Reddit Reddit reviews The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators

We found 85 Reddit comments about The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators
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85 Reddit comments about The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators:

u/topcheesehead · 824 pointsr/videos

Animation degree here. (Really dont need a degree. My professors who worked in the industry said many dont have degrees still to this day, its all about passion and skill... and being willing to work 16 hour days)


Seriously fantastic animation. All 12 principles of animation are represented.

Your bro just needs to keep uploading and making animation. Its essentially a portfolio.

Animation companies dont care if you have a degee. They want a stacked portfolio. With solid animation.

When your bro starts applying for animation jobs. Make sure he has a solid demo reel. A demo reel is only the best animation hes made compiled in on vid. Its the resume for these places. Its all about skill.

Fyi the #1 and #2 books (no particular order) for learning animation and developing it are priceless. My professors stressed these books every year. They were used in 90% of my animation classes.

This book...

The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators https://www.amazon.com/dp/086547897X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5JSgDb5GHT9WJ


And this book....

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786860707/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OKSgDbZMMJBVE


This would make a fantastic gift for any animator


Tell your bro not to be down about it. The companies dont care about schooling. Skill and passion are all that matters.


Edit: forgot our schools favorite websites!

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/

Cartoon brew keeps animators updated on general cartoons and animation


http://www.11secondclub.com/


We got extra credit for doing the 11 second club. You got an A for that semester in one class if you could break the top animations that month. Few students did that.


Edit: thanks for gold! insert keyframe of me jumping in 80s pose

u/MeltedGalaxy · 364 pointsr/me_irl

Ok, now take note of what went wrong with your drawing and try again, and again, and again. Then after a few weeks go back and compare your latest drawings to this one.

The master has failed more times then the novice has tried.

If you want some resources, here are some youtube channels:

u/[deleted] · 20 pointsr/animation

The animation is good for High school level. You definitely have potential. My critique would be to learn how to draw from life. You'll find that life drawing will improve your cartoons because you are choosing how to stylize them, you won't be limited by your own skill.

Also pick up a copy of this book. It will get your started on learning the basics of animation.

Draw. all. the. time.

Animate. all. the. time.

People that develop good communication skills and work ethic go the furthest.

u/nokovo · 15 pointsr/gamedev

It's super simple so you should focus on refining the few details that make up the sprite. You have:

  1. legs
  2. head
  3. eyes

    The animation tries to add depth but it isn't quite there. You could have its right eye (stage left) go from two pixels to three as it moves from profile to 3/4 view (maybe a single frame during that transition could have the third pixel at 50% alpha), and have its left eye only expand to two pixels (never three).


    You could have the shadow on the head move slightly to make the head rotation more obvious. The legs are okay but could look better. If you're really interested in animation, brush up your skills by looking up some tutorials or get a book like The Animator's Survival Kit.

    You may also want to stick with the pink color palette rather than the white so it doesn't look like a ghast.

    EDIT: Just saw your comments regarding magnets. Maybe change the negative to a dark blue instead of white.
u/Meronchan · 13 pointsr/MotionDesign

I think the best place to start would be learning some traditional animation skills. Two really great resources are the Animators Survival Kit and The Illusion of Life. I would read the reviews to see what you think might be best. The Illusion of Life goes into a lot of Disney history and the history of animation itself. Once you get a feel for that, I'd check out Ross Plaskow's Youtube Channel. A lot of people say he has one of the best character animation tutorials. There's lots of different ways to animate characters (frame by frame, rigging with the puppet pins in after effects, rigging with duik in after effects, or rubber hose in after effects (a really easy to use way to create rubber hose style animation and my personal favorite), and adobe character animator - just to name a few. Just an FYI, I suck at character animation, I just really enjoy compiling educational resources. Anyways, I would suggest if you aren't feeling too confident, once you get the principles under your belt to invest in rubber hose if you can afford it. It's really simple to use which gets you making things faster, and I think that's one of the most important parts of learning (just having fun messing around and making stuff). School of Motion did a review on it if you wanna check that out, and Ross also shows how to use it for character animation on his channel. But just remember it's not about becoming dependant on the plugin, I just think it's a great way to get making things quickly.

u/Spartan596 · 12 pointsr/vfx

So the biggest mistake that a lot of students myself included make, is that they want to get into the really cool stuff first. Animating Spider-man and fight scenes and other bad ass stuff is absolutely why we do what we do. But before being able to do any of that, the fundamentals of animation really need to be hammered in. And the best way to do this is to animate very basic stuff like a ball, or a tail, doing this will help you understand weight and timing. One of the things that I heard repeated constantly in school was that a bouncing ball can be used in most objects, even someone like spiderman. Picture his hips are a ball, and then get the timing of that ball swinging perfect so that it looks like is actually swinging on something. And from there you can start adding more things that make it look real, start animating the arms, then the legs, and the body, and the head. Trying to dive head first with no experience into a complex character will lead to frustration and potentially bad habits.

​

Check out this video on the 12 Principles of Animation, it can seem kind of tedious to learn all of them, but they are all important, some more then others depending on the kind of animation you are doing.

​

For my experience, I started school in late 2011, and it took me 5 years of work to break into the industry after animating constantly. Mind you I was (am) an extremely slow learner with animation, I wasn't good at retaining the information and would constantly blaze past the boring stuff because I just wanted to animate "cool" stuff. I got a job finally last year, and since then I have worked on five different movies, 3 or 4 advertisements including briefly on a game cinematic, and am now currently working on a projected theme park show for one of the biggest theme parks in the world. Being where I am now came with a ton of hard work but also a fair amount of luck and willingness to make friends and connections.

​

If you are serious about pursuing animation and you think you can become passionate about the art and the history behind it, then I would suggest pursuing some form of education in it. There are a ton of online schools with some very talented teachers, and while expensive, they are still cheaper then going to a university.

​

Like I said, it has taken me forever to grasp animation, sometimes I still think the studios are making a mistake in hiring me haha, but I work hard and am eager to learn more. The best advice I can give you is to start basic, work your way up, learn the stuff about animation that only animators can see, and practice as often as you can.

​

Edit: I figure I should mention this as well, a man named Richard Williams who unfortunately passed away just a few days ago wrote what is widely considered the animation bible. I doubt you will find an animator that doesn't own or hasn't put at least some time into reading it. I would highly suggest picking it up, it's called The Animator's Survival Kit, and it's as legendary as he is.

u/--APOTHEOSIS-- · 11 pointsr/videos

Judging by your bros channel he seems really into animation, theres a awesome book called the The Animator's Survival Kit it covers everything and can be applied to any type of animation.

u/theswampmonster · 11 pointsr/anime

You should also look into The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams, the guy behind The Thief and the Cobbler and animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

u/kelna · 8 pointsr/gamedev

The Animator's Survival Kit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/086547897X/

Good book with lots of practical references for animating walk cycles facial expressions etc

u/ShenaniganNinja · 7 pointsr/animation

Cool little experiment. Animating can be a lot of fun. If you're at all serious about animation, I cannot recommend The Animators Survival Kit enough. It was a book that was required for my animation classes in college, and I still use it to this day.

If you have any questions about animation, I only have a degree and 2 years of work experience, but I can give you some pointers.

u/not_safe_for_worf · 7 pointsr/redditgetsdrawn

Hehehe "tips"... I just read a blog post about people asking for "art tips" that happened to ring pretty true, although that guy presents it in a more grouchy way....

