Animation Fundamentals

Sources

Requirements

Visuals

Interactive animation with sliders/settings for each of the 12 principles. It starts with all of them "off", and while explaining, I turn them on.

The 12 Principles of Animation

Developed by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their book "The Illusion of Life," these principles are essential for creating lifelike animations. They include:

  • Squash and Stretch: Gives a sense of weight and flexibility to objects.
  • Anticipation: Prepares the audience for an action, making the scene more realistic.
  • Staging: Involves presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear.
  • Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose: Two different approaches to drawing animations.
  • Follow Through and Overlapping Action: Techniques to make movements more realistic.
  • Slow In and Slow Out: The timing of an action to make it more life-like.
  • Arcs: Natural actions tend to follow an arched trajectory.
  • Secondary Action: Adds more dimension to the main action.
  • Timing: Refers to the number of frames between actions.
  • Exaggeration: Accentuating certain elements to make them more dynamic.
  • Solid Drawing: Understanding 3D shapes, weight, volume, and anatomy.
  • Appeal: Creating characters and actions that are interesting and engaging.

Storyboarding / Keyframing

Learning how to create storyboards is crucial for planning your animations. It involves sketching out the scenes to visualize the narrative flow, camera angles, and how the characters interact with the environment. This helps you get a big picture of your animation.
The storyboard frames can then be placed in your animation software and the spacing between them can define the first idea of the animations pacing.
To learn more about storyboards, you can check out Storyboarding, as it can greatly help you plan and convey your idea for an animation and bringing it to paper... or screen.

Animation Software

There are lots of animation tools.

Study from Life

Observing real-life movements and trying to capture them in your animations can greatly improve your skills. Life drawing sessions, studying how animals move, or even how fabric flows can add a lot of realism to your work.