Timing for Animation

by Harold Whitaker, John Halas OBE

Written by two internationally acclaimed animators, this classic text teaches you all you need to know about the art of timing and its importance in the animated film. This reissue includes a new foreword by John Lasseter, executive vice president of Pixar Animation Studios and director of 'Toy Story', 'Toy Story 2', 'A Bug's Life' and 'Monsters Inc.' He sets the wealth of information in this classic text in context with today's world of computer animation, showing how this is a must-have text if you want to succeed as a traditional drawn, or computer animator.


Learn all the tips and tricks of the trade from the professionals. How should the drawings be arranged in relation to each other? How many are needed? How much space should be left between one group of drawings and the next? How long should each drawing, or group of drawings, remain on the screen to give the maximum dramatic effect? The art of timing is vital.

Highly illustrated throughout, points made in the text are demonstrated with the help of numerous superb drawn examples. 'Timing for Animation' not only offers invaluable help to those who are learning the basis of animation techniques, but is also of great interest to anyone currently working in the field and is a vital source of reference for every animation studio.

John Halas, known as the 'father of animation' and formerly of Halas and Batchelor Animation unit, produced over 2000 animations, including the legendary 'Animal Farm' and the award winning 'Dilemma'. He was also the founder and president of the ASIFA and former Chairman of the British Federation of Film Societies.

Harold Whitaker is a professional animator and teacher. Many of his former students are now among some of the most outstanding animation artists of today.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Reference, Drawing, Design, How To

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Herman Litt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This book should not be thought of as the final word in your education in
the art of animation. It but serves to point the way to a lifetime of study
to master the medium. A career in the arts is never as simple as mastering
some technique, then collecting a paycheck. It is a journey of growth and
experimentation." - from "Timing for Animation."

Quite a good book, not too long or wordy and a great addition both for study and for reference. 5/5.

[Arturo Manuel De la Guardia Oteiza · Rating 3 out of 5]

It starts well, but little by little I felt like the book was more informing me than teaching me. It was as if by the end the authors were getting tired, because each subject matter became more and more concise and less explanatory. Here’s an X sheet, figure it out. The text said a complex description of something that should have the participation of an image, for example, a horse walk, but in the process of trying fit all into a page, I lost what the authors were trying to say. The horse walks, then trots then canters then runs, and the image is on the next page, Fig A.

Don’t get me wrong, it has useful information, specially new things I didn’t know about animal behavior, but for a book about animation, it was’t very animated. This book would have benefitted from color coding, and breaking the long paragraphs into small chunks, followed by their respective image next to the text.

A good example of how to do it right is Goldberg’s Crash Course and Preston Blair’s Animation book.

[Niniane · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast read. Explains clearly how to animate heavy vs light objects, various animals, how to use anticipation to get the audience's attention.

[Daniel Brito · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in your animation journey.

This is a great book, as your first introduction to animation. The book will give you a general understanding of how to animate and the importance of timing in giving life to inanimate drawings or digital puppets. Unfortunately is a bit outdated. Quoting the last paragraph of the book; "This book should not be thought of as the final word in your education in the art of animation. It but serves to point the way to a lifetime of study to master the medium." - Tom Sito.

[Alec Longstreth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is comprised of 50+ examples of animation with guidance on how to time things out. One is already helping me with my current project and another will help me with my next animation. I’m sure I’ll be using this as a reference for many years to come

[BVC · Rating 2 out of 5]

Brevi e semplici annotazioni riguardo possibilità di movimento applicabile a vari oggetti, assume la forme di una sorta di dizionario con tanto di utili illustrazioni annesse.

[AD Elmisurati · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a nice little book and i person who have a passion for learning about animation, i found the information in it quite useful and convenient.

[DragonCodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, using it to help plan out art projects for my homeschool teen.

[Guhugaul · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful work

[David Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for animation beginners. While, we often get our timing from reference video these days, there is still some invaluable information here especially those doing 2D animation.

[Fel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one for the books on my degree's reading list for Animation Production. I really recommend it for beginners or anyone that wants to brush up on the basics.

At the beginning of the course, timing really confounded me and I used whatever guides I could to get my mind around it. This one was one of the best and detailed an easy way to understand the exercises we were doing in class.

[Yasser Azmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

how to
احيانا تضايقني تلك المدرسة في التعليم ولا عيب فيها ، الكتاب يتكلم عن اهم شئ بالانيميشن وهو التوقيت , وكيفية حلها او فهمها عن طريق الامثلة
الرسومات غنية ومفيدة جدا ، المعلومات بسيطة للغاية
Do your homeworks

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

if its a approved by Lasseter its a must for me

[Annabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good!

[Sergei Dragunov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best thing for animators

[Tim Kadlec · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid introduction to the topic. A lot of good ideas and principles here—not just for cartoon animation, but for other timing in other interactive mediums as well.