I just draw every day and take an active interest in art. Here are some of my favorite books:

McCloud

Loomis

Animator's Survivor Kit

Lately my big epiphany has been to stop punishing myself at every turn and just let go and finish something. So keep that in mind to have fun with it!

u/patfour · 7 pointsr/TrollXChromosomes

Sure! If you have any questions for the filmmaker herself, I'll send them on. From the teacher's desk:

Theory:

  • The principles of animation are more important than any medium or software; tools come and go, but the principles will always be relevant.
  • Disney's 12 principles and Richard Williams' Animator's Survival Kit are great resources to check out.

    Software:

  • Before I started going to school for it, the first animations I ever did were GIFs in Photoshop Elements. While it was fun to tinker with, that process wasn't the most user-friendly.
  • Now there are a number of freeware options if you just want to test the waters. I haven't used them myself, but if I were just starting out, I'd probably try Pencil first.
  • Amy made this film using mostly ToonBoom Harmony, and some AfterEffects for post-production. Those have more tools than beginners probably need, and some of their pricing options are expensive, but both offer free trials and month-to-month licenses if you want to test them out.
  • Studio Ghibli's animation software Toonz was recently made free--it's another package I haven't tried yet, but I definitely want to look into it when I have time.

    Amateur vs. Professional:

  • Those links under "Theory" above are crucial, and I tend to grade animation in terms of mechanics (how believable the motion is) and performance (how well the motion conveys emotion or story).

  • Mechanics: most of the notes I give are encouraging arc motion, slow-in/slow-out, and believable balance and weight.

  • Performance: this gets more advanced and subjective, but a lot of it comes down to emotive posing, and timing that shows the character thinking, feeling, and reacting.

    Hope that helps! Those points are just scratching the surface on a huge amount of material, but for starting out, it's great to just have fun experimenting. Feel free to ask more questions, and good luck!
u/StressCavity · 6 pointsr/animation

While your end goal might be cartoons, you will HAVE to learn to draw realistically to some extent. No way would you be able to animate anything in perspective otherwise, understand lighting, or know how to composite complex scenes. There are fundamentals that you must understand that are key to 2D animation, regardless of art style, which should be continuously worked on alongside your stylistic development.

Books:

Simple book on perspective

My favorite anatomy book

A pretty simple book on light (More pictures/examples than in-depth detail)


Overall beginners drawing book

This covers light/shadow and materials decently for beginners

I personally think you should focus on fundamentals alone until you have a decent grasp before looking at animation. But if you want to learn concurrently, this book is pretty well-known in the industry: LINK

There's tons more, but I already think this might be too much to take in all at once. Discover for yourself the rest, it's not good to have everything handed to you with fundamentals, gotta reign it in personally.

u/zissoushope · 5 pointsr/animation

Spend at least 20 minutes a day doing "gestures." Websites like quickposes.com are incredible resources. You can't draw the human/animal form enough, even if 3D is where you'll work. Never ever miss a class and build a strong portfolio. Animation as an industry can be a meritocracy, so animate, draw everything all the time.

You can do this. Source: went to school for animation and have incredibly successful friends working as animators. (I, myself am an illustrator.)

Also, get yourself this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/086547897X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1459295497&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=animation&dpPl=1&dpID=513WsqEOM-L&ref=plSrch

u/jayisforjelly · 5 pointsr/animation

Awesome, keep at it and dont be afraid to try crazy movements.
I use this book nearly everytime I work on an traditional animated project, cant recomend it enough.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/086547897X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485615187&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=animators+survival+kit&dpPl=1&dpID=51mu0NS88VL&ref=plSrch

u/evilanimator1138 · 5 pointsr/learnanimation

Start with Eric Goldberg's book "Character Animation Crash Course!"

http://www.amazon.com/Character-Animation-Crash-Course-Goldberg/dp/1879505975

It reads a lot less like the stereo instructions that is Richard Williams's "Animator's Survival Kit" providing for a much more accessible and lighter introduction to animation. If, after you've read through it, you find that animation is still for you then absolutely 110% get Richard Williams's book.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/086547897X/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MV2H6MZNC3HHHH1ED43

Another must have is "The Illusion of Life".

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786860707/ref=pd_aw_fbt_14_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1S91BNCH9AFXPJQCA1HH

Always keep in mind that the word animate means "to give life to." You are bringing a character to life be it a drawing or a 3D model. Before even touching paper and pencil (because you thoroughly plan your scene out that way first before touching the mouse ;-) ask yourself "what is the character thinking?" Get inside that character's head. Sketch out exploratory poses. They don't have to be gorgeously rendered drawings. They are your visual notes and can even be stick figures just so long as you can read them. Get away from your desk and physically act out what your character has to do or hit up YouTube for research. Shoot reference with your smartphone (use an app like ProCamera which lets you shoot at 24fps) and analyze how long it takes you to perform an action. Don't sweat the software just yet. That's the technical stuff that comes later. Animators are actors and it's important to understand acting first. That being said, this book is great for learning Maya.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0415826594/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453026213&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=how+to+cheat+in+maya+2015&dpPl=1&dpID=51IrWwVyubL&ref=plSrch

This book combines learning to animate in Maya while simultaneously teaching the 12 principles of animation. The very best of luck to you in the beginning of your animation journey. Take your time and practice everyday. Think of animation as a muscle. You have to workout everyday for it to get stronger even if you only work on something for 15 minutes a day.

u/cigaretteclub · 5 pointsr/animation

the animation field is very very competitive. and little by little, jobs are being cut out from the field. if you go for animation, you better have passion. without it, you may as well have no chance...

i wanted to be an animator ever since i was a kid, i love cartoons. animation is a wonderful medium.

Do you know who Richard Williams is? I hope you do. In his book, The Animator's Survival Kit, He talks about his journey into the world of animation. please read that section which is located in the very first pages of the book.

i watched your video SidMonqay, and i will tell you to forget about animating right now. No, i don't mean lose the passion to animate. What i mean is forget about the technical part, which is animation. First, learn how to draw. No, i don't mean learn how to draw cartoons, i mean really REALLY learn how to draw. Study classical drawing and painting...trust me...if you focus on this you will be able to draw ANYTHING:cartoons, anime, illustration, comics, etc. because this is the HARDEST and most DIFFICULT art there is. (Jason Manley from ConceptArt.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh37Mtex67w) you don't have to 'master' it, but learn from it. once you know you are ready, you are ready for animation.


I am 22, and studying classical drawing at a studio in Chicago under a very great and talented artist who i call my mentor. he has connections to some of the biggest studios of animation out there, and knows A LOT of well known artists. He teaches classical drawing and painting but also works as a storyboard artists and is grateful to make a living as an artist. He told me he has plans to grow the studio into a small 'academy' where he and other artists will teach classical/digital/animation. I am so happy i found this place. it beats all the art colleges i have gone to.
I now go to the studio and study mechanical design technology at a community college(as a back up, if animation doesn't work out..)

