GALLERY: How Richard Williams was part of my life
For the writing of this special, we talked with 26 students, professors and professionals of the animation industry about the importance of Richard Williams in their studies, work and life. From students testimonials to titans of Brazilian animation and directors of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
JOHN MUSKER, 66
Co-director of the animated features The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), Hercules (1997), Treasure Planet (2002), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and Moana (2016). All of the features were produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
“I am very thankful for the inspiration he gave me, and countless animators around the globe, both by the words I heard from him in Chicago and elsewhere, and by his amazing drawings and animation and his zeal for a mysterious art form that he so loved trying to master.”
ROSANA URBES, 52
Brazilian animator and illustrator. Director of the short-film Guida (2014, RR Animação de Filmes) and animator of Mulan (1998), Tarzan (1999), The Emperor’s New Groove (2000) and Lilo & Stitch (2002). All of these films were produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
Prologue was released in Annecy on the same year I released Guida. In the awards ceremony, Prologue was the honored film. We watched it in that bustle of enthusiasm for animation that is Annecy. (…) He [Williams] gets on the stage to receive his award, and shortly after that I get on the stage to receive the award for Guida. I talked to him and he liked Guida very much. “You’re a natural”, he said to me. I didn’t believe what was going on and asked for him to sign my trophy. He wrote: “You will go far”, the animation child inside of me did not believe it.”
NIK RANIERI, 58
Canadian animator, worked on Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988, Touchstone Pictures), The Little Mermaid (1989), Pocahontas (1995), Hercules (1997) and The Princess and the Frog (2009), among others produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is currently a character layout artist of The Simpsons (20th Century Studios), where he works since 2018
“All you have to do is look at his body of work. The man loved animation and inspired hundreds of would-be animators during a time when the industry looked like it might not survive. Dick Williams kept the art form alive during those times. Those commercials showed through a variety of styles and techniques that animation could be used for more than just feature films and shorts.”
MICHAEL DUDOK DE WIT, 66
Academy Award winner for the short-film Father and Daughter (2000, CinéTé). Director of the feature-film The Red Turtle (2016, Studio Ghibli, Why Not Productions)
“Many very talented animation professionals started their career in his studios, under his direction. His distinct animation style and the high quality of his work have always been deeply inspiring.”
ELISEU LOPES FILHO, 61
Coordinator of the Animation major of FAAP
“What Richard Williams did was to correct Preston Blair and transform the book [The Animator’s Survival Kit] into a practical guide with steps. The books by Stanchfield didn’t have those steps, this scheme. Williams constructed the schemes, he simplified the way of interpreting to make animation. We appeal to him constantly.”
BILL PLYMPTON, 73
American 2D animator, nominated for two Oscars for the short-films Your Face (1987) and Guard Dog (2004), both produced by Plymptoons Studio
“Richard Williams’ contributions to Who Framed Roger Rabbit not only stretched the boundaries and rules of animation, but also brought back the visual humor inherent in animation. Also, “Roger Rabbit” was a huge hit and showed to distributors that animation could draw big box office.”
ALEX REIS, 23
Former student of Animation from FAAP. Director of the short-film Papa-Figo (2018, Academia Internacional de Cinema)
“I am very tied to live-action. Eventually, I have difficulties in distow what real elements I should insert in the animation. In the book [The Animator’s Survival Kit] he quotes different animators and there’s a line of Disney which says: “I definitely feel we cannot make a fantasy based on reality — unless you know the reality”. And Williams concluded that what really separates the live-action from animation is that we can invent things. ‘In every bit of animation we have this freedom. We’re not obligated to imitate life. That’s why we have cameras.’ It may sound obvious, but I got stuck in that so many times. Having in mind that you have this freedom while animating is great!”
