by John Swanson

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Product Title: "The Animator’s Survival Kit"
Author: Richard Williams
ISBN: 9780571202287
Published: May 2001
Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Current Pricing: $50.00
Site: Faber and Faber Limited

"I want this book to put over what I have found to be the best working methods, so that animating becomes better and easier to do. There are lots of formulas, principles, clichés and devices here to help, but the main thing I want to pass on is a way of thinking about animation in order to free the mind to do the best work possible. I learned it from the best in the business and I boiled it down into a systematic working order. It transformed my work – I hope it will be useful to you." – Richard Williams

First of all I want you to know I did not just get this book. I’ve had it since 2001 and have put it to use many times. Both the explanations and illustrations found here have helped me in a number of personal projects. I like this book – I like it a lot. I think if you’re interested in animation, computer or otherwise, you should give this book a good look.

Richard Williams, among other things, is the man who gave us Who Framed Roger Rabbit? the film that evitalized, as well as revolutionized, the animation film industry a while back. He fully endorses the use of computers in the creation of animation.

The Faber website states that this 352 page paperback book is based on Mr. Williams’ master classes. Judging by the book’s content, I know I would have loved to have been able to attend one of those.

The book starts with Richard Williams telling us why he wrote the book while at the same time giving us a glimpse of his early career. He follows that with what must be the obligatory history of animation. Fortunately he makes it interesting with his spin on this subject. Before getting into his thoughts on timing and spacing, we are reminded of the importance of good draftsmanship. After a very funny Lesson 1 - that has to be seen for the best impact - Richard Williams continues with the best hand-drawn lessons on the formulas, principles, clichés and devices of animation that I have come across. I like the fact that after the first third of the book the majority of the text is in a neat hand lettered style. This text style blends well with all the beautifully hand-drawn characters that are there to illustrate his points (see fig.1). They are a delight to look at. I wish that I could come up with such elegant, simple drawings to express myself in my personal animation exercises.

Dope sheets, squash and stretch, key frames, break downs, timing and much more are all covered here, wonderfully explained and clearly drawn so it’s easy to understand. You may not be interested in doing traditional animation but the lessons you learn here should serve you well. If putting together good solid animation in a computer environment is your goal, then having all these time- tested ideas and methods in your arsenal can only help.

I know, having read this book, and returning to it time after time, that I have a better understanding of animation and a better appreciation of the thought process behind seeing an animated movement that rings true. If I’m not sure how to make a model move convincingly, I know there’s a good chance that I can find a solution in this book. There is much more to be found here.

Joy is what I ultimately took away from studying this amazing work by someone who seemingly enjoys his work. He obviously takes great pride in presenting these lessons to us. As you turn the pages it may suddenly dawn on you just how much fun it is to be an animator.

Richard Williams said he learned his craft from the best. If you want to improve your computer character animation by learning the basics of hand drawn animation, then you too will have the opportunity to learn from the best.

Let’s face it there aren’t many books out there that tackle this subject. Of all of them that do, I think this is the one that should be next to your computer. This book won’t tell you what icon to press, what to type in a text field, or which spinner to use. What it will attempt to teach you is how to convincingly bring your computer model to life. I highly recommend this book.

To fully appreciate the scope of this book, please take a look at its table of contents reproduced here.

CONTENTS

1 WHY THIS BOOK?

11 DRAWING IN TIME

23 TIME TO DRAW

35 IT'S ALL IN THE TIMING AND THE SPACING

41 LESSON 1

46 ADVANCING BACKWARDS TO 1940
47 History of the Chart and Inbetween
48 Extremes and Breakdowns
57 Keys
61 Three Ways to Animate
68 Testing, Testing, Testing
70 The X-Sheet
75 Came the Dawn ...
76 The Best Numbering System
78 The Great Ones and Twos Battle
80 The Top and Bottom Pegs Battle

84 MORE ON SPACING
80 Classic Inbetween Mistakes
90 Watch Your Arcs
92 Getting More Movement Within the Mass
96 The Elongated Inbetween
99 The Major Beginner's Mistake
99 The 'Ruff' Approach
101 How Much Do We Leave To The Assistant?
101 Take The Long Short Cut

102 WALKS
106 Getting the Weight
109 Set the Tempo
111 The Passing Position or Breakdown
115 Two Ways to Plan a Walk
118 The Double Bounce
120 Loosening it Up
128 Digging Deeper into Walks
135 There's Nothing Like Trying It
136 The Heel
136 Foot Action
142 Normal Walk Spacing
146 Weight Shift
147 The Belt Line
148 Arm Movements
156 Counteraction
163 The Recipe
167 Sneaks
173 The Tip Toe Sneak

176 RUNS, JUMPS AND SKIPS
189 The 4 Drawing Formula Run
192 The 3 Drawing Run
195 The 2 Drawing Run
200 The Recipe
201 Run, Jump, Skip and Leap
209 Skips
212 Jumps
213 Weight on a Jump
217 FLEXIBILITY
218 The Breakdown
223 Simple Overlap
226 Overlapping Action
230 Simple Counteraction
231 Breaking Joints to Give Flexibility
246 Flexibility in the Face
249 Overlapping Action in the Face
251 Instant Read - Profiles for Readability

256 WEIGHT
262 Pressure and Weight
264 How Much Effort Do We Have To Expend?
269 Dancing
272 Rules of Thumb On Synchronising Action
273 ANTICIPATION
282 Surprise Anticipations
283 Invisible Anticipations

285 TAKES AND ACCENTS
295 A Hard Accent Bounces Back
295 A Soft Accent continues

297 TIMING, STAGGERS, WAVE AND WHIP
297 Stagge r Ti m i n gs
299 The Side to Side Vibration Formula
301 Whip Action
301 Wave Action

304 DIALOGUE
305 Phrasing
310 Picture and Sound Sync
311 Accents
314 Attitude
314 The Secret

315 ACTING
320 Change of Expression
321 Look for the Contrast
323 An Acting Point
324 Body Language
324 Symmetry or Twinning'
325 Steal It!
325 Eyes

327 ANIMAL ACTION
328 Live Action Reference
330 Basic Animal Walk Pattern

333 DIRECTING
334 The Brief 334 The Leica Reel
334 Separate the Characters
335 Best Foot Forward
335 Casting Animators
335 Making Changes
335 'Say! Say!'
335 Voice Recording
335 Hook Ups
335 Research
335 Editing
335 Believe in Your Material

338 REVIEW
338 The Procedure
339 The Ingredients
342 Acknowledgments

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