Because there is a Hierarchy of Dependencies

From Keith Lango's VTS 19

Here is a little text (in form of a PDF) that I had wrote a few months ago. It's about what Keith Lango would call the "Hierarchy of Dependencies";  where one thing needs another one, because there is a dependencies within the keys in an animation.

I have classified this under the blocking stage because it is in this stage that we start to draw all our poses on the screen or paper, whatever the methodology use (Pose-to-Pose, Straight-Ahead or Layered); meaning that Blocking isn’t necessarily referring to a Pose-to-Pose method. Although most of the time it will because it is the safest way to get good result. Even if in the end, it depends on the animator workflow, scene and character…

To give a few example of a Pose-to-pose, Straight-Ahead and Layered methodology I have link some video and text at the bottom of this post. Of course, these three ways of working blend together in an animation workflow, as we could refine in a layered fashion  different section of the body (starting with the hips, torso, limbs...), or go  straight-ahead after we've got most of our important poses blocked out for instance.  

Download PDF here