2D animation services can help you convey your message in an effective and fun way. If you wish to exaggerate and amplify the impact of your 2D animations, you can leverage some basic principles. This post will share valuable insight about the 12 2D animation principles to remember in 2023.
1. Anticipation
Preparing for action prior to the act itself is known as anticipation. In this principle, any intended action follows a motion carried out in the opposite direction. It does not have to be a big movement; a slight tilt in the opposite direction will do fine.
2. Appeal
Want to project attraction through your 2D animated character, then Appeal can help you produce this charismatic effect. It can be any kind of attraction, such as cute, cruel, friendly, angry, etc. The right silhouette on your character’s face will make it easier for the audience to read the intended effect.
3. ARC
This is the principle for 2D animation service based on the fact that the actions of each character and object follow an arched trajectory. This gives your 2D animation a move natural movement fluidity and produces a realistic effect.
From hand swing action to character jumping forward and feet’s motion path to the movement of a pitched ball, you can apply ARC to every move per your preference. You want a character or object to follow and depict a natural arched trajectory; this principle will help you achieve the desired results.
4. Exaggeration
If you are looking for a technique to accentuate a specific phase of your animation, you can use exaggeration to increase its dramatic or comic effect. So, no more boring or linear moving objects and characters. You can use exaggeration to add more vivacity and life to the targeted movements.
5. Overlapping Actions and Follow Through
Overlapping action allows you to animate the movement of different human body parts at different speeds and timing.
This principle is great for describing soft objects like hair, fur, fabric, etc. Even when your object is carried by another object’s movement, your soft object will continue to move even if your main object stops moving.
6. Pose to Pose and Straight Ahead
Pose to Pose is the animation principle and is one of the best options to enjoy complete control over your animations. You can add breakdowns, finish the intervals, and allow your animation to keep a volume and play conveniently on variables like spacing and timing.
On the other hand, the Straight Ahead principle is how you animate frame-by-frame without interrupting from the start to the end of your animation. You rely on your previous drawings to produce the drawings that follow. This is a great way to produce animations for organic elements such as water or any other fluids.
7. Secondary Action
If you want to accentuate and emphasize your animation’s main action and give it more impact, secondary action can help you do so. You can even use it to add more life and realism to your animation scene.
From body language to hand actions and facial expressions, you can accentuate the motions and emotions of your character. This will create an immersive and highly impactful animation effect for your viewer.
8. Slow-In and Slow-Out
Every movement animation may need to move faster or slower. This principle allows you to accelerate or decelerate the movement of your animated object or character.
9. Solid Drawing
This principle refers to a skill that every 2D animation developer or producer must master in Solid Drawing. As a traditional 2D animator, you must be able to illustrate or draw correctly to reproduce or recreate the anatomy, perspective, lights, and shadows.
The advancement of CGI has helped 2D animation service providers to produce HD 2D animated videos. Therefore, you do not need a manual drawing or sketching skills.
10. Squash and Stretch
If you want to give the drawn character more weight and flexibility, the “Squash and Stretch” technique allows you to do so. Applying this principle will give more life to the object or character while amplifying the animation effect making it more cartoony.
Similarly, if you are applying Squash and Stretch to a human character’s face, it will become more life-like with a comic effect.
11. Staging
This principle works exactly like staging in a cinema or a theatre. You can use staging to highlight the elements that are important in the scene. You can even adjust the character’s pose, the image’s composition, the layout of the décor, and light settings.
Remember, the limpid and clearer the staging result, the better you will catch your audience’s attention.
12. Timing
In a 2D animation, timing translates to numerous images assigned to any given action of an object or character. This will help produce a particular emotion in a character’s movement. For instance, you can add quick timing to make your animation move in a lively and hurrying fashion.
However, you can also slow down the timing to make the character appear nonchalant, relaxed, or depressed.
Conclusion
Now that you are aware of the 12 must-know 2D animation principles for 2023, it is time to use this knowledge to your advantage. If this is your first attempt at creating an animation or you do not have an in-house team of animators, hiring a 2D animation service is your best option.
However, make sure that the company to choose to work with has a proven portfolio of animations similar to the ones you desire to produce.
