Animation Books

I decided to transition to Maya after becoming relatively proficient and completing a short film in school using Softimage|XSI almost exclusively. I found this book exceedingly easy to use and, most importantly, helpful. Unlike many of the books written on Maya by Alias, I find the format of the tutorials and information much more accessible and useful.
Don't get me wrong, the Alias books have a great deal of quality information but I find that unlike those books, this text does not just give you a litany of buttons to press and settings to put in place somewhat mindlessly.

The authors have taken the time (in each chapter) to explain why you are doing the tutorial and what you will accomplish. Most of the background/setup info in the early chapters is for beginners as they represent quick overviews of traditional animation techniques so if you are a seasoned or intermediate animator, the chapter introductions will be more reinforcement than anything else. However, the information regarding the Maya interface and the fact that this text concentrates solely on the tools necessary to begin animating in a proper workflow, it is helpful for any experience level if you are transitioning to Maya as a new program. Each chapter gradually builds in complexity, providing familiarity and comfort along the learning process.

Overall, if you are EXPERIENCED in animation and are looking to transition to Maya from XSI, 3dsMax, etc., this book has a good, organized structure for learning the tools and overcoming any sense of intimidation you might have. It will get you up and running relatively quickly. Just note that if you understand and have used Maya to animate already, this book will not introduce advanced concepts to you on the tool itself. I think it is best for people who have had limited exposure to the program and need to start from the beginning or relearn the tool.

If you are a BEGINNER, it will give you a good overview of animation principles and a sense of the tools and workflow necessary to animate in Maya. However, the book only briefly touches on f-curves and is only a quick overview of animation so do not rely on this to LEARN animation. It teaches you the basics of the tool (Maya) but not enough in-depth information of the principles to form more than a broad understanding and an eagle eye view of animation. I think it is a good starting point to be introduced to such a complex tool -- instead of getting books that cover the entire process (animation, modeling, rendering, lighting, rigging, etc.) as that can be quite overwhelming and create for an unfocused learning process. Practice, other focused books and mentors should fill in the gaps to help you along the way...

Some of the base lessons:

- bouncing ball
- jumping flour sack
- walk cycle
- lip sync

One final note:

This book DOES NOT TEACH YOU RIGGING. I know that sometimes animation books intertwine these two as they do go hand in hand but this book focuses ONLY on animation. It talks about IK/FK, deformers, hierarchies, parenting and what not, but only to allow you to know what you are using to accomplish the chapter goals at hand. They provide ready rigged puppets for you to practice and with which to complete tutorials.

This Eyeball Animation Drawing Book: People Edition is a barrel of fun! Who knew my eleven year old daughter could draw so well if she didn't have to worry about drawing eyes?? And the fact that the eyeballs roll up just enough for that'whatevah' look when you hold the book upright just adds to the fun. When the book is laying flat, the eyes are looking straight ahead. It has plenty of blank pages for drawing, and between the pages, attached to the spiral is a two inch strip with three faces you could draw if you didn't have one in mind. Our whole family loves this book. I'd recommend it to anyone for any age-we got one for my older daughter's twenty-two year old boyfriend, and he loves it, too!

I can't say enough good things about this drawing book. It starts with a couple of pages of drawing techniques, and then gives you a bunch of blank pages -- with wobbly eyeballs that show through in the middle. You can draw on both sides of the paper. Additionally, in between each pair of blank pages is a narrow, bookmark-shaped page with drawing hints and scientific background. Every strip shows a different creature in various stages of being drawn, which gives you a good idea of how to go about creating your own version of that creature. Alternatively, you can ignore the suggestions and draw whatever you feel like!

It's spiral bound, so it lays flat. The green fish on the cover is a three-dimensional plastic pencil sharpener, and it includes the pencil. Perfect for a budding cartoonist or incurable doodler in the 8 to 13 age range. I might also suggest this for a kid who's going to be cooped up in a car for a long time, or to be saved for a day when it's too wet (or you're too sick) to play outside.

You can draw anything with eyeballs. The sky's the limit. Allows a great deal of creativity with a handbook of ideas. It comes with colored pencils too. Good even if you can't draw. A great gift.

I always considered myself more sophisticated than the average kid when it came to comics and comic book art. When I began reading comics in the early 1970's most other eleven and twelve year-olds were just reading comics for the characters but I always was captivated by superior artists since I was an aspiring artist myself. Guys like Neal Adams, Barry Smith, George Perez, Jim Starlin, Berni Wrightson...and Frank Brunner. Brunner, I always found to be the most enigmatic out of all of these artists because while the rest have remained active or semi-active in comics...Adams even had his own company for a time...Brunner seemed to virtually disappear from the comic book landscape after the 1970's.

