Facial expressions

I had already created a similar file prior to this but I had to make another one because I had lost it. I tried improving on my first attempt by trying to make creases in the forehead and chin. I could still improve by forming a more realistic head shape and doing more with the cheeks.

12 Principles Of Animation

12 Principles of animation

1. Squash and stretch - an animation technique used to give weight and volume to a character. It works giving objects and characters elasticity when moving and changing facial expression.
   
   
2. Anticipation - preparation for an action about to be performed by a character. E.g. pulling back the arm to throw a punch. 
3. Staging - poses, actions and positions of characters and objects should relay the  overall mood of a scene to the audience. 
4. Straight ahead and pose to pose animation - 2 different approaches to the drawing process. Straight ahead action is drawing frame by frame whereas pose to pose is drawing the key frames with intentions of adding frames between them later.
   
5. Follow through and overlapping action - 2 similar techniques that add the impression that the animated characters obey the laws of physics. Follow through is when loose body parts continue moving when the rest of the body stops. Overlapping action describes when different body parts move at different speeds.
   
6. Slow-out and slow-in - the acceleration and deceleration of animated characters and objects.
   
7. Arcs - Natural actions usually follow an arc so this should be copied in animations.
   
8. Secondary action - This helps to bring a character and scene to life as it emphasises the main action occurring. 
   
9. Timing - The amount of frames in an action and how they far they are spaced from one another.
   
10. Exaggeration - This is a technique to reinforce the notion of 'non-reality'. Actions that are too realistic can be considered dull in an animation so this technique is used simply to make actions more interesting.
    
11. Solid drawing - Giving a drawing volume by accounting for 3D space.
    
12. Appeal - In a nutshell, appeal to a cartoon character is what charisma is to an actor. This doesn't necessarily mean they are sympathetic, all it really means is that they are interesting to the audience.