12 Basic Principles of

Animation
Introduced by Olli Johnston & Frank
Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life:
Disney Animation
 To produce an illusion of characters adhering
to the basic law of Physics

deal with more abstract issues, such as

emotional timing and character appeal
 Follow Through &
Overlapping Action Anticipatio

Straight Ahead Action & Pose

Staging to Pose

Squash &
Stretch

Slow In & Slow

Out
Appeal Secondary
Action
Solid
Drawing
Timin Arcs
g

Exaggerati
on
1. SQUASH & STRETCH
gives a sense of weight and
flexibility to drawn objects
! object’s volume does not change
when squashed or stretched
 2. ANTICIPATION
let the viewer know what’s about to happen
to prepare the
audience for
an action, and
to make the
action appear
more realistic
 An action occurs in three parts
a. preparation for the action
b. action proper
c. termination of the action
 3. STAGING
To direct the audience's attention to the story or
idea being told and make it clear what is of
greatest importance in a scene
 pose or action should clearly
communicate to the audience

Attitude Mood

Reaction
Idea of the character
keeping focus on what is relevant, and
avoiding unnecessary detail
 STAGING TIPS:

 Placement of character in
frame
 Use of light
 Camera angles
 Effective use of long,
medium, or close up shots
Try to organize points of interests on
either the intersections or along the lines.

© Anthony Grimley
Leading the eye to a point

© John Mueller
 Shifting point of view

© Peter Allen
4. Straight
Ahead Action
&
Pose to Pose
 drawing out
a scene frame
to frame from
beginning to end

“Straight ahead action”

 It creates more
fluid, dynamic
illusion of
movement and is better for
producing realistic
action sequences

“Straight ahead action”

 “POSE to POSE”
starting with drawing a few
key frames, and then filling
in the intervals later
Works better for where composition
dramatic or and relations
emotional scenes, to surroundings are
of great importance
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
“Follow through” –
separate parts of the body will
continue to move after the character
had stopped
“overlapping action” – when a
character changes direction, and parts of the body
continue in the direction he was previously going
  6. Slow In and Slow Out
• Add more drawings to the beginning
and to the end of our sequence
• In essence, the animation slowly moves into
arc, and then slowly leaves
Now do
ALL things
slow in and
slow out?
Absolutely not!
 A car driving fast from a
distance, but as it passes you,
it whizzes by.
• Slow in, but don’t slow out
- a car driving fast from a distance, but as it
passes you, it whizzes by
• Slow out without slowing in
- Someone getting ready to sneeze

Slow in, but don't slow out

Slow out without slowing in

Someone
getting ready
to sneeze
 Follow Through &
Overlapping Action Anticipatio

Straight Ahead Action & Pose

Staging to Pose

Squash &
Stretch

Slow In & Slow

Out
QUESTIONS ?