The origin of squash and stretch is to capture a pliable and organic feel to animated form, but it would reveal much more- reflecting a ‘feel’ to energy and forces.

Application to squash and stretch begin with awareness to sense of physical structure and awareness to strength and texture of forces, identifying pattern of velocity in accordance to length of scene; (like a phrase of music or spoken words). They are root conditions to distorting shapes and timing exposure, keeping in mind film runs at 24 fps.

Some common patterns to application of squash and stretch-

Squash and stretch works side-by-side with timing.

Strength of force affects velocity and physical outlook of shapes.

Distortion of surface shape’s texture is affected by direction of velocity and origin point of force (think aerodynamics).

Exaggerated nature of distortion is also affected by character design and styling.

From light to normal strength forces-

Volume of form stays consistent. Timing can be on two’s. Shapes distort but remain identifiable (closer to its normal condition).

Stronger forces-

Volume remains consistent. Timing must be on one’s from this point onward toward increasing strength. Shapes become more abstract, transition in orderly manner.

Extreme forces-

Volume can shift, becoming smaller or larger than normal, pending on emphasis.

Anatomy breaks (but not meant to be seen by viewers).

At faster speed, shapes appear to blur out, translating to larger elongated volume. Faster still, they seem to disappear, translating to smaller distorted volume, or becoming just speed lines. (For me, the use of speed lines is another aspect all to itself.)

Shapes progress from orderly manner then pop with just one frame, much larger, lengthier, or much smaller, even disappear altogether in comparison to normal volume.

In cases of extreme distortion, shapes must return to a more comfortable volume right after the extreme distorted drawing.

In a sense, this pop creates a visual accent to a phrase of movement (much like a sudden loud sound would).

Shapes may not follow orderly unfolding, pop from one to the next without transitional pose.

All in all, here is where power of communication uniquely to hand-drawn animation- how one felt is directly expressed.

The best way is to look inward, staying in touch with ‘felt’ impression, and a spirit of experimentation, breaking rules and textbook’s do’s and don’t, seeing drawings in motion (not in freeze-frame) and relying on visual sense to feel movement in playback speed.

(It’s a habit to slip into modes that generally works personally and forget to push animated boundaries; now and then I need a reminder to stay exploring, as if I’ve yet to animate for the very first time).