The 5 Basic Principles of Animation
nThis action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating dialogue and doing facial expressions. It is used in all forms of character animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person walking.
nA 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.
nAs action starts, 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.
nThis action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimensions, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk.
nExaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad, violent action all the time. It’s like a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and mechanical.
nA live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the audience’s interest.