Animation is a main part of the entertainment industry. To make an successful animation you must use the 12 principles of animation; Squash and stretch, Anticipation, staging, pose to pose, follow through, ease in and out, arc, secondary action, timing, exaggeration, solid drawing and appeal. These are vital for a sucessful animation.
Squash and Stretch is the most important principle which allows an object to have weight and gravity to it. It can be used on any object including a human face. In realistic animation the most important thing is that the volume stays the same.Anticipation is used to make the action appear more realistic, and prepares the audience for an action. For example; a dancer when jumping off the floor would bend their knees first.Staging is to make the audience aware of what is important in the scene and the idea the animator wants to convey. This can be done by where the character is placed in the frame or the way the animator uses lighting.
Straight ahead action are animated frame by frame whereas pose to pose animation is where as there will be key frames which will be then fill in the in-betweens later on in the process. Straight ahead action is more fluid and runs more smoothly where as pose to pose is used in dramatic scenes.
Follow through and over lapping animation is something which would give more of a realistic effect to animation. It gives a some laws of physics which allows it to do that.
Ease in and ease out is the time it takes for a movement to accelerate and slow down which would again make it more realistic by giving it some physical attributes.
Arc is when the object moves in in an arc. When the speed increases in speed or momentum increases, the arcs tend to flatten out and broaden when it turns. This gives a sort of angle to an object.
Secondary Action gives more life to a scene and would help support a main action. It can be a subtle action as like a person swinging their arms or even different facial expressions.
Timing is very important to time an action right or it won't work smoothly or communicate what it needs to at the right time. It is needed to make the laws of physics work in the animation.
Exaggeration is self explanatory where the actions or movements are exaggerated to make it more interesting and appealing to look at.
Solid drawing gives the drawing gives the animation weight and volume. The animator needs to take the three-dimensions into account. For example they would need to look at shadow and light to make the animation make sense.
Appeal is more about the way a character in an animation acts. The character needs to have interest making it seem more realistic. This could also come in the style of how the animator animates.
