The 12 Principles of Animation notes ;
Animators to research - Frank Thomas
Ollie Johnson
- Squash and stretch
- images get longer or flatter to emphasise speed, momentum, weight or mass
- More squash and stretch = the softer the object
- Less squash and stretch = the stiffer the object
- Can be used for objects/people/facial expressions
- Make sure to keep the volume of the object consistent
- Anticipation
- When a character prepares for an action to give the audience a clue to what is going to happen
- Makes the action appear more realistic
- Anticipation helps communicate the actions to the audience by preparing them for the next action
- Have to be clear with the movement so there is no confusion eg - person reaching into pocket makes the empty hand visible first to clearly show the moment and result of them putting their hand into their pocket
-Staging
- The presentation of any idea making it completely and unmistakably clear
- using all the elements in the animation of the scene work together to move the viewers eye around the screen, (you don't want too much going on at the same time)
- Know the balance of being close up to the subject and far away
- The main action should always be clear in a shot, with nothing outstaying it in the surroundings
- Let one action finish before starting another so that it doesn't take away any attention
- Empathise emotions
-Straight ahead and pose to pose
- Straight ahead drawing is practically animating as you go. it can be more tricky as size / placing can change as you animate
- Pose to pose is where you draw the beginning and the end of each main pose and go back later to fill in the drawings between. Pose to pose is better for most actions as it gives you the most control.
- Straight ahead animation is best for unpredictable and natural movement, such as fire / water etc.
-Follow through and overlapping action
- technique of having body parts and appendages dragged behind the rest of the body (clothing/tails etc) continue to move as the body stops moving
- follow through refers to the way parts of the body continue to move after the body is stopped
- when the main part of the body moves, the tip of the appendage should be the last to catch up
- the amount of drag that you give an object says something about its mass
- its easier to add the appendages after the animation of the main body is finished for example hair ... use the previous frame as an indicator of where the hair should be stretched towards
-Slow in and Slow out
- all movement starts slowly, builds speed and then finishes slowly
- for 2D animation, draw the two poses then draw a single in-between frame and then the frames in between those
- for 3D animation, adding slow in and slow out is a matter of changing the motion curves from linear to spline by adjusting the bezier handles
-drawings should be evenly spaced, but more close together near the beginning and the end of the animation
-Arcs
- most living objects move in a circular path
- make sure to create an arc like motion when animating objects
-can prevent objects shrinking when moving them as the arc will help measure the movement with the object still being the same size
-Secondary Action
- describes the gestures that support the main action to add more dimension to the character animation
- for example, if a character is knocking on a door, the other hand and the movement of the head would portray more about the character, such as if they are angry or not.
-important to not let the secondary action dominate the primary action
-the principle of staging is very important when considering secondary action
-Timing
-The personality and nature of an animation is greatly affected by the number of frames inserted between each main action
-the more stages between the drawings, the slower the animation visa versa
- the speed of the animation can change a scenario completely
-standard frame rate for movies is 24 frames per second
- it is more common to draw on 'twos' than it is for 'ones'
-Exaggeration
-every action,expression and pose taken to the next level to make completely clear to the audience what is happening
-making the characters emotions and movements more realistic, not particularly the actual character, for example making a sad character more sad
- when motions are quick, exaggerations need to be bigger in order to be noticed
-Solid Drawing
-making sure that forms feel like they are in three dimensional space with volume, weight and balance
-when doing drawings of the characters, use solid shapes like spheres, cubes and cylinders first.
-Make sure to think about three dimensional drawings and measuring when during the animations
- draw perspective lines on the ground to keep track of the animations distance from the camera
-avoid symmetry as they look flat. pair a straight line with a curved line or offset two curved lines so that the lines look more natural and dynamic.
- avoid 'twinning' which is where two things that are paired are doing the same thing at the same time (such as arms or legs)
-Appeal
-make sure to add some sort of charismatic feel to the characters created
- make sure to give a dynamic design
-use a variety of shapes for different characters
-play with proportions
-keep characters simple
An example of animation using these techniques is 'Dimensions of Dialogue' by 'Jan svankmajer' who uses clay to demonstrate his use of animation, moulding his clay models together. He makes sure to exaggerate elements on his clutter like face to create a realistic looking face which can be identified as a creature like a human.
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