12 principles of animation

Squash & Stretch - Gives an object the illusion of weight.

Anticipation - Allows the audience to guess or  know what is about to happen.

Staging - How a scene is set up that conveys to the audience the mood and feel of the scene.

Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose - Straight ahead is used for more fast-paced wild action type scenes. While pose to pose is planned out and has more controlled actions.

Follow Through and Overlapping action - Parts of a character catching up to the main mass, for example when someone stops running most of their body stops, but their hair still moves and stops shortly after the rest of them do.

Slow-Out and Slow-In - As action start they begin slowly then build up speed (Example: Running) the same goes for one an action ends, it starts fast then slows down to a stop (Example: Also running).

Arcs - All actions follow an arc or some form of circular path that must be shown in animation.

Secondary Action - Something that reinforces a character's main action, enriching it and making it more realistic and appealing.

Timing - When an action happens and how quickly it starts/ends/how long it lasts.

Exaggeration - Extreme distortion of an action to bring attention to it.

Solid Drawing - The basic skills of drawing form, weight, and volume solidity and the illusion of these dimensions.

Appeal - Giving the character characteristics/personality/details that will appeal to the target audience, making them like and enjoy the character.