Why do we like animation so much when we can turn anything into live-action?
It's all about appeal. Animation is a distinct medium for expression with its own unique appeal, and you can't translate this appeal easily to other media.
The question becomes, how can animators bring out this unique appeal from their work?
Think of Disney, and the iconic figure of Mickey Mouse comes to mind. With his distinctive round ears and cheerful expression, Mickey embodies the principle of appeal.
Read on for common techniques and best practices to increase the appeal of your animation to Mickey Mouse levels of charisma!
What's Appeal
The appeal principle is the concept of creating characters and visuals that are engaging to the audience.
It's about making the characters, expressions, and movements interesting and captivating to make them worth watching.
It doesn't necessarily mean that the character has to be conventionally beautiful or cute―even villains or unconventional characters can be appealing if they're designed with unique and memorable traits. Scar from The Lion King includes distinctive attributes like his sharp features, expressive eyes, and memorable voice that make him interesting and engaging to watch. His movements and expressions convey his cunning and charisma.
Why Appeal
In Up, the design of Carl Fredricksen with his boxy frame, square glasses, and unexpressive face conveys his stubborn yet lovable personality and the emotional depth of his character arc. The appeal of Carl's design plays a significant role in storytelling by visually expressing his transformation from a grumpy, isolated widower to a caring, adventurous companion.
The character Totoro is designed with a simple yet striking silhouette, large eyes, and a soft, huggable appearance. His appeal makes him so memorable that it became an iconic symbol not just for the film but also for the studio itself, cementing the character in popular culture.
In Frozen, a secondary character like Olaf the Snowman is designed with rounded shapes, expressive eyes, and a friendly demeanour to make him instantly likeable. These appealing traits help audiences emotionally connect with him, supporting his role as a comic relief and a beloved companion to Elsa and Anna. His appeal is also crucial in making viewers care about his character despite his secondary role in the story.
1. Character Design
Character design is the process of creating the appearance, personality, and traits of a character for an animation.
It often starts with concept drawings and evolves into more detailed 2D or 3D models that animators use as a reference.
Character design is key for the appeal principle because it directly influences how a character looks, both how visually attractive a character is and how effectively they communicate emotion and narrative:
- Shape language - Animators make use of basic shapes (circles, squares, triangles) to convey different traits and personalities.
- Solid drawing - A sense of depth and weight contributes to the believability and appeal of the character. Artists make sure that each character has a distinct silhouette that can be recognized even in shadow: a clear silhouette makes it easier for the audience to quickly understand the character’s shape.
- Color theory - Colors are used strategically to differentiate characters and reflect their personalities. Warm colors can suggest energy or aggression, while cool colors often suggest calmness or mystery. Contrasting colors can make them more striking and memorable.
2. Exaggeration
Exaggeration is another one of the 12 principles of animation that involves amplifying actions, expressions, or features to enhance the impact of a character or scene.
Exaggeration is important for the appeal principle as well because it makes the character's personality and actions more memorable: a character that moves, reacts, and exaggeratedly expresses emotions is way more appealing and can communicate ideas and feelings more effectively.
Source: Les Triplettes de Belleville
- Animators exaggerate facial features and expressions to more clearly depict emotions. A character's eyes pop or eyebrows arch dramatically when surprised.
- Closely related to exaggeration, Squash and stretch is another animation principle where objects or characters are exaggerated in their shape to convey weight and flexibility. A bouncing ball squashes on impact and stretches as it leaves the ground. This not only makes the motion more dynamic but also communicates the material properties of the object. The same principle can be applied to depict interacting forces, for example, during a chase or a fight scene, to make them look more interesting to watch.
3. Poses & Overlapping Actions
Poses and facial expressions influence how we perceive actions and emotions.
- Introducing a diverse range of poses throughout a scene maintains the viewer's interest. If a character is sad, instead of only showing slumped shoulders, you would include other poses like head in hands or a deep sigh with a turned-away face.
- Animators design strong, readable poses to clearly convey the character’s emotions and intentions, even in silhouette, using lines of action. When a character experiences surprise, their body language (wide eyes, open arms) emphasizes this emotion clearly in one frame.
