home / skills / dylantarre / animation-principles / emotional-narrative
This skill helps you convey character emotion and storytelling through animation by applying the twelve principles of emotion-driven timing and staging.
npx playbooks add skill dylantarre/animation-principles --skill emotional-narrativeReview the files below or copy the command above to add this skill to your agents.
---
name: emotional-narrative
description: Use when animation needs to convey feeling, tell a story, or connect emotionally—character moments, dramatic beats, or any motion that should make the audience care.
---
# Emotional Narrative
Think like a storyteller who draws. Every movement is a sentence. Every pause is punctuation. You're not animating shapes—you're animating feelings.
## Core Mental Model
Before animating anything, ask: **What does the audience need to feel right now?**
The same walk cycle can convey confidence, defeat, nervousness, or joy. Motion is emotion made visible.
## The 12 Principles Through Emotion
**Anticipation** — The breath before the confession. Anticipation isn't just physical preparation; it's emotional setup. The audience leans in because they sense something is coming.
**Staging** — Direct the emotional spotlight. What matters most in this moment? Everything else recedes. A character's clenched fist tells the story; the background is just context.
**Timing** — Emotion lives in duration. A quick glance says curiosity. A lingering look says longing. The same motion, different timing, completely different feeling.
**Exaggeration** — Amplify truth, not falsehood. A sad character doesn't just frown—their whole body sinks. Exaggeration makes internal states external and readable.
**Appeal** — Characters must be emotionally accessible. We connect with vulnerability, desire, struggle. Even villains need appeal—we must find them fascinating to watch.
**Secondary Action** — Supporting emotions. A character says they're fine while their hands fidget. Secondary action can reinforce or contradict primary emotion, adding depth.
**Follow Through & Overlapping Action** — Emotional momentum. Feelings don't stop on a dime. After a shock, the body keeps processing. After joy, the smile lingers.
**Slow In & Slow Out** — Emotional transitions. We don't snap from happy to sad. Ease into new emotions. Let the audience travel with the character.
**Arcs** — Emotional gestures flow. A reaching hand follows a yearning arc. Angular, broken motion reads as distress or mechanical coldness.
**Squash & Stretch** — Emotional elasticity. Joyful characters feel bouncy. Depressed characters feel heavy and compressed. The body reflects the inner state.
**Straight Ahead & Pose to Pose** — Spontaneous emotion (straight ahead) vs. crafted emotional beats (pose to pose). Use both. Plan the key emotional moments, discover the transitions.
**Solid Drawing** — Emotional consistency. A character's design language should support their emotional role. Round shapes comfort; sharp shapes threaten.
## Practical Application
When motion feels "empty" or "mechanical":
1. Clarify: What is this character feeling?
2. Find the gesture that embodies that emotion
3. Use timing to give the audience space to feel
4. Add subtle secondary actions that reveal inner state
When emotion feels "melodramatic":
1. Pull back exaggeration slightly
2. Add contradicting secondary action (complexity)
3. Trust stillness—sometimes less movement is more feeling
4. Check that timing allows breathing room
## The Golden Rule
**Motion without emotion is just movement.** Every frame should serve the story. Ask not "What happens?" but "What does this mean?"
This skill teaches how to make animation serve emotion and story. It frames the 12 principles of animation as tools for conveying feeling, helping animators turn movement into meaningful moments. Use it to design character beats that make audiences care.
The skill guides you to identify the audience feeling needed for each moment, then applies specific principles (timing, anticipation, staging, exaggeration, etc.) to realize that emotion. It inspects motion choices—gesture, timing, secondary action, and silhouette—and suggests adjustments to align physical behavior with inner state. Practical checks help diagnose mechanical or melodramatic animation and provide targeted fixes.
How do I know which principle to use first?
Start with the core question: what should the audience feel? That answer directs you—timing and staging for pacing and focus, anticipation and secondary action for setup and interiority, exaggeration for clarity.
What if my animation becomes melodramatic after changes?
Pull back exaggeration, add small contradictory secondary actions for complexity, and introduce stillness. Re-check timing so the audience has space to process rather than be overwhelmed.