Understanding The 12 Principles Of Animation

The Animator's Bible

The 12 Principles Explained

• Concept: This principle gives objects a sense of weight, flexibility, and mass. As an object moves, its volume remains constant, but its shape distorts – squashing when impacting a surface or stretching when accelerating or moving quickly.
• Purpose: Adds realism, elasticity, and impact to movements. It can also be used for comedic effect.
• Example: Imagine a bouncing rubber ball. As it hits the ground (impact), it squashes flat and wide. As it rebounds upwards (acceleration), it stretches vertically. Crucially, the overall volume should appear consistent – when it squashes wider, it gets shorter; when it stretches taller, it gets thinner. A bowling ball, being rigid, would squash and stretch very little, conveying its weight and hardness.

• Concept: Preparing the audience for a major action by preceding it with a smaller, often opposite, movement.
• Purpose: Makes the main action clearer, more believable, and impactful. It directs the audience's eye and builds expectation.
• Example: Before a character jumps, they bend their knees (anticipation). Before throwing a punch, a character pulls their arm back (anticipation). Before a car speeds off, it might slightly reverse or dip down on its suspension (anticipation).

• Concept: Presenting an idea (an action, emotion, character, or mood) so that it is unmistakably clear to the audience. This involves camera angle, composition, lighting, character posing, and background elements working together.
• Purpose: To direct the audience's attention, communicate the narrative effectively, and avoid confusion.
• Example: If a character is sad, stage them in a clear pose (slumped shoulders, head down), perhaps framed slightly off-center with muted lighting, ensuring no distracting background elements pull focus from their emotional state. For an action scene, use dynamic camera angles and clear silhouettes to show the movement effectively.

• Concept: Two distinct approaches to the animation process.
  • Straight Ahead: Animating frame by frame from start to finish. Good for unpredictable actions like fire, water, or explosions.
  • Pose to Pose: Planning key poses (the main storytelling drawings/positions) first, then adding the in-between frames.
• Purpose: Straight ahead yields fluid, spontaneous movement but can lose consistency. Pose to pose offers more control over structure, timing, and composition, ideal for character acting.
• Example: Animating flowing water might use straight ahead. Animating a character walking across a room, sitting down, and picking up a cup would typically use pose to pose – defining the start walk pose, the sit pose, the reaching pose, and the cup-holding pose first.

• Concept: Based on the principle that different parts of a body or object move at different rates. Follow Through means loosely connected parts continue moving after the main body stops. Overlapping Action means parts move at different times (e.g., the arm moves, then the wrist, then the hand).
• Purpose: Adds significant realism and fluidity to movement, preventing stiffness.
• Example: When a character with long hair stops running, their hair continues to swing forward before settling (follow through). When a character raises their arm, the shoulder leads, then the upper arm, then the forearm, then the hand (overlapping action). A cape or tail would continue moving after the character stops.

• Concept: Most natural movements start slowly, accelerate, and then slow down before stopping. This principle involves adding more frames at the beginning and end of an action and fewer in the middle.
• Purpose: Creates smoother, more realistic acceleration and deceleration, avoiding abrupt starts and stops.
• Example: A car starting from rest doesn't instantly hit top speed; it accelerates (slow out). When braking, it decelerates before stopping (slow in). A character reaching for an object starts the movement slowly, speeds up, and then slows down as their hand approaches the object.

• Concept: Most living beings and many objects move in curved paths, or arcs, rather than straight lines. Limb movements (rotating around joints) naturally create arcs.
• Purpose: Creates more natural, fluid, and graceful motion.
• Example: A character's arm swinging, a head turning, a thrown ball – all follow arcs. Animating these movements along slightly curved paths instead of perfectly straight lines makes them look significantly more organic and less robotic.

• Concept: An additional action that supports and enhances the main action, adding nuance and character personality.
• Purpose: Adds richness, dimension, and life to the animation without distracting from the primary focus.
• Example: While a character is walking (main action), they might also swing their arms, have their hair bounce, or nervously fiddle with their keys (secondary actions). These details enrich the character and the scene.

• Concept: Refers to the number of frames used for a given action, which translates directly to the speed of the action on screen. More frames = slower action; fewer frames = faster action.
• Purpose: Controls the mood, emotion, weight, and realism of movement. Timing dictates whether an action feels heavy, light, urgent, lazy, comical, or dramatic.
• Example: A heavy object falling would use fewer frames (faster timing) than a light feather drifting down (more frames, slower timing). A character reacting in surprise might have very fast timing, while a character sadly contemplating might have very slow timing.

• Concept: Pushing movements, poses, and expressions beyond reality to increase impact and clarity, while still remaining believable within the context of the animation's style.
• Purpose: To enhance storytelling, make actions clearer, add entertainment value, and emphasize emotions or physical effort. Not necessarily about making things bigger, but more convincing.
• Example: In a cartoon, a character's jaw might drop to the floor in surprise, or their eyes might bulge dramatically. A character straining to lift something heavy might bend and contort more extremely than in real life to emphasize the effort.

• Concept: Ensuring that animated forms feel like they exist in three-dimensional space, with volume, weight, and balance. This applies even to 2D animation.
• Purpose: To create believable characters and objects that don't look flat or awkwardly constructed.
• Example: Understanding how to draw (or pose in 3D) a character from any angle, maintaining consistent volume and structure. Avoiding "twinning" – where both sides of the body mirror each other perfectly, looking unnatural – is part of solid posing in 3D. Giving characters a sense of weight and balance in their poses is crucial.

• Concept: Creating characters that the audience enjoys watching and connects with. Appeal isn't limited to cute or heroic characters; villains and monsters can also have appeal through compelling design and personality.
• Purpose: To make the animation engaging, charismatic, and memorable.
• Example: Appeal comes from good character design (interesting shapes, clear silhouette), expressive posing, and well-acted animation. Even simple characters can have appeal if they move in an interesting and engaging way. It's the overall charisma and magnetism of the character on screen.

Principles, Not Rules