The Animator's Survival Kit - on DVD!

[Tyler_Legrand]

This 'ere's my first post; I've watched Animated News for a while, and I was surprised this wasn't mentioned (or at least I didn't find this anywhere) and I felt it was very important, so I made this thread:

http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com

I got the book a long time ago, and you probably heard of it. Now it's being released on DVD; sixteen of 'em!

If you don't want to read all the bothersome words, at least watch the video of the logo because it's amazing.

http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/logo.html

My apologies if this had been posted about already.

- Oh wait, I remember now. This is my SECOND post.

[droosan]

I ordered my copy a few months ago, and I'm patiently waiting for it to ship in November.

No, no, wait .. I mean, I'm IMpatiently waiting for it to ship in November.

[Meg]

I believe there was something posted about this a while back on the front page, but thanks for the link to the site anyhow. I do own the book, but I'm a poor student so the DVD is out of my price range for now.

[GeorgeC]

The DVD's way out of the price range of most people... It's something like $4000-$4500. At least $3200 when converted from British pounds.

I've got two editions of the Williams book already and Goldberg's new book, and frankly, I just don't think the DVD edition of the Williams' book is going to show me anything his book doesn't already.

Sorry, but passing on this one.

[Tyler_Legrand]

The DVD's way out of the price range of most people... It's something like $4000-$4500. At least $3200 when converted from British pounds.

Is this in US dollars? Where are you getting this price from?

http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/buy.html

The highest possible price I see on that page so far is around $1,100 to $1,200. That's still pretty high, granted.

I just don't think the DVD edition of the Williams' book is going to show me anything his book doesn't already.

Again, how do you figure this? Actually, I can agree with you on this one; the website doesn't seem to show nearly enough detail on what the DVDs actually contain.

Because of that I did some searching, and ended up on CGTalk, where apparently a representative of the DVDs ("PieterVH") were explaining their intentions:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread. ... ge=3&pp=15

Some samples:

First of all, this is NOT simply Richard Williams' masterclass transferred to DVD and then released as is. Apart from this representing about 50 years of experience condensed into 16 lessons, it also is several years of full time work with a team of people.

What's on there is humongous: it's the entire book, plus a 4 day masterclass, plus a whole lot more! So most of the book is animated (and beautifully so I must say!) and quite some extras because the masterclass is actually a lot subtler than the book (you get to see how not to do things as well).

And later:

I really would like to comment on this one, because it seems to me another misconception about this set. See, the aim of the DVD set is very, very different than the one of the book in one respect: it goes way beyond it.

It's aimed at people who will want to make money with animation. Not at people wanting to have something nice to show their friends while sipping tea or wanting something interesting to read before going to bed. And that's exactly why we put all the work in it that we have.

The book is a nice object in itself and indeed a pleasure to read, even for people with the flimsiest of interest in the field. The DVD, however, is a bona fide course. And a pretty hard core one. It will potentially help you make money. And much more than what the DVDs cost.

It's a tough decision; worth it or not?

[GeorgeC]

Huh.

Must've cut the price.

I'm sure it was over 2G's first time I looked at the price.

English pounds equalabout 1 for every 2 American dollars, one Euro for about 1.5 American dollars.


$1141 is still a bit much. That's over 3 figure drawing classes or near-equivalent to 2 college classes with labs.

[Tyler_Legrand]

Well, that's the trick, isn't it? We the consumers now have to decide whether this knowledge is actually worth as much to us as taking actual classes.

[droosan]

IIRC, the cost of the DVD set is actually (a tiny bit) cheaper than taking Richard Williams' actual, 'in-person' Master Class Workshop ..

plus: you can work at your own pace .. concentrate on & review any subject at any time, etc.

For someone like myself -- who works in & around animation and visual-effects on a daily basis -- this knowledge is very much worth the money (and is 'tax-deductible', to boot ).

Certainly, much of this knowledge is already in the existing book. But (IMO) many principles of animation can be better taught and represented in full-motion video, rather than in 'static' print. :idea:

[Ben]

Simply put, for those who would have a use for it, it works out for peanuts.

As droo says, the entire course is slightly less than what you'd pay for the four day "in person" class, at which you'd be struggling to take down notes and keep RWs' words in your head.