BARRY PURVES, 64
Stop-motion animator and director. Nominated for an Oscar for the short-film Screen Play (1992, Channel Four, Bare Boards Productions), animator of Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks! (1996, Warner Bros) and Peter Jackson’s King Kong (2005, Universal Pictures). Author of the book Basics Animation 04: Stop Motion (2011, Bookman)
“Apart from his amazing skill, the generosity he had for talking and encouraging students and young animators is a rare gift. He was supremely generous about my own films. (…) he showed me the hand drawn short film, Prologue, (…) I could not believe what I was seeing. Not just extraordinary life drawing, but beautifully choreographed movement of naked soldiers fighting. As if this was not enough he dappled the figures with shadows, and threw in dazzling perspectives and topped all this with drawn camera moves. Simply astounding, and a lesson that for all the fireworks that CG can produce, a real artist with just a pencil and his hand can still take the breath away, just as it gives life to its’ characters. Richard was simply a craftsman of the highest order and an inspiration to us all. Thank you Richard.”
PAULO MUPPET, 41
Brazilian animator and co-founder of Birdo Studio
“I think that the coolest part of his book is that it encourages you to test your own formulas, specially in the chapter of breakdowns. That’s what I took for my life.”
MALU DIAS MARQUES, 46
Stop-motion animation professor from FAAP. Animator of the short-films Dona Tota e o Menino Mágico (2010, Caleidoscópio) and Tandem (2019, Cerise sur le gâteau)
“Through his text, Williams provoques the reader — animator or not — in the sense of sticking to what’s essential in the narrative, with organicity, subtlety, expression. To those who are not animators but work with audio-visual, he points out aspects of the image that reinforce or undermine certain content. To those who have no relation with this universe, Williams lights up a curiosity with irresistible humor.”
GABRIEL CHAGAS, 24
Student of Animation and Digital Arts in Minas Gerais’ Federal University (UFMG)
“His technical view on character animation and the way he deconstructed the fundamentals of animation in order to pass forward the knowledge are the pillars of the way I watch animation today. Whenever I’m in trouble, my first reaction it to look for my survival kit! His book always brings the answers I need.”
GUTO BR, 27
Brazilian director of animation and storyboarder. Co-director of the independent short-film Bleed (2019), and president of the Brazilian Association of Animation Cinema (ABCA)
“I really believe that The Animator’s Survival Kit is the most important book of the animation industry. We have many others that are just as important, like Illusion of Life, which is absolutely important. But the Survival Kit is more didactic, more consumable and much more affordable to people than the Illusion of Life, which is not only an expensier book, but the text is very dense, these are different proposals. One book does not exclude the other. But his biggest impact is this book specifically, his greatest legacy.”
LISA AIDAR, 22
Student of Illustration from California College of the Arts (CCA). Director of the short-film Aurora (2017, FAAP), selected for the category “Olho Neles!” of Anima Mundi 2018
I never really understood timing when a teacher explained to me in class. I only got to absorb what it means after reading The Animator’s Survival Kit. Without it, I definitely wouldn’t have moved forward with my career in animation.”
MATIAS LIEBRECHT, 43
Brazilian stop-motion animator of the feature-films Isle of Dogs (2018, American Empirical Pictures), Kubo and the Two Strings (2016, Laika), Frankenweenie (2012, Walt Disney Animation Studios), The Boxtrolls (2014, Laika) and Worms (2013, Animaking)
“Maybe his biggest legacy, the ‘Bible of animation’ [The Animator’s Survival Kit] is this: he opens all of his range of tricks, sharing decades of experience with whomever is opened to absorb it. That’s what the great masters do, they share their knowledge. Because being an animator in itself is hard enough, so we need to help one another to hold this torch and not letting it run out.”
CAROLINA OHARA, 22
Student of Animation from FAAP
“Richard’s book helped me to better understand how to create a key for animation, and its concepts help me to this day in moments where I need to animate certain walk cycle or action.”
ANTONIO FIALHO, 48
Professor of Animation and Digital Arts in the School of Fine Arts of Minas Gerais’ Federal University (UFMG)
“The mastery of these two aspects of the cartoon — movement and visuality — defines the animator’s artistic repertoire and may exacerbate an authority in the field of animation. With Richard Williams, hand-drawing has evolved ambitious dynamics in animation, capable of moving figures with innovative kinematics, all suggested with a simple pencil on paper. ”
GIULIANA DANZA, 42
Brazilian stop-motion animator, director of the short-film Poetic of Clay (2019, Danza Studio)
“The concepts taught by Richard Williams are adaptable and can be used by any 2D or 3D animator, even for stop-motion. The Animator’s Survival Kit presents in is subtitle A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical Animation, for Computer, Stop-motion and Internet. I work with stop-motion and I appeal to the book with frequency, to study walk cycles, possibilities that certain action can give certain characteristics to the character, like animating a lip sync, etc. It’s like an encyclopedia without expiration date.”
