The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators
If you're serious about animation, this is the book you'll keep returning to. Richard Williams, the Oscar-winning mind behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit, spent fifty years at the forefront of his craft, and it shows on every page. He occupies a rare position in the industry, someone who worked through Disney's hand-drawn golden era and lived long enough to see computer animation reshape everything Toy Story-style. That breadth of experience gives this book a weight that most technical manuals simply can't match. Williams distilled his popular, consistently sold-out masterclasses (held across the US and Europe) into a single working system, built around one deceptively simple instruction: invent, but stay believable. Hundreds of drawings illustrate his points, making abstract principles feel concrete and immediately applicable. What's particularly valuable here is the generosity of the approach. Williams isn't gatekeeping hard-won knowledge; he's actively handing it across to the next wave of practitioners. Whether you're a complete beginner, an experienced professional, or somewhere in the middle, the underlying principles he lays out hold firm. Stop-motion, classical hand-drawn work, computer animation, games, internet formats, it's all covered. This is the kind of reference that sits permanently on a working animator's desk rather than gathering dust on a shelf.
- Author: Richard Williams
- Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Genre: Film & Cinema
- ISBN: 978-0865478978
- Pages: 392 pages