I will introduce you to Bargue drawings(intro to classical training)
http://ricardopontes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/34_plate_I_7_the_foot_of_the_gladiator.jpg

This book my mentor suggested me to read, which i did "Lessons in Classical Drawing: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier"
http://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Classical-Drawing-Essential-Techniques/dp/082300659X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1409106710&sr=8-2&keywords=classical+atelier

This artist who has great drawing/painting demos DVDs which i learned a lot from (Robert Liberace)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyC4sxFrr9w

An animation news website
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/

Calarts which is the best school(they say) for character animation
http://calarts.edu/

(but listen, you DO NOT need a degree for animation. you DO need a kick ass portfolio. and i mean it. kick ass...you get the job and recognition from your portfolio and skills, not the piece of paper.
I myself am not getting a degree in art or animation.)

here is my tumblr. i post my art there.
http://cigaretteclub.tumblr.com/

if anything SidMonqay, try art at a community college. it's cheaper than larger institutions. be careful of for-profit institutions and people that just want your money. that is where i messed up, and i lost all hope, until i found this studio. I highly recommend you go and find a studio or atelier and study drawing and painting there. there are also art workshops every year for illustration/animation/drawing/painting you can find each year around the U.S! like this one http://www.artconnectionacademy.com/SaturdayLectures.aspx

but, choose your own path! any questions, feel free to ask

[edit] of course! Richard Williams book on animation! http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles/dp/086547897X

u/Bedofspiders · 5 pointsr/ObscureMedia

This was animated by Richard Williams Studio, the animation team behind Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The channel that uploaded this video has a wealth of animated content related to Richard Williams, the man who literally wrote the book on animation, well worth a look.

u/Yung__Buck · 4 pointsr/animation

Getting good at drawing is like getting in shape: sadly there's no easy way to do it other than to be disciplined and work hard at it every day. Enroll in a figure drawing class. Ask friends to sit for you for 2/5/10/20 minute poses. Draw from life as much as possible, anywhere. Go to a cafe and do a big panoramic spread of the whole room. Go to an art store and buy a bunch of different drawing materials; don't just draw with pencil. Get some pens, force yourself to draw without an eraser. Look at the masters like Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Ingres or contemporary artists like Alex Katz and David Hockney. Look at what techniques they're using with their figures, what kind of lines, how do they render volume. Copy from them and steal from them. Pick a new artist every week and try out drawing like them. The most important thing: draw all the time, draw everything you see. You won't get better unless you do it all the time. If you keep it up for even six months, you'll notice a big change, and it will make jumping into animation much easier (you'll know how to do perspective, pose characters, rotates volumes in your head, etc).

Here are a couple of animation specific drawing books that you might find useful/inspiring: Drawn to Life http://www.amazon.com/Drawn-Life-Classes-Stanchfield-Lectures/dp/0240810961/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449817164&sr=1-1&keywords=drawn+from+life // The Animators Survival Kit (mostly an animation book, but opens with a great chapter about drawing) http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449817420&sr=1-1&keywords=animation+survival+kit

u/chloberry · 4 pointsr/animation

Source: Current storyboard artist, former animator. I also used to teach animation to kids 5-15.

Here's what I would do if I were you. Buy a bunch of blank flipbooks, a 9x12" sketchbook, and this book, Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams: http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Every time it mentions an exercise (such as a bouncing ball), do the exercise. Make the bouncing ball a basketball, a character's head, whatever will make it fun for you.

Also, practice drawing a LOT. Go to life drawing classes. Draw buildings and trees. Draw objects and hands holding objects. Pay attention to form, but also light. Practice drawing your favorite animated characters, but after you've copied a few poses, make sure you're picturing them in 3D and paying attention to proportions. Try to draw them in a pose you've never seen them in.

I've noticed a lot of high schoolers in particular worried about drawing/animation style—which style is correct, which should they draw in, how do they develop their own style. Don't worry about this, your own drawing style will come out naturally as you draw more and more the way you like. It's not terrible to try to imitate Disney, Miyazaki, or anyone else, but it's also not terrible to just do things your way. Try everything. Your style will come out based on how you LIKE to draw.

After you're comfortable with flipbooks and what they call "straight-ahead animation," you'll be ready (and dying to) get an animation peg bar, hole punch, and a light table. Or you can skip this and go to the computer if you want. I think it's important not to start out on the computer, though, as it will make you think like a computer (solid shapes, motion in straight lines) and it will be tougher to learn to animate organically. You'll have put yourself on a path to being a great motion-graphics-designer, but a tough path for an animator.

Don't worry about sound yet. In a real studio you wouldn't be recording the sound anyway. Once you feel comfortable animating and ready to get into characters talking, take a few lines from a movie and animate different characters over it.

PM me if you want more details or have questions about any of it.

u/Artist_Ji-Li · 4 pointsr/learntodraw

Have you thumbnailed your concept out on paper across several small thumbnails first? It's a lot less intimidating and you'll be less tempted to get caught up in details or such at that stage. Once you have a set of thumbnails for your animation idea, then you can redraw those thumbnails and then start working on getting those set together on their individual key frames and see how it appears. If there isn't enough transition between frames to make it look right, then go back and start drawing the in between frames based on the one before and after. This allows you to go from an overall concept for your animation with quick thumbnailing and then refining into details. We had done animatics back when I was in college and we just had a sheet with small 3 inch thumbnail squares to draw into and were told to write a few lines next to each of them on what was happening at this point of the animation.

For example, I had done a silly training scenario animatic for my class back then and started off with thumbnails, then scanned them and redrew them onto flash frames. Then, added the in between frames to get this silly animatic prototype for my concept and in fairly short time.https://www.deviantart.com/sykotifachan/art/Animatic-Complete-146822334


Also, a good recommendation on animation study material:
https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/


I'm not an animator, it was more a hobby for me, but I studied alongside and worked with animators and this was often used for their studies.

u/non-photo-blue · 4 pointsr/learnanimation

For you first attempt at animation, I thing you did a great job! Definitely a good start.

The storytelling is a bit unclear, it took me a few views to understand exactly what was going on. The main reason it was unclear to me is because up until the end, I didn't really know where the characters were in relationship to one another. A couple ways you could fix this is to have a background in each shot to show where they are in the environment and have a few shot where you see both characters in frame at the same time to show how close/far they are from each other. I would also have an establishing shot at the beginning to show where the story is taking place. I think you are also missing a few key storytelling shots at the beginning that would help clarify that the characters are playing hide and seek. I think you need to show the beginning of the game, where the boy character would be counting and the girl character is starting to hide.

In terms of the animation, I think the constantly changing line color is distracting. I would try to keep it to one color throughout. You could have the boy and girl have different colors, but I wouldn't keep those colors consistent in each shot. I like the loose/rough quality of your drawings, but I think you need to pay more attention to the volume and form of your characters. Your timing and spacing in the animation is quite even as well. Meaning, it looks like everything is moving at the same speed and it is hard to distinguish between fast and slow movements. Timing and spacing are hard to get right, even for people who have been animating for a long time. The only way to improve these skills are to keep animating!

For your first animation, I think you did really well, the more you animate the more you will improve. I think you chose a really complex subject for this animation and suggest you start with some easier animation tests moving forward. I would start off with learning the 12 animation principles and animating some basic stuff like bouncing balls, pendulums, falling leaves, etc. I would recommend buying these books: Animator's Survival Kit and Eric Goldburg's Character Animation Crash Course. You also might want to look in to using software that is designed for animation. It will probably make it easier to see the animation as your working on it instead of exporting out images and putting them together in movie maker. You should check out PAP4, its a simple animation program that is free to download/use.

