Is The Animator’s Survival Kit Still Relevant in 2025?

Richard Williams’ Animator's Survival Kit was first published over 20 years ago, before today’s digital workflows, AI-assisted tools, and real-time rendering.  

And yet, it remains one of the most essential resources for anyone learning animation. Why? Because the fundamental principles of animation don’t change. Great animation is still all about timing, spacing - and giving a memorable performance. 

The Five Best Books To Learn Animation

The Animator's Survival Kit

What are the key books that animation students  should buy to learn the craft of animation?

Books may be a bit old school these days, but a good book is still a great place to start learning about and exploring the world of character animation.

The best books will teach you, immerse you - and inspire you to do your very best work. So, what are the top five books?

Animator's Survival Kit "Minis" Launch 5 August

Here at Animation Apprentice we recommend one key textbook for learning animation - The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams.

It is a big book, heavy to carry around, and has now been published as a series of "mini" editions, breaking the book up into four sections, and available from August 5th. 

The ASK was first published in 2002 as a book, and a few years later was released as a DVD set, and later as an iPad app.

Victoria Bailey Releases "Turtley in Love"

Many congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Victoria Bailey, who has just published her new book: "Turtley In Love", a short animated story for children.

"Turtley In Love" was written and animated by Victoria through her new publishing venture Wonky Pictures.

Join Tommy the Turtle as he battles the elements and journeys through the unknown in his quest to find Celia, his one true turtle love.

QC is Back - For a Few Guineas More

At the end of 2019 I published my 10th "Queen's Counsel" book - "For a Few Guineas More", a collection of the best cartoons published over the last six years in law pages of The Times.

I started drawing Queen's Counsel back in 1993, when newspapers were still pretty much the only way that people got their news. And every self-respecting lawyer read the law pages of The Times on Tuesdays.

At a pupillage interview candidates would always be asked "what newspaper do you read?". It was a question with just one correct answer; only The Times covered the law in serious detail.

This is the book I'm most proud of - it's the first book in full colour throughout; the cartoon strip finally went into colour in The Times in 2010.

You can buy "For a Few Guineas More" from amazon here.

Books: The Animator's Survival Kit

Our MA in Animation, run in partnership with with Buckinghamshire New University, starts on 30 September, so now is the time to get ready.

We recommend one key textbook - all our students should get a copy of  The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams.

The ASK was first published in 2002 as a book, and a few years later was released as a DVD set, and later as an iPad app.

"Eat Drink Animate" by Tom Sito

Who knew animators could cook? Tom Sito, USC animation professor, co-director of Osmosis Jones and Emeritus President of the Animation Guild, has written a cookbook celebrating the recipes of animation artists.

"Eat Drink Animate" is where you can learn the secrets of Walt Disney's chili and and Tissa David's Hungarian Goulash.

I should declare an interest here - the book includes one of favourite recipes, Poisson a la BAFTA, which was reverse-engineered a few years ago from a dish I liked so much while dining at BAFTA Piccadilly that I decided to try and make it myself.

Tom is a prodigious author, with many books on animation and animation history to his name.

Ross Anderson Pulls a Rabbit out of a Hat

Canadian author and animation historian Ross Anderson is putting the finishing touches on his forthcoming book - Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat - The Story Behind the Making of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. 

Ross's book aims to be the definitive story of the ground-breaking film which I, along with with many others, was lucky enough to have worked on back in the late 1980s.

Almost everyone who worked on the film now knows Ross - his many recent visits to London included trips to the pubs where we used to drink after hours, and Ross interviewed many, many people who worked on the film to tell the story as accurately as possible.

Animal Locomotion for Animators

Animal Locomotion for Animators is a free eBook by paleontologist and animal locomotion expert Stuart Sumida, which you can download from his website here.

The book is an excellent resource on animal locomotion, and very useful right now for our students - who are currently tackling animal and creature locomotion.

Stuart Sumida is a paleontologist who also works in showbiz; he has acted as advisor to countless Hollywood films including Spirit - Stallion of the Cimarron, where he gave extensive talks to the animators (including me) on horse locomotion. To find the free download, follow this link. And to read more about Stuart Sumida's work, see this blog post.

http://www.stuartsumida.com/ANIMATION/LocomotionImages.pdf

Animation Insider's eBook - Free from Squeeze

Animation Insider's Ebook - free from Squeeze!

Get your free copy of the Animation Insider's eBook, downloadable from Squeeze animation studio in Quebec.

