Animate that! – The principles in depth

ANIMATE THAT! THE PRINCIPLES IN DEPTH an essential book for novice animators

BY RALUCA TEODORA FERESTEANU

Many thanks: First of all to my dear husband, Daniel Ion Feresteanu for his love and support, to my sister-in-law, Oana Sorina Serban - Erbiceni for helping me with the text editing, to Dao Kim Phuc for her wonderful drawings, to my colleague, Markus Tessmann, for the precious advice, to my editor Andreas Grunau for his trust.

Impressum: Š 2015 by Laudatio Editions, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Idea, Concept and Words: Raluca Feresteanu www.animationabc.com Illustrations by Š Dao Kim Phuc www.laudatio-verlag.de ISBN 978-3-941275-95-9 All rights reserved Except as otherwise permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, with the prior permission of the publisher, or, in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of a licence issued by The Copyright Licensing Agency.

Introduction The most important aspect in the training of an animator is the understanding of the animation principles.

You shouldn’t learn these principles by heart, but you should fully understand them in order to know exactly why and when to use them.

In order to become an animator you need a sense of observation, a certain musical rhythm and a little imagination.

But, first of all, you need passion, and perseverance like in all areas of life.

As a 2D animator you will also have to draw well, but for a 3D animator, drawing is not mandatory but only optional. Though it will help you a lot because drawing and animation have a lot in common.

The reason I wrote this book and tried to explain and give the most suitable examples is to share with you a very simple way to learn the principles of animation.

Being a student at Animation Mentor and iAnimate, I could very well understand the necessities of other students. As a student, you do not want some features to be explained too scientifically but you would prefer lessons to be as simple and with as many examples as possible.

Pictures are also very important for visual memory. Some persons remember better if they see images than if they hear explanations.

That being said, I thank you for buying this book and trusting me and I have nothing left to do than to wish you to enjoy the read.

Good luck with your work and happy animating!

Raluca Teodora Feresteanu

Contents 1 Newton’s Laws First Law - Inertia Second Law - Foundation of Dynamics Third Law - Action and Reaction Gravity

2 Poses Main Poses How to Make a Good Pose Lines of Action Silhouette Point of Interest Props Asymmetry Connection Variation and Contrast Weight Balance Straight Lines

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

V

3 Timing and Spacing Speed Weight Condition Manipulating Objects Types of Spacing Spacing Tools How to Define Time and Space

4 Follow Through and Overlapping Action Hierarchy Hierarchy of the Human Body Types of Leadership Extremities Weight Speed Subtext

5 Anticipation How it Works Variations Anticipation before Anticipation When We don’t Need Anticipation Breaking the Rules VI

21 23 24 25 27 31 33 34

37 38 39 42 45 46 47 48

51 52 53 57 58 59

6 Slow In and Slow Out Slow In Slow Out Linear Variation

7 Arcs Path Property Speed Weight How to Form Arcs in Animation Polishing the Arcs Extensions Tools

8 Squash and Stretch Energy Keep the Volume Animation Style Shape Flexibility Weight Velocity

61 62 63 64 65

67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 77

79 80 81 82 83 85 86 87 VII

9 Exaggeration

89

Style Anticipation Action - Reaction Squash and Stretch Personality Feelings Time Variation

90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

10 Secondary Action

99

Intensity Anticipation Tension Feelings Character’s Behavior

11 Staging Clarity Point of Interest Staging the Actor Contrast Importance Staging the Background VIII

100 102 103 104 106

109 110 111 112 113 115 118

12 Appeal Characters Character’s Design Animation Acting Staging Story

13 Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose Pose to Pose Straight Ahead How to Decide?

121 122 123 124 125 126 127

129 130 132 134

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chapter 2 - poses

2

Poses

P

oses are a graphic representation of an action or condition.

As the models pose as beautiful and elegant as possible in order to show fashion to us, so the animation poses will show us the animated action, the physical and mental state of a character. They are a visual communication to the public.

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animation ABC - the principles in depth Main Poses We can have two kinds of poses: - main poses and also called story telling poses - secondary poses linking together the main poses

Story telling poses are the basic structure, the foundation of animation.

Being actually a visual communication language, they will help us understand the story and the character.

Good poses allow the audience to see inside the character, to feel him, to understand and communicate with him. They make the audience care about the character and the story.

If the poses are strong and appealing, the animation will probably look good.

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chapter 2 - poses

How to Make a Good Pose Even in 3D animation, what we see on screen are actually 2D shapes. We have to understand what an attractive and communicative form does in order to make good pose. Good poses must be lively and dynamic even if they are static.

lines of action

silhouette

point of interest

props

asymmetry

connection

variation and contrast

weight

balance

In this chapter I will list the most important points that will guide you in choosing good poses.

