Principles Of Animation 

Squash And Stretch

This principle gives a sense of weight and flexibility to objects. When an object moves, it can squash (compress) or stretch (elongate), emphasizing the motion’s energy. This is most evident in soft objects like bouncing balls, but even rigid objects show subtle squash and stretch.

Anticipation 

Anticipation prepares the audience for an action, enhancing its realism and impact. For example, before jumping, a character crouches. It builds expectation and makes actions feel more deliberate and smoother.

Staging 

Staging is about clarity of communication, ensuring the audience can easily understand the action, mood, and personality being presented. It involves careful composition, camera angles, lighting, and posing to convey the intended idea effectively.

Straight-ahead action and pose-to-pose

Straight Ahead Action: Drawing frame-by-frame from start to finish, resulting in a more fluid, dynamic, and unpredictable motion. Pose-to-Pose: Planning key poses first and then filling in the in-betweens, offering better control over timing and structure. Animators often combine both methods to achieve nuanced motion.

Follow through and overlapping action

These principles enhance realism by showing how different parts of a character or object continue to move after the main body stops (Follow Through) or how various parts move at different rates (Overlapping Action). For example, a dog's ears might continue to flop even after its body has stopped running.

Slow in and slow out

Most actions don’t start or stop suddenly. Adding more frames at the beginning and end of an action, while keeping fewer frames in the middle, makes the motion appear smoother and more realistic. This principle adds a natural feeling of acceleration and deceleration.

Arc

Most natural movements follow an arched trajectory rather than a straight line. Applying arcs to motion—whether it's the swing of an arm or the path of a thrown object—makes animation appear more lifelike and fluid.

Secondary Action

Adding smaller, complementary actions to support the main action. For instance, when a character walks, their arms might swing, or their hair might bounce. These actions add depth, context, and interest to the animation

Timing

Timing refers to the number of frames used for a given action. Proper timing affects the motion’s weight, speed, mood, and even emotion. Adjusting timing can make the difference between a character moving gracefully or sluggishly.

Exaggeration 

Exaggeration enhances emotions and actions to make them more appealing and readable. Instead of trying to mimic reality perfectly, exaggerating motion, poses, or expressions can convey feelings more effectively and make animations more entertaining.

Solid Drawing

This principle focuses on ensuring that the animation is well-drawn and that the characters and objects have a sense of form, volume, and weight.

Appeal

This principle involves creating characters and animations that are visually pleasing and engaging, with a sense of charm and personality.