As far as applying to CalArts, I would really focus on creating a great portfolio with solid life drawing. CalArts wants to see that their prospective students already have solid drawing skills so that you can hit the ground running when you start classes. I would see about taking some local life drawing classes/workshops where you live so you can build up a solid portfolio. While they like to see students with previous experience animating, the portfolio is much more important to getting accepted there. You should check out AnimatedBuzz, its a social community for animators. There are a lot of prospective CalArts students on there who post their work on the forums to get feedback.

Hope this helps. Good luck to you and keep animating :)

u/bellnell · 3 pointsr/CasualConversation

This! Also, wanted to drop some resources that have helped me, though I have a specific style I enjoy.

Disney model sheets

You can find it online

Look up the pros in the field you enjoy, look for their teachings and what they studied to get there.

u/egypturnash · 3 pointsr/woahdude

Oh yeah, and since I seem to have written a couple other essays here, let me talk about the "how I learnt" part.

  1. I was obsessed with cartoons when I was a kid. Watched a lot of them, read everything I could get my hands on about animation history and methods, drew a lot of flipbooks in the corners of my sketchbooks and notebooks.
  2. I started analyzing cartoons by single-stepping the VCR. This was the eighties. It's a lot easier now.
  3. I got a copy of the Preston Blair book and started trying to make sense of what he was saying in it.
  4. I managed to cobble together a horrible, awkward animation toolchain involving drawing stuff on paper, a slow-scan-digitizer hooked up to a huge, clunky video camera, and two different software packages on my Amiga. I made all of one 30-second short with that.
  5. I went to animation school, where they had a much better pencil-test rig that I could start to learn stuff on. Did a bunch of walk cycles. Walk cycles are really useful - they teach you a lot about the basic procedure of animating, and they're short things that you can crank out pretty quickly. Did other things too of course. Never did a personal short, I kinda regret that wasn't part of the curriculum at my school.
  6. I started working in the industry and got regular critique from people better than me.
  7. I burnt out and left animation to go live cheaply and draw my own comics instead. (THIS STEP IS OPTIONAL)

    So yeah, watch lots of well-animated cartoons, single-step them and think about what they're doing. Watch and analyze video too! Animate, critique your own work, find people to critique it, critique their work, learn to detach your own ego from your work so all this criticism doesn't leave you a sobbing/angry mess. Find keyframes from masters, try inbetweening them, compare to the actual inbetweens. Get involved in group projects.

    Flash really really tends to encourage a stiff paper-doll style of animation rather than providing useful tools to help you crank out the drawings. I've seen people do amazing things to work around it - a while back Pringle gave me a tour of the character setups he did for "Foster's" and my eyes popped out of my sockets - but it's a hell of a lot of work that requires arcane knowledge of Flash. Like I said, fool with Toon Boom or TVPaint instead. Or maybe

    Animating is a LOT EASIER than it used to be, you can buy a cheap Wacom tablet for less than a hundred bucks and get software for a few hundred more, or for nothing if you're willing to compromise your morals, and have animation capabilities I could only dream of when I was a kid.

    I mentioned the Preston Blair book above; it's still a major classic. I also highly recommend The Animator's Survival Kit; it's equally thorough. Both belong in any aspiring animator's library; what they teach you will help a ton in analyzing animation and making your own.

    AND ALSO.

    Here is a collection of the various exercises John Kricfalusi has given on his blog. THEY ARE AWESOME. He's bitched about being an unofficial school for the industry in the past, for good reason - he knows his stuff, and is passionate about passing it on. I learnt a lot hanging around his studio. You could do a lot worse than to start going down the list of drawing and animation exercises; they'll give you the mental tools to make stuff believably 3D.
u/FriendlyStray · 3 pointsr/furry

The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators https://www.amazon.com/dp/086547897X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2ThRCbE2RYN8J
Get your hands on this. You can’t go wrong with Richard Williams. If I could only recommend one book about animation to someone it would be this one

u/CyricYourGod · 3 pointsr/gamedev

Animation is an art and good animation requires a strong understanding on how things move. A good resource for making both convincing and interesting animation is the Disney Bible: https://www.amazon.com/Illusion-Life-Disney-Animation/dp/0786860707/ and another: https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/. But realistically it takes years to understand and make good animation. That's outside of the learning required with tools (such as Maya).

If he doesn't know the principles of animation he should learn them and then your critiques should be focused around 1) does the animation meet the intention -- ie is it usable and 2) how can the animation be improved to make it more interesting and believable.

u/villagezero · 3 pointsr/explainlikeimfive

The background ‘cels’ were normally hand painted and created with more detail that were traditionally static or limited in movement.

The foreground pieces were limited in color palette (no highlights/shadows) due to the complex movement of the characters.

Typically, animation filmed at 24fps (frames per second) was shot in twos, meaning for every second of animation the camera ‘shot’ the image twice. So there were typically twelve drawings that required ink and paint and for the sake of production time they obviously limited their colors.

Source: studied animation in college.

A great reference is the late Richard Williams’ book ‘The Animator’s Survival Kit.’

The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators https://www.amazon.com/dp/086547897X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_fbsLDbTXACC5M

u/shearswm · 3 pointsr/animation

Alright, first thing you're gonna wanna do is chill out, it's gonna seem intimidating at first but once you really get into it it'll be second nature to ya.

First thing I'd recommend is finding a process that works for you, if you're not comfortable with Adobe then try out some other programs, I personally recommend Krita, it's a pretty simple program to operate not too advanced but provides the tools needed to make some good frame by frame animation, it's free too, which is always a plus. But there's also other alternatives like ToonBoom [good but pricey, so I've heard] and OpenToons [free] that are more advanced. Maybe take advantage of some free trials and see what you're most comfortable with.

You said you can't see the previous frame when moving to a new one, you have to enable onion skins which shows a silhouette of the previous drawing so you have something to reference.

Another thing you're probably gonna want to do is familiarize yourself with the process, check out a few videos on Youtube about animation, this one right here goes pretty well in depth on the twelve principles. I also recommend the Animator's Survival Kit, and so will most other animators [It's a really good book that goes way in depth on the whole process].

And the number one most important thing I can say is this, just keep animating. Practice as much as you can. I can sit here all day recommending books, videos, and software, but the thing you're gonna learn from the most is experience. So animate, find the methods you're most comfortable with, and make something with them, it doesn't necessarily even need to be good, it just needs to be a learning experience.

It's like exercising a muscle, the more you work at it the stronger it gets.

​

I hope this helps in some way.

u/mikebrite · 3 pointsr/MotionDesign

https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X


Animator's Survival Kit is easily the most recommended book in motion circles. It's more about traditional animation than mograph though.