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animation ABC - the principles in depth Lines of Action Lines of action are imaginary lines that pass through the body of the character and show us the primary force of a pose indicating the direction and the energy of the character. From the legs, to the head, to the hands.

The lines of action indicate the movement and the energy of the character leading the public eye where we want it to watch.

The best poses guide the public eye where it should, and in most cases, to the face. All the character’s body parts must work together to create a visual flow in order for the audience to be able to follow him.

Usually, the viewer focuses on the character’s face, but he feels the body language.

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chapter 2 - poses

Silhouette The silhouette is the shape that defines the character.

If you put the scene in black and white (with the character being black) the shape that defines him is called silhouette.

silhouette not so clear

Let’s take a karate pose, for example. Try not to put the character’s hands too close to the body in order to have blank spaces and the character’s shape to be as clear as possible.

clear silhouette Find the best angle and position from which the figure is best seen.

Trying to make a clearer and plainer silhouette will result in a better pose.

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animation ABC - the principles in depth Point of Interest A point of interest is a specific point that we find interesting, that arouses our curiosity and makes us want to know more about it.

For a pose to be successful, the lines of action should show to the public where to look and at what they should focus.

Let’s say you want the viewer to look at the face: then you must do so in a way that the lines of hands and feet lead you there.

The lines of action can guide you through several points towards the point of interest. In this case through the feet, the arms, the body and even through the swing.

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chapter 2 - poses

Props In animation, we will use props very often. Since they will be included in the story you have to include them also in the flow line in order for them to be more readable.

Let’s say we have a boy giving his girlfriend a flower. Try to make the pose in such a way that a line flows from the legs head - eyes, through the hands and flower.

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animation ABC - the principles in depth Asymmetry Symmetry, also called twinning in animation, is boring, lacking contrast and visual changes.

It is also unnatural because living things are never symmetrical.

Sometimes you could use symmetry to emphasize a particular move but usually it’s better to make hands and feet poses asymmetrical.

For example, if we have a character making a speech and moving both hands, he should raise his right hand a little more, bring it closer to his body and try to make the pose asymmetrical.

symmetrical

asymmetrical

It looks much more interesting and alive.

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chapter 2 - poses

Connection We will often have two or more characters in a scene.

To show the connection between them and their importance in certain moments of the animation, we have to use the flow lines in such a way that the audience will understand that very fast.

If, for example, you have three characters, one of them talking and the other two only listening to him, visual lines should direct the public eye to the face of the speaker, in order to connect them.

connection between one talker and two listeners

In general, people tend to look where everybody else is looking.

In this picture, the body attitude and the eye direction of the girls, lead us to the girl on the right that is talking.

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animation ABC - the principles in depth Variation and Contrast Try to vary the poses and action lines to give color to the animation. The audience loves visual changes and they don’t have time to get bored.

Reversing the action line can create contrast and variety which makes the pose more dynamic.

concave curve

For example, if your character is about to scream at another character, bend his spine backwards first in order to prepare him, using a concave curve, and when he starts to scream bend it in the opposite direction using a convex curve. convex curve

Putting a pose in one direction and the next one in the other direction, it may result in an accumulation of energy in the first pose which is released in the other pose.

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chapter 2 - poses

Weight One of the most important things we want to show in a pose is the weight of the character.

If the picture does not show weight, our character will look like a feather floating in the air.

It will look strange and unreal.

You must consider to show your character relaxed in order to be able to show weight in your poses.

weightless

Stand up straight and stiff as in the army in front of the mirror for a few seconds. After this take a rest and let your whole body relax.

The Back and the knees will bend, the head will bend, shoulders and arms will droop.

YOU CAN FEEL THE weight

Showing weight does not MEAN making the character fatter. if you do not show weight through the body attitude then the character will always feel weightless.

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animation ABC - the principles in depth Balance Body poses should show the character in balance, unless we deliberately do not want this. If the poses are not balanced, the public will think that the character is unbalanced and tends to always fall.

If you draw a perpendicular line from the center of gravity, which is the hip, it should not exceed the basis of support, which are the feet.

unbalanced

Think of a balance swing which you try to keep horizontally. If the base is exactly in the middle it will stay in balance, if you switch the place of the base, the balance swing will fall in the opposite direction.

balanced

Find the center of gravity, fix a perpendicular visual line passing through it and balance the body equally visually, on each side.

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chapter 2 - poses

Straight Lines Vertical and horizontal lines should be avoided because they are neutral and boring.

Use them only if you need to emphasize the contrast between the other lines.

boring

much better

If for example you have a soldier on duty, you could use straight lines to emphasize his stiff attitude.

Good poses show life and energy. Make the poses in a way that even if you put them in a story board and print them, looking at them as in a comic book, you will still be able to understand the story and characters.

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