PRINCIPLE

AND
TECHNIQUES
 12 Principle of
Animations
By: Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas
 12 Basic Principles of Animation
The 12 basic principles of animation is a set of
principles of animation introduced by the Disney animators
Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The
Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.

Johnston and Thomas in turn based their book on

the work of the leading Disney animators from the 1930s
onwards, and their effort to produce more realistic
animations.

The main purpose of the principles was to produce

an illusion of characters adhering to the basic laws of
physics, but theyalso dealt with more abstract issues, such
as emotional timing and character appeal.
1. SQUASH AND STRETCH

 Themost important principle is "squash and stretch",

the purpose of which is to give a sense of weight
and flexibility to drawn objects. It can be applied to
simple objects, like a bouncing ball, or more
complex constructions, like the musculature of a
human face.

 Taken to an extreme point, a figure stretched or

squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a
comical effect. In realistic animation, however, the
most important aspect of this principle is the fact
that an object's volume does not change when
squashed or stretched.
➢ Squash And Stretch
2. ANTICIPATION
An action occurs in three parts:
1. the preparation for the action - this is anticipation
2. the action
3. the termination of the action

Anticipation can be the anatomical preparation for

the action, e.g., retracting a foot before kicking a ball.
It can also be a device to attract the viewer's attention to
the proper screen area and to prepare them for the
action, e.g., raising the arms and staring at something
before picking it up, or staring offscreen at something and
then reacting to it before the action moves onscreen.
➢ Anticipation
3. STAGING

 Its
purpose is to direct the audience's attention, and
make it clear what is of greatest importance in a
scene; what is happening, and what is about to
happen.

 Johnston and Thomas

defined it as
"the presentation of any
idea so that it is completely
and unmistakably clear",
whether that idea is an action, a personality, an
expression or a mood.
➢ Staging
 4. STRAIGHT AHEAD ACTION AND POSE-TO-
POSE ACTION

Straight Ahead Action in hand drawn animation is when

the animator starts at the first drawing in a scene and then
draws all of the subsequent frames until he reaches the
end of the scene. This creates very spontaneous and zany
looking animation and is used for wild, scrambling action.

Pose-to-Pose Action is when the animator carefully plans

out the animation, draws a sequence of poses, i.e., the
initial, some in-between, and the final poses and then
draws all the in-between frames (or another artist or the
computer draws the inbetween frames).
➢ Straight Ahead Action & Pose-to-pose Action
➢ Straight Ahead Action & Pose-to-pose Action
 5. FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING
ACTION
These closely related techniques help render
movement more realistic, and give the impression
that characters follow the laws of physics. "Follow
through" means that separate parts of a body will
continue moving after the character has stopped.
"Overlapping action" is the tendency for parts of the
body to move at different rates (an arm will move on
different timing of the head and so on).
➢ Follow through and overlapping action
6. SLOW IN AND OUT
This refers to the spacing of the inbetween
frames at maximum positions. It is the second and
third order continuity of motion of the object. Rather
than having a uniform velocity for an object, it is more
appealing, and sometimes more realistic, to have the
velocity vary at the extremes. For example, a
bouncing ball moves faster as it approaches or
leaves the ground and slower as it approaches
leaves its maximum position. The name comes from
having the object or character "slow out" of one pose
and "slow in" to the next pose.
➢ Slow In and Out
7. ARCS
Most human and animal actions occur along an
arched trajectory, and animation should reproduce
these movements for greater realism. This can apply
to a limb moving by rotating a joint, or a thrown
object moving along a parabolic trajectory. The
exception is mechanical movement, which typically
moves in straight lines.
➢ Arcs
8. SECONDARY ACTION
This is an action that directly results from another
action. It can be used to increase the complexity and
interest in a scene. It should always be subordinate to
and not compete with the primary action in the
scene. An example might be the facial expression on
a character.
➢ Secondary Action
9. TIMING AND MOTION
The speed of an action, i.e., timing, gives meaning to
movement, both physical and emotional meaning.
The animator must spend the appropriate amount of
time on the anticipation of an action, on the action,
and on the reaction to the action. If too much time is
spent, then the viewer may lose attention, if too little,
then the viewer may not notice or understand the
action.
➢ Timing And Motion
10. EXAGGERATION
Exaggeration is an effect especially useful for
animation, as perfect imitation of reality can look
static and dull in cartoons. The level of exaggeration
depends on whether one seeks realism or a particular
style, like a caricature or the style of an artist. The
classical definition of exaggeration, employed by
Disney, was to remain true to reality, just presenting it
in a wilder, more extreme form. Other forms of
exaggeration can involve the supernatural or surreal,
alterations in the physical features of a character, or
elements in the storyline itself.
➢ Exaggeration
11. SOLID DRAWING
The principle of solid — or good — drawing, really
means that the same principles apply to an animator
as to an academic artist. The drawer has to
understand the basics of anatomy, composition,
weight, balance, light and shadow etc. For the
classical animator, this involved taking art classes and
doing sketches from life. One thing in particular that
Johnston and Thomas warned against was creating
"twins": characters whose left and right sides mirrored
each other, and looked lifeless.
➢ Solid Drawings
➢ Solid Drawings
12. APPEAL
Appeal in a cartoon character corresponds to what
would be called charisma in an actor. A character
who is appealing is not necessarily sympathetic —
villains or monsters can also be appealing — the
important thing is that the viewer feels the character
is real and interesting.
➢ Appeal
 Basic Principles of Animation
Principle of animation are used as
reference to achieve great results in animation.
These principles will serve as a guide in
creating character animations to make it more
appealing and realistic, as well as the animated
objects or elements.