ANIMATION

The key to being a good animator is being a good observer. The more action you take in, the better. There is movement going on around you all the time, so make sure that you study as much of it as possible. Pay close attention to the subtle differences in the way that people do things. Walking is a great example, compare for instance, the movement of an elderly person to that of a youngster.

When animating, always remember that the way your characters move, tells the audience an awful lot about their personalities. Often movement (body language) can communicate a lot more than the spoken word.

Sketching out actions can often be helpful when planning movement. The following is a rough sketch showing the first six frames of a basic walk cycle.

There are a couple of "rules", which you should be aware of when animating. The following is a list of them, together with a brief explanation:

Easing in and out: Bear in mind that when something moves, it cannot instantaneously go from standing still, to travelling at 100 miles-per-hour. This is due to the fact, that it will take time to accelerate. Acceleration doesn't just apply to things that move quickly, but is present in all forms of movement. It is essential that this is recreated in order to produce believable animation.

Acceleration can be achieved by increasing the size of movement, frame-by-frame at the beginning of an action. This is referred to as easing in. Decreasing the size of movement between each frame creates easing out (slowing down).

Squash and Stretch: This technique is difficult to use in 3D animation, but it is an essential part of two-dimensional work. Put simply, the animator thinks of his character as a bouncing ball. In a walk cycle, for example, the character will be seen to squash as its foot comes in to contact with the ground.

A good example of the technique being used in three-dimensional work can be seen in Chicken Run, when one of the chickens is catapulted into a fence.

Action-Reaction: You may remember your science teacher telling you, "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." When it comes to animation the action and resulting reaction may not be equal, but the idea is essentially the same. If a character throws a ball, for example, its initial movement will be backwards, before bursting into the forward throwing motion.

Timing: This is essential when attempting to create believable movement. It is important to establish how long an action will take, and then workout how many frames you have in which to achieve it.

Animation is a time consuming process, which has the potential to drive a man insane. The results, however, can be extremely satisfying. As an animator, even the impossible can be achieved. Dope sheets are a very useful tool for analysing action.