Anticipation & Follow-Through
Master the preparation and aftermath that brings life to action
Anticipation
Building energy before the main action
What It Is
Anticipation is the preparation that happens before the main action. It's like winding up a spring - the more you compress it, the more powerful the release. In animation, anticipation prepares the audience for what's coming and makes the action feel more powerful.
Why It Matters
Without anticipation, actions feel sudden and jarring. Anticipation gives weight and believability to your animation, while also building suspense and directing the audience's attention to where the action will happen.
How To Do It
Move Opposite First
Before moving in the intended direction, move slightly in the opposite direction. This loads up visual energy.
Example: Before a character jumps up, they crouch down. Before throwing right, they pull their arm back left.
Build in Steps
Make the anticipation a mini-sequence with multiple beats, not just one pose.
Example: For a punch: neutral stance → slight lean back → deeper crouch → wind up arm → launch forward.
Involve the Whole Body
Don't just anticipate with the part that's moving - use the entire character to build energy.
Example: For a jump: bend knees, lower arms, scrunch shoulders, lean forward slightly - everything participates.
Practical Tips
- Bigger actions need bigger anticipations - scale appropriately
- Anticipation timing should feel natural to the character's weight
- Use anticipation to show character personality (careful vs reckless)
- Camera can anticipate too - pull back before zooming in
Common Mistakes
- Making anticipation too small or too fast to register
- Moving in the wrong direction (not truly opposite)
- Forgetting to involve secondary elements like hair or clothing
- Using the same anticipation timing for all actions
Overshoot & Settle
Going past the target and settling back
What It Is
Real objects don't stop perfectly at their target - they overshoot slightly and then settle back. This creates a sense of weight, momentum, and life in your animation. Even slight overshoots make motion feel more organic.
Why It Matters
Perfect stops make animation feel robotic and computer-generated. Overshoot adds life, shows the weight and momentum of objects, and creates more interesting motion curves that the eye finds appealing.
How To Do It
Plan the Overshoot
Decide where your action will end, then plan to go 10-20% past that point before settling back.
Example: If a character's arm reaches for a door handle, have it go slightly past the handle, then pull back to grab it.
Make It Proportional
Heavier, faster actions get bigger overshoots. Lighter, more careful actions get smaller overshoots.
Example: A heavy character falling into a chair overshoots more than a light character carefully sitting down.
Settle with Diminishing Returns
The settle-back motion should be smaller than the overshoot, and should happen quicker.
Example: Overshoot by 20%, settle back in half the time with softer motion.
Practical Tips
- Overshoot works on all scales - finger movements to full body actions
- Emotional state affects overshoot - excited characters overshoot more
- Use overshoot on camera movements for more dynamic cinematography
- Secondary elements (hair, clothes) should overshoot the main body
Common Mistakes
- Making overshoot too big and calling attention to it
- Settling back too slowly and losing momentum
- Using overshoot on every single movement
- Not considering the character's weight and energy level
Secondary Animation
Elements that follow the main action with delay
What It Is
Secondary animation refers to elements that react to the main action but with a slight delay - hair bouncing after the head moves, clothes flowing after body movement, accessories following with their own timing. This creates layers of motion that feel natural.
Why It Matters
Secondary animation adds richness and believability to your scenes. It shows that your character exists in a physical world where different materials and elements have different weights and respond to forces.
How To Do It
Identify Secondary Elements
Look for anything attached to or affected by your main action - hair, clothing, accessories, loose objects.
Example: Character turns head quickly: main action is head rotation, secondary elements are hair, earrings, collar, etc.
Delay the Secondary Motion
Secondary elements should start moving 1-3 frames after the main action begins.
Example: Head starts turning on frame 1, hair starts following on frame 3, earrings start on frame 4.
Layer Different Timings
Different secondary elements should have different delays and different settling times.
Example: Hair settles in 8 frames, loose clothing in 12 frames, rigid accessories in 4 frames.
Practical Tips
- Heavier secondary elements take longer to start and stop moving
- Flexible elements (hair, fabric) have more complex motion curves
- Secondary animation continues slightly after main action stops
- Wind, gravity, and momentum all affect secondary motion differently
Common Mistakes
- Moving secondary elements at exactly the same time as primary
- Making secondary motion too strong and distracting
- Forgetting about secondary elements entirely
- Not considering the physical properties of different materials
Overlapping Action
Different body parts moving at different times
What It Is
The human body doesn't move as one rigid piece - different parts start and stop moving at different times. This creates waves of motion that travel through the body, making movement feel natural and fluid.
Why It Matters
Moving the entire body at once creates stiff, robotic animation. Overlapping action shows how real bodies work, creates more interesting visual flow, and allows you to direct the viewer's eye through the sequence of motion.
How To Do It
Map the Body Chain
Identify the chain of body parts involved in your action, from the initiating force to the final extremity.
Example: For a punch: hips → shoulders → upper arm → forearm → fist → fingers
Stagger the Timing
Each part of the chain should start moving 1-2 frames after the previous part.
Example: Hips start frame 1, shoulders frame 2, upper arm frame 3, etc.
Vary the Speed
Different body parts can move at different speeds, with some catching up to others during the action.
Example: Shoulders might move slowly at first, then accelerate to catch up with the hips.
Practical Tips
- Energy flows from core to extremities in most natural actions
- Spine is usually the main conductor of overlapping action
- Use overlapping action to show character personality and mood
- Camera moves can use overlapping action too - pan then tilt, etc.
Common Mistakes
- Moving all body parts in perfect synchronization
- Making the timing differences too small to notice
- Not following natural body mechanics and energy flow
- Overdoing it and making motion feel disconnected