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The
following 12 basic principles of animation were developed by the
'old men' of Walt Disney Studios, amongst them Frank Thomas and
Ollie Johnston, during the 1930s. Of course they weren't old men
at the time, but young men who were at the forefront of exciting
discoveries that were contributing to the development of a new
art form. These principles came as a result of reflection about
their practice and through Disney's desire to devise a way of
animating that seemed more 'real' in terms of how things moved,
and how that movement might be used to express character and
personality.
It
needs to be said that many brilliant moments of animation have
been created without reference to, or knowledge of, these
principles. However they are appropriate for a particular style
of cartoon animation and provide the means to discuss and
critique the craft in a language that animators have come to
understand - "you need to anticipate that action to give it
more punch" - "why don't you put more follow through
on the coat tail?"
The following has been paraphrased from the "Illusion Of
Life" by Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston (pp.47-69). For
a more extensive explanation of these principles, refer to this
seminal text.
This
action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as
it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating
dialogue and doing facial expressions. How extreme the use of
squash and stretch is, depends on what is required in animating
the scene. Usually it's broader in a short style of picture and
subtler in a feature. It is used in all forms of character
animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person
walking. This is the most important element you will be required
to master and will be used often.
This
movement prepares the audience for a major action the character
is about to perform, such as, starting to run, jump or change
expression. A dancer does not just leap off the floor. A
backwards motion occurs before the forward action is executed.
The backward motion is the anticipation. A comic effect can be
done by not using anticipation after a series of gags that used
anticipation. Almost all real action has major or minor
anticipation such as a pitcher's wind-up or a golfers' back
swing. Feature animation is often less broad than short
animation unless a scene requires it to develop a characters
personality.
A
pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience the
attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character as it relates
to the story and continuity of the story line. The effective use
of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera angles
also helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of
time in a film, so each sequence, scene and frame of film must
relate to the overall story. Do not confuse the audience with
too many actions at once. Use one action clearly stated to get
the idea across, unless you are animating a scene that is to
depict clutter and confusion. Staging directs the audience's
attention to the story or idea being told. Care must be taken in
background design so it isn't obscuring the animation or
competing with it due to excess detail behind the animation.
Background and animation should work together as a pictorial
unit in a scene.
4.
STRAIGHT AHEAD AND POSE TO POSE ANIMATION
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Straight
ahead animation starts at the first drawing and works drawing to
drawing to the end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and
proportions with this method, but it does have spontaneity and
freshness. Fast, wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to
Pose is more planned out and charted with key drawings done at
intervals throughout the scene. Size, volumes, and proportions
are controlled better this way, as is the action. The lead
animator will turn charting and keys over to his assistant. An
assistant can be better used with this method so that the
animator doesn't have to draw every drawing in a scene. An
animator can do more scenes this way and concentrate on the
planning of the animation. Many scenes use a bit of both methods
of animation.
5.
FOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING ACTION
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When
the main body of the character stops all other parts continue to
catch up to the main mass of the character, such as arms, long
hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress, floppy ears or a long
tail (these follow the path of action). Nothing stops all at
once. This is follow through. Overlapping action is when the
character changes direction while his clothes or hair continues
forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be
followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new
direction. "DRAG," in animation, for example, would be
when Goofy starts to run, but his head, ears, upper body, and
clothes do not keep up with his legs. In features, this type of
action is done more subtly. Example: When Snow White starts to
dance, her dress does not begin to move with her immediately but
catches up a few frames later. Long hair and animal tail will
also be handled in the same manner. Timing becomes critical to
the effectiveness of drag and the overlapping action.
As
action starts, we have more drawings near the starting pose, one
or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose.
Fewer drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the
action slower. Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action, making
it more life-like. For a gag action, we may omit some slow-out
or slow-ins for shock appeal or the surprise element. This will
give more snap to the scene.
All
actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a
mechanical device), follow an arc or slightly circular path.
This is especially true of the human figure and the action of
animals. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better
flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a pendulum
swinging. All arm movement, head turns and even eye movements
are executed on an arcs.
This
action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more
dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or
re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily
walking toward another character. The walk is forceful,
aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of
a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures
of the arms working with the walk. Also, the possibility of
dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns
of the head to accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much
as to distract from the walk action. All of these actions should
work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as
the primary action and arm swings, head bounce and all other
actions of the body as secondary or supporting action.
Expertise
in timing comes best with experience and personal
experimentation, using the trial and error method in refining
technique. The basics are: more drawings between poses slow and
smooth the action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and
crisper. A variety of slow and fast timing within a scene adds
texture and interest to the movement. Most animation is done on
twos (one drawing photographed on two frames of film) or on ones
(one drawing photographed on each frame of film). Twos are used
most of the time, and ones are used during camera moves such as
trucks, pans and occasionally for subtle and quick dialogue
animation. Also, there is timing in the acting of a character to
establish mood, emotion, and reaction to another character or to
a situation. Studying movement of actors and performers on stage
and in films is useful when animating human or animal
characters. This frame by frame examination of film footage will
aid you in understanding timing for animation. This is a great
way to learn from the others.
Exaggeration
is not extreme distortion of a drawing or extremely broad,
violent action all the time. Its like a caricature of facial
features, expressions, poses, attitudes and actions. Action
traced from live action film can be accurate, but stiff and
mechanical. In feature animation, a character must move more
broadly to look natural. The same is true of facial expressions,
but the action should not be as broad as in a short cartoon
style. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye movement or even a head
turn will give your film more appeal. Use good taste and common
sense to keep from becoming too theatrical and excessively
animated.
The
basic principles of drawing form, weight, volume solidity and
the illusion of three dimension apply to animation as it does to
academic drawing. The way you draw cartoons, you draw in the
classical sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for
reproduction of life. You transform these into color and
movement giving the characters the illusion of three-and
four-dimensional life. Three dimensional is movement in space.
The fourth dimension is movement in time.
A
live performer has charisma. An animated character has appeal.
Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly.
All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic,
villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes
an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality
development that will capture and involve the audience's
interest. Early cartoons were basically a series of gags strung
together on a main theme. Over the years, the artists have
learned that to produce a feature there was a need for story
continuity, character development and a higher quality of
artwork throughout the entire production. Like all forms of
story telling, the feature has to appeal to the mind as well as
to the eye.
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