"A manual of methods, principles and formulas for classical, computer, games, stop motion and internet animators"--Cover

Why this book? -- Drawing in time -- Time to draw -- It's all in the timing and the spacing -- Lesson 1 -- Advancing backwards to 1940. -- History of the chart and inbetween - Extremes and breakdowns - Keys - Three ways to animate - Testing, testing, testing - The X-sheet - Came the dawn - The best numbering system - The great ones and twos battles - The top and bottom pegs battle -- More on spacing. - Classic inbetween mistakes - Watch your arcs - Getting more movement within the mass - The elongated inbetween - The major beginner's mistake - The 'ruff' approach - How much do we leave to the assistant? - Take the long short cut -- Walks. - Getting the weight - Set the tempo - The passing position or breakdown - Two ways to plan a walk - The double bounce - Loosening it up - Digging deeper into walks - There's nothing like trying it - The heel - Foot action - Normal walk space - Weight shift - The belt line - Arm movements - Counteraction - The recipe - Sneaks - The tip toe sneak -- Runs, jumps and skips. - The 4 drawing formula run - The 3 drawing run - The 2 drawing run - The recipe - Run, jump, skip and leap - Skips - Jumps - Weight on a jump -- Flexibility - . The breakdown - Simple overlap - Overlapping action - Simple counteraction - Breaking joints to give flexibility - Flexibility in the face - Overlapping action in the face - Instant read: profiles for readability -- Weight. - Pressure and weight - How much effort do we have to expend? - Dancing - Rules of thumb on synchronising action -- Anticipation. Surprise anticipations - Invisible anticipations -- Takes and accents. A hard accent bounces back - A soft accent continues -- Timing, staggers, wave and whip. Stagger timings - The side to side vibration formula -Whip action - Wave action -- Dialogue. Phrasing - Picture and sound sync - Accents - Attitude - The secret -- Acting. Change of expression - Look for the contrast - An acting point - Body language - Symmetry or 'twinning' - Steal it! - Eyes -- Animal action. Live action reference - Basic animal walk pattern -- Directing. The brief - The leica reel - Separate the characters - Best foot forward - Casting animators - Making changes - 'Say! Say!' - Voice recording - Hook ups - Research - Editing - Believe in your material -- Review. The procedure - The ingredients -- Enlarged edition. 'Lesson one' on flexibility - Delaying parts and progressing the action - Put it where you can see it - A Hollywood hop - Contrast and change - Phrasing dialogue - Using live action for reference - Animal flexibility - Action on a running dog - How does a horse really walk? - Horse trotting - Horse galloping - Birds - A challenging assignment in 'realism' and weight - The moving hold - The great 'realism' debate - The solution - Yes, but ... - Conclusion so far - My conclusion - Life drawing for animation - Acknowledgements

The Academy Award-winning artist draws on his master instruction classes to demonstrate essential techniques required of animators of any skill level or method, in an updated edition that provides expanded coverage of such topics as animal gaits and live action