GIL CASERTA, 59
Professor of Coloring and Visual Composition of FAAP and of Design and Digital Games of UNISO. Worked on the feature-films Garoto Cósmico (2007) and Boy and the World (2014), both produced by the studio Filme de Papel, and in the short-film Tandem (2019, Cerise sur le gâteau)
“I consider The Animator’s Survival Kit to be his greatest legacy, even more than his films. The compilation of his knowledge and from the great artists who preceded him transform it literally in our sacred writings.”
JACQUE PCHE, 21
Student of Animation from California College of the Arts (CCA)
“His book became my main point of reference and consulting, in case some exercise or scene of a short-film isn’t working in a properly way. Richard Williams’ work helped me to elevate my way of think about what the amateur animator knows, but has difficulty transferring to paper. ”
FABIO YAMAJI, 45
Brazilian stop-motion animator, director of the short-film O Divino de Repente (2009, Rocambole Produções).
“The animation concepts of the Survival Kit (…) can be used in any technique, for they serve to give expression to organic movements and natural phenomenons. It’s not about 2D. 2D is just the medium which the teachings are exemplified. The animation concepts are about expressive movements. They serve to anyone. Including for actors.”
LENA ARAÚJO, 28
Student of Animation from FAAP
“Life is hidden in the details. Nobody speaks by only moving their mouths. When people talk, they move their lips, their eyes, twist their neck, move their hands and stoop. We call this secondary actions. Without them, when only your lips move, you won’t believe that creature is saying that. You need those extra elements, they are the most important thing. And who taught me to pay attention to the smallest details was Richard Williams.”
ALORALEE GATES, 27
Student of Animation from California College of the Arts (CCA)
“His teachings and work have been so integral to my learning that I can’t imagine how else to think about animation without referencing his book. I think about Jessica Rabbit often when I try to visualize walk cycles because of the character detail that was put into her. I learned that the littlest of details can change anything.”
CARLOS VICENTE, 59
Professor of 2D Animation from FAAP and Centro Universitário Belas Artes. Founder of Dino Design Center.
“I did a course in 1996 with Haroldo Guimarães Neto which applied exactly the basics of Richard Williams. I animated on one way until that time, and after I did the course and became aware of Richard’s level, I passed on to be another kind of animator, I improved a million times. It was a landmark for me.”
FER BASSANI, 22
Former Animation student from FAAP
“I got into college without knowing quite clearly about the process of making an animation, and very early a professor approached me and said: ‘Purchase the “Survival Kit”! You must have this book’. I bought it and it was my first contact with how to properly make an animation. (…) I still use the book when I have any doubts regarding animation, it’s like a guide.”
CIRE YUTO, 26
Student of Animation form California College of the Arts (CCA)
“The first time I had ever heard Richard Williams name was in my first year of college, however (unknowingly) his work had a profound affect on me as a child. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in particular was a film that was always on my TV when I was growing up. Without a doubt, it is a reason why I’m an animator today.”
MARÃO, 48
Brazilian 2D animator. Director of the short-films Até a China (2015), Eu Queria Ser Monstro (20069), Chifre de Camaleão (2000) and Engolervilha (2003). All of them have been produced by Marão Filmes
“After reading his book several times, watching a handful of animation that I didn’t know were directed by him and watching a variety of interviews, what remains is a combination of a proficiency linked to a didactic capacity to teach and an incredible generosity into sharing everything in such absolute way, completely, with everybody. It is a learning, it is a name, a person, a document, an affection he leaves to the art of animation and to every single animator worldwide. Its incomparable, it’s eternal.”
André Barroso, 21, is a former Animation student from FAAP.
To access the original article in Portuguese, click here.
