The Animation Book: A Complete Guide to Animated Filmmaking--From Flip-Books to Sound Cartoons to 3- D Animation

I just about wore out my copy of the original edition of this book years ago; i never got far into *doing* animation, but it really helped me to *understand* what i was seeing on the screen (as well as serving as a source of recommendations as to Good Things to look out for...) While this may not be quite the essential text for asiring animators that Will Eisner's "Comics and Sequential Art" (q.v.) is for would-be comics pros, it is a Very Good overview of the field as a whole, from techniques to materials to the creative aspects. There is, admittedly, not sufficient detail on any one subject to take one to a true professional level, but there is sufficient detail and commentary to let the tyro make a beginning in almost any aspect of animation (within one's financial limitations, anyway -- while costs are rather less now than they were in the day when film was the sole practical medium of choice, some aspects of animation do cost more than others to do) nd work at it enough to get an idea as to whether that's what she wants to do. And remember -- you might not intend to make animation your life's work; but Mike Jittlov was an accounting major who took an animation course because he needed an elective and it fit his schedule. The film he made for that course won him an Oscar nomination... Anything can happen, and this book is a good place to check it out if you think animation might be one of the "anythings" you'd like to happen to you.

I'm familiar with animation in theory. I had experience in using some techniques but never translating any animation into a recorded movie or a digital format movie. This book explained me few things I was asking myself for a very long time. I mostly liked the table included in the book for what is the hardware configuration for a budget you have, as well as a table for best computer programs - today you can produce everything through a computer. If you think you know alot, but something IS STILL missing from your knowledge, grab the book!

This book is exactly what I was looking for! I have always admired cartoons, and now as an adult of 28, I want to explore how I can create animation. This book goes through everything, from using pressure sensitive tablets for the first time, making homemade camera stands, using computer programs, and digital cams. It has lessons for drawing and exploring different medias, traditional and computer. The author really encourages you to explore, and you don't even have to be a great artist! If you are thinking about going into animation, this book is really for you! All the fun without the commitment and money to go to school.

I make short films and teach film and video, (as well as computer art), and "The Animation Book" made me weep gentle tears of joy. Not only is it full of the information that both the beginner and the more advanced animator will use, it is an inspiration. It has stills from some of the best independent animations around, as well as pages Laybourne prompts the reader to draw in and rip out.After reading the intro and flipping faster and faster through the pages, I felt a very powerful need to animate - right now! I haven't felt this excited about what I do in years, and I can't say I've ever found a book that has thrilled me so. Just to make certain I wasn't being overly sentimental, I put this book in the hands of several non-animating, and highly cynical individuals. One by one, each succumbed to the charms of the little drawings of equipment and then distractedly searched around for a pencil, so they too could begin the exercises.This was written in 1979, and Laybourne does quite an admirable job of discussing computer technology of that time. But this book rightly focuses on hands-on, experimental work with garage sale equipment; the wonderful animations an individual can make in his/her kitchen. I want every student, every friend, to get this book, especially those working with new technology. It's a terrific antidote to the superficiality so often imposed by the ever-changing computer. "The Animation Book" encourages playing with ideas and aesthetics, a delightful reminder of what makes moving images amazing.