Rig design process Part 1 12 Principles

Before jump in and start working on a character rig, we should think ahead and to realize what the exact requirements of the rig in order to achieve the animate production. This will save our time by creating only what is necessary. The main theme of my project is the development of “cartoony” character and animation. Before we started get into the further section, it is necessary to understand and clarify what are “cartoony” motion, emotion, and the interaction with the environments.

When we talk about the “cartoony”, we are talking about the rubber hose characters, the red carpet tongues, bulging eyes; we are talking about the style of animation developed in the twenties at Disney and Warner Brothers.

In order to train young animators, the principles of animation were created in the early 1930s by the animators Walt Disney Studios. These principles became one of the foundations of hand-drawn cartoon character animation, as they are commonly referred to, also helped to transform animation from a novelty into an art form. The best way to determine the requirements of our rigs is get relevant reference such as those principles of animation.

According to the book " Illusion of Life" , the principles of animation are :

1. Squash and stretch
2. Anticipation
3. Staging
4. Straight-ahead action and pose-to-pose
5. Follow-through and overlapping action
6. Slow-in and slow-out
7. Secondary action
8. Timing
9. Arcs
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid drawing
12. Appeal

The original principles are still relevant today because they help us to create more believable characters and situations. These principles originally referred to 2D characters, we must consider how apply those principle into our characters.