Animation Books

Written in celebration of 2008, the most recent year of the rat, The Year of the Rat: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac is a children's picturebook about an eager young rat named Ralph. Grounding the story in the basic animals and associated character traits derived from the ancient Chinese Zodiac, The Year of the Rat follows Ralph as his inquisitive nature gets him into trouble. But when his dear friend the boy Bing runs into trouble at his birthday party, it takes the quick thinking of a born rat to save the day! The colorful, simple illustrations are brimming with unfettered enthusiasm in this charming children's story.

My three sons loved the book. We made the purchase at Kidspace in Pasadena and had the opportunity to talk with the author.
He was very entertaining, and my sons are constantly pestering me to read this book. This would be a great addition to any children's library. It is well-written with wonderful illustrations.

Wonderfully written book from the point of view of the filmmakers themselves. Easy to understand, very creative ideas are presented. Some of these animators are still going strong today; Peter Wallach, particularly. I wish he would post on Anthony Scott's SMA forums...

This book is a great resource for someone getting into animation as a hobby whether you're working in 16mm or super8. It's basically a collection of essays written by young film makers (ages 11-25 or so)concerning their film projects and techniques. It covers stop motion animation and cel animation techniques for films that have little or no budjet. It's too bad that it's out of print especially with the recent come back of super8 film as a viable format for independent and young film makers. -Greg Nashville, TN

... To my surprise I found the book very well laid out and ultra-conducive to high speed learning. To document my effort (and to have fodder for my lawsuit) I videotaped my Flash 5 session. After 7 minutes I began to think that this book really does deliver. At 9 minutes and 47 seconds I threw my hands up in the air and said "Its true, this book is amazing, I can learn this stuff in 10 minutes."...

Hector's first book lives up to its precise title. Each of the 24 short poetic essays is perfectly matched and underlined by a story of the same length, theme and tone. I couldn't stop myself from reading excerpts to friends and family who laughed as I did in the funny places and listened intently to the ironic but not bitter lines. Hector is a rich, mature voice for the new millennium, choosing what is valid amidst the proliferation of things and activities in our daily lives. Terse, witty prose, rich in figurative language and alliteration, characterizes her writing. She encapsulates an entire person, family, neighborhood, or city in a sentence through her keenly objective eye. These talents are combined with Hector's honest revelation of herself in the search--literally walking us with her on the journey around a few blocks of this world.

Thank You for this book. In one day i knew the way to make my one Animation. My Mother bought me this book /3D sudio for beginners/ in Moscow. I didn`t receive required 1.44" disk and i hope you could help me to achieve the Tutorials you have composed for studing. Thank You!

I'm a multimedia student. I find this book very illustrative. The exercises are great plus it gives you an easy step-by-step insturctions, to this amazing 3D world.

This book is very helpful for animation but you need also a hernashing max5 this is also a good one

I've really got to recomend this book. I've been using Max for alittle over a year now, and I got this book about 5 months ago from a Discreet regional representative at a SkillsUSA competition on Max which I won. I used it all summer, following the course it set out for me, and eventually it helped me come in 8th in the nation at the SkillsUSA nation championships in Max. This book's easy to follow layout and chapter setup is highly helpful for someone who wants to really get into the insides of modeling in Max. It also covers animation and texturing to a good degree. If you want to learn max, I highly recomend this book.

I absolutely love this book. It is an invaluable resource for the animation fan. The book takes 50 of the greatest short subject cartoons ever made and discusses why they are considered great. With each cartoon mentioned, the animation professionals responsible for the cartoon discuss the inspiration behind the cartoon's creation, how the cartoon came to be, problems the artists faced, etc.

In the margins, there are articles which tell how characters in the cartoons named developed (such as Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Droopy, Tom and Jerry, Donald Duck and many more); some of the topics discussed are the character's inspiration, how the character evolved over the years, etc.

One segment I found particularly interesting was a segment in the book dealing with controversial cartoons, such as the racially offensive "Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs" and "Der Fueher's Face". The book also addresses sexual imagery in the cartoons (!) and includes some information about the content of many cartoons during World War II and why some are considered unwatchable today.

I couldn't recommend this book more highly to animation fans . .it covers every cartoon character/series imaginable, from the Looney Tunes to Disney to Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, and Tom and Jerry, and even includes an appendix listing some cartoons that didn't make the cut. (You will especially appreciate it if you are, like me, a Looney Tunes fan.)

I apologize myself that I did not buy this book yet. I could not find this one from Korea. I just heard about the title of this book. Would you please inform me a little part of the contents ?