved by preceding each major action
with a specific move that anticipates for the audience what is about to happen. When using this
principle always anticipate in the opposite direction of the action, movements used could include
running, jumping or change of expression. One example (see picture below) would be the rabbit
preparing to hit the bulldog, in the picture you see the different ways that he is moving through to
get ready for his action which is to hit the bulldog.
The third principle of animation is staging, the goal for this principle is for the audience to be
directed to the story being told and of what is important to the story such as the main focus. An
example ( see picture below) would be Remy from the Pixar film Ratatouille, he is the main focus of
the shot because in this scene he is looking for a certain spice, but he is also discussing with his
brother Emilie why he likes to cook.
With the cookbook sitting in front of him it demonstrates that the cookbook is important, but not
important enough to be the main focus, take note that Remys brother is out of focus even though
Remy is talking to him, showing that Emilie is not the focal point or figure of this shot.
The fourth principle of animation is straight ahead action and pose to pose, there are two different
approaches to this drawing process. The first is the straight ahead action where the animator draws
out the scene from beginning to end. The straight ahead action is more fluid than the pose to pose as
well. The pose to pose a sequence of key frames that are drawn and then filled in.
This is demonstrated in the (picture below) this is the straight ahead action where the animator drew
the actions as they came to him showing that the model never stopped walking. Whereas, the other
picture shows gaps and numbers, the numbers are the key frames and mark where the animator also
filled in the animations.
The fifth principle is follow through and overlapping action, the principle of follow through is when
the character stops, but everything else does not , basically the body parts continue to move where
the character. The principle of overlapping is when the body parts move at different rates, meaning
the torso will move but the head may not. Eventually the head will move with the torso.
The first picture, is of the follow through animation where the javelin thrower follows through, with the action.
The second picture, is of Cinderella twirling, even though her torso is turned her head has not turned to the same direction yet.
Eventually her head will turn with her torso.
The sixth principle is slow in and slow out, the main goal for animation is to make it look realistic,
with this in mind the animator's put more sketches at the beginning of the animation than at the end
which gives the appearance that the animation is slower in the beginning and then speeds up in the
end. This principle is mainly used when the animation is transferring to a different action. One
example of this is (see picture below), notice how the ball transitions from a crowded area where it
looks like the ball is going slow and then speeds up as the the circles are more spaced out.
The seventh principle is arcs, all actions follow an arc or pathway. Examples of this include head,
arm and leg movements. Arcs also give a more natural flow than other animation techniques.
An example of an arc, is an arm swinging back and forth.
The eight principle is secondary action, this is used to bring life to the character. Examples could
include a person aggressively walking towards, another demonstrating that they are mad or someone
chopping up onions, very quickly showing that they are annoyed.
An example of secondary action, is a woman walking with her hips swaying and standing tall
and arms poised, shows that she is confident with her body language, her outfit also demonstrates
that she confident as well.
The ninth principle is timing, the goal for timing is the number of drawing used in any move
determines the amount of time the action will take on the screen. This will translate to the speed of
action on film. Timing is also critical because, it establishes a character's mood, emotion and reaction.
In this example, the gap demonstrates how much time is inbetween the spacing of the ball and how it
will be animated as well.
The tenth principle is exaggeration is used to push movements further to add more appeal to an
action. This principle could be used to make animations look extremely cartoony, with certain
movements. An example of this is the dog with his eyes bulging out,(see picture below) this clearly
demonstrates exaggeration with it being focused on the eyes, normal human like animations would
not demonstrate certain movements, such as this. The picture is also very cartoony with the
movements as well demonstrating exaggeration.
The eleventh principle is solid drawing, the key to this principle is to make sure that the animation
has weight, depth and balance, those are the three basics of solid three-dimensional drawing. When
using this principle take into account volume and weight, that is what makes it a three-dimensoinal
and solid drawing as well. As the example shows (see picture below) this a clear representation of a
solid drawing, Bugs Bunny is illustrated with the balance of color and the smoothness of the lines as
as the animation has volume and weight, as well as depth.
The twelfth principle is appeal, the goal for this principle is for the animation to catch the eye of the
audience as well as interest them. For example (see the picture below) the large bird from a
short film, has the immediate attention drawn to it because of the large size and the bright colors used,
which contrast from the background. Even though, there are a multitude of small gray birds the
viewers eye does not see them first because the small birds, are of course smaller and the dullness of
the small bird, has the viewers eye not notice them
