The 12 Principles of Animation
The 12 Principles of Animation
The Twelve Basic Principles of Animation can be traced back to 1930s, however, Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas gathered all of them in the booked called “The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation”.
The principles are the following: squash and stretch, anticipation, staging, straight ahead action and pose to pose, following though overlapping action, timing, exaggeration, solid drawing and appeal. The main purpose of the principles represents the creation of an illusion of characters following the laws of physics, however, dealing with more abstract issues, namely the emotional timing or character appeal. The principles have become generally adopted by each and every animator; moreover, it has been even referred to as the “Bible of Animation”.
This set of principles guide and help the animator through his/her work in order to create realistic and high valuable prices of animation.