Introduction
I have been asked my Tudno Studios to create an article on the past and present of 2D animation. My aim is to talk about the techniques and development of 2D animation, starting with the earliest form of animation and ending with the latest.
What is animation?
Animation is a persistence of vision; a series of images that are displayed rapidly to create the illusion of movement. Animation can be created in several different ways, though the most common method is a motion picture.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation]
The pictures above show an example of how an animation is made. The animation is made up of the six frames played at 10 frames per second on a loop.
Techniques and Development
The 12 Basic Principles of Animation
1. Squash and Stretch
The squash and stretch principle is the most important principle in animation. The method gives an object weight and flexibility to make the animation look more realistic.
[http://4.bp.blogspot.com]
2. Anticipation
Anticipation is a principle used to make the action look more realistic, and prepare the audience for an action. For example, someone jumping off the floor would have to bend their knees first.
[http://www.animationbrain.com]
3. Staging
Staging is a principle that let's the audience know what their attention should be on in an animation. This can usually be done by using lighting and shadowing effects. In the picture below, you can see that Mickey Mouse is brighter than the background, and so your attention is drawn to him, rather than the floor.
[http://3.bp.blogspot.com]
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
"Straight ahead action" and "pose to pose" are different methods of drawing an animation. The former means drawing out the whole animation frame by frame, whilst the latter means drawing several key frames and filling in the rest later.
[http://1.bp.blogspot.com]
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
These techniques help an animation render more realistically. "Follow through" involves continuing to move certain body parts after the character has stopped moving, i.e. letting the hands swing by it's side. "Overlapping action" is allowing the different body parts move at different rates, i.e. the arms and the head would have a different timing.
[http://lh3.ggpht.com]
6. Slow In and Slow Out
When an action takes place, the "slow in and slow out" method is used. When a person does an action, their body needs time to slow down, and because of this, there are usually a lot more drawings of the beginning and the end of the action.
[http://www.mattbugeja.net]
7. Arcs
When, for example, an item is thrown, it has a natural arc that it needs to follow, so that it still looks realistic. If an object moves out of its natural arc whilst in motion for no reason, the action will look erratic.
[http://www.idleworm.com]
8. Secondary Action
Adding secondary actions to an animation makes the scene look more realistic, as opposed to taking attention away from the main action. For example, a man walking could simultaneously change his facial expression, or wave at somebody. These actions give the scene more life.
[http://1.bp.blogspot.com]
9. Timing
Timing is a principle that refers to the number of frames during an action, and how fast it should play during the animation. Important things to look at during timing are the weight of an object, or the reaction of a character.
[http://jimhillmedia.com]
10. Exaggeration
Exaggeration is a useful principle for animation, as it can change something that would be perceived as dull and boring in reality can appear exciting and fun in an animation. Examples of exaggeration include caricatures, and making a character completely over-react.
[http://www.animationbrain.com]
11. Solid Drawing
Solid drawing is making items more realistic by taking into account the volume and the weight of the object. This also includes understanding the basics of 3D shapes; anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadow, etc.
[http://onanimation.com]
12. Appeal
The principle of appeal is making your characters likeable and giving them a realistic feel. For example, a good character could have a baby-face, and a villain could have an unsymmetrical face.
[http://drawingsinmotion.files.wordpress.com]
Techniques
There are many different techniques in 2D animation.
Traditional Animation
Traditional animation, or cel animation, is the most used technique in animated films. Each individual frame of a traditional animation is drawn on paper, slightly altering the image each time to give the impression of movement. The drawings are then copied onto transparent acetate sheets (cels), which are filled with colours. When they are completed, they are photographed one-by-one against a painted background.
[http://en.wikipedia.org]
Stop-Motion
Stop-motion animation is the technique of taking a series of photographs of objects in the real-world, and playing them rapidly together to look as though the item is moving. This technique is used in films like The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and Corpse Bride. Another form of stop-motion is using clay, like in the Wallace and Gromit shorts.
[http://en.wikipedia.org]
An artist named Blu uses stop-motion to make short films of graffiti he draws. Here is an example:
Another stop-motion artist named PES also makes short films.
Computer Animation
Computer animation is, as the name suggests, an animation created on a computer. The animations are usually made using a 2D or 3D software, and it usually takes a lot less time than traditional animation.
[http://en.wikipedia.org]
Development
Phenakistoscope
The phenakistoscope was one of the earliest methods of animation, invented by Joseph Plateau in 1832. It is made up of a spinning disk attached to a verticle handle, with drawings around the edge of the disk and verticle slits in between each picture. To watch the animation, the user would have to look through the slits in a mirror to see the reflection of the pictures. The word phenakistoscope comes from the Greek word 'phenakizein', which means 'to cheat', as the phenakistoscope creates the illusion of animation.
[http://users.telenet.be]
Zoetrope
The zoetrope is a similar invention to the phenakistoscope, created first by Ting Huan in 180 AD, but then recreated in a modern form by William Horner in the 1860s. Rather than being a spinning wheel, like the phenakistoscope, the zoetrope is a cylinder with images along the inside, and slits around the outside. By looking through the slits, and spinning the cylinder, the pictures along the inside will appear to move. The word zoetrope comes from the Greek word 'zoe', meaning 'life', and 'tropos', meaning 'turn'.
[http://porij.files.wordpress.com]
Pixar Studios created a zoetrope out of models of characters from Pixar movies. When spun very quickly, the models look like they are moving.
Praxinoscope
The praxinoscope was the successor of the zoetrope, invented in 1877 by Charles-Émile Reynaud. It was very similar to the zoetrope, but instead of using slits, the outer cylinder would be covered in pictures, and there would be an inner cylinder covered in mirrors. The person looking in the mirrors would see a rapid succession of images that looked like they were moving, in a better quality than the zoetrope. The word 'praxinoscope' translates roughly into 'action viewer'.
[http://www.flixya.com]
Kinetoscope
The kinetoscope was created for film use, rather than just short animation clips. Only one person at a time could look through a kinetoscope, as there was only one peephole at the top. The kinetoscope was a cabinet, full of reels and reels of different pictures, and a peephole on the lid. The film reel would go round wheels, giving the viewer an illusion of animation. It was created by Thomas Edison in 1888.
[http://www.tcf.ua.edu]
Conclusion
This article has described the different techniques of 2D animation, including the historical methods of animation and the 12 principles of animation. I hope this was useful to you.
