Art College Crash Course, Lesson 12: The 12 Principles of Animation
Or: how to bring a drawing to life, 24 frames at a time.
You signed up to animate cool characters. Your first assignment is a bouncing ball.
Welcome to animation. Here's why that ball matters.
The reality
Animation means drawing the same thing again and again, a little different each time.
REAL: film runs at 24 frames per second. Many animators draw "on twos," meaning one drawing held for two frames, so that's 12 drawings for a single second.
Even a simple movement takes planning.
It's a lot of work. It's also the closest thing to magic you can do with a pencil.
The 12 principles
REAL: Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston wrote these down in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life. Animators everywhere still use them.
Squash and stretch. Things squish when they land and stretch when they move fast. That's what makes them feel soft or heavy. Common mistake: a bouncing ball that never changes shape and looks like a rock.
Anticipation. A small move in the opposite direction before the big move. A pitcher winds up before throwing. Common mistake: a character jumps without bending their knees first.
Staging. Show the action so clearly the audience can't miss it.
Straight ahead vs. pose to pose. Draw frame after frame in order (great for fire and water), or draw the key poses first and fill in between (great for acting).
Follow-through and overlapping action. Parts don't all stop at once. A dog stops running, and its ears keep flopping. Common mistake: hair and clothes freeze the instant the body stops.
Slow in and slow out. Things speed up and slow down. Put more drawings near the start and end of a move. Common mistake: everything moves at one robotic speed.
Arcs. Living things move in curves. Arms swing, heads turn, balls fly in arcs. Common mistake: an arm moving in a perfectly straight line.
Secondary action. Small extra moves that add feeling. A sigh. A tap of the foot.
Timing. The number of drawings decides speed and weight. More drawings: slow and heavy. Fewer: fast and light.
Exaggeration. Push it further than real life so it reads clearly.
Solid drawing. Draw characters like they have weight and volume in 3D space.
Appeal. Make characters people want to watch, heroes and villains alike.
How to start
Start simple. Master the bouncing ball before the big fight scene.
Use reference. Film yourself or watch real-life video.
Don't over-animate. Not everything needs to move all the time.
Be patient. Animation is slow. That's normal.
Try this
Animate a bouncing ball, using a flipbook, sticky notes or a free app. 1. Draw the ball high, then falling, then squashed on the ground, then bouncing back up a little lower. 2. Space the drawings closer together at the top and farther apart near the ground. 3. Add squash on the landing and stretch on the way down.
Then do it again with a bowling ball. How does weight change it?
Up next
Lesson 13: The Animator's Survival Kit. The book every animator ends up owning.
What was your first animation? Tell us in the comments.
The revolution will not be graded.
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