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The Animator's Survival Kit Paperback – January 7, 2002
| Richard Williams (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Animation is one of the hottest areas of filmmaking 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, winning three Academy Awards and serving as the link between Disney's golden age of animation by hand and the new computer animation exemplified by Toy Story.
Perhaps even more important, though, has been his dedication in passing along his knowledge to a new generation of animators so that they in turn could push the medium in new directions. In this book, based on his sold-out master classes in the United States and across Europe, 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.
- Print length342 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherFaber & Faber
- Publication dateJanuary 7, 2002
- Dimensions9.53 x 0.95 x 11.02 inches
- ISBN-100571202284
- ISBN-13978-0571202287
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Product details
- Publisher : Faber & Faber; 2nd edition (January 7, 2002)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 342 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0571202284
- ISBN-13 : 978-0571202287
- Item Weight : 3.48 pounds
- Dimensions : 9.53 x 0.95 x 11.02 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #116,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #58 in How to Create Anime & Cartoons
- #78 in Animation Graphic Design (Books)
- #85 in Movie Direction & Production
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Richard Williams is best known as the Director of Animation and designer of the new characters for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which he won two Academy Awards including a Special Achievement Award.Canadian-born Williams has won three US Academy Awards, three British Academy Awards, and an Emmy among 246 international awards-- starting with his first film The Little Island in 1958.Williams has also animated title sequences for Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, What's New Pussycat, Casino Royale and linking sequences for The Charge of the Light Brigade, as well as countless prize-winning commercials.In 1990 he was voted by his peers as "The Animator's Animator," and in 1995 he started giving the Richard Williams Animation Masterclasses for professionals and students worldwide in London, Hollywood, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney, Hong Kong, France and Denmark.He lives with his family in Wales and works as an independent film-maker.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonReviewed in the United States on March 15, 2019
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I found a treasure trove of history, personal narratives from the artist's soul, mixed with step by step instructions on how it all worked. This guy is amazing. I could not put this down.
If you are really focused on learning how to move the figure, and analyze movement, this is for you. If you are new at this, take beginning drawing first, and figure drawing first. This is not a quick 'easy' book for beginners, but for a more seasoned artist. What a huge gift to share a lifetime of wisdom.
Top reviews from other countries
It significantly improved my animation skills and how I approach animations, and I'm only half way through it so I expect it's going to help me out even more by the time it's finished.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 7, 2019
It significantly improved my animation skills and how I approach animations, and I'm only half way through it so I expect it's going to help me out even more by the time it's finished.
I'd graduated from fine arts and I'd know nothing about animation.
This book might take a while to learn and adjust, but I have always kept re-read them. I got to learn from the basics, like storyboarding, animatics and background art. There is free animation software you can learn from either in Blender, Storyboarder, OpenToonz, Pencil2D etc.
Keep learning, imply your knowledge and get serious!
This book is transformative to the point that I bought sticky tabs to mark important sections and have almost ran out nearly a quarter of the way through the book. It explains core concepts behind traditional animations and how to time them, but most importantly in my case it breaks down walk cycles and assorted character movements, the thought processes to use while visualising them and the methods of presenting them in an easy to read, often humourous and incredibly illuminating way.
I can't gush about the presentation enough. It never weighs you down with jargon and the illustrations are divine and immediately informative. If you have any interest in improving your animation ability I just haven't found a simpler way than reading this book.
Packed with information and well-worth your pennies.













