Well, week two started this past Monday. I am very excited. After I watch the lectures, I am ready for next weeks teaching. I cannot get enough. The focus of this week is to go over the 12 Principles of Animation. These principles were created by the animation masters from Disney called, “The Nine Old Men.” These nine men were the ones that came up with all the rules and guidelines that every animator in the world use to make their characters come to life. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of the nine, wrote a book called, The Illusion of Life, which is like the animation bible….and yes….it is THAT good. If you call yourself an animator and don’t know what these are, I don’t know what to tell you. Ha Ha. If you need a little brain refresh, they are:
- Squash and Stretch
- Anticipation
- Staging
- Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
- Follow Through and Overlapping Action
- Slow In an Slow Out
- Arcs
- Secondary Action
- Timing
- Exaggeration
- Solid Drawing
- Appeal
The homework is pretty light. We just need to go outside and draw poses of different people then take the AM character Stu and pose him in one of our favorite poses. I will post my sketchbook drawings and pose later this week.