Here you can go back repeatedly and re-listen to those words. The contents of the set are about what I would have expected: the entire course preserved in the filmed medium, with animated examples in there that one wouldn't be able to explore at their own pace on the "real" course anyway.

This isn't, as has been mentioned, a regular DVD set anyway, that anyone would put on just to watch as a documentary: it's an elaborate schooling guide for those wanting to enter/develop in the business and be making their living out of it. As such, broken down over the amount of time one might be using and re-using the course, it works out at next to nothing, even at $4000, but <I>especially</I> at around $1000.

This is invaluable stuff - for the right people - and it's great that Richard has taken the time to get all this down in a preservable medium so that it can be drawn upon as a valuable resource for generations to come.

The promo: http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com/promo.html ...is a great way to sneak peek at what's going to be included, and you can see the effect the course certainly had on the animators of Horton Hears A Who.

[Tyler_Legrand]

So, do you think the swimmer was more drawn from scratch or more rotoscoped?

I also had the thought that the stick man might've been vector animated, but when I saw the line test it seems he was hand drawn too.

I never thought much of the cat on the book cover, but he's my favourite.

[Ben]

Knowing RW, he drew the swimmer from scratch. I love how a <I>lot</I> of time is given over to the Jessica Rabbit blonde.

[Tyler_Legrand]

I wonder if he did the CG ones, too. They're fairly simple in today's world anyway.

Yeah, Ms. Purple-dress's entry lasted a little over like twenty seconds. If you want to get technical, though, Mr. Wireframe had the longest 'entry' because his 'standard' walk cycle doesn't start until he changes to all-black colour.

[droosan]

I received my set in the mail on Monday.

I've only gone through the first four discs, so far. The first disc was a bit worrisomely 'light' on content (it's mostly just an introduction to Richard Williams and his career), but the other three were 'well-packed' enough for me to feel that I've already gotten my money's worth .. and I'm merely a quarter of the way through the course material..!

---------

According to RW, that logo sequence took him and a small crew over 9 months to create.

[GeorgeC]

Sounds like a good deal, Droo!

Still rich for my blood, though.

What you pay for that set is almost equivalent to a small vacation with cheap airfare!

I think I'll stay satisfied with the book version of the seminar.

I don't know that I have patience to sit through a taped conference about animation even with the diagrams and drawings. The books are hard enough to read through as it is!

I did read through part of a more recent cartooning book, today, though. It's "How to Draw Stupid" by Kyle Baker. It's one of the better written and simply illustrated how-to books I've seen in a while. It's been out a few months but I haven't heard a lot of people talking about it.

Unlike a lot of books, Baker cuts through the B.S. and tells you the minimum you need to know about a lot of things. Face it, a lot of drawings books are actually pretty discouraging to many people. This is one of the few where the artist is self-deprecating and actually builds you up!

[droosan]

Kyle Baker's book is great.

Another really good (fairly) recent pair of books on drawing for comics is Ben Caldwell's Action! Cartooning and Fantasy! Cartooning. Ben covers a lot of the basics, but also peppers his drawn examples with written notes on what makes the drawings 'tick' with regard to proportion, appeal, etc. The books are truly accessible for children (or adults!) who are just learning to draw, as well as being useful to industry 'pro's .. which is a rare combination.

And, for animation drawing, Eric Goldberg's Character Animation Crash Course! is a fantastic deal, when compared with The Animator's Survival Kit (in either its book or DVD forms). Don Bluth's The Art of Storyboard and The Art of Animation Drawing are likewise both accessible and affordable.

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BTW, thanks to current exchange rates, my final cost for The Animator's Survival Kit - Animated DVD set was US$ 792. A 'not-insignificant' sum, to be sure .. but definitely on the cheap side, when using an 'airfare/vacation' comparison.

Also helpful (on my part) is the fact that the entire purchase is 'tax-deductible' .. and that (as Ben, Tyler LeGrand, and I pointed out above) the knowledge gained from working through the material on this set will 'pay for itself' many times over, during the years to come.

The Animator's Survival Kit -- both the book and the DVD set -- is definitely 'dry' stuff. But, then .. that's true of most truly educational material.