Disney's twelve basic principles of animation were introduced by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation.
Disney's principles of animation were first laid out in 1982 in the book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. The animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas combed through the work of leading Disney animators from the 1930s onwards and broke down their approach to identify 12 basic principles.