Customer Reviews

Character Animation Crash Course!

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is without a doubt one of the best how to animations books out there. Believe me there are many others but the fact that it was written and fully illustrated by master animator Erik Goldberg makes this an absolute must have. His drawings just pop off the page with life and it is very inspirational to look at. Goldberg takes a different approach to teaching animation because here he assumes you already know the basics and shows you how to make your animation come to life with style and fluidity. It's different from say the Richard Williams book The Animator's Survival Kit because in this book it covers things like walk cycles and what not but in a more technical way. Don't get me wrong that's a wonderful book as well, but Goldberg expands on what Williams did. An example would be Williams talks about mouth shapes but Goldberg shows how and when the shapes should be used effectively; such as hitting accents with a bigger shape and pose. This is not for someone who is just starting out but more for someone who knows a little already and wants to improve to the next level. I've been a professional animator for years and nothing has helped me more than this book. I would highly recommend this book to students of animation and working professionals. The golden age isn't dead yet!

Animation is an insanely broad topic. Far too huge to ever cover in one book. Listening to master animators on "The Animation Podcast" and else reveals that everyone's approach to this artform is different. And yet most animation books cover the same content.

For many years, Richard Williams' The Animator's Survival Kit has been the gold standard of animation books, and rightfully so. Lucky for us, fellow animation guru Eric Goldberg's "Character Animation Crash Course" isn't just overlap from Williams' work and teaches us different aspects of animation that other books haven't covered.

Goldberg covers aspects of animation far less academically than Williams and rather focuses on things from a character standpoint, how you could apply a technique to a specific character. He also list several classic cartoons (most if not all of which are on DVD) for examples of each particular technique.

He also covers how control the overall shape volume of what's moving, even for flat, graphic characters, and goes in depth on animation "gimmicks" like smear drawings, zip lines, staggers etc... that are often mentioned, but never properly explained.

Probably the most informative part of the book for me was the section on character construction, covering many of the ins and outs of designing an animatable character that I haven't seen in other books.

"Character Animation Crash Course" also has the one big thing "Animator's Survival Kit" doesn't: A CD-ROM of the animations shown that you can watch and frame through to better understand the lessons in the book.

Hopefully someday other master animators will do what Eric Goldberg's done with "Character Animation Crash Course." Write an animation book that has unique outlook on the artform and that imparts some new pearls of knowledge on the subject. Until then, you have to at least add this book to your shelf. Right next to The Animator's Survival Kit of course.

When I went to animation college 10 years ago, there were NO books to instruct you on actually HOW to practice weight balance, mass and volume in your character animation tests. Plenty of old books existed with great artwork, with the exception of Preston Blair's book Cartoon Animation (The Collector's Series) and later on (after I graduated) the great Richard William's book The Animator's Survival Kit. But there was nothing to actually show you step by step the principles of posing, timing and movement for hand-drawn animation, Richard's book had some nice technical stuff for walk cycles and timing, but Goldberg's book is a first for really outlining the basics efficiently.


This book IS the first and best book to lay out the principles of character movement; antics, overshoots, settles, squash and stretch, break downs, in-betweeing, timing, spacing and all the other basics needed for any classical or CG animator.

I highly recommend this book to all students, teachers and even veterans, because not only does it cover all the fundamentals but it goes beyond into more advanced concepts that ALL types of animators must know and practice, whether it be 3D, traditional paper, or stopmotion animation, this book is definitely worth it.

This book by esteemed Disney animator Eric Goldberg is a must-have in your animation library. There are a lot of books out there which are hundreds of pages long and seem to have a lot of information in them, but the actual meat of the lessons get lost in history lessons and fluff. Not in this book: lessons are simple, clear, concise, heavily illustated, and even animated by Eric on the included dvd! This is a godsend to animation students and teachers -- it's like having a pro animator at your side to give the lesson and then show it to you animated to confirm you are "getting it". I am an animation pro and have taught for years, and I think this is a great book for students (can't beat the price!) and also for pros who like to see an individual animator's way of working. This is pure "school of Eric Goldberg". Now you will know his secrets!

An absolutely great book and a must have for artist and animators alike. If you like cartoony animation, this book,the preston blair book and the animating the looney tunes way will do it. The principles stressed in this book can be applied to CG, stopmotion animation and just pure drawing in general. This book is a great read and source. I highly recommend it.

I'm shocked there are any bad reviews for this book: it makes me think those reviewers know little about animation. This book is a treasure. With a forward from Brad Bird and explanations of character animation explained in unique form, I would suggest any animator should add this book to their collection and APPLY the principles asap. After all, animation is an ongoing learning process, and Eric Goldberg has much to share: and he shares it in this book.

This is a great, concise book on character animation. It is not necessarily new material but the way it is presented in this "crash course" fashion is amazing. There is no bull, just the facts. Goldberg is an icon and his book will become a standard. The DVD is worth it's wait in gold showing videos of the animations in the book, with timing charts. I do love this book and I have MANY on this topic.

A wonderful resource for the aspiring or seasoned character animator! This required reading covers the essentials of character animation in practical, insightful and engaging ways by one of the industry's geniuses. Eric Goldberg is indeed one of my animation heroes and this book exemplifies his skill, talent and love of the art. Get this book...now... and animate!

This book is very important to have if you're interested in becoming an Animator. It has great tips and will give you the basics that you need to know to get started in the field. I had to get this book for Animation class and it's a great one to have when you're starting out. It's not going to tell you every little thing, for that you need to practice and perhaps have some real schooling. It's one of the better Animation books you're find out there though.

Purchased this as a present and the recipient loved it. He had researched it quite a bit and loved that it delivered as promised!