animation exercise - bouncing ball

A good place to start with your animation is with a simple bouncing ball exercise.  You don't any puppets and it incorporates rhythms, weight, arcs and timing.

Point your camera downwards towards your desk or floor then use a coin and then follow the spacing on the diagram below to make it look like it's bouncing.  The ball should move slower at the top of the arc where momentum turns to gravity.

Try it several times each time try express different weights/types of ball by varying the spacing and the height

If you use plasticine or blu-tack you can include some squash and stretch as the ball impacts onto the ground.