Animation Principles - Expert — Claude Code skill: breaking the rules
A skill for animators who already know the classic principles and want to break them deliberately: anti-squash, omitted anticipation, broken arcs.
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill animation-principles---expert -a claude-code
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill expert -a claude-codeWhat Animation Principles - Expert does
The skill covers how experienced animators step away from the classic principles and what that buys on screen. It walks through specific moves: rigid motion without squash and stretch, dropping anticipation for hard cuts, deliberately awkward staging, linear timing, broken arcs, conflicting secondary action.
Each technique comes with examples from animation, from Spirited Away to Into the Spider-Verse. There are no presets here. The point is the reasoning: when a violation reads as expressive, and when it just looks like a mistake. A closing section folds the principles into one holistic view, where technique serves story and emotion.
Worth installing if you already handle the fundamentals and want to stretch them on purpose. Without that base the skill has nothing to stand on, because it assumes you can apply the principles before you subvert them.
What it helps with
- explain why an animator deliberately breaks a classic principle
- pick a technique for a hard-cut scene with no anticipation
- separate two characters' styles through different motion arcs
- make motion feel mechanical or otherworldly by dropping squash
- show a character's inner conflict through contradictory secondary action
Example prompts for the agent
- Break down how the missing anticipation works in this scene and what it gives compared to the classic approach
- Help me choose between linear timing and ease for a mechanical character
- Explain when broken motion arcs are appropriate and when they read as a mistake
How to install Animation Principles - Expert
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill animation-principles---expert -a claude-codenpx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill expert -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/expert/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/expert/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill expert -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/expert/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill expert -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/expert/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install dylantarre/animation-principles expert2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/expert/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill expert -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/dylantarre/animation-principles --path skills/04-by-skill-level/expertManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/expert/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill expert -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about Animation Principles - Expert
How do I install Animation Principles - Expert in Claude?
Run npx skills add dylantarre/animation-principles --skill animation-principles---expert -a claude-code. The skill file lands at ~/.claude/skills/expert/SKILL.md.
What does Animation Principles - Expert do?
It covers intentional violations of the classic animation principles: anti-squash, omitted anticipation, linear timing, broken arcs, conflicting secondary action. Each technique comes with examples from animation.
Who is this skill for?
Animators who already know the fundamentals and want to break them deliberately. The skill assumes that base, otherwise the violations end up random.
Source text
SKILL.md · MIT
--- name: Animation Principles - Expert description: Use when someone has mastery of animation principles and wants to explore intentional rule-breaking, stylistic innovation, and pushing creative boundaries --- # Transcending the Principles Mastery means knowing when to break rules. The principles are training wheels for intuition. Here's how experts leverage, subvert, and transcend them. ## Intentional Violations ### Anti-Squash/Stretch Rigid motion creates uncanny, mechanical, or ethereal qualities. Spirited Away's gods move without squash - otherworldly presence. Perfect volume preservation can feel more alien than violations. ### Omitted Anticipation Into the Spider-Verse removes anticipation for snap cuts that feel like comic panels. Absence of anticipation = visual punctuation. Anticipation's removal is a choice, not an error. ### Anti-Staging David Lynch deliberately obscures important elements. Burying the point creates unease, mystery, viewer work. Strategic confusion can be the goal. ### Pure Methods Some masters work exclusively straight ahead (James Baxter's creature animation) or purely pose-to-pose (limited animation's stylized precision). Constraint breeds innovation. ### Stopped Follow Through Freezing follow through mid-motion creates held tension. Anime uses this for impact frames. The principle's interruption is the effect. ### Linear Timing Removing ease creates robotic precision or dreamlike float. Linear spacing isn't wrong - it's a vocabulary choice for specific effects. ### Broken Arcs Jerky, angular paths for insects, robots, or psychological breaks. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse uses broken arcs for Miles vs. smooth arcs for Peter. ### Conflicting Secondary Action Body language contradicting primary action reveals character complexity. Smiling while clenching fists. Agreement words with disagreement gestures. ### Wrong Timing Comedy often uses "incorrect" timing. Delayed reactions, impossibly fast actions, freeze frames - timing violations for comic effect. ### Reduced Exaggeration Hyperrealism in animation (rotoscope, mo-cap) deliberately minimizes exaggeration. The uncanny valley is sometimes the destination. ### Flat Drawing UPA style, Samurai Jack - intentional flatness as graphic design. Solid drawing exists so you can meaningfully reject dimension. ### Uncomfortable Appeal Ren & Stimpy's "appeal" repulses. The magnetic quality of grotesque. Appeal redefined as compelling attention, not pleasant aesthetics. ## Beyond Principles: Unified Theory At expert level, principles dissolve into holistic understanding: - Every frame serves story and emotion - Technical excellence is invisible - Style emerges from consistent principle weighting - Innovation comes from recombining fundamentals unexpectedly The principles are a shared vocabulary, not a rulebook. Fluency means speaking in your own voice.
© dylantarre · MIT · dylantarre/animation-principles
