Principles of Animation: Secondary Action
Added 2025-02-24 16:00:14 +0000 UTC12 Principles of Animation Series
An essential technique used in animation but how can we use it for our gesture drawing practice and also our creative projects outside of gesture?
A Secondary Action is an additional movement that complements the main action.
Like when we walk our arms may swing at our sides to help our momentum.
If an animator were to simply animate a character walking but their arms were not moving at all, it would look very awkward and unbelievable.
We want to think about the same idea in our gesture drawings.
Even though we do not have a sequence of drawings to show an action, we can add the feeling of secondary action in ONE drawing. This will add more depth and realism to our drawings and energize our poses and characters.
Areas where I use Secondary action:
limbs
head
hands / feet
hair
breasts
clothing
props
Check out the video for a demonstration on how to use Secondary Action in your drawings to bring them to life and add more character and appeal!
What are you thoughts on this tutorial?
Do you already use secondary action in your drawings?
What is the most difficult thing about secondary action?
Gillian
