Customer Reviews

Exploring Drawing for Animation (Design Concepts)

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

 

 

I admit I bought this book sight unseen (something I do a lot, kind of a crap shoot, I know), and while the cover and the few images I had seen were well done, overall the authors of the book, while probably excellent educators, wouldn't be qualified to give advice to industry professionals on every section of production that is addressed within. I myself have taught animation and advanced drawing at the college level, as well as worked on TV/Film animation for many years (as key animator and storyboard artist). While I don't want to trash the book, as it is a nice over view, I do regret purchasing it. THe character designs are barely above what I would expect from my students, and while the life drawings too are nice, I would expect an industry pro to be capable of much better, should they choose to write a book dealing with the subject. Again, a nice overview book, and many students or people simply interested in animation will find it helpful, but if you have a solid background in drawing, animation, design, or are already employed within the field (and obviously possess a degree of skill), spend your money on books that focus more acutely on a smaller aspect of film making (whether animation timing/staging, drawing, or even layout/design).

I have worked as an animator, teacher and fine artist for over 30 years and this is the first art text I have ever seen that discusses how solid drawing skill relates to creating drawings for character designs and 2D animation. Most animation `how-to' books include some drawing instruction but do not address the important bridge between drawing and animation.

The authors present an entertainingly written book in an easy-to-read conversational tone along with illustrations that show the well-honed professional drawing and painting skills of this book's creators. It is obvious to the reader that the authors are seasoned artists and educators.

While this book is predominantly for learners of beginning to intermediate levels, anyone with an interest in the interdisciplinary issues within animation and drawing would benefit from picking up this gem of a text. Unfortunately, the title of the book suggests that it covers the technique of 2D animation in-depth, but this is a misnomer. Fortunately, 2D animation is commented on in a more important context: the development of effective observational drawing skills that will produce better animation drawings.

I bought tis book a few years ago. It has some good stuff of how drawing relates to animation. It also sheds more light on to the process than a lot of books. However, after a few years of animation art school, I realized how bad the drawings were. If you want to learn about drawing for animation, check out Glen Vilppu's books. (he worked as a drawing instructor/trainer at some of the bigger studios in L.A.)

This book has very little to do directly with animation.

Plenty of the drawing principles explained are quite valuable to an animator. Rules of proportion, anatomy, perspective, etc... that are the foundation of most any form of drawing, This book is a decent primer in these principles, although there are plenty of other books that cover them better.

But if you thought you were going to learn the about drawing in the manner & style of 2D animation, think again. Clean-up style linework is only covered briefly and most of the examples of it aren't that great. Most of the art in this book is too rough to be suitable for animation, which is fine for life drawings, but the rest can be little more than conceptual work, which can come from any style of art, really. There's not enough structure taught to create usable artwork for characters, backgrounds or even layouts for animation.

There's definitely things you can learn from this book, but you're better off finding them somewhere else.

I have worked as a Game developer, Educator and 3D Animator for the last 8 years. During that time I have spent many long hours reading animation texts. I can say without a doubt that this book is one that every serious animator should add to their collection. Exploring Drawing for Animation is a useful resource for both beginners and experts, I highly recommend it!

I've been drawing for years, and thusly I'm always on the lookout for a drawing book that is truly helpful. After picking up this book, I knew I had found a winner. This book is by far one of the best books of it's type I've ever seen. Finally a book for aspiring animators that isn't filled to the brim with characters that look like stale ripoffs of Don Adams, or rejects from Sergio Aragones' "The Mighty Groo"... and I'm not just harping over this book because the authors are two of my teachers-- they know their stuff, and if you can't be in one of their classes, then you definitely have to pick this up.

Oh my, where to begin...

I posted some images of a few of the drawings from the pages of this book on the customer images link above. Feel free to take a look at those to see where I am coming from.

The authors of this book need a few drawing lessons themselves, though I'm not sure that would actually help, because they're beyond hopeless. The drawings in the book are beginner level, amateurish drawings and it's really sad to see that these guys are actually teaching students in an art school.

Aside from the obvious lack of personal drawing skill on the authors' parts, there is a lot of bad advice from an animation drawing point of view, like too much emphasis on measuring and copying the model and a completely misunderstood/misrepresented view of the all-important line of action.

Stay away from this book. These guys should be ashamed of themselves for putting this crap out there.

I made the mistake of buying this book, and I would like to warn you guys please , please dont waste your money on this title...This book is nothing more than a long overview on drawn animation , It is not and I repeate it is not a how to book , although the authors have tried to present it as a text book, its no more than an introduction to animaton drawing ,the authors try very hard to explain drawing and go all blah...blah...blah....but they dont tell you what to do , whats mentioned in this book can be known via a simple search on the net.I would advice customers to buy a copy of, Vilppu Drawing Manual by Glenn Vilppu and Animation : The mechanics of motion by Chris Webster. These books are practicle , simple , cheaper and would prove to be a thousand times more useful to the animation student.