Appealing back the layers!

     Hey everyone! This time, we're reviewing the final principle of animation provided by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas; Appeal! This is a combination of all the previous principles and a bit more sprinkled throughout.
     Appeal is essentially what makes or breaks a character, idea, situation or story, and therefore is incredibly important in any animation. Ethan Hurd, a Disney Toon Studios animator, explains that both a bunch of bunnies and the Joker are appealing although they're on opposing sides of "subject matter." Hurd states that appeal has nothing to do with subject matter; you can make anything work if executed in an enjoyable and cohesive manner. Hurd continues, comparing a real-life shot of a bouncing ball to a 2d animated one, showing how making believable animation is appealing, even if it means reaching a bit further with making it such; employing squash and stretch along with other distortion-type principles to give the illusion of life.
      Two more examples come in the form of exaggeration, in which Hulk uses a whole 3 frames to punch someone out of the shot, and when Thumper stops mid-motion to reconsider an action he's taking. Sometimes, breaking the rules of "believable animation" is wholly necessary to create appeal, as shown with these two examples. He then goes on to explain how Appeal is broken into two parts; Order and Interest. The prior being the pattern or logic applied to your movement, with the latter being a creative decision used to keep the audience invested in your work. Hurd uses an example of two different drawings of Iron Man doing the same action, just in a different pose, to illustrate this. The flatter, less polished one beat out the first due to how the pose is clear and supports the main action, regardless of proportionate dismay.
     The final examples given are a comparison of what simplicity can do for an animation; comparing two shots from "Duck Dodgers", one remade later, and comparing a dynamic scene from "All Dogs Go to Heaven" to one from "Cinderella" in which the same action is taking place. These help to show us what appeal means and how it can be manipulated to our design.
    In my honest opinion, I love this one. It gives us a set of rules to utilize or break to create what our minds have wished for a long time. Character creation is one of my favorite things, even though I can only make up main characters as of now, and creating an appealing character is challenging as heck. The trouble I fall into during ideation sprouts mainly from how tough it is for me to string events together into a coherent story, but it's just another thing I'll get better at with time.
     In conclusion, the final principle of animation, Appeal, proves to be the most crucial to any animation as it's a "culmination of all the other principles above it, plus something extra" (Ethan Hurd). It gives us a steady platform for creation and allows us to give our best shot at ideation and imaginative thinking.