Appeal

Often misconstrued as cutesy, appeal to an animator plainly means anything that an audience finds attractive and likes watching. This could mean a number of things such as a characters charm, looks, minimalism, charisma, fascination, or behaviour. Appeal is something that any animated piece must have arguably more than any of the other principles for it to be a success. Otherwise audiences will not be interested at all, for people do not wish to stare at vulgar shocking animation. It may capture their gaze through sheer morbid curiosity but beyond that (delving into areas such as back-story,) their level of interest will end. It is nothing to do with personal interests; the simple reason is just that most audiences will not enjoy it otherwise. ‘Animation was developing its own aesthetic language, and seeking new technologies to facilitate its future progress as both an industry and an art form,’ (P. Wells, 2006 p.23)
This is why strong drawings are necessary as well. Poor drawings in terms of poor design, and awkward moves may suggest a lack of effort, and complicated composition is hard to read animation involves the audience to have to try and figure out what exactly is happening from scene to scene. It is for this reason that refining animation in this area is ill advised, animation needs to remain simple and direct or something as small as an expression may be misinterpreted and be deemed as having little appeal. It is for this reason that there is a constant battle between discovering aspects that look the most appealing and getting them to work alongside the staging of a piece. Things such as outlines and colour gradients on characters may need to be taken into consideration in terms of line-thickness when appearing on the big screen. It is yet just another proof that animation is an art form. ‘While the live actor has charisma, the animated drawing has appeal,’ (F. Thomas and O. Johnston, 1981 p.68)

(Start at 2minutes 45 seconds)