Review | The Animator's Survival Kit
April 8th 2010 07:12
Original Creative Writing:
The Animator's Survival Kit | Reviewed
Richard Williams' expanded edition of The Animator' Survival Kit
A manual of methods, principals and formulas for classical, computer, games, stop motion and internet animators. There's not much more to be said about it really. The title says it all and Richard Williams is not kidding. He puts everything you need into this remarkable book.
Who else better to turn to when you need some coal-face support from an accomplished animator other than Richard Williams any way? This is the Director of Animation for the film Who Framed Rodger Rabbit, come on. The man is a meticulous genius. Williams has thought through pretty much every problem any less experienced animator is encountering in terms of position, movement, calculations and formulas, so he provides a veritable treasure of information including frame by frame versions of movements.
If you are learning Flash or some other animation program you will be able to read through some physical sequences and get a sense of what you need to do in order to create these effects; it is so much easier to have these types of images at hand, so although it is not an inexpensive book, although it does come in under one hundred dollars, it is a very valuable book to the animator given the amount of guidance it provides.
For example much is offered around the simple but difficult task of walking. For those of you who have never tried to create an animation, snigger away; making a ball bounce or a character walk is a taxing task. Obviously it is not impossible to create characters in animation who seem so very real they have their own pulse, body language and style. So developing a flair for creating characters who can walk seamlessly is going to be a useful thing to an animator.
We literally have pages of it here, normal walk spacing, weight shifting, jaunty walking, hops and leaps, drawn out image frame by frame. Bending arms, limp wrists, buttocks, floppy hair and perspective.
So many things need to be detailed in order to create something really special, so this is probably the most visually useful material you could find in one book. Think then about the universality of reference with this writer - he knows a lot - he is not going to chock up your head with a pile of useless information, maybe a few personal anecdotes about his career, but the bulk of what he is writing is an overview on animations historical development and then a good deal of very practical assistance in setting yourself up to work, and getting along with it.
If you are not satisfied with the book alone you can get an amazing16 DVD set animators survival kit movie with the work broken down even more I suppose. I think it's a very practical and helpful book for the right person. The seriously involved animator or the novice who wants to learn a lot without having to carry too many books around.
David Jobling
A manual of methods, principals and formulas for classical, computer, games, stop motion and internet animators. There's not much more to be said about it really. The title says it all and Richard Williams is not kidding. He puts everything you need into this remarkable book.
If you are learning Flash or some other animation program you will be able to read through some physical sequences and get a sense of what you need to do in order to create these effects; it is so much easier to have these types of images at hand, so although it is not an inexpensive book, although it does come in under one hundred dollars, it is a very valuable book to the animator given the amount of guidance it provides.
For example much is offered around the simple but difficult task of walking. For those of you who have never tried to create an animation, snigger away; making a ball bounce or a character walk is a taxing task. Obviously it is not impossible to create characters in animation who seem so very real they have their own pulse, body language and style. So developing a flair for creating characters who can walk seamlessly is going to be a useful thing to an animator.
So many things need to be detailed in order to create something really special, so this is probably the most visually useful material you could find in one book. Think then about the universality of reference with this writer - he knows a lot - he is not going to chock up your head with a pile of useless information, maybe a few personal anecdotes about his career, but the bulk of what he is writing is an overview on animations historical development and then a good deal of very practical assistance in setting yourself up to work, and getting along with it.
If you are not satisfied with the book alone you can get an amazing16 DVD set animators survival kit movie with the work broken down even more I suppose. I think it's a very practical and helpful book for the right person. The seriously involved animator or the novice who wants to learn a lot without having to carry too many books around.
David Jobling
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David Jobling
