Wonderful book chock full of visuals and info!

books:

	• The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, ... Richard Williams Faber & Faber, 2002 - 352 pages average customer review:based on 121 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A must have for any animator

This book is a must have for animators of all levels. My only wish is that I had the money for the DVDs.

Classic. And still great !!

Purchased for my daughter -- college student who's become very interested in animation. It's a classic -- and unlike many other animation books it's not about hi-tech. Just a brilliant guide to drawing and producing basic animation. Superb. And she's delighted.

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Wonderful book chock full of visuals and info!

I purchased this book as I'd like to challenge my drawing skills more. It really is the must have book for developing animators and I feel any art teacher looking for drawing exercises to motivate her students. Perhaps this book should be titled: The Animator's Bible!

Suzanne Urban

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Very cool book.

I bought it because I'm mentioned in it. I have the previous version too. Richard gave a lot of himself in this book, and -to me- is a piece of historical information, and extremely helpful kit for those in the animation business... but also for those who don't know anything about animation and what to have a very cool book.
Worth having.

Just do it!

I took about 5 days to get through this book. It is clear that Mr. Williams knows his craft. It is written well enough, beginning with simple examples and progressively getting more complicated. By the time you reach pg.300, you'll get into the more fun stuff. At times he does preach a little, and drops some names to emphasize his point, but I overlook that knowing he's trying to drive the concept home.

For example, the author spends a lot of time discussing the 'walk' and proceeds to show you as many ways of doing it as to put one to sleep. In hindsight though, it's all for a good cause. He specifically says that if the animator masters the walk cycle, the rest will fall into place. Other area's discuss dialogue, snaps and whips, as well as accents and anticipations.

Perhaps the best part was the beginning, where he takes time to talk about equipment, forms and animation charts....this goes a long way into helping us to understand the industry language when faced with later examples.

I give this book four stars, not because I found flaw with the text, but because the publisher hit a great pet peeve of mine. Included in the book is a brief CD that talks a little about Richard and his 16 DVD set....the CD was glue dotted to page 379, right on top of a series of drawings. Of course, this led to the page being a bit ripped when i went to pull it off (gently even...having faced this before). When are the companies going to learn that Cd's and security strips should be affixed to the inside cover? This one was blank....

My own area is 3d animation using Maya, but it was my investigation into 2d animation that led me to this book. I am really looking forward to drawing out some frames and will find this to be an invaluable reference in the future. Thanks Richard....great job.

Chris

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The definitive working manual on animation, from the triple Academy Award winning Director of Animation of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Animation is one of the hottest and most creative areas of film-making today-- and the master animator who bridges the old generation and the new is Richard Williams. During his more than forty years in the business, Williams has been one of the true innovators, and serves as the link between the golden age of animation by hand and the new computer animation successes.

Perhaps even more important, though, has been his dedication to passing along his knowledge to a new generation of animators so that they in turn can push the medium in new directions.

In this book, based on his sold-out Animation Masterclasses in the United States and across Europe attended by animators from The Walt Disney Company, PIXAR, DreamWorks, Blue Sky and Warner Bros, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator-- from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animation whiz-- needs. Urging his readers to 'invent but be believable,' he illustrates his points with hundreds of drawings, distilling the secrets of the masters into a working system in order to create a book that will become the standard work on all forms of animation for professionals, students, and fans.

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