If you want learn to REALLY animate characters with life and believability, get this book.


A Legendary Animator Tells it Like It Is   January 3, 2002
 67 out of 73 found this review helpful

Richard Williams is a man who is largely responsible for the revival of the art of animation in the early 1970s. Williams had Disney animator Art Babbitt and Warner great Ken Harris working in his studio in London and training a new generation of animators in the techniques of good character animation, which was not taught at the time in any school or considered an art form.

Williams' long awaited book on animation technique is the logical successor to Preston Blair's CARTOON ANIMATION and it successfully updates some of the weaknesses of that book, particularly in handling dialogue animation. He covers a lot of the same ground that Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston did in their now out-of-print THE ILLUSION OF LIFE.

There is some history, but that's available in other books. What is unique about this book is that Williams writes how surprised he, an Academy Award winning animator with a successful professional studio, was to learn that he needed to learn just about everything over again from Harris and Babbitt. Fortunately for us he is now sharing these priceless lessons with the public.

The most important thing that an aspiring animator will get from this book is: that animation IS an art form, and good animation has nothing to do with whether it is done on computer or on paper. Williams exhorts his readers to 'draw whenever possible' and even though there is a computer modelled figure on the cover of the book, there is not a single piece of computer generated imagery in it. The book is about the bare bones, about creating life in art. Animation is the twentieth century's contribution to world art and deserves to be taken very seriously.

Buy this book.


My "Second Year" of school.   February 27, 2002
 21 out of 22 found this review helpful

I'm a graduate of a one year animation certificate program in classical animation. In many ways, this book covers a lot of the ground of Preson Blair's classic bible "Cartoon Animation", as well as Tony White's excellent "Animator's Handbook". However, it also deals with practical examples to extend the lessons from these initial books. The whole section on 'walks' has lessons on acting, character and animation that deal with all areas of acting in animation, not simply walk cycles.

It's also more practical than the Illusion of Life, in that it has a logical progression of lessons and enough custom illustrations to more precicely demonstrate these points. In many ways, It's the intermediate book between the intellectual aspects of the Illusion of Life, and the basic principals of Cartoon Animation.

For me, this was like a second year of school: I had learned all the concepts and basic principals I needed in that first year of school using Tony White and Preson Blair. Richard William's book expanded on those concepts, and has already started to improve my work in the first two months of receiving it. I highly recommend this book to any animation students out there, as well as graduates looking to increase their skills.


Must read for animators trying to reach the next level   April 11, 2002
 18 out of 19 found this review helpful

I have been a computer animator for 4 years, with a focus on character animation for 1 year. I have been searching for information that will get my work closer to ILM/Pixar quality, and this book has advanced my skills a generation ahead, bringing me much closer to my goal. Richard Williams breaks down all sorts of different walks (maybe a hundred?), runs and motions that imply weight, which is essential for a complete animator. He also gives suggested timings for different types of motions, so you have a starting point for a certain action... you don't have to reinvent the wheel. He has a straightforward style of animating that really improved my workflow, as well. As I act out the motions of a character I want to move a certain way, using Williams's techniques I can now breakdown the important parts of the motion with much more accuracy and efficiency. I read this book while working on a project, and the quality of my shots went up exponentially with every page I read. I now have tons of confidence in my abilities, I can animate better and quicker, and I have an added level of life in my characters that was lacking before. For me, this was a must read. I thank Richard Williams profusely for writing this book, and I recommend it to everybody that wants to animate characters.


Seen Better   February 18, 2002
 12 out of 19 found this review helpful

Apart from the momentary dream sequences of commentary by various well known industry animators, this book is only a duplicate of Preston Blair's book. In fact it is cheaper to buy Blair's book if you are really interested in learning about animation. This book is more notes on animation rather than a survival kit. If you can afford to have only one book, then Blair would be the better. This comes in as second place. I think Williams would have been better off writing an autobiography than doing this book.