12 principles

 Squash and stretch

Squash and stretch means a character's mass should not change even when the character changes shape. This is used because it would not look right if a character gained mass when doing certain animations such as jumping/leaping.

Anticipation

Anticipation is when a character shows that they are about to do a certain action right before they actually do it. An example may be a character bends their knees before jumping. This is so when someone is viewing it, it will look more natural because they will know what the character is about to do.

Staging

Staging is when an action is staged to be made clear to the audiences eyes so that they will look exactly where they need to at the exact right moment.

Straight ahead and pose to pose

Straight ahead is drawing out a scene frame by frame, while pose to pose is creating key frames for the character then adding additional frames in-between to make the character look like its moving into the different key poses.

Follow through and overlapping

Follow through is when part of the person or object carries momentum after the person or object stops moving.

Arc

The arc of an object is the visual path that an object takes to make it look natural. If the arc is not a natural shape then the animation will look unnatural and will not look right.

Secondary Action

A secondary action is an action that happens along side the main action the does not take away attention from the main movement. 

Timing

Timing is the speed of the animation or movement or how long the action takes from beginning to start.

Exaggeration

Exaggeration in animation is taking a regular movement or action and exaggerating it to look more entertaining or more appealing for the audience to watch.

Solid drawing

A solid drawing is when draw your character or object to look 3D to better see the character or object. This will show the different parts of the character in more detail.

Appeal

Appeal is making your character look visually appealing to the audience and something the audience will enjoy viewing.