Animation Books

Animation Books
Chromacolour carries a full range of select animation books.
	CARTOON ANIMATION by Preston Blair published by Walter Foster The One-Source Book That Cartoon Animation Enthusiasts Have Been Waiting For!  In this comprehensive, definitive book, acclaimed  cartoon animator Preston Blair shares his vast  practical knowledge to explain and demonstrate the  magic of cartoon animation as well as many of his  extraordinary techniques.  Blair shows you how to develop a cartoon character’s  shape, personality, features, and mannerisms; how to  create movements such as walking, running,  stretching, and dancing; and how to construct  dialogue and coordinate it with movement.  Full of familiar and famous sketches, drawings, and  other artwork, cartoon Animation is a book no cartoon  animation enthusiast should be without!	ABOUT THE AUTHOR   A legendary figure in the world of cartoon   animation, Preston Blair designed and   animated the delightful dancing hippos in   Walt Disney’s Fantasia, a film for which he   also animated Mickey Mouse in the   famous “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” scene.   Apart from Disney, Blair directed,   animated, and designed a host of popular   short films at MGM and produced an   episode for TV’s The Flintstones. More   recently, he was involved in the creation of   interactive TV systems that use animation   methods to teach reading.   Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair $53.70
		BK108  "Animation is Fun" by Shelia Graber    $21.49
		BK106 "The Human Figure in Motion" by Edward Muybidge    $59.07   BK107 "Animals in Motion" by Edward Muybidge $64.45
		Preston Blair, Walter Foster Series BK103 "How To Animate Film Cartoons #190" by Preston Blair    $21.49   BK101 "How To Draw Cartoon Animation #26" by Preston Blair    $21.49   BK123 "How To Draw and Paint  Animation Basics #25"  by Walter Foster    $21.49   BK105 "How To Draw Comic Characters" by Walter Foster    $21.49
	“Designing Cartoon Characters for Animation” Volume 1, by Brian Lemay Are you tired of all those "Coffee Table" books on animation? You know the one's that I'm talking about; they show lots of nice, even beautiful drawings and illustrations from productions, but they don't have any information on how the artist came to draw the character that certain way or what their thought process was. What about all those "How To" books that are aimed at the young reader with those simple 3 steps to making a drawing? They just explain it all in too "simple" terms. I have all those books myself. I love to read books on animation, cartooning and the process of getting it done, I'm just frustrated with the lack of in-depth information available. If you're like me, and wish there were some books that really go through the whole process on a professional level, then this is the book for you! As an animator, you need to know how to draw cartoon characters in a 3-dimensional way, making them look solid and real. I've written this book so you can go through the entire theory on why and how cartoon characters are drawn and how you can do the same thing, not just copying my drawings but how to come up with your own characters.
	“Designing Cartoon Characters for Animation” Volume 2 by Brian Lemay This is the second book in the series of character design books. This book takes you through 8 assignments that will help you with the drawing of your cartoon characters.. The book ends with 29 pages of sketchbook designs with over 250 drawings of different characters. Throughout the book are the Principles of Character Design and Drawing to help you understand your drawings better. Also available is the complementary video 1 hour 45 minutes of Brian drawing and explaining the principles within the book.
		"Designing Cartoon Characters for Animation Volume 1" by Brian Lemay BK109 250 pages $26.88   "Designing Cartoon Characters for Animation Volume 2" by Brian Lemay BK110 226 pages    $26.88   Complementary Video VID100 (1hr: 45min)    $26.88
	“Layout and Design Made Amazingly Simple” by Brian Lemay Within the animation studio the layout department has become more and more important in series productions especially for studios that send their work overseas to be animated. This book covers all the departments that deal directly with the layout process. Each chapter clearly covers all the theory and applications involved. This book  is becoming the industry standard for educating people interested in becoming layout artists. The book has been widely sold to many College and University level animation programs and is currently used as part of the curriculum in the world famous Sheridan College Classical Animation program. Check out any other book on animation and you'll find that they simply don't discuss  the full process of layout in any depth at all. This book gives you all the technical and artistic theories involved. Lots and lots of illustrations and examples are scattered throughout.	Click here to see the chapter        headings and the topics             covered in this book "Layout and Design Made Amazingly Simple" by Brian Lemay BK111 360 pages    $37.63
	“Layout Examples” by Brian Lamay This book is an extension of the “Advanced Layout and Design Workbook”. In this book I’ve taken the 40 layout assignments and drawn them out for you in thumbnail sketch form, then selected one from each assignment and completed it to final layout format. I take you through the thought process on each one letting you see how and why I did it that way. I explain the perspective theories, cheating perspective, warping perspective, linear pans, non linear pans, tracks and trucks. Composition rational as well as different options of style. With over 250 layout drawings it ends with a whole new set of 40 assignments that you can do your yourself to help you put together a portfolio for studio presentation.	"Layout Examples" by Brian Lemay BK112 182 pages    $26.88
	“Advanced Layout & Design Workbook” by Brian Lemay This book is the follow-up to the book “Layout and Design Made Amazingly Simple”. This book is not a repeat book but rather an extension. It is broken up into four sections. Section 1 is an example of a film showing the process of going through the production from script through to thumbnail storyboards, character development, location designing, final character design, clean storyboarding and finally to the layout process. It shows all the drawings, both good and bad that go into getting the final product. Section 2 has a set of exercises that you can work on that present you with a script, Character, location and prop designs, and a storyboard. You then take these and using the outline breaking down the thought process involved, produce the final layouts for yourself Section 3 takes this same process a step further by providing you with just the script. You then develop the character, location and prop designs, and storyboard.  From these you then produce the final layouts. Again,  each step is covered in the book guiding you through  the process. This helps you with the actual production  of a series of portfolio pieces. It's often hardest to simply come up with the initial idea to work with. This section provides you with several options to choose from. Section 4 has 40 quick layout assignments that you can do within 3 - 4 hours. Each assignment is a short descriptive passage describing a specific location such as an alleyway in a city, a barber shop or the inside of a barn. It lists several elements that you should include within your environment. This section again, simply provides you with a series of springboards  to work from.	You'll find this book incredibly     helpful if you're trying to put     together a portfolio for a College     application or for a studio job     application. As a matter of fact     there are a few studios that have     recommended this book for     those people who were applying     for jobs in the layout department           "Advance Layout & Design Workbook" by Brian Lemay BK113 476 pages    $53.75
	"Animation-The Basic Principles" by: Brian Lemay This book is broken down into several bite size portions. Each section deals with a specific animation "Principle". Within each section, Brian explains the theory behind the principle and its general purpose in animation. Following that, he'll show some common "Applications" of how each principle is applied in animation drawings. There's lots of practical examples as well as assignments to help you explore the principles.	"Animation-The Basic Principles" by Brian Lemay     $48.38
	"Animation In The Home Digital Studio" by: Steven Subotnick Steven Subotnick is an internationally recognized independent animator. His recent works include “Devil’s Book”, a collaged and calligraphic abstraction, and “Hairyman”, a fractured folk tale using a variety of animation styles. He has taught animation at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, at Rhode Island School of Design, and at Harvard University. In addition to teaching, Subotnick also works commercially as a free-lance animator and director. He continues to produce his own independent animated films which include both computer-assisted and hand-made imagery, and abstract as well as narrative elements.	"Animation In The Home Digital Studio" by: Steven Subotnick $56.44