Chapter 2: Creating the Illusion: Get Rolling With the Basic Principles of 2D Classic Animation

What exactly is animation? From animated basic GIFs to large motion graphics movies, we can find animations in almost every single online piece. But, why is animation so important? Because by adding animations and micro-animations to our websites and apps, it will help us to communicate with our users in so many ways. It will attract attention, increase user engagement, communicate feedback, help us lead the user and the user behavior, and enrich the user experience (UX).

In this chapter, we will focus on 2D classic animation and its 12 principles. We will first start by briefly reviewing the history and foundations of animation and the different techniques used to create an illusion.

Once we've seen that, we will learn the 12 principles of animation, which will help us to make our animations look more realistic. We will also learn how to set everything up with just a pencil and...