1. SQUASH AND STRETCH
This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. It is used in all forms of character animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person walking.
2. ANTICIPATION
This movement prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform, such as, a tennis player swinging an arm back, the body turned, before hitting the ball. A backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed. The backward motion is the anticipation.
3. STAGING
It's all about the composition. 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.
4. STRAIGHT AHEAD + POSE TO POSE ANIMATION
What are the key drawings? Numbers in a full circle or brackets; are an important drawing. They are key poses. Then you draw out the animation path. 2 key poses and a breakdown. In other words all the in-between drawings are all proportional in size etc.
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.
5. FOLLOW THROUGH
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, the completion of the arc.
6. SLOW-OUT AND SLOW-IN
From the start position, objects ease out from their resting position. When it reaches it's end position it eases in into its final position. This softens the action and makes the object look more life-like.
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.
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. The better the arcs, the smoother the animation is going to be.
8. SECONDARY ANIMATION
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 man running- secondary animation, man breathing heavily. It compliments primary action/animation
9.OVERLAP
Clothing, hair etc. It has it's own motion after the main object has finished/completed its arc. E.g Superman posing, cloak fans forward before coming to a stop.
10. TIMING AND SPACING
How long an object takes to get to A to B. The speed and weight of an object is determined, as well as other factors such as; what material is it? From what height am i dropping the ball at?(the speed of the ball) what surface am i bouncing the ball on?
For character animation you have t include other factors like; sex, age, weight, character destination i.e. leisurely stroll or are they late for work?
Equal spacing, in-between each frame are key frames.
Slow in/Slow out changes the equal spacing. When the drawings are closer together, the spacing is easing in, then is picks up speed so drawings become more spaced out.
11. EXAGGERATION
It pushes the squash and stretch and exaggerates the weight of an object. It doesn't necessarily mean an extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all the time. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head turn will give your film more appeal.
12. 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.
13. 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 personality development that will capture and involve the audience's interest, as well as being aesthetically pleasing.
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