Foreword by Lynn Johnston. Preface: We're not in live action any more. Design for living: An introduction to thumbnails; Good actors: Designs that animate; An introduction to dialogue animation. Setting the stage: Character and story context: Don't just do something...; Within you, without you: Analysing the character; Character volume, size and movement. Is sex necessary?: Masculine and feminine character acting; The ages of man (and woman). Animal actors: Four legs good, two legs better? Creating animal characters; Flights of information: Animating winged characters; Portraying animal qualities in human characters; 'Look Ma, no hands!' Animating snakes, worms, and other crawlers. Fantastic performance!: Natural inspirations for the supernatural; Dual natures: Human/animal combinations; Floating worlds: The weightless actor. The performer as object: Moving the furniture: Bringing inanimate objects to life; Material girl: Fabric and cloth characters. Double timing: Animating character interactions: Staging and composition; Changing leads in multiple-character scenes; Potemkin villages: Crowd scenes and how to fake them. Character development over time: Character and story arcs. Inspiration and reference. Index. Acknowledgements.