With an introduction by Michael Moorcock, this book from Vanguard Productions features a glorious sampling of Brunner's art from the late 1960's through present day. Throughout, Brunner shares anecdotes about his career in comics and after comics and catches us up with what he is doing today. Much of this information was new to me such as Frank's initial desire to want to work in underground comics as opposed to mainstream books and his early days working for Warren Publications.

Like many, however, it was his work on Doctor Strange that first made me a Brunner Fan. Doc Strange has always had the benefit for having superior artists do to the unique milieus the book features. Guys like Steve Ditko, Gene Colan, Paul Smith...all talented but it was Brunner's vision of the Sorcerer Supreme that I will always remember. Great covers like Doctor Strange #1 and #4 still are among my favorites, as well as the memorable Howard the Duck #1. And then there are the stories with Death and, of course, GOD! Brunner relates an interesting story about that rather famous issue when Stan Lee told Brunner and writer Steve Englehart that they needed to print a retraction saying it wasn't THE God but rather A God! Their resolution is quite hilarious.

Like many great artists of the 1970's, Brunner doesn't hesitate to show his disdain for many of today's splash-page heavy, techno artists and the lifeless, unoriginal characters which permeate comics. I've heard similar comics from both Neal Adams and John Buscema. Eyes of light not only reprints a lot of his great comic art of the 1970's but also work from his classic portfolios like his modern take on Alice in Wonderland. There's also a lot of great new work, some commissions for classic Brunner renditions of Doctor Strange and Red Sonja.

Brunner covers much of what he did after leaving Marvel including his work in TV, film, and animation of projects such as Pirates of Dark Water, Dino Riders, Skeleton Warriors, Jonny Quest, Robocop, The Ed Grimly Show, and much more. It's truly a fascinating and intimate look at one of the legends of illustration and highly recommended. Like most of the books from Vanguard Productions the book is available in softcover, hardcover, and a limited edition hardcover signed by Frank Brunner!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

This book is WOW!!!
Chapter 2 and I loved it!
Produced 1rst Flash animation.
The short projects are GREAT!

The chapters on games are FANTASTIC.
I sold my Flash game!!

My only complaint:
I need to sleep!! Get ideas and before I know-it it is 4 am!!

Best book I have found for Flash!

I'm an animation historian and teacher, and it has been shocking to me that for many years there have been few books devoted to Norman McLaren, one of the most influential animators in the world -- and none of the existing books have been recent or broadly based. Anyone who goes through an animation history course sees Neighbors, or one of his other films (I hope!!). Compare the number of books on Disney with the number on McLaren to see the injustice.
Finally, we have the long-awaited resource that has been so obviously missing -- Terence Dobson has published The Film Work of Norman McLaren. Dobson undertook study of McLaren in earnest many years ago. His numerous personal interviews with individuals who who knew McLaren date from 1990. In the meantime, Dobson has published portions of his research in a variety of places, including Animation Journal, which I edit. From these relatively small kernels of information, one could see that a major work on McLaren was on the way. Now it is here, and without question it should be part of every animation library. Due to the density of the information, it might be a bit high level for general reading by high school aged readers; however, it will appeal to college students (especially graduate level) and researchers. And at any of these levels, it serves as a valuable reference.
Dobson looks at various stages in McLaren's career, creating a broad context within the realms of film, visual art, and music, all of which are areas of focus within the author's larger research interests. A wealth of images, both black/white and color, accompany the text. A lengthy bibliography provides a list of McLaren-related resources that Dobson has found during his years of research, including documents and correspondence written by the artist.

The guys at the Genius Bar in the Apple Store in San Francisco recommended this to me, and I'm happy they did. It's simply excellent!

My 2 year old loves the music in this book. He also likes the pictures but mostly he just wants to listen to the music over and over again. Each page has new lyrics for each of the songs. There are five pieces that the book plays. The music box part of the book takes those flat watch or camera batteries and info on the battery type is included with the book.

The soft, padded cover and lavish Disney pictures on shiny board pages will dazzle toddlers new to the adventures of look and find books.

As an additional bonus for parents, there are interactive activities. Each set of activities focuses on a separate skill, such as colors, rhyming, counting, etc. It's nice that the pages are wipe-clean!

This is a fun book to share with your child.