Secondary Action

Secondary Action can be both a physical necessity to make a movement look more natural, and a means to emphasise mood and expression.

The first example of a secondary action would be a characters arms swinging as he walks. If the arms hung rigidly at the characters side, the walk would look very unnatural.

In the second case the principle of Secondary Action becomes a wonderful tool for expression. Secondary actions can be used to highlight the emotive context of the primary action. An example of this would be a character wiping a tear from his eye (secondary) as he cries (primary).