Anticipation – The Second Principle | Principles Of Animation

ANTICIPATION – In this topic, we will now talk about the second principle in the 12 principles of animation, anticipation.

The 12 principles were introduced by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, both of which are Disney animators who wrote this in their book called The Illusion of Life: Disney.

Now, the second principle, according to AnimationMentor, by dictionary definition means the “action of expecting something, whether it would be expectation or prediction.”

In the field of animation, according to the book, it is to prepare the audience for what comes next and expects it before it happens.

Some common examples of the application of the second principle includes:

Crouching before jumping
Hand pulled back before punching
Mouth pressing against each other before opening.
Baseball player moves his arm back before throwing
Lumberjack raises his ax before chopping the wood

The second principle can be applied broadly or subtly.

Here is an example:

Notice that in the second frame (with the label below), the person crouches down before jumping. That action is how the second principle is applied.

Again, as I mentioned in the 12 Principles overview article, it is in order to prepare the audience for and action and to make it even more realistic.

Here is a simplified video of the second principle, again by Alan Becker, the creator of the famous “Animator vs Animation” series.