1. A method for guiding animation of an animated character, the method comprising: receiving, at one or more computer systems, information associating a performance style model with a model of the animated character in a first animation sequence, the performance style model generated in response to at least some values specified by a human artist for a plurality of animation variables of a model of the animated character in a second animation sequence having a series of one or more poses of the animated character, the performance style model including a mathematical model of a set of one or more characteristic poses in the series of one or more poses of the animated character of the second animation sequence; receiving, at the one or more computer systems, information specifying a series of one or more poses of the animated character for the first animation sequence; determining, with one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, a quality factor for each pose in the series of one or more poses of the animated character for the first animation sequence indicative of an overall quality of the pose relative to at least one pose in the set of characteristic poses in response to the performance style model and values for a plurality of animation variables of the model of the animated character in the first animation sequence; and generating, with the one or more processors associated with the one or more computer systems, information indicative of how a performance of the model of the animated character in the first animation sequence compares to a performance of the model of the animated character in the second animation sequence in response to the quality factor determined for at least one pose in the series of one or more poses of the animated character for the first animation sequence.