Thinking Animation

HANDOUTS

This is a collection of handouts gathered over the years by many animators and now all in one place. We have organized them and most are in printer-friendly .pdf form for easy download, printing and reading.

Animation

Action Analysis
( PDF format thanks to Ed Hooks )

Memo from Walt
Correspondence between Walt Disney and Don Graham about teaching the animators (1935).
( PDF format thanks to animationmeat.com )

Entertainment I - Animation Theory & Practice
Entertainment II - The Phrasing of Action and Dialogue
Entertainment III - Acting for Animation
Entertainment IV - Drawing for Animation
Entertainment V - The Character and Texture of Action
Entertainment VI - Movement, Rhythm and Timing
Entertainment VII - Staging, Anticipation and Silhouette
Entertainment VIII - Dialogue for Animation
Entertainment IX - Music and the Animated Picture
Entertainment X - Pose to Pose & Straight-Ahead Animation
Lecture notes for Walt Disney Studios.
( PDF format thanks to animationmeat.com )
The pages from Preston Blairs Animation Book
Hand Posing Analysis - great for sketching from!
Richard Williams Master Class Notes!
Drawing For Classical Animation

Nine Old Men

Notes from a Lecture by Ollie Johnston
The Art of Thumbnailing Part 1
The Art of Thumbnailing Part 2
The Art of Thumbnailing Part 3
Nine Old Men Lecture notes for Walt Disney Studios.
( PDF format thanks to animationmeat.com )

Glen Keane

Notes from a Lecture by Glen Keane
Glen Keane Lecture notes.
( PDF format thanks to animationmeat.com )

John Lasseter

Tricks To Animating with a Computer
Glen Keane Lecture notes.
( PDF format thanks to animationmeat.com )

Technical

Animating and Drawing 4-Legged Animals
Helpful Hints for Clean-up
The Ten Commandments of Clean Up
Pixar's Animation Process
The Perfect Pan - An Animation Scene Planning Primer
Ten Steps to A Perfect Inbetween
Tool Time at Pixar

Ferngully Fairy Flying Effects by Sari Gennis
'Bride' Stripped Bare
Lecture notes.
( PDF format thanks to animationmeat.com )

Drawing

Drawing class notes from the drawing instructor for Walt Disney Studios. Here are the first 61 handouts.
( PDF format thanks to animationmeat.com )
01 - Abstracting the Essence
02 - Acting (drawing) is Art
03 - Action Analysis
04 - Anatomy vs Gesture
05 - Angles and Tension
06 - Action and Essences
07 - Animation and Sketching
08 - A Good Impression
09 - A Simple Approach
10 - Body Language
11 - Those who can't begin don't finish
12 - Cartoon Construction
13 - Learn to Cheat
14 - Copy the Model...Who me?
15 - Creative Energy
16 - Dimensional Drawing
17 - Doodling
18 - Double Vision
19 - A Simple Approach to Drapery
20 - Drawing and Caricature
21 - Drawing Calories
22 - Drawing Principles
23 - A Drawing Style for Animation
24 - Drawing Verbs not Nouns
25 - Enthusiasm
26 - The Pose is an Extreme
27 - Feel as well as see, the Gesture
28 - Action Analysis: Hands & Feet
29 - The Seriousness of Head Sketching
30 - Inbetweening
31 - It Ain't Easy
32 - Lazy Lines
33 - Lines, Lines, Lines
34 - From the Living Model to the Living Gesture
35 - Mental and Physical Preperation
36 - More on "Essence" Drawing
37 - More Meanderings
38 - A Little More on Heads
39 - Review and New Approach
40 - The Opposing Force
41 - Osmosis
42 - Great Performance - Or just a drawing?
43 - Using the rules of perspective
44 - Some principles of Drawing
45 - Problems of Drawing In Line
46 - Purpose in Drawing
47 - Savvy Sayin's
48 - Simplicity for the sake of Clarity
49 - Sketcher
50 - Note Taking and Sketching
51 - Sometimes I wonder why I spend the Lonely Hours
52 - Stick to the Theme
53 - A Sense of Story
54 - The Inner Force
55 - Talk to you Audience - Through Drawing
56 - A Thinking Persons Art
57 - Getting At The Root Of The Problem
58 - Go For The Truth
59 - Common vs Uncommon Gestures
60 - Using Cylinders
61 - The Value of Action/ Gesture Analysis Study