That's just the art of moving. If you want to learn type/layout/color you need to look at traditional design books like /u/gusmaia said. I can't recommend any books on that because I learned most of that hands on in the classroom, but Meg's History of Graphic Design is a great book on advertising ideas.
https://www.amazon.com/Meggs-History-Graphic-Design-Philip/dp/1118772059

u/burningeraph · 3 pointsr/animationcareer

Have him check out these e-books

http://www.animationmentor.com/resources/ebooks/

The other musts would be "The Illusion of Life" and "Animation Survival Kit" and I'd say "The Nine Old Men."

u/raceover · 3 pointsr/animation

I'm pretty new myself, but after reading this I felt I learned more about these concepts in a week than I had after years on my own: http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles/dp/086547897X
I guess it's pretty much a classic, but having no animator friends or contacts I had no one to point out the must-haves until I stumbled across this subreddit. One of those wish-I-knew-years-ago things. Arcs, motion ease, all that stuff is covered in that book.

u/nonagonx · 3 pointsr/gamedev

>Do it myself

Great idea. Learn to be an animator. There's software (Flash/Photoshop/other) to both draw your animations and then generate sprite sheets, so the process shouldn't take weeks. Here's a list of resources I recommend for animation:

  • The Animator's Survival Guide
  • The Illusion of Life
  • Draw with Jazza

    >but artists (understandably) don't usually donate their time for internet strangers with the promise of a payout down the road

    This wasn't true in my case. I posted an ad on /r/gamedevclassifieds as a coder and got three talented artists emailing me with work they've done.
u/action_packed · 3 pointsr/animation

This is really the only answer:
This link supports Charity Water too

u/glazedkoala · 2 pointsr/gamedev

If you want to learn animation, I recommend picking up the Animator's Workbook or The Animator's Survival Kit. I personally bought the Workbook and it helped me a great deal, but I also had the opportunity to thumb through the Survival Kit once. I'm not sure which is actually better.

Worry about this after learning the basics of 2D drawing.

u/Shaaban_And · 2 pointsr/MotionDesign

I’m educating myself through a few different resources ranging from books to online tutorials:

The Illusion of Life (BOOK)


The Animators Survival Kit

Jason Ryan’s fundamentals series of webinars.

Workbench on YouTube

And lots of observation and study. Just look at how things move and behave in the physical world. The dynamics of movement in real life are pretty fascinating.

u/CameronClarkFilm · 2 pointsr/animation

If you're already painting in photoshop, thats a great place to start animating!

Here's a great tutorial on workflow tips for animating in Photoshop, by a really talented animator named Alex Grigg:
https://vimeo.com/80851591

I'd say play around for a bit just making things move around before getting into more technical animation training. Approach it like you would draw flip books in the corner of a textbook. Just make things move around and experiment. Once you've played around a bit, and gotten a feel for using photoshop to work across a timeline, I suggest checking out a book that is one of the standard textbooks for classical animation, "The Animator's Survival Toolkit," by Richard Williams (he was the animation director on "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"). You can find it on amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427217884&sr=8-1&keywords=animators+survival+kit

Hope this helps!

u/TheCigarMan · 2 pointsr/animation

Read, read, read!

Tom Bancroft's "Creating Characters"

Richard Williams' "Animator Survival Kit"

That should be a good place to start! And it never hurts to trace. That's how I learn.

u/MountainSound · 2 pointsr/animation

Hey there!

Glad to hear there is another potential animator/artist in the world :)
A lot of your question depends on your budget as tablets can get very expensive very quickly based on size and quality. For instance buying something that lets you draw directly on the screen is going to run you several hundred dollars for the lowest tier models (Wacom Cintiq's are currently considered the gold standard but their monitors and tablets start at over $1000 new so that is out of the question for most people and definitely not worth it for a beginner). So if she's just wanting to explore, a drawing app on a samsung galaxy tablet is a cheaper option that works great for beginners and allows them to work directly on screen. Plus is she loses interest you'll still have a tablet to use for other things.

However most people start with something like a Wacom Bamboo tablet. They are high quality, very responsive, and made by Wacom (the current industry leader) for a much more reasonable price. However you're drawing on a tablet placed on a desk while watching your work on a separate monitor and this can take some serious getting used to. Once you've got it figured out though they're great (they come in various sizes and are used by professionals throughout various industries)!

As for software consider these:
Art/Drawing - Sketchbook Pro

Animation - Anime Studio 10
keep in mind animation programs can be tough to learn so she'll definitely need to watch tutorials online. However this is an awesomely priced option with a lot of great features to make jumping-in easy



If she really catches the animation bug there are two books that are wonderful (although they are thick and may be better for when she is a little older? Up to you but they could make great future gifts):
Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams

and

The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnson and Frank Thomas - Two of Disney's original master animators known as the Nine Old Men

Anyway that's a quick rundown of where equipment and resources stand. If I were you I'd probably go for the bamboo tablet and Sketchbook Pro to get started (for drawing) + Anime Studio 10 if animation is definitely something she wants to explore as all these items are an outstanding value for what they offer.

If things get super serious as she gets older prices begin to jump up very quickly (especially on the software side) but I believe the items listed above should suit her perfectly for at least through all her high school years. As she improves and explores you'll naturally learn what all the tools and options are on your own, as well as what her preferences are.

3D animation as a whole is a different beast that is very computer/technical heavy with a steeper learning curve. So if she wants to start trying that it becomes a whole different realm as you'll need a solid PC and a lot of time and patience when it comes to learning one of the various computer graphics programs out there.

Hope this helps at least a little! Good luck, and feel free to PM any time :)

u/Chameo · 2 pointsr/animation

well, First off how new is new? are you familiar with the fundamentals of animation? any new animator should get this book, it is literally the bible when it comes to animation fundamentals, both 2d and 3d.

read this book cover to cover and keep it on hand. next you probably want to start learning programs, I'd suggest going for flash for 2d and Maya for 3d. Autodesk gives free 3 year trials for al their 3d programs (maya included) to anyone with a .edu email address. if you like doing 3d, there are many videos, that give you the basics of how to use the program (supplied by the developers) and a ton of video tutorials that people make on YouTube.

another fantastic resource is the 11 second club. in their forum section they have a ton of beginning level exercises and a plethora of extremely helpful members who are always available to help.

if you have any questions or need any more info, feel free to PM me or reply to my comment :)

u/kohrtoons · 2 pointsr/AnimationCrit

Wow, that dog really wants to bite him! It's hard to guess how to critique not knowing your experience so ill keep it broad...

For composition and filmmaking read this:Film Directing, Shot by Shot

For Animation Read this:Animation Survival Kit

Once you read both of these books you will be able and critique this and make your next piece much better.

Good Luck!

u/calebros · 2 pointsr/animation

get this book: The Animators Survival Kit

also don't worry about using references, everyone does it, and you'll do it your whole career.

u/PopsicleMainframe · 2 pointsr/zootopia

Even master artists feel like they don't know what they're doing. The more you learn, the more you realize is left to learn. There is no point where you go from someone who can't draw to someone who can. It's just something you keep getting better at the more you practice and study. Copying from reference is a great place to start, keep at it. and don't be afraid to ask for critique if you really get stuck.

Just do what you can now, and as you improve it will get more fun and less frustrating.

If you want some resources, here's some youtube channels that have helped me:


https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5dyu9y0EV0cSvGtbBtHw_w

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUQTqWAaSzhAKRanOpes1nA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvM8sIthAK1KOQ4nq5mYCTw

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwJheV30gHVOjBps2DU7k9A

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCno-YPZ8BiLrN0Wbl8qICFA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIGRhqYssT6IGPYOnZBFYKw

https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV

And also some books:

https://www.amazon.com/Figure-Drawing-All-Its-Worth/dp/0857680986

https://www.amazon.com/Color-Light-Realist-Painter-Gurney/dp/0740797719

https://www.amazon.com/Framed-Ink-Drawing-Composition-Storytellers/dp/1933492953

https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZNC6E0ET0QNFQAPH01WB

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X

You could also check out http://drawabox.com/ and https://www.ctrlpaint.com/ which both offer a more ridged lesson by lesson approach to learning to draw.

u/TheMoleman_ · 2 pointsr/animation

What type of animation interests you? The principles are generally all the same between all types of animation - which is great - but the actual act of creating the animation varies wildly.

