The 12 Priciples of Animation

The 12 Principles of Animation- Was created by the nine old men of Disney, and was put into a book called "The Illusion Of Life" by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson (who were two of the nine old men of Disney).

Squash and Stretch in Animation is used to give characters weight and flexibility and is considered to be the most important Animation principle. Sometimes the Squash and Stretch technique is sometime exaggerated to some degree to give it a comical effect that can be very appealing to some viewers. However the volume of the character does not change when it is Squashed and Stretched.

Anticipation in Animation is used to prepare audiences for a certain action that is about to take place, to make the action seem more realistic. For example: A Dancer has to bend their knees before they jump.

Staging in Animation is used to direct the audiences attention and to show the importance of a scene. This can be done by how a character is placed in a scene, or the use of lights and shadows, the angle of the camera and is used to keep the focus on whats important.

Straight Ahead Action means drawing a scene frame by frame from the beginning to the end, creates a more dynamic illusion of movement and is better for realism, but it is hard to maintain proportions while using this method.

Pose to Pose means drawing the main poses of a action and filling in the other poses later. Pose to Pose works better for dramatic and emotional scenes.

Follow Though and Overlapping Action is used to help give an impression to the viewer that the character or the object follows the laws of physics. The body of a character should keep moving even if the action is over, when a character moves a few parts of the body have to catch up.

Ease In and Ease Out, the more drawings at the beginning and end of a Animation will make the character more realistic, as the movement of the human body takes time to accelerate and slow down. 

Arc, natural actions tend to follow the arched trajectory and is used to show greater realism. For example: moving a limb by rotating a joint.

Secondary Action is used to give the character a better sense of life and helps to support the main action. For example: as a horse runs its main and tail flow in the wind, and this enhances the main action of running to make it more believable.

Timing refers to the number of drawings/frames in a action, which is translated into the speed of the action in a film. Correct timing makes objects seem to follow the laws of physics, as is it critical to establish a characters mood.

Solid Drawing means to take into account characters and forms in three dimensional space, or giving them weight or volume. The three dimensional shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadows, etc.

Exaggeration is used in Animation to make Animations not look static and dull, that a perfect imitation of reality will do. Other forms of exaggeration involve: the supernatural and surreal, alterations in the physical features of a character.

Appeal is making a character likeable and to have a design that is pleasing to the eye. Appealing characters are not always the characters that you sympathies with, monsters and villains can also be appealing.

All of the principles of Animation are used to make characters and Animations seem more realist and appealing to the viewer, other wise Animations would be ugly and unappealing.