

They personally animated leading characters in most of the famous films and have decades of close association with the others who helped perfect this extremely difficult and time-consuming art form. The authors, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, worked with Walt Disney himself as well as other leading figures in a half-century of Disney films.

I think they’ve stuck around for a reason, even if that reason is sometimes to “learn the rules before you break them.Description The most complete book on the subject ever written, this is the fascinating inside story by two long-term Disney animators of the gradual perfecting of a relatively young and particularly American art from, which no other move studio has ever been able to equal. While I don’t think they’re the only important things to learn about animation, I think the 12 Principles are a really good launching point, especially for students studying to be professional animators. We caught up with Animation faculty Alex Salsberg to get his take on the Principles and if they play a role in the classes he teaches and his own animation work. So what are the 12 Principles of Animation? While technology and industries have evolved with new and different ideas being integrated into animation, the principles can still be seen in movies and web design today. Many of these foundational ideas are still utilized in classrooms and studios around the world almost 40 years later. The list has served Disney animators since the 1930s and was outlined by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in the 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.

The 12 Principles of Animation is a group of key teachings for the professional animator.
