Animation book recommendations?

[Sarah]

I was searching around on Amazon today to get some more animation related books. And it got me thinking that it would be a great idea to share our book recommendations on here & save ourselves a load of money! (it was a subject that was brought up at a BANG meeting early last year).

So if you have read any books that you think are the holy grail of animation knowledge - post em up!

[Khrystell Burlin]

There is a really interesting book written by some friends of mine in Toronto:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharpest-Point-Animation-End-Cinema/dp/0920...

Also Lev Manovitch (from UCSD) books are always great:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?tid=8830&ttype=2

Best
K.

[Trevor May]

Animation Mentor, the (unfortunately-too-expensive-for-my-megre-wallet online character animation school) recently listed a whole bunch of good resources and books in their latest ebook "How to Become an Animator". Hope this helps!

LEARNING RESOURCES
There are many great publications and websites available to learn more about animation and the animation industry.
AnimationMentor.com has a Resources section on its website with links to its favorite sites, along with industry reports and webinars for those exploring a future career in animation.
Some other great sites include:
• www.11secondclub.com
• www.3dtotal.com
• www.animationarena.com
• www.animationmagazine.net
• www.animationpodcast.com
• www.animationtipsandtricks.com
• www.awn.com
• www.blendernation.com
• www.bobbyboomblogspot.com
• www.carlosbaena.com
• www.cartoonbrew.com
• www.cgsociety.org
• www.cgw.com
• www.digitalcontentproducer.com
• www.jasonryananimation.com
• www.postmagazine.com
• www.vfxworld.com

SUGGESTED READING

ANIMATION CAREER REFERENCES
Animation Tips and Tricks Volume I by Shawn Kelly
Animation Tips ad Tricks, Volume II by Animation Mentor Founders and Mentors Shawn Kelly, Carlos Baena, Keith Sintay, Aaron
Gilman and Wayne Gilbert
Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3D Animation by Peter Lord and Brian Sibley
How to Get a Job in Computer Animation by Ed Harriss

GENERAL ANIMATION
Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life by Ray Harryhausen and Tony Dalton
Animation: From Script to Screen by Shamus Culhane*
Cartoon Animation (The Collector’s Series) by Preston Blair*
Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair (HT26) by Preston Blair*
Cartooning: Animation 2 with Preston Blair (HT190) by Preston Blair*
Character Animation Crash Course! by Eric Goldberg
Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes, Volumes I and II: The Walt Stanchfield Lecture
by Walt Stanchfield, edited by Don Hahn
Inspired 3D Short Film Production by Pepe Valencia and Jeremy Cantor*
The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams*
The Complete Animation Course: The Principles, Practice, and Techniques of Successful Animation by Chris Patmore
The Illusion of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston*
Timing for Animation by Harold Whitaker and John Halas*
Treasures of Disney Animation Art by John Canemaker*

ANATOMY, DRAWING, AND BODY LANGUAGE
An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists by W. Ellenberger, H. Baum, H. Dittrich and Lewis S. Brown
Atlas of Human Anatomy of the Artist by Stephen Rogers Peck
An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists by Fritz Schider
Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards*
Manwatching: A Field Guide to Human Behavior by Desmond Morris *
Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation by Wayne Gilbert*
Teach Yourself Body Language by Gordon Wainwright*
The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin*
The Natural Way to Draw by Kimon Nicolaides*

REFERENCE
Animals in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge*
Facial Expressions: A Visual Reference for Artists by Mark Simon*
Heads by Alex Kayser*
The Human Figure in Motion by Eadweard Muybridge
The Male and Female Figure in Motion: 60 Classic Photographic Sequences by Eadweard Muybridge*

PERFORMANCE AND ACTING
Acting for Animators: A Complete Guide to Performance Animation by Ed Hooks*
A Practical Handbook for the Actor by Melissa Bruder, Lee Michael Cohn, Madeleine Olnek, Robert Previtio, Nathanial Pollack, Scott
Zigler and David Mamet*
Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre by Keith Johnstone*
Stanislavsky in Focus by Sharon M. Carnicke*

STAGING, LIGHTING, RENDERING AND COMPOSITING
Basic TV Staging by Gerald Millerson
Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Second Edition by Steve Wright
Digital Lighting & Rendering by Jeremy Birn
Digital Texturing and Painting by Owen Demers
Film Lighting: Talks with Hollywood’s Cinematographers and Gaffers by Kris Malkiewicz
Lighting for Television and Film by Gerald Millerson
The Art and Science of Digital Compositing, Second Edition by Ron Brinkmann

MODELING
Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right by Jason Osipa
The Art of 3D: Computer Animation and Imaging by Isaac V. Kerlow
3D Human Modeling and Animation by Peter Ratner

MAYA
Maya Character Animation by Jae-jin Choi
Maya: Secrets of the Pros by John Kundert-Gibbs and Dariush Derakhshani
The Art of Maya by Alias Wavefront

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects in a Digital World: A Comprehensive Glossary of over 7,000 Visual Effects Terms by Karen Goulekas
Techniques of Special Effects of Cinematography by Raymond Fielding

STOP MOTION
Stop Motion: Craft Skills for Model Animation by Susannah Shaw
Stop Motion Armature Machining: A Heavily Illustrated Construction Manual by Tom Brierton
Stop Motion Puppet Sculpting: A Manual of Foam Injection, Build-Up and Finishing Techniques by Tom Brierton
Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas: The Film, The Art, The Vision by Frank Thompson

FILM AND CINEMATOGRAPHY
On Directing Film by David Mamet*
The Visual Story by Bruce Block*
The Five C’s of Cinematography: Motion Picture Filming Techniques by Joseph V. Mascelli*
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee*
Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know by Jennifer Van Sijll*
Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers, Directors, and Videographers by Blain Brown*
Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing From Concept to Screen by Steve Katz*
Film Directing: Cinematic Motion, Second Edition by Steven D. Katz*
Painting with Light by John Alton*
In the Blink of an Eye: A Perspective on Film Editing by Walter Murch*

*Recommendations for Character Animators from the Animationmentor.com Library List

[Trevor May]

Oh, a couple more -- particularly for character animators:
Character Animation Crash Course, by Eric Goldberg
Simplified Drawing for Planning Animation, by Wayne Gilbert

[carl youri]

0h...yes if anyones into stop frame and model making
then ardmans big yellow book called 'cracking animation' is very inspirational...
just picked up a copy of the making of 'chicken run' which charts the whole process
of the movie...really like 'flash and after effects' by chris jackson..
:)