CHAPTER 2

Animation Fundamentals
Types of Principles of Animation
Before we begin have you
ever wonder …….
What kind of animations should you even make?
How long should they take you?
And how good do they need to be before you
move on?
# My first bouncing ball
felt like Jell-O.

# My first ball and tail

animation was about as
flexible as a steel beam.

#And my first character

walk…well…let’s just say if
anyone ever sees it – I’ll
deny that I was the one
who made it.
Types of Principles of Animation
 What It all started after the 30s when Walt Disney noticed that
the level of animation was inadequate for some new story lines.
 Classes for his animators were set up under the instruction of
Don Graham. Before those classes, the animations were made
with little or no reference to nature.
 Out of these classes grew a new way of drawing moving human
figures and animals, where the analysis of real action became
important to the development of animation.
Types of Principles of Animation
 After a while, each technique was named and they
became known as the “Fundamental principles of
animation”.
 Ultimately, the animator must have a sense of what
makes an inanimate character alive.
 Simply memorizing these principles isn’t the point.
Types of Principles of Animation
 No one will care whether or not you know this list.
 It’s whether or not you truly understand and can utilize
these ideas that matter.
 If you do, it will show automatically in your work.
 Trying to mimic everyday motion requires the utmost
attention to detail.
Types of Principles of Animation
 Because there’s so much to follow,
you’d think there would be some
sort of guide, right?
 Good news. Disney animators Ollie
Johnston and Frank Thomas put
together twelve animation
fundamentals in their book “The
Illusion of Life”.
 The 12 Principles of Animation
 The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, first released in 1981.
 Through examining the work of leading Disney animators from
the 1930s onwards, this book sees Johnston and Thomas boil
their approach down to 12 basic principles of animation.
 Forming the basis of all animation work, these principles are
relevant for a number of different fields.
 The main purpose of these principles was to produce an illusion
that cartoon characters adhered to the basic laws of physics,
but they also dealt with more abstract issues, such as emotional
timing and character appeal.
The 12 Principles of Animation
1. Squash and Stretch 7. Arcs
2. Anticipation 8. Secondary Action
3. Staging 9. Timing
4. Straight Ahead Action 10. Exaggeration
and Pose to Pose
11. Solid Drawing and
5. Follow Through and Solid Posing
Overlapping Action
12. Appeal
6. Slow-in and Slow-out
1. SQUASH AND STRETCH
 Squash and stretch makes an illusion of
character's elasticity, volume and flexibility.
 Squash and stretch is a way of deforming an
object such that it shows how rigid the object
 For example if a rubber ball bounces and hits the
ground it will tend to flatten when it hits. This is the
squash principle. As it starts to bounce up it will
stretch in the direction it is going.

 Squash and stretch is also helpful in facial

animation. An important note about squash
and stretch, is that no matter how an object
deforms, it should still appear to retain its
volume.
 The most obvious usage in character animation is 1. SQUASH AND
muscles. When a muscle is contracted it will squash
and when extended, it stretches. STRETCH
 Rigid objects can still squash and stretch in a
way of a lamp.
 The lamp itself is a rigid metal object. But before it
jumps it anticipates the action by crouching down
and bending. That bending is basically squash and
stretch.

 Squash and stretch is used in all kinds of

character animation from bouncing ball to
moving person.
 The extent of squash and stretch depends on
scene requirements and animation stylistics.
 More often squash and stretch is extremely
strong in animation films and week in feature
films when realistic characters are used. 1. SQUASH AND
STRETCH
 The squash and stretch principle is considered
the most important of the 12 principles of
animation.
 When applied, it gives your animated characters
and objects the illusion of gravity, weight, mass
and flexibility.
 Think about how a bouncing rubber ball may
react when tossed into the air: the ball stretches
when it travels up and down and squishes when
it hits the ground.
 When using squash and stretch, it's important
to keep the object's volume consistent.
 So when you stretch something it needs to get
thinner, and when you squash something it
1. SQUASH AND
needs to get wider. STRETCH
2. ANTICIPATION
  Action in animation usually occurs in three
sections.
I. The setup for the motion,
II. The actual action and
III. The follow-through of the action.
 The first part is known as anticipation.
 In some cases anticipation is needed
physically (before you can throw a ball you must
first swing your arm backwards. The backwards
motion is the anticipation, the throw itself is the
motion).
 Anticipation is used to lead the viewers eye
2. ANTICIPATION to prepare them for the action that follows.
  The anticipation helps to prepare the
viewer for what's about to happen,
therefore when applied, it has the effect
of making the object's action more
realistic.
 Consider how if might look if you were to jump
in the air without bending your knees, or
perhaps to throw a ball without first pulling
your arm back.
 It would appear very unnatural (it may not
even be possible to jump without bending
your knees!).
 In the same way, animating movements
without a flicker of anticipation will also make
2. ANTICIPATION your motion seem awkward, stale and
lifeless.
  In details, the anticipation is the
preparation for the main action.
 The motion prepares a viewer for the
main action, which the character intends
to do.
 Generally, for good clear animation, the
viewer should know what is about happen
(anticipation), what is happening (the
actual action itself) and what happened
(related to follow through).
 Anticipation is definitely one of the
hardest fundamentals to get right. .
2. ANTICIPATION
  Some animators don’t put in enough
anticipation and others make it a bit
too dramatic.
 Smoothing out this animation is going
to take some time, but you’ll instantly
recognize when you get it right.
 It’s all about timing.
 So, if you tweak one area, another will
need fixing.
 You have to blend the animation as
best you can.
2. ANTICIPATION