This free digital download describes the workflow of talented animators such as Mike Nguyen, Victor Navone and Jason Ryan.

It 's a remarkable insight into how experienced animators approach a shot, and very useful for students looking to develop their own animation workflow.

Book Recommendation: Prepare to Board! by Nancy Beiman

Prepare to Board! by Nancy Beiman is the book we are recommending to students of storyboarding here at Animation Apprentice. This is an excellent book from a master animator, who teaches at Sheridan College in Canada. It is arguably the best book you can buy on animation storyboarding.

Nancy Beiman was for many years a supervising animator at Disney (most notably on Hercules) and, like many old-school 2D animators, she does storyboards and character design as well as animation.

There is also a companion site online which has extra resources, and a free downloadable PDF Learning Guide.

Andreas Deja on Disney's Nine Old Men

Check out this wonderful podcast from The Bancroft Bros (Tom and Tony) with legendary Disney animator Andreas Deja (Gaston, Hercules, Scar) on his new book about Disney's Nine Old Men.

But who were the Nine Old Men? And why should we still care? The answer is, these were the animators who created, developed and nurtured the original Disney style.

It's not an exaggeration to say that they created the medium of animation and made it what it is today.  

Animation Reading List for Our November 2nd Class!

What books do we recommend that animators read before starting our winter class on Monday 2 November?

Books may be a bit old school these days, but a good book is still a great place to start learning about and exploring the world of character animation.

We're also very selective; we won't make you buy a ton of books you won't have time to open, let alone read.  So, what is on our animation reading list?

Book Recommendation - Animated Performance by Nancy Beiman

Animated Performance by Nancy Beiman is just published in its second edition. This is an excellent book from a master animator, one who now teaches at Sheridan College, often regarded as one of the top places in the world to study animation.

Nancy was a supervising animator at DreamWorks and she really knows her stuff. And, as a full-time professor, she knows how to communicate her knowledge.

Any serious animator should have this book on their shelf.

You can buy it here.

Book Recommendation - Animation Methods by David Rodriguez

Animation Methods by David Rodriguez is a very, very good book on learning animation in Maya.  It's a book that focuses primarily on 3D Character Animation, a step-by-step guide for learning Maya, and the Maya animation tools. It also has useful sections on how to get into the industry, how to make a great demo reel, and how to get a job in animation. We think this is a very useful companion book to the course at Animation Apprentice.

It is also an unusual book in that it makes extensive use of QR codes - meaning you can use your smartphone to scan the codes and then view a 3D animated clip of the lesson. So, not only can you read the lesson, but you can also see and understand it through a video demonstration. 

Getty Makes Art Books Available for Free Download

Getty has created a new online virtual library, offering over 250 art books, now available for free download.  Don't forget that animators are artists; a good understanding of the visual arts and art history helps to give depth and context to your work. Here at Animation Apprentice we encourage all our students to take advantage of the growing quantity of free content available online for student use.

The Illusion of Life - The Original Animation Bible

The original animation bible

The Illusion of Life was first published in the 1970s. It caused a sensation among animators, because it represented for the first time in print the accumulated wisdom of the Disney studio - set out in detail for anyone who cared to learn. The 1970s were a lean time for animation; Walt Disney was dead and the revival that would come with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Little Mermaid (and, later, with 3D animation) was still far in the future.

How Do You Get Your First Book Published?

A good animator is also a storyteller, and it's not unusual for animators to be writers, graphic novelists, or illustrators of children's books. But how do you get your work published? The good news is, it has never been easier to get into print. The bad news is, the economics of publishing have never been worse for both publishers and writers. Plus, writing a whole book is going to be a major effort, so you don't want to waste your time on something that no-one wants to read. So what is secret to success? Like so many things in media, what you need is a great pitch. Below is our simple guide to getting it right and ensuring that a good publisher will (hopefully) pick up your first book.

The Other Book Every Animator Should Own

The original animation bible

The Illusion of Life was first published in the 1970s. It caused a sensation among animators, because it represented for the first time in print the accumulated wisdom of the Disney studio - set out in detail for anyone who cared to learn. The 1970s were a lean time for animation; Walt Disney was dead and the revival that would come with Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and The Little Mermaid was still far in the future.

the book every animator should own

The one book every animator should own is The Animator's Suvival Kit. There has been nothing quite like it for our industry since Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnstone wrote  The Illusion of Life back in the 1970s - the first book which fully set out the secrets of Disney animation for anyone who took the trouble to read it properly.