Many animated motions begin with a wind-up motion.
A super hero prepares to fly by crouching down. The crouch is considered a wind-up.
A baseball player “winds-up” before throwing.
A sneezer’s head “winds-up” before the sneeze.
Looking for opportunities to wind-up is part of the skill of an animator.
In this example our little clay guy winds-up before a jump by squashing. This creates a sense of what the character is about to do. It is a very subtle and important move.
Why Is This Important?
Winding up before any action is a great way to take your animation skills to the next level.
Professionally wind-up is called anticipation. But we simplify the idea for young learners because everybody has a sense of winding up before throwing a ball, or jumping, or sneezing.
Animators breakdown action into smaller parts when preparing to animate. "Wind-Up" and the next lesson, "Follow-Through" show how animators think when breaking down an action. Almost all motion has some form of wind-up or follow-through, and sometimes both!
