The 12 principles of animation as illustrated through Disney and Disney-Pixar films

This story originally appeared on Oh My Disney and is reprinted with permission.

How do animators breathe life onto a blank canvas? How do they get us to laugh at Pascal, sympathize with Carl, and feel the longing of Ariel wanting to be part of your world? How do they make us believe that the things they've rendered are actually alive?

To answer any of these questions, one must first understand the 12 principles of animation. Made famous by two of Walt Disney's legendary Nine Old Men, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, the 12 principles of animation have become an essential must-learn for all aspiring and working animators in the industry today.

As Frank and Ollie say in their cameo at the end of The Incredibles (Yes, that was them!), "There's no school like the old school!" Take a journey through Disney and DisneyPixar's wonderful world of animation and see how these classic principles have influenced some of your favorite films today!

1. Squash and Stretch - The squash and stretch principle gives the illusion of weight and volume to a character as they move. This is done by expanding and compressing the character's body. To see the principle in action, take a look at this scene from the Pixar short Day and Night. Notice how as the two characters dance around, their shapes compress ever so slightly and then stretch back into shape. As a result, we as an audience actually believe that they are dancing because we see the impact that gravity has on their bodies.

Tied to this idea is the overlapping action principle, which expresses the idea that if a character is in motion, some parts of the character move faster than others. In this Tangled scene, notice how Rapunzel's hair moves faster than her body.

And there you have it! The 12 essential principles that make animated films so magical! There's no doubt that animation would not be what it is today without these twelve pieces of wisdom. We can't wait to see how future Disney animators use and innovate on these principles in their works to come!

Interested in becoming an animator in the future? Working in the industry now? Share your experiences with the 12 principles of animation in the comments!

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Disney-Pixar, Oh My Disney and this station.