Squash and Stretch-Rolling Ball-Stop Motion

In this lesson students will animate a ball rolling into the "frame" and squash against an object. This lesson is concerned primarily with exaggeration as it pertains to the principles of animation, squash and stretch. It also examines timing and easing out of a move.

In this lesson students will animate a a penny sliding across the frame. They will animate this three times, one cycle will be animated on 1's, the next cycle on 2;s, and the last cycle on 3's. This exercise will show students the power of  timing and how it affects their animation.

In this lesson students will animate a coin sliding across the frame. During this animated cycle students will learn about the principle of animation Ease In and Ease Out. Eases are a foundational principle of animation. Easing into a move and out of a move are essential to creating interesting animation. Eases add nuisance to your work and help the audience focus on the action which is about to take place.

This lesson will introduce students to the animation principle of Secondary Action:

Secondary Actions add to and enrich the main action of an animated sequence. Secondary actions add more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. An example: A character is angrily walking toward another character.  The walk is forceful, aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk. Also the possibility of dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk action. All of these actions should work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as the primary action and the arm swings, head bounce and all oter actions of the body as secondary or supporting actions.

Students will observe, identify and analyze a cartoon for primary and secondary actions.

Students will create add one or more secondary actions to a walk cycle of a cartoon character or sequence. Examples of secondary actions could be flapping ears, bouncing, hair, swishing tail, trailing cape, moving facial features, or other gestures. These actions should help build interest and bring more life into the sequence.

Anticipation in animation is the movement that prepares the audience for a major action the character is about to perform. A classic example of this is the pitcher who is about to pitch a baseball, he first winds up and then releases the ball. The wind up is the anticipation to the throw that will follow.

In this lesson students will learn what anticipation is, how it is employed in effective animation, and how to incorporate anticipation into a simple stop motion animation that they will create.

Staging in Animation is concerned with the camera angles, shot selection, lighting design, and physical arrangement of the elements in the space. All of these things should complement the story and add a visual mood which supports the action which will be taking place.

Straight ahead animation is the process of starting at the beginning of a scene, and working your way through to the end of the scene. Usually one animator would work in this method from the start to the end of the scene. Straight ahead animation offers style and spontaneity to the animation, as opposed to Pose to Pose which is methodically planned out.

One of the important principles to understand in all animation, both traditional 2D and computer generated 3D, is that of the arc. Most natural movement, human and animal, takes place on an arc. From the flick of a finger, to the swing of a baseball bat or a moving tail, the majority natural movement occurs on wavelike arcs or in figure eight like movements. This lesson will introduce students to the principle through visual examples to study, as well as through some simple drawing exercises that can be completed over the course of several periods or as homework. Understanding the importance of arcs in movement will help animators create more fluid and natural movements, from the smallest to the broadest of actions.

In this type of approach to animation, an action or sequence is planned out with key frames that establish the beginning and end of the action or sequence. Pose to pose also helps determine the flow of the action and a characters expression. As a technique it requires a strong sense of staging, acting, and subtle movements. In this stage characters, attitudes and actions are much more refined than in earlier stages. Students will look at various examples of actions and scenes from well known and recognized characters that made use of the the pose to pose approach. They will also learn or extend their awareness about key frames, breakdowns, and inbetweens. This lesson will also cover reading and understanding timing charts which are used by lead animators in studio production to indicate drawing positions and timing for assistant animators and inbetweeners. This lesson will also feature an exercise that goes over several methods for inbetweening a pose to pose sequence,  that includes dot by dot, line by line, and shape by shape.

This lesson will cover the traditional animation principle follow through and overlapping action. Follow through is one of twelve original Walt Disney principles designed to bring characters to life and connect with the audience. Students will view examples within professional video and animated clips in slow motion that represent this principle. The students will then further explore the follow through an overlapping action principle by creating their own series of drawings representing the animation principle. 

This lesson will cover the traditional animation principle exaggeration. Exaggeration is one of twelve original Walt Disney principles designed to bring characters to life and connect with the audience. Students will view professional examples from current and past animated shorts and be able to identify the principle within a scene. The students will then further explore the exaggeration principle by creating their own  walk, run, and jump cycles utilizing Preston Blair's artistic exaggerated style.