animator’s survival kit

i don’t have many books on my shelf that can stay there for a long time because they’re usually outdated very quickly as 3d software update cycle speeds are increasing more and more. but there are exceptions, one book that accompanied me during my digital character animation studies here at the vancouver film school: animator’s survival kit. simply said it’s the book to buy if you start your animator’s career and you’ll open the book all the time while working. it doesn’t go into any software or 3d animation at all, but the major part of the principles explained in 2d can be easily transferred to 3d. that said, the reading is fun, too and all the examples are inspiring. the author of the book is triple oscar winner richard williams who worked on ‘who framed roger rabbit’ as director of animation. i recently discovered that you can now buy a dvd version of the book with all the samples animated, wow!