The 12 principles of animation are a set of guidelines that help animators create movement that looks natural and full of life. They were developed by animators at Walt Disney Studios and described by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. Game animators use them too.

In this post we explain all 12 principles, then look at the software, programming languages and basic sound editing skills that beginners need.

The 12 principles of animation

1. Squash and stretch – objects squash when they hit something and stretch when they move fast. This gives a sense of weight and flexibility.
2. Anticipation – a small movement that prepares the audience for a main action, for example bending the knees before a jump.
3. Staging – presenting an idea clearly so the audience knows exactly where to look.
4. Straight ahead action and pose to pose – two ways of animating: drawing each frame in order (straight ahead), or drawing the key poses first and filling in between (pose to pose).
5. Follow through and overlapping action – parts of a character (hair, clothes, a tail) keep moving after the body stops, and different parts move at different times.
6. Slow in and slow out – movements speed up gradually at the start and slow down at the end, with more frames near the start and end of an action.
7. Arcs – most natural movements follow curved paths, not straight lines.
8. Secondary action – smaller actions that support the main action, such as swinging arms while walking.
9. Timing – the number of frames for an action. It controls speed, weight and mood.
10. Exaggeration – pushing movements and expressions further than real life to make them clearer and more appealing.
11. Solid drawing – drawing characters so they feel three-dimensional, with weight and balance.
12. Appeal – making characters interesting and pleasant to watch (not only “cute”; villains need appeal too).

Programming languages for game design

Games need code. Three popular languages are:

• C# – the main scripting language of the Unity game engine.
• Java – a general-purpose language used for desktop and Android apps and games.
• Python – easy to learn. Used with libraries such as Pygame to make 2D games, and for scripting in tools such as Blender.

If you are new to programming, block-based tools like Scratch are a good first step. See A simple game!

Game development tools

Some tools let you build games with little or no code. Construct 2 and Stencyl are two examples. Both use visual, drag-and-drop logic for 2D games. Note: Construct 2 was discontinued by its developer, Scirra, in 2021. Its successor is Construct 3, which runs in a web browser.

Open source and proprietary software

Open source software can be used, studied, changed and shared freely under its licence. Proprietary software is owned by a company, which controls how it is used and often charges for it.

Task	Open source examples	Proprietary examples
3D modelling and animation	Blender	Autodesk Maya, Cinema 4D
2D animation	Synfig Studio, OpenToonz, Pencil2D, Krita	Adobe Animate, Toon Boom Harmony
Image editing / painting	GIMP, Krita	Adobe Photoshop
Game engines	Godot Engine	Unity, Unreal Engine, GameMaker
Sound editing	Audacity	Adobe Audition

Basic sound editing techniques

Sound brings animation and games to life. The basic techniques are:

• Recording – capturing audio with a microphone.
• Capturing sound effects – recording everyday sounds (doors, footsteps, paper tearing) to use as effects.
• Voice recording – recording dialogue or narration in a quiet room.
• Editing – cutting, trimming and rearranging clips, and removing mistakes or silence.
• Layering – placing several tracks on top of each other, such as voice, music and effects.
• Fading – making sound gradually get louder (fade in) or quieter (fade out).
• Exporting – saving the finished audio as a file such as WAV, MP3 or OGG.

Practical: a 20-second sound clip in Audacity

1. Record a short sentence of narration.
2. Delete any mistakes or long silences at the start and end.
3. Import (or record) a sound effect and some background music on separate tracks, which is layering.
4. Apply a fade in to the start of the music and a fade out to the end, using the fade effects in the Effect menu.
5. Export the finished mix as an MP3 or WAV file.

Video

Animator Alan Becker demonstrates all 12 principles of animation with simple, clear examples.

Exercise

1. Animate a bouncing ball (in any software, or as a flip book) using squash and stretch, slow in and slow out, and arcs.
2. Watch a short animated clip and identify at least four of the 12 principles. Note the time where each one appears.
3. Choose one open source and one proprietary tool from the table. Compare their cost, features and ease of use.
4. Complete the Audacity practical above and share your file.

Next: Ethics, Copyright and Intellectual Property in Animation and Game Design

Syllabus link: This post is relevant to the CAPE® Animation and Game Design Syllabus, Unit 1: Fundamentals of Animation and Game Design, Module 1: Understanding Animation and Game Design – Specific Objective 16 (“identify concepts and skills required for animation and game design”); Specific Objective 17 (“demonstrate basic sound editing techniques”).

Attributions to media used in this post:

Squash and Stretch.svg – Lampman – CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Bouncing ball strobe edit.jpg – MichaelMaggs, edited by Richard Bartz – CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Bouncewiki.gif – AndyD at English Wikibooks – CC BY-SA 2.5 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Bouncebadwiki.gif – AndyD at English Wikibooks – CC BY-SA 3.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

© 2026 Vedesh Kungebeharry. All rights reserved.