Character Animation

Character animation is the process of bringing characters to life through animation.
In my opinion the most important principle of animation when it comes to character animation is exaggeration. Exaggeration is when a movement or action is over emphasized to add more life and characteristics to an object or in this case a character. When using exaggeration you need to be careful to keep it toned down if you don't want you animation to look too theatrical.

Follow through and overlap animation is also greatly important when it comes to character animation as these techniques give the impression to the viewer that the character follows the laws of gravity. A good example of this technique is if a girl with long hear bends over, once she is bent over her hair will drop to be pointing directly towards the ground (giving the impression of gravity). The follow through principle can also mean that nothing on the character suddenly stops all at once, it does it slowly and steadily too emphasis real life movement. When using follow through and overlapping animations getting the time right is very important to making the final animation look to a good standard.

Animators can add a secondary action to add more dimension and depth which will also reinforce the main action. So for instance a character could be walking or running happily and the secondary actions would be small arm movement to accentuate the leg movements. This will help add more character as if you just had the legs moving it would look odd and too robotic.

Another principle for animation is the appeal. Characters should be able to appeal to the audience and seem aesthetically pleasing. This can be done by portraying the characters personality through it's characteristics and features. Appeal can include how clean the character drawings are, or how easy it is to understand the design.

Staging is a very important principle that can be used to communicate to the audience about what type of mood or idea the character is showing. Animations are usually quite short so there is limited time to set up scenes and sequences that can properly narrate the story of your animation. It's important not to overload the audience with too many movements or scenes at once, a steady pace is needed to avoid confusing and feel cluttered or messy. The background of the animation shouldn't be too over dramatic as it may distract from the focal points of the characters.

Character animators have the ability to play god as they get to bring a character into a fantasy world, where they can make them say or do anything they have the ability to animate. This allows for a lot of creative freedom which is why animation appeals to me so much.