Types of animation:

  • 3D computer animation (Maya, 3ds Max, Blender)
  • 2D digital (Flash/ToonBoom/TV Paint)
  • 2D traditional (pencil/paper)
  • Stop-motion

    I'm into 3D animation, so I could provide the most resources regarding that, but there are a couple things you could do to get started regardless of your preferred flavor of animation.

  1. Buy this book: http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X
  2. Aaron Blaise, a classic Disney animator, offers a bunch of reasonably priced video tutorials. Plus he's having a sale now:
    https://creatureartteacher.com/product-category/tutorials-lessons/animation-tutorials/
  3. Buy this book too: http://www.amazon.com/Character-Animation-Crash-Course-Goldberg/dp/1879505975/

    If you studied (and practiced) that stuff religiously, that's pretty much all you'd need to get a really solid launch into animation for pretty cheap.
u/DarkOnyx7 · 2 pointsr/animation

You might have heard this from people already but Richard William's book The Animator's Survival Kit is an amazing resource for learning for both 2D and 3D. He covers the principles of animation and provides many examples that really help you understand what he is talking about.

u/nom-de-reddit · 2 pointsr/Illustration

Let me answer both of your questions...

  1. Just get the tablet and start using it... get an Intuos PRO (or older version of the PRO) if you can afford it, as the pen supports both pressure AND tilt... less expensive tablets usually only support pressure.

  2. While setting a goal of working at a major studio is fine, until you land that dream job, start your own studio and work for yourself. There are any number of successful web series, both animated and unanimated, to show that if you have the drive and discipline, you don't need to rely on a major studio for a successful career.

  3. Software... this gets tricky, depending on your goals and preferred workflow. I recommend looking at the following apps for multiple purposes... Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, Toon Boom Harmony, Toon Boom Studio, After Effects, Anime Studio, Clip Studio Paint, Maya, Mari, Xara, Krita, Gimp, Blender. I don't recommend learning all of those... at the very least, look them up and understand what they are, how they work and differ from each other... there are different styles of animation, and some tools lend themselves better to certain styles.

  4. To get started learning, I recommend the Draw with Jazza youtube channel, and getting a copy of the Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams. Jazza works primarily with Flash, which is morphing into more of an animation tool as time goes on. Flash doesn't include a lot of advanced animation-specific features, but it is widely available, there are a ton of tutorials out there, and it is capable of producing quality content, so it's not a bad place to start. The ASK by Williams is considered a must-have... if you can do what is in that book, you will be well on your way to producing quality animations.

    Here is a non-affiliate link on Amazon...

    http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459295196&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Animator%27s+Survival+Kit

u/shyfather · 2 pointsr/animationcareer

Hi, first some background. I am currently in the hell process of getting my first industry job. Keep getting interviews/test but so far I haven’t gotten a job yet...though it’s only been two months since I finally started to apply haha. I originally applied for RISD MICA MCAD SVA Art Center and CalArts and I got accepted into all of them besides CalArts, which I got waitlisted for. Every school I got into offered me scholarships but once I factored in living/food I still couldn’t afford it. So I swallowed my pride and went to community college for a few years then besides reapplying to art schools I decided to make a hour and a half commute every few days to take classes at Concept Design Academy, Which I’m still currently doing. My original plan was to go to Calstate Long Beach or Cal State Fullerton, both have really good animation programs but I could live with my family while I went.


I’m so happy I didn’t go to a traditional art school. I was about to reapply when one of my friends who now works at Dreamworks told me to just do Concept Design instead. I trusted her opinion since she went to SVA and graduated and ended up not having the exact skills she needed for employment and she was super in debt.

I’d say it’s 50/50 with people I know that attended college and currently work in the industry, other half did what I am doing/didn’t get any higher education, some of my closest friends are currently attending SVA. I’m going to be honest most think it’s useless and wishes they went to a state school with a good art program rather than SVA or did what I ended up doing.

If you really want to work in TV/Movie animation look into Concept Design Academy in Pasadena CA or CGMA online or something similar. If you are dead set getting a degree I’d recommend looking into state schools. Art school isn’t worth the debt. If you have to take on all the loans yourself it’s not worth it it will destroy your credit forever and you won’t be able to move where the industry is.

This is about art center(where I originally got accepted and planned on going too) but all my SVA/MICA/RISD friends have similar experiences

http://ghostbri.tumblr.com/post/178516711920/dude-i-really-wanna-go-to-art-center-what#notes

This specific artist also has great resources for finding alternative education.


DONT RUIN YOUR LIFE BC YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WONT SUCCEED IN THE INDUSTRY WITH OUT ART SCHOOL. THERE IS OTHER WAYS.


If you live in/around LA area or are willing to transfer:
http://conceptdesignacad.com/

https://animationguild.org/about-the-guild/education/

https://laafa.edu/


Online recourses:

https://www.cgmasteracademy.com

https://www.schoolism.com

https://www.theanimcourse.com/courses/

Alternative book based educations:

The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators https://www.amazon.com/dp/086547897X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_U7xwCbZNA4X74

Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers https://www.amazon.com/dp/1933492953/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_m8xwCbE8TH4VS

FORCE: Dynamic Life Drawing: 10th Anniversary Edition (Force Drawing Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1138919578/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_U8xwCbTRGJHWJ
(This one is currently out of print because they are changing the cover it should be back in a few weeks and be around 15 bucks)

Also here is a few good YouTube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ProkoTV

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS3ZMbzTOXdDuJlhAZuXgaw

https://youtu.be/uDqjIdI4bF4


If you(or anyone reading this) have any questions please feel free to DM me!! If I don’t have a direct answer I know one of my friends that work in the industry will and I could ask. Art School isn’t the only way to obtain a good quality art education and a ton of talented artist make it in the industry without it!

Also sorry this is so LA centric, I grew up in the great LA area and currently work exclusively in it so it’s all I know in-depth.


Quick Edit; I’m a purely 2D based artist. I work mostly in concept and I’m currently working on transitioning into Boarding/Revisions. I don’t work on the animation end of these but that’s Bc most outsource to other countries now.

u/blinnlambert · 2 pointsr/animation

A Light Box is a relatively inexpensive one. The link for that one is above your $30 limit but lots of craft stores have holiday coupons. I bought a large light box from Hobby Lobby for only $40 that was usually $90.

Books are also good gifts that might fit your price range. here are my 2 favs (the Used versions are under $30):

The Illusion of Life

The Animator's Survival Kit

u/btouch · 2 pointsr/movies

Most of the resources I'm readily familiar with that are specific to cel animation are books. Toon Boom has a great YouTube Chanel full of tutorials specific to their programs, which have become the standards in the industry. There’s plenty of good third-party YouTube tutorials for Harmony as well.

