Every technique when it comes to animation from stop motion, 3D computer, to old fashion 2D pencil and paper, can be more or less narrowed down to just twelve basic steps. In the book “The Illusion of life: Disney animation” written in 1981, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston broke down a key set of rules to which most animation studios follow today.
In animation it is important to try and use these attributes to your character animation when necessary; so that you can help make your audience believe what you are drawing is alive and not made of plastic. Many of these effects can of course be exaggerated, but it is the best tool when it comes to conveying many forms of emotion without the use of dialogue. What follows is a list of the animation principles I have used and pictures of where I have applied them to my animation.
- Squash and Stretch
What separates the living from everything else is that we are not confined to one basic shape. By standing with our backs hunched over we appear to be somewhat squash down which makes us looks shorter then we actually are. The reverse to this can be applied to someone standing tall with their head pointed to the sky. This principle adds weight and volume to a character which makes them feel more real and expressive. This is considered the most important element to any piece of animation, especially when drawing a character.
Above I have made the scientist super thin for a few frames of animation, and then taller before he pops back into his default scale. While the character technically goes off model for a short time this make him look more rubbery and cartoon like which as a more interesting thing to watch, rather than for him to rise on screen as if he is a cardboard cut-out.
- Anticipation
Before a character makes a jump or is about to start running from something, it is important to have a relational pose of body language, in order to set up tension for the audience.
Before the scientist leaps of screen he throws his arms off screen preparing for the leap off.
- Secondary action
A person can be moving his or her body in a few different ways at the same time. To add more personally to a character when they are running, they could be waving their arms around in panic, while simultaneously screaming in terror. It is important however that the added actions help emphasize the character emotions and does not distracting from them.
When laughing the mad scientist throws his head and arms in various directions at the same time to demonstrate is manic behaviour.
- Timing
Very similar to the slow down and start principle; timing refers to how many drawings are used on any particular type of moment for a character. How many frames you use will vary depending on how your character is reacting. For example, if your character was happy and excited, they would be moving around a lot and require a fewer amount of drawing between each main pose of action to convey speed. If they were to suddenly become saddened, they might slow down which would require more drawings. Timing is a hard practice to get right. It requires a lot of observation of live action moment and a good amount of trial an error when editing your amount of frames.
My character is very excited and moves around a lot so there are purposely fewer frames between each key poses since he moves around very quickly.
- Exaggeration
Exaggeration is arguably one of animations strongest points that give it the edge over live action. The amount you use will depend on your drawing style, but when it comes to things like caricatures you can uses a characters features to play up their emotions in ways the real human body is not able to do.
Almost everything my mad scientist character does would be more or less impossible to do for an actual human being. In favour of playing up his emotions and expressions the characters arms and body stretch in ways that are surreal. For the laughter at the end his mouth stretches to twice the normal size in order to emphasize just how more and more insane he is laughing up until he ultimately dies.
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