- Overlapping actions add a sense of fluidity and realism: actions should not start and end simultaneously to reflect inertia and weight. When a character turns their head, animators let the hair or loose garments follow through the motion with a slight delay. Animate different parts of the body slightly out of phase to achieve a more natural result.
- Similarly, secondary actions support the main action while adding depth to the scene. If a character is walking sadly, we include subtle actions like a sad hat bobbing with the step to enrich the primary action.
4. Timing
Timing determines how quickly or slowly actions appear on the screen and shapes the flow of the animation.
Poor timing has a drastic effect on the appeal of an animation. You can use it to make a viewer feel the weight of an object or character. Heavier objects require slower acceleration and deceleration, while lighter ones move more quickly. It can be applied, for instance, in a scene where a character lifts or drops an object, but also for a jump, a walk, a run, etc.
- By adjusting the timing before a major action, you can build anticipation. A character pulling back before a punch or a jump can have a slower timing than the punch or jump itself to create tension and make the subsequent action more impactful.
- Varying the timing of character movements can also communicate different emotional states. Quick, sharp movements suggest excitement, anger, or surprise, whereas slow, deliberate movements show sadness, tiredness, or contemplation. In comedic sequences, the precise timing of delayed reactions, quick movements, and sudden pauses is crucial.
- The overall pace of an animation sets the tone: a fast-paced sequence suggests action or chaos, while a slow, deliberate pace creates a serene or suspenseful atmosphere.
A lack of timing results in a lifeless scene that's boring to watch and easily forgotten.
5. Camera
Camera work is not only a means to guide the viewers through the story but also a storytelling tool to make the animation more appealing.
- Using dynamic camera angles adds drama and scale. Perspectives like bird’s eye or worm’s eye views immerse the audience further into the animated world. Dutch angles–where the camera is tilted slightly–introduce a sense of unease or tension.
- Smooth camera movements maintain audience engagement. Tracking shots that follow the action draw viewers into the unfolding scene. Panning and tilting reveal important scene elements sequentially, naturally guiding the viewer’s focus.
- Zoom techniques elevate tension and emphasize significant details. The dolly zoom, or Vertigo effect, creates a disorienting visual impression by simultaneously zooming out while moving the camera closer (or vice versa), adding an intense effect for pivotal moments.
- Composition is also critical in creating visually appealing shots. The rule of thirds helps position main elements along grid lines to achieve a balance that pleases the eye. Using leading lines like roads or buildings guides viewer attention directly to the central subject, subtly reinforcing narrative intentions.
Over-the-shoulder shots for intimate conversations, point-of-view shots for perspective shifts, depth of field manipulation, transitions for pacing... the list goes on and on.
6. Audio
Audio creates a richer, more immersive experience for the audience by complementing the visual elements of animation.
- First, selecting voices that align with the personalities and physical traits of the characters is key. The right voice enriches a character's uniqueness and relatability to make them more memorable and engaging. An expressive vocal performance conveys emotions and character growth. By choosing distinctive voice actors, characters are given life beyond their visual representation.
- Background sounds breathe life into scenes, whether it's the hustle and bustle of a city, the serene ambiance of a forest, or the calming crash of ocean waves. These subtle layers provide texture, enriching the setting and adding another dimension to the viewer's experience without drawing attention away from the narrative focus.
- Timing sound effects precisely with on-screen actions reinforces the physicality of movements and establishes a clear cause-and-effect relationship. This synchronization helps ground the animation in a reality that is believable, even when the visuals stretch beyond the plausible.
- Developing unique sound cues for recurring character actions or traits, such as distinctive footsteps or memorable themes, can reflect their personality or mood. These auditory signatures become a part of the character's identity.
Equally important, introducing moments of silence effectively builds tension or highlights visual elements. Strategically placed quiet moments allow emotions to linger and resonate more deeply with the audience.
Conclusion
In summary, appeal is a cornerstone of animation that determines a project's success with audiences. We've explored how various elements like character design, audio, camera work, timing, exaggeration, and poses can significantly add to the appeal of a scene, but there are many more elements to take into account to make animations more appealing!
All animation elements and tools can be used to increase the appeal of the end result, whether it's a unique art style or the creative use of colors. All you have to keep in mind as an animator is how well you can tell a story to an audience, and the rest will unfold naturally.
Make sure to read about the other 11 foundational animation principles and how they integrate with the appeal principle!
