Product Details
The Animator's Survival Kit

The Animator's Survival Kit
By Richard Williams

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Product Description

The definitive book on animation, from the Academy Award-winning animator behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit?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.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #3863 in Books
  • Published on: 2002-01-07
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 352 pages

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Williams is miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation."--The New York Times
-- Review

Review
"Williams is miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation."--The New York Times

From the Inside Flap
Praise for Richard Williams:

"Arguably the best animator working in the field today." Hollywood Reporter

"Richard is a genius." Robert Zemeckis (director, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump)

"Probably one of the most respected draftsmen in the world." Los Angeles TV Times

"Williams is miles ahead of anyone in the world of animation." New York Times

"Voted by peers as 'The Animator's Animator'." Observer

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.

Customer Reviews

I wouldn't recommed this book to anyone1
Animation is now done in 3-D this book is dated.
The book I have on by Don Bluth were much more elaborate on the animnation process then this book. The drawings are primative and don't offer much of the way of substance you can take them at face value.
If you like stick figures you might like this book.

An indispensable reference5
This a must-purchase for the starting animator. I read The Illusion of Life first, which was a lot of words and theory but fewer walk-throughs (though you should buy that, too!). Get it, you won't be disappointed.

easy to follow, with great examples5
this was the textbook for my principles of animation I class, and it was an immense help. if I was ever confused about how to liven up an animation, or make a movement more believable, I could look in the book for an explanation of a walk, run, jump, or any of a number of movements and get an example of the keyframes at the very least.
while it doesn't sit down and explain the 12 principles of animation in a section, it does end up covering the essentials in an easy to understand way.

my instructor put it this way "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation is the old testament of animation, and this book, is the new testament."