Animation

Book Reviews

The following book reviews are written from the point of view of someone (myself) who have a strong bias toward CGI animation.

Here is a set of comments that came by from discussing my book reviews on forums:

Reading books does not make one an artist by any long shot, no matter how good the books may be.
A book that stays on the shelf is just money spent for nothing. In other words, if you don't like to read books then don't buy them in the first place.
A book is not a bible. I know of no book that can be qualified as "The definitive book on animation". There are no books that are absolutely good stuff from cover to cover and is 100% enlightening. All books have their strengths and weaknesses. All of them. There may be a sense of revelation after reading the first book on a new subject, especially if that first book is a good one. But this sensation is only because it is the first book and thus whichever concepts discussed are new. Do not trust that it is because it is truely and objectively that good.
It is by reading many books that one gets a more global picture of a domain. And it is by the repetition of concepts, explained in different ways by different authors from reading different books that concepts eventually "make sense" and concepts that are just mentioned by one single author just fade away as it should IMO. I recommend reading many books instead of re-reading the same one over. It is the only way to discover which ones are truely good and which ones would be worth re-reading.
Making total sense out of a book is not that important. What is more important is to read it and understand whatever can be understood in it even if this is little. And it will most probably be very little the first time one reads a book on a new topic. The only action of reading it, even if not fullly understood, sets a foundation. Sets knowledge anchors onto which later readings will build an edifice of knowledge and into which later discussions, assignments, experience will draw to help go further. When the first book is read on a new topic, it leaves large voids of understanding. And as further books are read on a topic, more and more of that void gets filled.
Reading a book is the only way to store in mind a map of where to get this information for later reference or use.
The best way to make sense out of any book is to try to apply the concepts. In the case of animation, that means actually doing animation. There are no better way to relate to a concept or a technique than after fighting with it for a while with mitigated success. Then, suddenly, what the author is talking about makes sense.

This said, here are the reviews:

	Acting for Animators – A Complete Guide to Performance Animation By Ed Hooks Heinemann, 2003 7½" x 8½", 130 pages Review posted on Mar 3 2007
	Animation: The mechanics of Motion By Chris Webster Focal press, 2005 7½" x 9¾", 260 pages Review posted on Mar 25 2007
	Animation From Pencils to Pixels – Classical Techniques for Digital Animators By Tony White Focal Press, 2006 7¼" x 10¼" , 500 pages Review posted on Nov 19 2006
	Animation from Script to Screen By Shamus Culhane St. Martin's Press, 1988 6¼" x 9¼" , 336 pages Review posted on Feb 20 2007
	Cartoon Animation By Preston Blair Walter Foster publishing, 1994 10¼" x 9" , 224 pages Review posted on Aug 15 2007
	Chuck Amuck – The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist By Chuck Jones Avon Books, 1989 8" x 10", 304 pages Review posted on Sep 19 2007
	Chuck Jones – Chuck Reducks – Drawing from the Fun Side of Life By Chuck Jones Warner Books, 1996 8¼" x 10¼", 286 pages Review posted on Nov 26 2007
	Creating Characters with Personality By Tom Bancroft Watson-Guptill, 2006 8½" x 11", 160 pages Review posted on Dec 4, 2007
	Digital Character Design and Painting By Don Seegmiller Charles River Media, 2003 7¼" x 9¼", 354 pages Review posted on Dec 27, 2007
	Facial Expressions – A Visual Reference for Artists By Mark Simon Watson-Guptill, 2005 9" x 10¾", 256 pages Review posted on Dec 20, 2007
	Film Directing Fundamentals – See Your Film Before Shooting by Nicolas T. Proferes Focal Press, 2005 7¼" x 10¼", 277 pages Review posted on Jan 23, 2008
	Film Directing Shot by Shot – Visualizing from Concept to Screen by Steven D. Katz Michael Wiese Productions, 1991 7" x 10", 366 pages Review posted on feb 16, 2008
	From Word to Image - Storyboarding and the filmmaking process By Marcie Begleiter Michael Wiese productions, 2001 7" x 10", 224 pages Review posted on Jan 17, 2008
	Gesture Drawing for Animation By Walt Stanchfield Leo Brodie, On-line pdf 8½" x 11", 214 pages Review posted on Apr 10, 2007
	Hollywood Cartoons – American Animation in its Golden Age By Michael Barrier Oxford University Press, 1999 6½" x 9½", 650 pages Review posted on Sep 5 2007
	Les dessins animés de la Métro-Goldwin-Mayer By Patrick Brion Éditions de la martinière, 1999 10¼" x 12½", 360 pages Review posted on Apr 10 2007
	Of Mice and Magic - A History of Amercan Animated Cartoons By Leonard Maltin Plume, 1980 7½" x 9¼", 470 pages Review posted on May 25 2007
	Prepare to board! – Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts By Nancy Beiman Focal Press, 2007 7¼" x 10¼", 317 pages Review posted on February 1st 2008
	7 Minutes – The Life and Death of the American Animated Cartoon By Norman M. Klein Verso, 1993 7" x 9½", 284 pages Review posted on Aug 9 2007
	Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation By Wayne Gilbert Anamie, 1999 8½" x 11", 82 pages Review posted on Dec 12 2007
	Stop Staring – Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right By Jason Osipa Sybex, 2003 7½" x 9", 336 pages Review posted on Apr 28 2007
	Storytelling Through Animation By Mike Wellins Charles River Media, 2005 7¼" x 9¼", 436 pages Review posted on May 11 2007
	Talking Animals and Other People – The autobiography of a legendary animator By Shamus Culhane Da Capo Press, 1998 6" x 9¼", 466 pages Review posted on Sep 12 2007
	Tex Avery – The Great Animation Director from the Golden Age of the Hollywood Cartoon By John Canemaker Turner Publishing Inc, 1996 10" x 13", 224 pages Review posted on Sep 26 2007
	Tex Avery: King of Cartoons By Joe Adamson Big Apple Books, Da Capo Press, 1975 8" x 10¾", 240 pages Review posted on Aug 29 2007
	The Animator's Survival Kit – A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Notion and Internet Animators By Richard Williams Faber and Faber, 2001 9½" x 11", 342 pages Review posted on Feb 9 2007
	The Animator`s Woorkbook – Step by Step Techniques of Drawn Animation By Tony White Watson Guptill, 1988 8¼" x 11", 160 pages Review posted on Aug 22 2007
	The Illusion of Life – Disney Animation By Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston Hyperion, 1981 10¾" x 11¼", 576 pages Review posted on Feb 2 2007
	Thinking Animation – Bridging the Gab Between 2D and CG By Angie Jones and Jamie Oliff Thomson, 2007 7½" x 9", 346 pages Review posted on Nov 26 2006
	Timing for Animation By Harold Whitaker and John Halas Focal Press, 2006 7½" x 9½", 144 pages Review posted on Feb 25 2007
	Understanding Comics – The Invisible Art By Scott McCloud HarperPerennial, 1994. (There are other publishers for this book) 6¾" x 10¼", 216 pages Review posted on Jan 10, 2008