The 12 animation principles, explained with stick figures. These are the rules the pros use, in simple words and simple drawings. Your animations stop looking stiff and start looking alive.
Why your animation feels stiff, and the 12 fixes
A stick figure drawing for every principle
A "try it" exercise for each one
One page per idea. Print it and keep it next to you.
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1
Squash and stretch
Things squash when they hit or push, and stretch when they move fast. It makes motion feel soft, bouncy and alive instead of stiff.
A stick figure can't change thickness, so squash with the whole pose: bend the knees, curl the back, pull the arms in.
Stretch the pose right after: legs straight, arms reaching, body in one long line.
Keep the size the same — a squashed pose gets wider, a stretched one gets taller.
Try it: Animate a jump: crouch (squash) → launch (stretch) → land (squash again).
2
Anticipation
Before a big move, there's a small move the other way: pull back before a punch, crouch before a jump. It tells the viewer what's coming, so the action reads.
Wind up in the opposite direction of the action.
The bigger or heavier the action, the longer the wind-up.
Hold the wind-up pose for a few frames so the eye catches it.
Try it: Animate a punch twice — once with no wind-up, once with a 6-frame pull-back. Watch which one hits harder.
In Diamond Animator: The AI Animator plans wind-ups for you before punches, jumps and throws.
3
Staging
Show one idea at a time, as clearly as possible. If the viewer can't tell what's happening in a single paused frame, the pose isn't staged well.
Silhouette test: keep arms and legs away from the body so the pose still reads as a shadow.
Side views are the clearest for stick figures — use them for important actions.
Keep the background quiet where the action happens.
Try it: Pause your animation on any frame. Can a friend say what the figure is doing in two seconds?
In Diamond Animator: The AI Animator aims for readable poses — limbs clear of the body on the key frames.
The rest of the cheat sheet
Principles 4 to 12 — pose to pose, follow-through, ease, arcs, timing, exaggeration, weight and appeal — open as soon as you sign up above. Free.
Type your idea, like "two stick figures have a sword fight." The AI Animator plans the key poses and makes it move. Wind-ups, smooth moves, follow-through, weight and planted feet are all built in.