The principle of animation forms the basis of all actions. The 12 principles of animation were first introduced by Disney animation producers Oli Johnston and Frank Thomas in their work “The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation”, which was first released in 1981. In this book, Johnston and Thomas studied the work of leading Disney animators. After the 1930s, their method was reduced to 12 basic principles of animation. These principles form the basis of all animation works and are interrelated with many different fields. The most obvious use is to animate characters, but these rules are also an invaluable guide in other areas. For example, if you want to introduce some animations into your work to make them look more interesting and so on.
- Squeeze and stretch
The principle of squeeze and stretch is considered to be the most important of the 12 animation principles. It will let your animated characters and objects provide visual effects of gravity, weight, mass, and flexibility. Think about the reaction of a bouncing rubber ball when it is thrown into the air: the ball stretches when it moves up and down, and it shakes when it hits the ground.
When using extrusion and stretching, it is very important to keep the volume of the object consistent. Therefore, when you stretch an animated character, it needs to become thinner and thinner, and when you squash something, it needs to become wider.
- Preparation
Preparatory actions help prepare the audience for what will happen. When used, it has the effect of making the movement of the object more realistic. Imagine our usual actions. At the beginning of a run, our body will first lean back, and then accelerate to run. This is the preparatory action. Think about it in our daily life. If you jump into the air without bending your knees or throw a ball without pulling your arm back first, it seems unnatural. In the same way, the anticipation of an animation movement without action will also make your actions look awkward, old, and lifeless.
- Primary and secondary
The priority in the animation is very similar to the composition in the artwork. What we mean is that you should use actions to guide the viewer’s eyes and draw attention to the important things in the scene. Focus on the important things in the scene and omit or weaken all other unimportant actions.
- Straight forward animation and key frame animation
There are two ways to make animation effects: straightforward and keyframes. Each method has its own advantages, and the two methods are often combined. The straightforward action involves making frame by frame from start to finish. If you want to do smooth, realistic movements, then straightforward movements are the best choice.
Using pose to pose (that is, keyframe animation) technology, you can draw the start frame, end frame, and several keyframes in between. Then you finish the rest of the transition animation work. This technology allows you to better control the animation time and animation form in the scene and can increase the dramatic effect of motion in the animation.
- Follow and overlap movement
When an object stops after moving, some positions of the object will stop at a different rate. Likewise, everything on the object moves at different rates when in motion. This constitutes the fifth quintessence of Disney’s animation principles. This is very important, which is what we often call inertial motion.
Just imagine, if you sit on a bus, your body will lean back due to inertia at the moment the car moves forward, and then come back. When you break suddenly, your body will lean forward and then back due to inertial motion. This is the follow and overlapping motion.
This is a very important criterion for animation. Without these actions, the animation will be very stiff and boring.
- Slow in and slow out animation
The best way to understand slow in and slow out is to think about how the car starts and stops. Before gaining power and acceleration, it will move slowly and then faster and faster. The opposite happens when the car brakes. In animation, this effect is achieved by adding more frames at the beginning and end of the action sequence. Applying this principle can give your animation more vitality.
- Arc movement
Rather than saying that this is an animation law, it is more appropriate to call him the laws of physics. Animation comes from life, and the laws of physics must be respected, such as gravity. So when making an animation, most objects follow an arc or path when they move, and your animation should reflect the arc-shaped motion line. For example, when you throw a ball into the air, it will follow a natural arc because the gravity of the earth will affect it. For another example, the bending and swinging movements of the arms and legs when walking must also conform to the arc movement.
- Secondary action
Auxiliary actions are used to support or emphasize the main actions that occur in the scene. Adding auxiliary actions helps to add more details and emotions to characters and objects. For example, the subtle movement of the character’s hair while walking, or it may be a facial expression or the reaction of a secondary object to the first one. Regardless of the situation, this secondary action should not distract the primary action.
- Time and rhythm
For this animation principle, we need to study the laws of physics again and apply what we see in nature to our animation. This law of physics is time.
If you move objects faster or slower than objects that move naturally in the real world, the animation effects will lose credibility. Using the right time can control the emotions and reactions of characters and objects. But this does not mean that it must be followed. For example, in some animations, you can speed up or slow down the time appropriately for fun or to enhance the atmosphere. But the basic rules of time still have to be observed. For example, touching a person’s face for two seconds will feel like touching or comforting. If you touch a person’s face for one-third of a second, you will feel like fighting. So a very important direction for us to study animation is the control of time.
- Exaggeration
If too many animation effects are close to reality, it will destroy the atmosphere and interest of the animation, making it appear static and boring. Instead, add some exaggeration to your characters and objects to make them more dynamic. This requires you to find an exaggerated rhythm and method in animation production so that your animation can have a soul and be more easily accepted by the public, and the imagination of animation can be infinite.
- Basic painting skills
You need to understand the basics of drawing. This includes understanding how to draw and understand shapes and anatomy, weight and volume, and light and shadow in three-dimensional space. Although you can also push the limits of animation style, it is very important to maintain consistency. For example, if you have an eclectic character image and world style in your cartoon, then you must maintain the unity of the style. Of course, this style must be based on a painting. Otherwise, your animation effects will not be too popular.
- Cater to the masses, attractive
Your characters, objects, and the world they live in need to appeal to the audience. This includes easy-to-read design, solid drawing, and personality. There is no formula to do this. It requires you to work hard and study the needs of the public. Of course, we advocate innovation and development, but these need to be built on the premise of solid basic skills.
What you have to do is not only provide people’s needs, but more importantly, you have to create demand, which is innovation.