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

[[VIDEOID:c45d63c5f786442927260cf69e26ed70]] i made this in like 5 minutes with my ipod, so dont kill me.. i know it gets a little uncomfortable to watch when i turn the device.

this is not a "review".. its just a better "look inside", in my opinion this is a must have for every animator..
i think amazon should allow besides reviews, also accept "look inside" videos so you will really know what you are buying

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

If you are an animator and you don't own this....*sigh* Nevermind.
If you want to be an animator, this is a MUST in your library sitting right next to your copy of the Illusion of Life.

This is CORE reading for aspiring animators and a survival guide for working professionals. For the last 11 years of my career, I have referred to this guide religiously.

I bought this book a year ago and took time to write the review so I could compare with others out there.
This is BY FAR the best book on animation out there with thousands of drawings demonstrating the basic and advanced concepts of animation. What differences these book from the others is that this one has more drawings than words.
In my opinion when trying to learn drawing and animation a drawing is better than million words.

I bought this book a year ago and took time to write the review so I could compare with others out there.
This is BY FAR the best book on animation out there with thousands of drawings demonstrating the basic and advanced concepts of animation. What differences these book from the others is that this one has more drawings than words.
In my opinion when trying to learn drawing and animation a drawing is better than million words.

The best part of this book is its recognition of the PROCESS of learning something as marvelously complex as cartoon animation. It is filled with anecdotal views of what and how one learns to do it all better and more believably. It also captures the skills and determination of many of the great artists from the golden age of animation.

It is also unapologetic about being entirely about cartoon (drawn) animation, even though the author does recognize that most of the principles he discusses have validity to all forms of animation.

As a teacher (and student) of animation, I enjoyed reading this book from cover to cover. The first 20 pages are a useful summary of the main historical moments in the development of animation, and the next 15 are all about Life Drawing skills, and the next four talk about basic animation timing. The first real anecdote of many breaks in at this point, and then the author returns to direct information exposition thereafter, but these anecdotes can often make it somewhat distracting to find the useful bits amongst the reminiscences.

Nevertheless, it's worth the read in spite of the editorial comments, and sometimes because of them. The included DVD (I have the expanded edition) is fun to watch, and brings to "life" some of the examples discussed in print.

This book is great. I'm an Animation major and this book really is a great tool to use. The author really speaks to you. It feels as thought he's talking dirrectly to you cause the way it's written isn't all big words and definitions. Love it. A must for animation majors or just any one who wants to animate.

I am very grateful for the infinite knowledge that gives us the mentor Richard Williams for completing its publication. Thanks ...

So, I had to get this book for a class, and it's awesome. It's really helpful when it comes to walk cycles, and various kinds of walk cycles. It's just really cool.

This is one of the single most best things I have ever bought...I am not a book person, but when it comes to a subject that I am very interested I will be all over it. This book is amazing and gives such interesting details, facts, history, and everything else you can think about for all of you fellow animators out there... very inspirational. I am an animator myself, but I bought this book to help me along the way of my beginning stages and I believe this book will help me a lot for what I plan on doing...If you are curious on how this book is helping me you can see my animations on my new youtube channel HumorWiseSurprise ... I will be posting toons very shortly after reading the rest of the book!