Ari May Actually Follow-Through With This One! (BSSD)

Hi! It's Ari, and today on "Blogscape Smackdown" We'll be reviewing the principle of animation that accords to Follow-Through and Overlapping Action.

Drew Adams,  a Dreamworks animator, dives into detail on the physics and characteristics required to correctly execute these factors in any animation. He majors in Body Mechanics, so it makes sense for him to make analogies to the physical figure and bring anatomy into play. Why do we need it, you may ask? To quote Adams, he says "Because Sir Issac Newton says you have to. It's 'The Law!' " He then explains that you may purposefully leave out this principle to give a mechanical and stiff effect on your animation. However, it's when it's unintentional where the problem arises.

Believability is the key to a good animation, and these sets of principles do their darned best to help us get there.

Adams continues by delving into some examples of these actions, using the pendulum to explain how force affects an object and "drags" it along behind. Utilizing the pendulum is a great way to practice Follow-Through, as it can be toyed with for speed and timing to allow us to experiment with differing amounts of force.

The second and third examples are applied to characters, the most imperative of the two being a squirrel. Without the principle of overlap and follow-through, the tail stays stationary and the entire animation seems eerily stiff. Since a tail is comprised of many nerves and joints, it isn't supposed to be hard like leather. Instead, a flowy, fluffy type is what we want here! The second example of the squirrel delighted me with a wholesome animation of the ball and tail flowing through the wind without any care in the world! Thanks, Kanye! Very cool!

My thoughts on this principle are static, yet I do admit I love when something just butters my eggroll. Seeing something so nastily rigid and then immediately swapped with something delicately beautiful like a flowing scarf or tail brightens my mood. It'll sure help you brighten your attitude towards your work as well once you see the difference this makes! Good luck!