Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator [Paperback]

Tony White (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240806700 | ISBN-13: 978-0240806709 | Publication Date: August 4, 2006 | Edition: 1

Just add talent!

Award-winning animator Tony White brings you the ultimate book for digital animation. Here you will find the classic knowledge of many legendary techniques revealed, paired with information relevant to today's capable, state-of-the-art technologies.

White leaves nothing out. What contemporary digital animators most need to know can be found between this book's covers - from conceptions to creation and through the many stages of the production pipeline to distribution. This book is intended to serve as your one-stop how-to animation guide. Whether you're new to animation or a very experienced digital animator, here you'll find fundamentals, key classical techniques, and professional advice that will strengthen your work and well-roundedness as an animator.

Speaking from experience, White presents time-honored secrets of professional animaton with a warm, masterly, and knowledgeable approach that has evolved from over 30 years as an award-winning animator/director.

The book's enclosed CD-Rom presents classic moments from animation's history through White's personal homage to traditional drawn animation, "Endangered Species." Using movie clips and still images from the film, White shares the 'making of' journal of the film, detailing each step, with scene-by-scene descriptions, technique by technique. Look for the repetitive stress disorder guide on the CD-Rom, called, "Mega-hurts." Watch the many movie clips for insights into the versatility that a traditional, pencil-drawn approach to animaton can offer.

* Valuable CD-ROM contains a complete animated film made by the author and teaches how to apply the techniques in this book!
* Chock full of tips and secrets from this award-winning animation veteran
* The glossary of animation-related terms is worth its weight in gold

Editorial Reviews

Review

"From traditional to computer animation, from film to gaming, a great text for all who teach."--Robert Adams, Walt Disney Productions/Warner Bros

"All encompassing"--Brian Martin, FOX NET Animator

". this book is . a well-written, smart tomes that makes you wish the author was one of your teachers in school. Because the book resonates with wisdom that comes with spending years in the trenches of Toon Town, it should be a must-read for anyone who wants to brave the waters of digital animation. Overall, it's a handsome companion to White's earlier primer, The animator's Workbook."--Animation, Nov. 2006

"In the last 20 years, digital revolution has brought sweeping changes to animation. Animation has been in a state of evolution from its very inception, and it continues to evolve, but there is nothing to fear. We live in a world of possibilities. The young and mature animators will find his/her answers in this book. Award winning animator Tony White brings you the classic knowledge of many legendary techniques which are paired with information relevant today's capable, state-of-the-art technologies. This account contains all that knowledge contemporary digital animators need to know. This book intended to serve you as one-stop how-to guide; it enclosed CD-Rom which presents classic moments from animation's history through White's personal homage to traditional draw animation."--Wonderpedia.wetpaint.com

Book Description

Just add talent. This comprehensive book gives today's digital animators all the lessons they never had - classical animation techniques used by the most original animators of our time.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (August 4, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240806700
• ISBN-13: 978-0240806709
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 7.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,435 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview by an excellent author., August 15, 2006

By 

Nancy Beiman "Northernexpress" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator (Paperback)

The long-awaited sequel to Tony White's ANIMATOR'S WORKBOOK is worth the wait.
ANIMATION FROM PENCILS TO PIXELS is unique among animation books since artwork from White's short film ENDANGERED SPECIES is used to illustrate most of the sections of the book, though some student work is also included. Some material from THE ANIMATOR'S WORKBOOK is repeated, mainly in the sections that deal with action analysis. White has included valuable chapters on Flash and vector-based 2D animation. While drawing is clearly his first love there are also chapters on CGI '3D' animation written from the perspective of a professional animator.
The massive book (over 500 pages long) is readable and easy to navigate. Images are large and well-placed (this has been a notable failing in many animation how-to books.)
It's quite ambitious to incorporate preproduction, production, and post in two media into one volume. If you want a good, well written overview of animation production in the 21st century, this is the book to get.
I would like to see ENDANGERED SPECIES on a full DVD copy; the PDF format in the original edition is a bit hard to play on this computer.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for Students!, February 14, 2007

By 

John Eyley "Anm8rJohn" (Brisbane, AUS) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator (Paperback)

Students of animation! This book is essential for your home or studio shelf. Animation From Pencils to Pixels is a comprehensive overview of animation production for the digital animator. As a text book it covers the lot - the mechanics of animation, funding your projects, the traditional aspects (yes, they're still important), new tools and methods, the business and copyright of your work, getting the concept and where to go with it. It is a classy tome well laid out and encourages you to read on easily. Other books on animation go into more depth concerning the specifics in animation but for an overall appreciation of the art and industry you can't go past this one. It is a good companion book to The Animator's Survival Kit (can I mention that?) which has more depth on the nitty-gritties of animated movement. My only criticism is the "I, I, I...." stance of the author. But with the profile and experience that Tony has there is a lot here to learn from, while in the early years of discovering the art of animating.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dream and a number 2 pencil will take you anywhere, March 25, 2008

By 

Keith Johnson (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator (Paperback)

I have studied animation for the last several years. I am a Flash designer specializing in E-learning in the Seattle market. I am not just a casual reader of this topic.

Why I like this book. When you go to school for animation you have a lot of stuff thrown at you and no matter how good your notes are you can not remember it all. You need to refresh your skills. This book was not only good at that but also much more. It is a fun read, an interesting read.

This book covers the complete process from picking up the pencil to marketing/distribution. Tony knows his stuff, he should he has been a professional animator for many years and you have probably seen his works. If you have seen the Pink Panther Strikes Again ("does your dog bite?") you have, he did all the animation for the film.

Traditional animation is an art form and it seems like it is finally getting some of the respect it deserves. 3D is the rage these days, Pixel does an excellent job and nobody does it better, unfortunately there are more bad 3D feature films than good. Even Disney is hiring back some traditional animators and creating some old school, that's cool.

If you want to learn animation pick up this book and The Illusion of Life and you will learn so very much. But the learning process also requires doing. Like the saying goes, "A dream and a number 2 pencil will take you anywhere".

Keith Johnson
Manager of the Seattle Flash User Group
Flash Animator/ E-Learning Specialist