However, here are two links specific to the Disney 1990s processes: the 1986 executive summary for Disney's CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), developed for them by Pixar, and a 1994 article giving an overview of the digital production process.

http://alvyray.com/Pixar/documents/CAPS_ExecSummary_AlvyToPixar_4May86.pdf

https://groups.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/rec.arts.anime/WOkkuV0Yr7w

They’re outdated now, both these two books are great texts for how to do cel animation circa 1999-2002. The principals haven’t changed much if one is looking to do the traditional style:
The Animation Book: A Complete Guide to Animated Filmmaking--From Flip-Books to Sound Cartoons to 3- D Animation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0517886022/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_chBoDbV9YV5XM

Producing Independent 2D Character Animation: Making & Selling A Short Film (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0240805135/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rjBoDb11GA302


These books are more foundational; all animators regardless of technique are recommended to study them:

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786860707/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2kBoDbAQ057T9

The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators https://www.amazon.com/dp/086547897X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ClBoDbS90NX97

u/jtbergs · 2 pointsr/animation

I'm not an animator, I took a couple courses on 2d and 3d animation in college and honestly, your work is better than what a lot of the students in my class had at the end of our first animation semester (and we had a pretty decent professor). You've got a lot of promise. If I were you, I'd buy a copy of The Animator's Survival Kit and keep at it.

Edit: should have read through the comments to see if someone else had already linked to the book but whatever, it's the best animation instruction book out there and I wish someone would have recommended it to me before i was in college haha.

u/NautyNautilus · 2 pointsr/learnart

Go pick up this.

Draw from life, focus on learning anatomy, you will need line weight control, mastery of form, and a million hours drawing and animating.

This is good for Disney's rules, which can apply across the board to any animation, but in the end you will have to learn 3d, too. Understanding 2d will help you immensely more than not understanding it.

Just draw 24/7, always focus on what's around you and what you see, stay out of what's inside your head. Animation is all about imitating life, stick to that and stay away from imaginative work until you are solid on accurate proportions and physics.

u/filosophikal · 2 pointsr/animation

When I ran a small animation shop, I NEVER even asked during interviews if they graduated from high school. I didn't care. It was all about what they could do. I will not get into detailed specifics as they vary significantly depending on what type of work you want to do.

On the animation side you will do well to study The Animator's Survival Kit.

If you are going to do more cartoon like animating, start practicing the implementation of the 12 principles of animation:

For more realistic character animation, you can start studying video reference resources designed to help animators duplicate natural motions of animals and people.

A super plus, not strictly necessary but gives you a serious edge, is to be very good with scripting. You can start learning Python (used in Maya, C4D, Blender, and others) or another language if your 3D software of choice uses something different. Scripting can be a great time saver and sometimes saves the day.

For animation or modelling as a profession, you need to get beyond the phase of knowing how to reproduce specific outcomes because of tutorials you learned. You need to be able to think on your feet and problem solve.

u/un-sub · 2 pointsr/animation

The only thing that is animated are the limbs rotating. Just kinda looks like a mechanical cutout. Knees, elbows, ankles, feet, wrists, hands, torso, head, etc all move in a walk cycle. I would go out and purchase "The Animators Survival Kit" by Richard Williams and try to draw a walk cycle frame by frame, I think you will learn a lot through this book and lots and lots of practice. Keep at it, though.

u/Demonhype · 1 pointr/Art

Are you talking 2D or 3D? I haven't worked seriously with more 3d programs than Maya, and I haven't had access since 2013 when my computer died, but if you're talking more 2D, I might be able to help more. Just got a new computer that can run all my stuff except 3d, so I'm looking at returning to my real passion, traditional animation, and would I've to talk to someone about animation anyway! Got Digicel Flipbook all loaded up!

Actually, I could probably help out with animation advice, even if I can't help much with the specific program you're using.

Also, this book may help: The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams. Its what they give out at AiP as standard issue, or at least it was when I was there! The concepts are relevant no matter what kind of animation you are working with.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/086547897X/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494280703&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=the+animator%27s+survival+guide&dpPl=1&dpID=51mu0NS88VL&ref=plSrch

Anyway, if you let me know where you're having trouble, maybe I can help.

u/skyyrawrrr · 1 pointr/MotionDesign

I'm not sure if I'm understanding what you're looking for correctly, but I think maybe this book could be helpful.

I'm not surprised that you're not finding anything very comprehensive through google. These kind of fundamental topics are not really done well in free tutorial videos, imo.


u/ajjeffers · 1 pointr/PixelArt

The art in you game is really good but the walk cycle is a little stiff. I think you need 4 frames per step (left and right) for a total of 8 frames. I assume by the title of your post that you don't have a lot of practice with walk cycles. [This] (http://i.imgur.com/BXrVtHZ.jpg) might help.

That picture is taken from [The Animator's Survival Kit] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Kit-Revised-Edition/dp/086547897X). Really good book with a lot of walk cycle stuff.

Edit: So i made a walk cycle real quick with the 8 poses(two each, contact, down, passing, up) with a representation of your character. [This] (http://imgur.com/AxmxXhE) is what it might look like.

u/VisualNoiz · 1 pointr/Filmmakers

Toon Boom Studio + Animators Survival Kit


https://www.toonboom.com/products/toon-boom-studio

http://www.amazon.com/The-Animators-Survival-Kit--Revised-Edition/dp/086547897X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375898625&sr=8-1&keywords=animators+survival+kit

One thing you can do to figure out motion, you can shoot video of yourself doing the motions you want your character to do and study that frame by frame to see how the movement works

u/mltinney · 1 pointr/AfterEffects

Totally. I love your piece and am not knocking it at all. If you're into animation, I can't recommend this course enough: https://henriquebarone.com/animation-course

So many folks just try to learn every After Effects plug-in and trick in the book, but so much time can be saved if you learn the theory/basics of why and how motion in animation works. Anyways, the Wave principal is a good one to learn that can be applied to so many different things. Also this book is amazing, too. (RIP Richard Williams)

u/SambonerHamboner · 1 pointr/animation

Bouncing ball is a fantastic way to start.

these two books are the most common in schools and might be good overview:

https://www.amazon.ca/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=how+to+animate&qid=1572314270&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.ca/Cartoon-Animation-Preston-Blair/dp/1560100842/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=how+to+animate&qid=1572314270&sr=8-7

Beyond that I would practice becoming a good draftsmen, knowing how to draw basics will make it drastically easier to learn animation

u/Dennis_88 · 1 pointr/animation

I don't think they would expect a lot of practical experience regarding animation from you, because they will teach you that, right? I got a illustration test at the animation college I attended, to create a comic.

However, if you want to start practising, a good one to start with is a bouncing ball. This will probably be one of the first examples you will get at that college. And if you want to have theoretical information, as well as examples, I can recommend the animators survival kit to you. It is the de facto book on animation, written by master animator Richard Williams, animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The Illusion of Life is also a great animation book to start with. It is written bij Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, two of Disney's best animators.

In terms of working in the animation industry, it can be difficult to get a steady job animating, but if it is your passion, it is very rewarding and great to do! Good luck!

u/teoacosta · 1 pointr/animation

Hey, $100 is pretty tight but here is the best I could think up.

Tablet - $49

Adobe Flash 30 day free trial

The Animator's Survival kit - used $31.50

Total price: $80.50

If you find that you love animation, then that book will teach you everything you'll need. After the 30 day trial, you can look into other programs like ToomBoom, or paying the monthly fee for the Creative Cloud.

Goodluck!

u/RobotTriceratops · 1 pointr/animation

Buy, download and study this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=as_sl_pc_ss_til?tag=2danimsoft-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=YXBONUOW6ZTWPRCK&creativeASIN=086547897X

With 3D it's always exciting at first to play with render values and lighting, but no matter how pretty your renders look, if the animation is stiff, or the story doesn't make sense, then the animation is a failure. I would download a better rigged character as well. There are many out there that are pre rigged and will help to achieve better mobility and more realistic posing for animating.

