Principles of Animation - (Squash and Stretch)

Squash and stretch is a very basic principle but so important. Gettign animation to look believable and interesting you have to use extremes of squash and stretch to emphasise the gestures. In this example I am looking at 'Pingu' which started in 1986, 'Pingu' is a claymated animation which has natural squash and stretch in it because its a bendy material. but these examples are heightening the action and gestures of the characters. the first example is a 1:00 where the seal character is chewing some sea weed , and a few seconds later Pingu's mouth really extends.this is an extreme use of squash and stretch but it illustrates my point well. most squash and stretch examples are more subtle but have a big effect on how we read the animation.

My next example is taken from the 2007 film 'Persepolis' a beautiful black and white modern hand drawn animation. the example i have chosen is from a song in the film ' Eye of the tiger' which is where the main character has a montage to this song. In the montage there are many dance moves and gestures which has very subtle squash and stretch in them. this gives the illusion of dynamics in gesture and weight. It's a really witty example so enjoy the characterisations especially the teenage school girls bobbing there heads.