The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators

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And if there ever is a true revised edition of The Animator's Survival Kit, I would love to see an index. My students will then be able to go directly to the principle they're looking for and I can easily locate words of wisdom from one of the great animators, Richard Williams. The animated version of the book's logo (it can be watched here ) plays this straight as the music syncs with each character's actions as they move in place to perform a choreographed walk cycle. The Animator's Survival Kit is a critically acclaimed animation book and DVD set made by master animator Richard Williams, the animation director of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the creator of The Thief and the Cobbler. The book is a culmination of more than 30 years of research and experience, full of invaluable technical information on animation, not so much about how to draw it as to how to move the stuff. As such, the book has recieved excellent praise from those in the industry. There is no one better prepared than Williams to assemble a book like this. He is a living link between the pioneers of the art form and the international animation community of today. Much of the information in the book relates directly to the creation of character animation regardless of the media used to create it. After covering everything possible on walks, Williams moves on to one of the most important aspects of character animation: Flexibility. For beginners, making characters look loose and flexible is the toughest thing to master. With a variety of examples that show the movement of joints and how to overlap actions, Williams makes it easy to understand.

Lazy Artist: Discouraged; Williams makes a great point early in the book that fundamental drawing skills, particularly life drawing and anatomy knowledge, are imperative for any aspiring animator to learn. Silly Walk: Williams goes at length on how to take a basic walk cycle and play around with the various parts to create some interesting actions. He describes the trope as the fundamental key to all other animation- once you can animate a clean walk, anything else becomes easy.The Twelve Principles of Animation: Gives very specific advice on how some of the principles work. It even mentions The Illusion of Life at one point. The book directly refers to this at one point, and actually explains why it's such a beloved trope among animators: like music, most animation is plotted out in multiples of 4, or more rarely multiples of 3 like a waltz. Syncing animation with music, therefore, provides a set of predetermined, aesthetically pleasing divisions to base keyframes off of, while also providing interesting changeups in the form of subdivided eighth and sixteenth notes to guide more intricate animations. The new editions of the Animators Survival Kit do exactly what they are designed to do – give the reader direct access to a treasure trove of advice focussed directly on specific subjects. Like their predecessor these new books are perfect for anyone wishing to perfect their animation craft. Animation Bump: Richard's book is intended to allow animators to do this on their own whim. The promo CD that comes with the book also has a very impressively animated sequence, which Richard claims took around a year to make! Line Boil: Williams discusses how badly-made in-between frames can create uncontrolled "wobbling" or "frying" in the animation. He mentions that when he was doing commercials at UPA's London studio, his assistant would change the shape of the character's eyes on his inbetween drawings, causing a distracting wobble.

Broad Strokes: At the time he was writing the book, Richard wanted to move on past the devastating loss of his film The Thief and the Cobbler, so the book makes no direct mention of the film or its production. Key word here is direct—Richard did sneak in at least two allusions to the film's existence. The first is mentioning working with Vincent Price on an unspecified project, and the caricature of him included is a dead ringer for Zigzag, the character Price played in the film. The second allusion to the film is recycling an actual scene of animation from the film, of the Old Witch running. Ironically, Richard said in a 2013 interview that writing the book allowed him to make peace with the troubled history of Thief and be content with the workprint edit of the film. Shown Their Work: William's book is unmatched in how knowledgeable it is about animation articulation. Williams, Richard (2012-09-25). The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-86547-897-8. Off Like a Shot: There's an example about how characters can anticipate running with this pose and then instantly disappear offscreen, leaving only a dust cloud or similar behind.

Animation examples from the book combined with footage from Richard Williams' masterclasses have been put into a 16-volume DVD box set titled The Animator's Survival Kit – Animated. [3] The logo from the book cover was completely animated in the traditional style, taking Williams and his animators 9 months to complete. Williams also included some early drafts of his own work from previous projects. [4] Reception [ edit ]