Principles and Formulas for Classical - Stop Motion and Internet Animators

Was needed for a traditional animation class, you can really learn a lot of great techniques from this book! The book came quicker than expected, was packaged great and I have really gotten a lot of use out of it!

This covers everything an animator needs to know, covering all the basics whilst also covering the more complex principles. Williams writing style is fun and informative, and is an enjoyable read.
Williams talks about all the animation principles, working in the industry, improving your art, acting for animation, directing, dealing with producers and more.
Whether you are just starting out or need to brush up, this is definitely a book all animators (and I would even say artists and illustrators) should have.

Richard Williams explains in great detail and with a humorous wit exactly what you need to know before you can begin to animate - and how to do it effectively, too. The insights he shares come from an odd and inspired mind. Invaluable for anyone interested in the animation process.

To put it simply: Great book! I love it. ;)

Are you an aspiring animator? Well need I say more... this is one of the books you should read, read again, then use a referrence when you are working. The wealth of knowledge found in these pages are priceless. This has been a textbook for animators for ages and no wonder why. It was written for you! Get it, you wont regret it.

Just what I needed for my animation class.
It goes over animation processes and key frames in detail.
Good for getting the basics down or just beginning to learn.
It also has some more advanced stuff as well.

Interested in animation? Then you absolutely MUST have this book in your library. It is a required book for my class at Digital Media Arts College where I teach computer animation. Students who were having a hard time animating before attending my class found this book helped them immensely in understanding the essentials and elements to animation.

I came across many books in bookstores and in libraries. But this one will definitively and concisely explain the tricks and ropes for animating and animation. If it's your dream or passion, make sure you have this book or any of Richard William's other works on your shelf.

brings in lessons from famous animators around the world from Disney to Warner brothers, and compiles all the principles that any animation will use including 2d and 3d. In depth description on frames, emotion, timeing, and spacing is deeply explained.

This book is absolutely vital for any animator who is learning their craft. Even if you are an advanced animator the author has crucial tips and techniques to make your animations really come to life. Identifying where lines are supposed to go or even finding ways to cheat the system in order to make your cartoons goofier or more vibrant, this book is a must have. It doesn't matter if you are doing 3d modeling or compositions in After Effects, techniques in this book are universal and are passed down from masters of animation.

Richard Williams includes great advice not only for drawing technique, but also for professional approaches to practicing. His illustrations describe well what animation styles he's referring to, and they also are so beautiful I had another example of high quality without them being beyond my level as a beginner. I bought this book a year ago and continue to refer to it when I get hung up even on storyboards, comic layouts, or still drawings.

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.