Principles of Animation

Principles of Animation

28 Principles of Animation

 The purpose of studying and analyzing a scene like this is to acquaint oneself with the possibilites in the use of the principles of animation. I have listed 28 principles, though there well may be more. At first these will have to be used consciously, then hopefully in time will become second nature. These are the tools of animation and should be incorporated whenever possible. Some of them are accidentally stumbled upon while animating in an emotional spurt, but when the emotions are lax, knowing these principles will enable the artist to animate his scene intellectually, logically and artistically as well as emotionally.

28 Principles of Animation

Here is a list of things (principles) that appear in these drawings, most of which should appear in all scenes, for they comprise the basis for full animation

1. -Pose and Mood
2. -Shape and Form
3. -Anatomy
4. -Model or Character
5. -Weight
6. -Line and Silhouette
7. -Action and Reaction
8. -Perspective
9. -Direction
10. -Tension
11.  -Planes
12. -Solidity
13. -Arcs
14. -Squash and Stretch
15. -Beat and Rythem
16. -Depth and Volume
17. -Overlap and followthru
18. -Timing
19. -Working from extreme to extreme
20.  -Straights and Curves
21. -Primary and secondary action
22. -Staging and composition
23. -Anticipation
24. -Caricature
25. -Details
26. -Texture
27. -Simplification
28. -Positive and negative shapes

28 Principles of Animation

An example of the observations that might be made by flipping and studying just these two drawings. By shifting your eyes from one drawing to the other you can see these things happening. Watch the negative shapes also.