art-and-sterf:

The best way to get started on Animation is by using the 12 Principles of animation: 

1.Squash & Stretch

The most simple example of Squash & Stretch is the Bouncing Ball exercise, its purpose is to give a sense of weight and volume to the animated object. 

2. Anticipation

Anticipation is used in animation to set the audience up for an action that is about to happen. A good Exercise for Anticipation is to draw a character Jumping, they wouldn't just leap off the ground, they’d drop down first to give themselves the Momentum to get up as far as they can. 

3. Staging

Staging is about how you set up your scene in a way that shows the reason behind the animation is perfectly clear to the viewer. You want to keep focus on the purpose of the shot so the viewer isnt confused in whats going on

4. Straight Ahead Action & Pose to Pose

Straight ahead action is the prosses of drawing each pose one after the other to get to the end pose, its a very linear way of animating.

Pose to Pose, on the other hand is a much more planned out way of animating. With just drawing the important poses, or key frames, it allows the poses and the timing to be corrected before adding the in-between frames.

5. Follow Through & Overlapping Action

Follow through is the idea that separate parts of the body will continue moving after the character has come to a stop. For example, when someone jumps over something when they land they don't suddenly stop all movement, they might move forward slightly or even step forward to balance themselves before straightening up their posture.

Overlapping action is very similar in that it means different parts of the body will move at different times. When a character goes to wave, their shoulder will move first, then arm, elbow and the hand will each lag behind like they’re being dragged before getting to the intended pose.

6. Slow in and Slow Out

As any object or person moves or comes to a stop there needs to be a time for acceleration and deceleration. Smaller spacings between frames will make the animation slower while larger spacing make the animation seem faster, without the acceleration and deceleration in the object/persons movement they seem very jerky, much like when someone has put on the brakes in the car too fast and too fast, it is very abrupt and uncomfortable compared to when the car slows down to a stop slowly. 

 7. Arc

All actions, with few exceptions (such as the animation of a mechanical device), follow an arc or slightly circular path. Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns and even eye movements are executed on arcs.

8. Secondary Action

This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action.

It’s important to remember that the secondary action should typically be something subtle that doesn’t detract from the main action happening, and can be thought of as almost a subconscious action.

 For example, a character talking to another character in a waiting room, the two of them talking would be the main action, and if that character began tapping their foot nervously, that would be the secondary action. 

9. Timing

Timing refers to the number of frames between two poses. For example, if a ball travels from screen left to screen right in 24 frames that would be the timing. It takes 24 frames or one second (if you’re working within the film rate of 24 frames per second) for the ball to reach the other side of the screen.

Expertise in timing comes best with experience and personal experimentation, using the trial and error method in refining technique.

10. Exaggeration

Exaggeration is used to push movements further to add more appeal to an action. Exaggeration can be used to create extremely cartoony movements, or incorporated with a little more restraint to more realistic actions. Whether it’s for a stylized animation or realistic, exaggeration should be implemented to some degree.

Use good taste and common sense to keep from becoming too theatrical and excessively animated.

11. Solid Drawing

In 2D Animation, solid drawing is about creating an accurate drawing with volume and weight and thinking about balance, and the anatomy in a pose. With 3D animation, animators are less likely to rely on their drawings, but the idea of solid drawing is just as important.

12. Appeal

An animated character has appeal. Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous, comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design, clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the audience’s interest.

However, the most obvious example is appeal in the character design, you want to have a character that the audience can connect to or relate to. A complicated or confusing character design can lack appeal.

all gifs taken from here

This Video also put them into a visual and easy to understand way. 

Most of these principles can be used in the examples of exercises you mentioned. 

For me, doing the movement that i want to animate also helps with my understanding on how I’m going to ago about animating it, what feels right or if the pose feels unnatural, you can also use video references.

Otherwise, it doesn’t matter what or where you start with animating.

Feel free to send in other asks if you have more questions.

- Admin Owl