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Animtion
Books
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Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston; "Disney
Animation: The Illusion of Life"
Hyperion Press ISBN 0-7868-6070-7
Must Have. Arguably the best book on drawn animation
ever published. They've also done Too Funny For Words,
about cartoon gags; Bambi: The Story and the Film; and
The Disney Villains. Thomas and Johnston worked as
animators on all the major Disney features through The
Fox and the Hound.
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Richard Williams; "The Animator's Survival Kit"
Faber & Faber ISBN: 0571205976
Must Have. Brand new book from Richard Williams. Based on his
famous Animation Masterclass.
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Preston Blair; "Animation" &
"How To Animate Film Cartoons" also published
together in one book as "Cartoon Animation"
Walter Foster Publishing
Must Have. These two books/book are in print and
inexpensive. Probably the best investment in animation
books you'll make.
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Brian Lemay; "Designing Cartoon Characters
For Animation", "Layout and Design Made
Amazingly Simple" & "The Advanced Layout
and Design Workbook"
Sheridan College Text books.
If you want to do Cel/2D animation GET THESE BOOKS.
These are a must have for animation students. They cover
topics I have not seen in any other published book, like
line quality and creating good model sheets. You can
order them from the author at $25, $35 and
$50respectively. his email is blemay@pathcom.com
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Zach Schwartz and Jim Macaulay; "And Then
What Happened"
This book is 120 pages and costs $15.00 U.S. It deals
with storytelling for animation. The book goes through 25
examples from a variety of different cartoons and
analyses them thoroughly. Available from Brian Lemay blemay@pathcom.com
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Shamus Culhane; "Animation From Script To
Screen"
St. Martin's Press
A good "how-to" book by a veteran of
Disney, Fleischer, Lantz and TV commercials. It's not
only about animation and animating, but about the
creative process in general. I think the animation
projects in it are lame, but substituting them with
something of your own works well.
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Tony White; "The Animator's Workbook"
Watson-Guptill Publications
A book by someone who learned from Grim Natwick, Art
Babbitt and Richard Williams. An explanation of the
shift-and-trace inbetweening, which none of these other
books go into. Covers marking breakdowns for assistants
and inbetweeners. Also, illustrated chapters devoted to
Headturns, Walks, Runs, Exaggerated Action, Dialogue, and
Effects animation. A lot of this information obviously
came directly from the Art Babbitt lectures. I don't like
the fact that he only mentions using using the top pegs
to animate. Almost nobody does this in a professional
studio these days, and I would think it's a hard habit
to break. Also the description of weight in this book is
weak, or just all out wrong. Don't get me wrong this is a
great book, it just shouldn't be your only animation
book.
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Harold Whitaker, John Halas; "Timing For
Animation"
Focal Press
It's hard to find, but well worth having. It's not
the only Animation book you should have, but it's a great
addition to an animators library. Basically It's about
the mechanics of timing and drawing. Authors are from
Halas and Bachelor studio in England. Last I checked you
could get it from Amazon
UK.
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Drawing
Books
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The Vilppu Drawing Manual, one hundred and sixty
pages of instructive drawings and text, in full living
black and white, from the American Animation Institute's
master instructor GLENN VILPPU. The manual is a
twelve-chapter basic drawing course covering gesture,
construction, anatomy and lighting. It is the same
material Glenn teaches at the AAI, Disney and Warner
Bros. Feature Animation.
You can now order this online from the AWN store
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Kimon Nicolaides; "The Natural Way To
Draw"
Houghton Mifflin
A famous "how-to-draw" book recommended by
people like Culhane and Chuck Jones.
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Gary Faigin; "The Artist's complete guide to
facial expression"
Waston-Guptill
A Great book about the minute details of facial
expression, and what muscles do what. It's also a great
book for learning to draw heads/faces in in general.
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Ken Hultgren; "The Art of Animal
Drawing" : Construction, Action Analysis,
Caricature.
Dover Publications; ASIN: 0486274268
This is a good book and inexpensive. This guy was a
Disney animator and did a lot of work on Bambi.
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John, Raynes; "Figure Drawing and Human
Anatomy for the Artist"
ASIN: 1555216099
This is one of the better Anatomy books, but it's
hard to find.
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Composing Pictures by Donald Graham
Published by Van Nostrand Reinhold. Publication date:
Hardback 1970, Paperback 1983
I finally found a copy of this book, and will read it soon. Don Graham was the resident drawing
instructor at Disney during the golden age and everyone
who has read this book raves about it. The problem is
that it's extremely rare, and most copies go for over $400. Keep
looking and you might get a deal (like me).
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Film Making
Books
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Steven D. Katz; "Film Directing Shot by
Shot"
This is a great book for anyone wanting to do
Animation, storyboards, or Layout. It's intended for live
action, but just about everything applies to Animation.
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