Unit 67: 3D Animation
12 Principles of Animation
12 Principles of Animation
Introduced by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their book The
Illusion of Life: Disney Animation(1981).

Squash and Stretch

Arc

Anticipation

Secondary Action

Staging

Timing

Straight Ahead Action
and Pose to Pose

Exaggeration

Solid drawing

Appeal

Follow Through and
Overlapping Action

Slow In and Slow Out
Squash and Stretch
•
Add flexibility and appeal
•
Think of a ball squashing on
impact and stretching back as it
bounces away.
Anticipation

Used to set the audience
up for an action that is
about to happen

Prepares the audience
for the movement and
makes it more
believable.

The baseball pitch
opposite shows the
character moving back
before pitching.
Staging

Placement of your
characters in the
background or foreground

Should make your purpose
of the animation/scene
clear to the viewer
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

Straight ahead is a linear
approach.

You’ll create each pose or
drawing of the animation
one after the other.

Pose to pose it’s much
more methodical and
planned out, with just the
most important poses used.

Allows a simpler way of
working before adding
extra detail
Follow Through and Overlapping Action

Follow through is the idea
that separate parts of the
body will continue moving
after the character has
come to a stop.

Overlapping action means
different parts of the body
will move at different
times. Think about the
parts of your arm needed to
wave.

By thinking about this you
can avoid robotic
animations.
Slow In and Slow Out

As any object or person
moves or comes to a stop
there needs to be a time
for acceleration and
deceleration

Without this movements
become very unnatural
and robotic

Think about when you run
or drive a car. You don’t
reach top speed straight
away.
Arc

Your characters should
move in arcs not straight
lines

By doing this it is add to
the realism and avoids
your animations looking
robotic.
Secondary Action

Secondary action refers to creating
actions that emphasize or support the
main action

Should typically be something subtle

An example would be having character
walking down the street while whistling
or a character folding his arms while
talking.
Timing

Gives objects and characters
the illusion of moving within
the laws of physics

If the spacing within frames
is close together, the object
moves slower, if the spacing
is further apart the object
moves faster.

More objects = slow

Less objects = fast.
Exaggeration

Add more appeal to an action

Stylized animation or
realistic, exaggeration should
be implemented to some
degree.
Solid drawing

Creating an accurate
drawing with volume and
weight

Correct balance and weight
in the pose, as well as a
clear silhouette. Avoid
mirroring poses you have
created.

An example of a boring
character may have both
arms on their hips or both
hands in their pockets.
Appeal

You want a character that the audience can
connect to or relate to. A complicated or
confusing character design can lack appeal.

Push and exaggerate to create a more unique
character design that will stick out in the
audience’s memory.

For example, simply exaggerating the jaw of the
character or larger eyes can help create more
appeal.
Todays Lesson Aims

Task 1
Watch 12 Steps of Animation by Alan Becker to further
emphasize understanding(40 mins)
http://bit.ly/1HNGlaL

Task 2
In groups of 3 find and analyse a short animated film or
trailer. Identify when and where the 12 principles of
animation take place.

Task 3
Prepare a presentation to present to class.
Must: Understand
what the 12
principles of
animation are.
Should: Analyse,
apply and present
12 principles.
Could: Identify
where some of the
principles can be
seen in real life.