Revisiting Animation
Jamie Lyn Dotterer
What is animation?
Animation
2. the technique of photographing successive drawings or
positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of
movement when the movie is shown as a sequence.
Examples of animation
Cartoons
Disney Anime
And Many More!
Contemporary Artist
Andy Bailey
● Andymation - Youtuber who
creates flipbook
animations
● He was stop-motion
animator at Laika who
worked on ParaNorman, The
Boxtrolls, and Kubo and
the Two Strings.
How to Make A Flipbook
Another contemporary artist you might know...
Stephen Hillenburg
● Creator of Spongebob
Squarepants
What you will be making? - Example
You will be
drawing 24 drawings
on tracing paper and
then scanning it
into a video editor
software to create a
12 second video
animation.
Principles of Animation
Longer, more in depth
video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=uDqjIdI4bF4&t=33s
The 12 Principles of Animation
Squash AND STRETCH
The amount an object moves to represent movement, getting
longer or flatter while keeping the same volume.
Emphasize on:
○ Speed
○ Weight/Volume
○ momentum
○ Mass
● More squash and stretch = softer
● Less squash and stretch = harder
ANTICIPATION
When a character prepares for an action, to make the action
more believable.
● Before an action is about to occur, the audience needs to
be provided with an idea of what the action will be in
order to make it seem realistic
○ Specific moves that shows what’s about to happen
○ Make it easy for the audience to understand where the action is
● Begin - Pre-anticipate - anticipate - pre-action - action
STAGING
The presentation of an idea so it is clear
● Pulling the audiences focus toward something so that they
understand
● Main action should be simple and have proper timing with
pauses
● Stage Presence and Camera location
○ Acting: How a character reacts in a scene
○ Timing: The timing of each action in the scene
○ Positioning: Far away vs. Close up - Center vs. Side
○ Setting: Location of scene and what’s in the scene
STRAIGHT AHEAD - POSE TO POSE
Two methods of animating
● Straight Ahead
○ Starting from one drawing and working your way, drawing by drawing
until you reach the end animation
○ Animating as you go
○ Good for animation that is unpredictible
● Pose to Pose
○ Having key animation points that you want to reach between drawing
intervals
○ Draw the beginning and end of each main pose and go back to fill in the
middle drawings
○ Vocab
■ Keys-Extremes-Breakdowns
fOLLOW THROUGH AND OVERLAPPING
When a character stops, the other parts of the body stop
slowly because they are following the character
● Nothing stops all together, there are parts of the
character that will still be moving with the force of
inertia and will have to slow down with the rest of the
body
● Amount of drag gives an indicator of mass
● Overlap
○ The offset between the timing of the main body and it’s other parts
○ Similar to drag with the following of the appendage
● Follow Through
○ Parts of the body continue to move after the body has stopped moving
SLOW IN AND SLOW OUT
More drawings near starting pose and end pose, fewer
drawings in the middle
All movement starts slowly, builds speed, and then slows
down
● Fewer drawings = faster action
● Less drawings = slower action
More drawings in between to represent speed
ARCS
Slightly circular path followed by a character
More accurate flow and better action
Not a mechanical in and out or up and down movement.
● An arc give it more life and character
● Arcs can be added to any figure movement
SECONDARY ACTION
An additional action used in the scene used to supplement
the main action to add more dimension
Not Overlapping Action
● Gestures that support the main action to add more
dimension to the character animation
○ Giving the character a personality and life
○ Sets an emotion for the action and adds more dimension
○ Secondary action should not overlap main action or be unnoticed
TIMING
The personality and nature of an animation is greatly
affected by the number of frames inserted between each main
action.
● More drawings close together between poses = Smooth and
slow
● Less drawings far apart between poses = Fast and Crisp
● Maintains the appearance of an object abiding by the
laws of physics
EXAGGERATION
Remain true to reality but present it in a wilder more
extreme form
Every action can be taken to the next level to increase the
impact on the viewer
● Make the essence of the action more apparent and real
● Make it easy for the audience to see what the action is,
making it more convincing
SOLID DRAWINGS
Forms in 3-D Space with volume and weight
● Create perspective lines and overlap lines to create more
dynamic characters
● Use basic solid shapes with volume
○ Spheres
○ Cubes
○ Cylinders
● Drawing a character from all angles
○ Volume
○ Weight
○ Balance
APPEAL
Quality of charm, able to please the viewer’s eye
Charisma of an action
● Pleasing to look at, interesting
● Dynamic design = appeal
○ Variety of shapes
○ Dynamic proportions
○ Keep it simple
if you feel like you can’t draw, Here’s a fun video!
Storyboarding
Kahoot Review
Of 12 principles of
animation
Go to kahoot on your phone and type in the code!
https://create.kahoot.it/kahoots/my-kahoots
Quick Stress Relief Video -
“Spider and the Butterfly”
