[BOOK] The Animators Survival Kit

The Animators Survival Kit is one of the first animation books I ever bought back in 2012, it was incredibly useful to me back then when I was getting my feet with animation, and to this day it continues to be a huge help. The book is quite possibly the best source for animation references I or anyone could ask for, it has a vast amount of walk-cycle examples, expression and lip-syncing techniques and how weight can affect these characters. The author of the book, Richard Williams, who was the animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit gives incredible insight into animation as a whole.

The best thing about the book, by far, are the walk-cycle examples. I would not even know where to begin with a walk-cycle without this book, it has over 100 pages dedicated to different variations of walk-cycles, run-cycles, jog, sprint and skip-cycles. These references will be incredibly useful now that I am in production of When Dreams Became Data, as particularly for Max the Cat, there are a good few walk and run-cycles located throughout the animation. Even as I read through the book now, 5 years after purchasing it, I have learnt something new which will greatly improve the traditional animation process, using animation charts to see where each movement will be on the animation paper.

Out of all the books I have purchased, along with The Illusion of Life, I cannot recommend it enough and I consider it one of the best books I own. It is insightful and tailored towards animators who already have the base knowledge of animation, most animation books or "how to animate" books are usually tailored towards people just starting out in animation, or people who have just taken interest, this book is certainly not that, it is written as if to help animators who understand the concept and principles of animation and make their lives so much easier.

"Many cartoonists and animators say that the very reason they do cartoons is to get away from realism and the realistic world into the free realms of the imagination. They'll correctly point out that most cartoon animals don't look like animals - they're designs, mental constructions. Mickey ain't no mouse, Sylvester ain't no cat."