Great first start, but work on your walk cycles, squash and stretch, gravity and timing. All of these are essential to achieving a successful animation. Also, the camera movements are just as important. Study and replicate (steal) some of your favourite films camera movements, learn from the masters. Keep it up!

u/ToeBiscuit · 1 pointr/animation

The newest version of Procreate has animation capabilities. Learning how to use it should give you a firm understanding of frames, onion-skinning, holding frames, etc. It's amazingly cheap, and it's an incredible drawing/painting app.

Richard Williams' "Animator Survival Kit" is the go-to bible. It may even be considered Old School, but I don't know of any serious animator who doesn't own at least one copy.

u/archagon · 1 pointr/movies

If you haven't already, check out Richard Willams' two other major contributions to the art of animation: his landmark Animator's Survival Kit (now available as an interactive iPad app!), and the fan-made restoration of his unfortunate masterpiece, The Thief and the Cobbler.

Also, there are three Roger Rabbit shorts (in the vein of Looney Tunes) that were made along with the film. They're some of the best-animated cartoons I've ever seen. I'm sure you can find them on YouTube somewhere!

u/Triknight26 · 1 pointr/funny

There is two books you should look into getting, The illusoion of life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Jhonson and The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams, these books will essentially be your bible if you are serious about it but nothing beats good old hard work. Just draw everyday and you should be fine.

u/dan_hin · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn

Motion graphics is animated graphic design (well, that's how most people understand it- there seems to be more and more VFX creeping in now) so in order to learn how to "do it" I would suggest first learning the basics.

Step away from software for a bit and pick up some books from your local library. I would recommend looking at graphic design first since that's the foundation of what we do; you can animate later. Make sure you understand the why as well as the what - why is typeface X more readable than typeface Y etc.

Angie Taylor has an excellent book for beginners which covers pretty much all the bases relevant to mograph including basic art skillz, video technology and design http://www.amazon.co.uk/Design-Essentials-Motion-Media-Artist/dp/024081181X

Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival Kit should be required reading for anyone thinking about learning to animate http://www.amazon.co.uk/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421884058&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=the+anmators+survival+kit

and finally when you want to get all complex and dive into the science and application of compositing techniques head over to Ron Brinkmann's book The Art and Science of Digital Compositing http://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Science-Digital-Compositing-Techniques/dp/0123706386/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421884147&sr=1-1&keywords=the+art+and+science+of+digital+compositing

Once you understand the basics you'll find that making the software do what you want is the last and easiest part of the puzzle. I'll recommend FXPHD for getting to grips with the most common mograph apps.

u/Tehstan · 1 pointr/animation

If you're serious about getting into it then I can't recommend this book enough: The Animators Survival Kit but a good start would be Harry Partridges How to videos, they're a fantastic starter. I'd also recommend downloading the 30 free trial of Adobe Flash Professional as that's what Harry uses in his videos and is what I use to animate. Feel free to fire away with any other questions though!

u/Liquid77 · 1 pointr/animation

I HIGHLY recommend getting The Animator's Survival Kit, by Richard Williams.

And practicing some of the stuff in there. Know that animation isn't just about drawing a picture, and then drawing a picture with it moving. If you want it to be good, you have to give things weight, move in arcs, and a whole bunch of other things to consider. Usually people draw the key frames, then do the breakdowns in the middle. Then they go through and draw the in betweens. This all has to be in good timing. Solid drawing is one thing, but when it comes to animation timing is key!

http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418052255&sr=8-1&keywords=the+animator%27s+survival+kit

u/beffjaxter · 1 pointr/wroteabook

As an animator I can distill this down into three easy steps.

  1. Buy the book, The Animator's Survival Kit.
  2. Start animating.
  3. Don't stop animating.
u/5hadowduck · 1 pointr/animation

All the tips you'll need for a long time if you're serious about doing animation.

u/RonaldHarding · 1 pointr/personalfinance

In my understanding much of bitcoins 'growth' is basically due to the novelty of it. In my opinion that novelty has worn off. OP at your age with the assets you have available you'd be better served to invest in yourself than in any market out there. Buy a book about a trade that interests you.

For example, I liked this one Animators-Survival-Kit

u/Emerald_Triangle · 1 pointr/videos

>I was coming here to say the same damn thing.

​So was I, but I'll actually do it.

Animation degree here. (Really dont need a degree. My professors who worked in the industry said many dont have degrees still to this day, its all about passion and skill... and being willing to work 16 hour days)


Seriously fantastic animation. All 12 principles of animation are represented.

Your bro just needs to keep uploading and making animation. Its essentially a portfolio.

Animation companies dont care if you have a degee. They want a stacked portfolio. With solid animation.

When your bro starts applying for animation jobs. Make sure he has a solid demo reel. A demo reel is only the best animation hes made compiled in one vid. Its the resume for these places. Its all about skill.

Fyi the #1 and #2 books (no particular order) for learning animation and developing it are priceless. My professors stressed these books every year. They were used in 90% of my animation classes.

This book...

The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators https://www.amazon.com/dp/086547897X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_5JSgDb5GHT9WJ


And this book....

The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation https://www.amazon.com/dp/0786860707/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_OKSgDbZMMJBVE


This would make an fantastic gift as well for any animator


Tell your bro not to be down about it. The companies dont care about schooling. Skill and passion are all that matters.


Edit: forgot our schools favorite websites!

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/

Cartoon brew keeps animators updated on general cartoons and animation


http://www.11secondclub.com/


We got extra credit for doing the 11 second club. You got an A for that semester in one class if you could break the top animations that month. Few students did that.

u/Tigeroovy · 1 pointr/animation

It may depend on where you live and how large the animation industry is there.

You're off to a pretty decent start. You've got a ways to go, but just keep practicing your drawing and you'll definitely get better.

Like others have said definitely get a copy of the Animators Survival Guide if you're planning on learning on your own.

I just recently got my first real animating job and I couldn't be happier.

u/chronologicalist · 1 pointr/IWantToLearn

I'd recommend The Illusion of Life and The Animator's Survival Kit as far as far as learning the principles of animation. The principles of animation apply to all the different kinds of animation (stop motion, hand drawn 2D, 3D), so I'd recommend starting there and becoming familiar with those.

Most places that do hand drawn animation these days do their work digitally with a tablet pen in programs like Toon Boom and Adobe Flash. 3D animation is usually done in programs like Autodesk Maya, 3Ds Max, or Cinema 4D. However, I'd suggest learning 2D animation first, since all the principles apply to 3D, but the software for animating in 2D is generally cheaper and easier to acquire.

u/zando95 · 1 pointr/animation

This book is fantastic, and gives the fundamentals you can use in any animation medium.

http://www.amazon.com/Animators-Survival-Kit-Principles-Classical/dp/086547897X

u/jefe317 · 1 pointr/blender

Thank you! I appreciate those pointers and resources more than you could know. Is this the book you were referring to?

u/Wazowski · 0 pointsr/gamedev

A run cycle where the head and hips don't bob up and down looks very static and unnatural to me. The head should be lowest on the footfalls, and as much as a full head higher a couple frames after the passing position.

This tome is a valuable resource:
The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators

There are full chapters about crafting walk cycles.