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Animation Principles – Interactive Guide

The twelve principles of animation are the foundation of all animation. They were developed by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.

Squash and stretch

A soft body changes shape under force but keeps its volume. The snowman stretches as it speeds up and flattens as it lands.

Look at the landing. A rigid shape reads as a hard prop, while a squashed one reads as something with weight. The dots show where the snowman has just been.

The twelve principles

A soft body changes shape under force but keeps its volume. The snowman stretches as it speeds up and flattens as it lands.
A small move in the opposite direction prepares the viewer for the main action. Before it jumps, the snowman crouches.
Staging puts one idea in front of the viewer: a readable silhouette, one clear action, and nothing else competing for the eye.
Two ways to build a movement. Straight ahead means working one frame after another, which feels spontaneous. Pose to pose means planning the key poses first and filling in between.
When the body stops, loose parts keep going and settle later. The head carries on a little past the torso, and the torso past the base.
Things take time to speed up and to slow down, so more frames sit near each end of a move and fewer in the middle.
Living things move along curved paths, not straight lines. A hop should rise and fall along a smooth arc.
A secondary action supports the main one and adds life without stealing focus. The hop is the main action. The arms, hat and a blink are secondary.
Timing is how many frames an action takes, and spacing is how far apart they land. Change them and the same movement tells you weight, size and mood.
Exaggeration pushes an action past realism to make it clearer and more convincing, not wilder. A bigger crouch, a bigger squash, a higher jump.
Solid drawing means building a form you can draw from any angle. The snowman is three spheres stacked on one axis, with an eyeline and a centre line wrapped around the head to place the face.
Appeal is what makes a character interesting to look at. A strong pose starts with a line of action, one clear curve running through the whole body, instead of a straight, symmetrical stack.