animate that! – the principles in depth

BY RALUCA TEODORA FERESTEANU

THE PRINCIPLES IN DEPTH

an essential book for novice animators

ANIMATE THAT!

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: © 2015 by Laudatio Editions, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Idea, Concept and Words: Raluca Feresteanu www.animationabc.comIllustrations by © 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.

The most important aspect in the training of an animator is the understand-ing of the animation principles.You shouldn’t learn these principles by heart, but you should fully under-stand 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 un-derstand 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!

Introduction

Raluca Teodora Feresteanu

V

Newton’s Laws 1

First Law - Inertia 2Second Law - Foundation of Dynamics 3Third Law - Action and Reaction 4Gravity 5

Poses 7

Main Poses 8How to Make a Good Pose 9Lines of Action 10Silhouette 11Point of Interest 12Props 13Asymmetry 14Connection 15Variation and Contrast 16Weight 17Balance 18Straight Lines 19

Contents

1

2

VI

Timing and Spacing 21

Speed 23Weight 24Condition 25Manipulating Objects 27Types of Spacing 31Spacing Tools 33How to Define Time and Space 34

Follow Through and Overlapping Action 37

Hierarchy 38Hierarchy of the Human Body 39Types of Leadership 42Extremities 45Weight 46Speed 47Subtext 48

Anticipation 51

How it Works 52Variations 53Anticipation before Anticipation 57When We don’t Need Anticipation 58Breaking the Rules 59

4

5

3

VII

Slow In and Slow Out 61

Slow In 62Slow Out 63Linear 64Variation 65

Arcs 67

Path 68Property 69Speed 70Weight 71How to Form Arcs in Animation 72Polishing the Arcs 73Extensions 74Tools 77

Squash and Stretch 79

Energy 80Keep the Volume 81Animation Style 82Shape 83Flexibility 85Weight 86Velocity 87

6

7

8

VIII

Exaggeration 89

Style 90Anticipation 91Action - Reaction 92Squash and Stretch 93Personality 94Feelings 95Time 96Variation 97

Secondary Action 99

Intensity 100Anticipation 102Tension 103Feelings 104Character’s Behavior 106

Staging 109

Clarity 110Point of Interest 111Staging the Actor 112Contrast 113Importance 115Staging the Background 118

9

10

11

IX

Appeal 121

Characters 122Character’s Design 123Animation 124Acting 125Staging 126Story 127

Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose 129

Pose to Pose 130Straight Ahead 132How to Decide? 134

12

13

7

chapter 2 - poses

Poses 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 communica-tion to the public.

2Poses

animation ABC - the principles in depth

8

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 under-stand the story and the character.

Main Poses

Good poses allow the audience to see inside the character, to feel him, to understand and commu-nicate 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.

9

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.

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

lines of action silhouette point of interest

props asymmetry connection

variation and contrast weight balance


10

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 direc-tion 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.

Lines of Action

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 au-dience to be able to follow him.

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

silhouette not so clear

clear silhouette

11

chapter 2 - poses

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.

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.

Silhouette

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

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


12

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.

13

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.

symmetrical

asymmetrical


14

Asymmetry

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.

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.

It looks much more interesting and alive.

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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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.

concave curve convex curve


16

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.

For example, if your char-acter 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.

Variation and Contrast

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.

weightless YOU CAN FEEL THE weight

17

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.

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.

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.

unbalanced balanced


18

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.

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.

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

19

chapter 2 - poses

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.

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.

Straight Lines

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

boring much better

animate that! – the principles in depth

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