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Principles of Animation is a set of principles of animation
introduced by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank
Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.
The following has been paraphrased from the "Illusion Of Life" by
Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston (pp.47-69). For a more extensive explanation
of these principles, refer to this seminal text.
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
audience's 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 storytelling, the feature has to appeal to the mind as well as to the
eye.
