disney's twelve principles of animation

Disney Studios have had a dramatic impact and influence on animation most particularly in the area of character animation. Disney set up drawing classes for his animators at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles under Instructor Don Graham. When the classes were started, most of the animators were drawing using the old cartoon formula of standardized shapes, sizes, actions and gestures, with little or no reference to nature. Out of these classes grew a way of drawing moving human figures and animals. The students studied models in motion as well as live action film, playing certain actions over and over. The analysis of action became important to the development of animation. Some of the animators began to apply the lessons of these classes to production animation, which became more sophisticated and realistic.

The animators continually searched for better ways to communicate to one another the ideas learned from these lessons. Gradually, procedures were isolated and named, analyzed and perfected, and new artists were taught these practices as rules of the trade. They became the fundamental principles of traditional animation

Most of the hard lessons they learned are directly applicable to computer animation and can provide many methods for making your animaton more effective whilst minimising file sizes and labour. Many animation packages build these principles into their controls -- Macromedia Director, for example, allows you to 'squash and stretch' images and will 'tween' between them; to 'ease in' and 'ease out' of movement sequences, etc.

It also could be argued that there are no real differences between traditional animation techniques and those applied in computer animation, that computers are merely more powerful tools at the disposal of animators. We therefore have a great deal to learn from traditional animation. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston outlined twelve principles of animation, which applied to the way the Disney Studios produces animation. These 'rules' are universally accepted as the cornerstone of any animation production and can be applied directly to the production of computer animation. Their utility is not limited to character animation and can be applied to more abstract or experimental animations to prevent overly mechannical movement and timing.

• Squash and Stretch -- defining the rigidity and mass of an object by distorting its shape during an action
• Timing -- spacing actions to define the weight and size of objects and the personality of characters
• Anticipation -- the preparation for an action
• Staging -- presenting an idea so that it is unmistakably clear
• Follow Through and Overlapping Action -- the termination of an action and establishing its relationship to the next action
• Straight Ahead Action and Pose-to-Pose Action -- The two contrasting approaches to the creation of movement
• Slow In and Out -- the spacing of the inbetween frames to achieve subtlety of timing and movement
• Arcs -- the visual path of action for natural movement
• Exaggeration -- Accentuating the essence of an idea via the design and the action
• Secondary Action -- the action of an object resulting from another action
• Appeal -- creating a design or an action that the audience enjoys watching