Animation is one of the hottest and most creative areas of film-making and the master animator who bridges the old generation and the new is Richard Williams. During his 40 years in the business, Williams has been one of the true innovators and serves as the link between the golden age of animation by hand and the computer animation successes. Perhaps even more importantly, though, has been his dedication to passing along his knowledge to a new generation of animators so that they in turn can push the medium in new directions. In this book, based on his animation masterclasses in the US and across Europe and attended by animators from the Walt Disney Company, PIXAR, DreamWorks, Blue Sky and Warner Bros, Williams provides the underlying principles of animation that every animator - from beginner to expert, classic animator to computer animator whiz - needs. Urging his readers to "invent but be believable", he illustrates his points with hundreds of drawings, distilling the secrets of the masters into a working system in order to create a book that should become the standard work on all forms of animation for professionals, students and fans.