Customer Reviews

Animated Cartoons

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book is the best place to start actually making animation. Equipment construction is explained well enough to start a professional studio. Techniques are clearly described and perfect for students of the art. Extras are the theory of what is funny and why, but mostly, the uses animation may serve in education. Many great old illustrations of walks pepper this volume. If you like to draw in ink, this book is for you.

Some clarification is needed here - this book is a reprint of a book from 1920, and although you might glean some tips on how to animate that are still relevant, this is NOT the book to buy if you're looking to learn the craft - it has been reprinted purely for historical interest. There's nothing here that is not outdated or superseded. If you want to learn animation, the books you really need are Tony White's 'Animator's Workbook', and Richard Williams's 'Animator's Survival Kit'. That said, if you're already a clued-up animator, or interested in the history of the craft, this is a fascinating book, representing as it does the state of the art just a few years before Disney appeared on the scene and set new standards. Historically - wonderful. Instructionally - look elsewhere.

Lutz's "Animated cartoons" is well written manual of making animation cartoons in 1920's. The description of techniques is simple and understandable, and you can learn what Disney and his rivals derived from this wonderful resource. It also provides a good review of the animation history in early years.
This excellent book, however, has such a poor version from General Books LLC. The version seems to be the only OCR data, including many errors without any layout, and almost impossible to read. If you don't want to waste your money, choose the hard cover version, or try to find a copy-free version online.

Do you feel a fondness in your heart for old black and white cartoons? Do you know that the original Tom and Jerry were not a cat and a mouse but two loopy guys? If you can answer yes to those questions you will like this book which was originally published way back then.
It's actually full of good information that is still relevant today. I own a number of animation how-to-do-it books and one thing about this book is that all its numerous illustrations are unique and different from any other book. And it covers a few things that I've never seen covered in any other book - like exactly how to draw all the frames for the smoke coming from the tailpipe of an old jalopy. The emphasis of this book is different from modern books and the tone is more bright-eyed and awestruck. It's refreshing to read something written at the very beginning of animation when it was still viewed with amazement.
If watching Betty Boop fills you with warm nostalgia then I think this book will do the same for you.

Maybe I will not read every word of this book, but just knowing it is on my shelf makes me give it 5 stars, being a landmark in the history of animation, also being the book Walt started out with...
For animators then, it was comparable to, what Frank & Ollie's 'The Illusion of Life' is now (if you are looking for THE book on animation, start here), or Preston Blair's book (when there only was one) when I started in animation in the 70's...