Principals Pt 2

Some further principals that are widely accepted are how a character is shown to the audience. These are:

Line of Action
Silhouetting
Weight and Balance
Staging
Appeal

Line of Action is where an imaginary line is drawn through the center of the figure. This shows the flow of action. All the elements of the figure should follow this curve. Often these poses are exaggerated and wouldn't be seen in everyday life.

Silhouetting is providing your figure with a strong, recognizable silhouette. It allows the audience to know what character they are viewing just by its features. For example, if Bart Simpson was silhouetted, you would instantly recognize him from the spiky can shaped head.

Weight and Balance is how a figure changes their pose to accommodate for their center of balance. This can be changed due to lifting heavy objects or simply posing like a muscle man. Most of the time the legs and back are changing position.

Staging is positioning the character is a clear, readable angle to the audience so as they are able to see the action they are making. If we sat in the center of a theatre and the actors were side on, we would not be able to see their alternate sides meaning some of their actions would be clouded. If they were turned slightly, towards the audience, we would be able to see all their actions much clearer and therefore tell what action was being presented.

The above image is a skeletal reference of my final animation from pose to pose. You can see how the character is slightly angled to show the poses (Staging). The figure also puts a little weight into their knee (Weight and Balance).

Appeal is the last principal in this section. Appeal is simply how 'loveable' a character is. In the early days of animation, a character was usually drawn to be cute through such means as big eyes however that is changing for a more back story enforced appeal where characters with a story are more relatable.