Blogscape Smackdown; Secondary Action!

   After hours of useless procrastination and expert level time-wasting, I return at the latest possible time to give you the low-down for the next principle of animation! As always, these principles are designed to aid you in the journey to better work, and this one is no joke. Secondary action is the hot tea of today, so strap in and enjoy!
    Kevin Koch, the writer of the reference article, says that if there are any one of the principles to hone in on, it's this one. Koch states "good secondary action energizes your shots and marks the difference between being a competent animator and an entertaining visual storyteller."  The level of character that including this can add to your animation is very telling.  By Koch's definition, secondary animation is a movement dependent on a primary action. This means principles of drag and follow-through are used alongside it. Now we can start to cohesively piece together why these 12 need to work harmoniously to produce good results. Adding to his original claim, Koch delves into the intricacies of this. Secondary action isn't just a second motion following a first, it harnesses the ability to be something different all together. For example, take the scene of an artist sketching using a pencil. Anything aside from their eyes on the paper with their arm moving the pencil is a secondary action. This can range from them shaking their arm from fatigue, looking around quickly for spectators, mumbling to themself while nibbling on the pencil's end, anything is possible with the grasp of secondary action.
An important little note to keep in mind is that the main action can't and shouldn't be overcast by anything else. Having a drunk character stumbling around is the main action, while the swinging of their arm holding a wine glass, for instance, paired with a crazy few expressions ties in as a few secondary actions. Examples from past students/mentors is presented to showcase how little things such as moving a pair of chopsticks, a teacup, or a wine glass can influence the way your character is viewed in the scene according to the context provided. An easy way to help you notice where to adjust your work is to play the animation with no sound. If it works fluidly and you can gauge the shot, it's a great fit!

My opinions on this one in particular are of course going to be positive. I love how much you can do with secondary action in animation and the amount of livelihood and character you can develop here! This principle offers expansive worlds of creative flow and I hope you can use it to your advantage.

Kevin Koch does a masterful job at explaining the topic, and left me with no stone left unturned on the subject. This was one of the few so far I actually enjoyed picking apart. He avoids using complicated terminology and provides a myriad of simple details that crescendo into the climax of the article and let it down easily. Thanks, Kevin.