Customer Reviews

Flash Cartoon Animation: Learn from the Pros

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Beginning Flash animators will probably find no better starting place than this book. It includes just about everything the neophyte animator needs for a good start. The book traces the evolution of a Flash cartoon from idea to actuality, with a bonus chapter on publishing to the internet and the inevitable issues that arise at that phase. Coming up with a story can stall the most stalwart animator, and the first chapter is dedicated to this brain bulging dilemma. There may be nothing more important for a successful cartoon than starting out with and ultimately following a plan, and the book reiterates this idea almost ad nauseum - but for good reason. A script can easily translate to a storyboard, which will slowly morph into the final product. Plans will only save time and frustration in the end (a very hard learned lesson that can leave permanent damage). Many beginners may leap right into Flash with an abstract or incomplete idea thinking "I'll get the ending eventually, now let's get to drawing!" (I've never done this, no way, not me, no no...) A toon abandoned from frustration typically results. The authors do a great job of driving this home (so don't skip the first chapter). A great introduction to Flash's drawing tools follows the story line chapter (a subject that could fill an entire book). Discussions concerning style permeate the chapter (e.g., advantages of the brush tool over the pencil tool, etc. - readers make the choice in the end depending on personal preference). A surprising discussion on Art Direction follows. Beginning animators probably grossly underestimate the importance of mapping out characters for consistency, composition with color and space, and ease of animation (i.e., don't create characters with multitudinous moving parts and hard to animate elements). I did. Next, the book outlines the basics of storyboarding and some basic concepts of cinematography (e.g., establishing eyelines, camera positioning, etc). The authors stress the importance of making an animatic (basically a rough draft for an animation that typically involves animating the storyboard) for a toon. This probably comes down to personal preference as well (I've never made an animatic, but these guys do have massive and impressive experience). The most important chapter, "Animation Principles", provides the basic theoretical foundation for what makes a toon tick. The inexperienced will find vital principles here: squash and stretch, staggering, depicting weight, anticipation, cycles, following through, and animating acting. All animators should have these concepts down to an almost second-nature degree. Everyone who reads this book should also supplement it with another book on animation principles (the authors provide a short list of possible titles). This information will improve a toon's quality and professionalism exponentially. Of course the authors eventually discuss animating using Flash, but not in detail until chapter eight. They put great weight on theory, as they should. It will pay off in droves in the end. The authors themselves say "you could learn in a sentence something that has taken other Flash animators weeks and months of toil to discover, by which we mean ourselves of course!" Having learned a lot of things the hard way myself (this book was no where to be found when I began animating with Flash 4 some years back), I support this advice with great weight. Heed it. Read before animating for the first time. In fact, read this book before animating for the first time. As a bonus, the authors construct an actual toon throughout the book to emphasize the priciples discussed. This also provides some hands-on experience with Flash.

The book includes numerous typos and a few bizarre references (e.g. chapter eight says "You have probably heard of the animation term 'tweening'"; yes, because chapter five has already discussed it). These in no way detract from the discussion. Overall the book flows in an extremely readable way. Any and all Flash animation beginners should read it cover to cover.

As a student of television and video design, I've worked with earlier versions of Flash. When I purchased Studio MX 04, I wanted to add some strong titles to my Flash library and purchased a number of books here at Amazon. Of all the books I own, this book is the best title for someone getting started with animation for the web or for television and video. The black and white drawings and illustrations skillfully convey how to get your ideas across with Flash. The explanations of camera angles and shot types are thorough and detailed. Excellent examples of complete storyboards show the new animator how to develop boards and explain the role of storyboards in the finished product. Profusely illustrated throughout, Flash Cartoon Animation is another wonderful title from Friends of ED. The authors, animation professionals from Australia, are gifted teachers who not only know the software but are thoroughly grounded in the language and techniques of film and television.

Having been interested in animation for some time, but put off by traditional expensive and time-consuming methods, I was excited when a friend recommended this new Friends of ED book. With no previous Flash experience, I was cautious, but this book really did make it easy and fun. I'd made my first simple animation within days, now I'm hooked!

Highly recommended.

If you're new to flash or you just know the basics, this is the right book for you. Covers any possibility and easily guides you step by step even before you start touching a computer!

The first chapters explains how Flash works, just as any other flash book, but also explains all the differences of using flash for animation instead of web design, and contains an extremely useful description about how to optimize and reduce your file's size for optimum performance, and more important, the differences between TV and video output and web animation file sizes, frame rates and screen proportions. This part often is not included in most flash books and it's essential for ambitious projects, specially if your work is intended for a specific media type.

The part I like the most? the book focuses in all the previous work and planning needed to achieve success. Page after page, you'll learn and understand why you can easily fail if you just jump into flash without an adequate understanding of the creative process. Contrary to most How-to books in the market which just says "this is all the lesson you'll need.", this one claims "Wait!, BEFORE you even try to do this, prepare yourself for this, this, and get this... then you'll be ready", so by the time you start your flash animation, you'll be prepared for anything, and more important, you'll know how to solve it yourself.

Everything you need for flash animation is here, no matter if you are just planning a simply e-card, or a complete animation broadcast.

Love this book! It is written by former Disney animators so they know their stuff. I took traditional animation in school and this book covers all the basic animation ideas and principles that would be helpful to beginners. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to create animations of their own.

This one is good, full of explanations and step by step instructions on how to get the desired results. I am a fan of FOED books and along with their Foundation titles this one really shines! Recommended.

I have read a lot of books on animating cartoons using Flash, and this is one of the best, most informative books I have found on the subject. It isn't a Flash "tutorial only" book, like so many that have been written. What this wonderful book does,is to guide the novice animation producer, director, animator through the process. The authors really know there stuff as they are true professionals, not techno writers, but animators who make a living doing this type of work. Yes, it's black and white, and scarce on eye candy, but full of informational "meat" and "potatoes". If you want to make cartoon movies in Flash this is a "must have" text.

Without the benefit of experience, animation can be a hit-and-miss affair for even the most talented artists. This book goes a long way to show the CORRECT way to make a movie, not only for animation and not only for Flash, but these concepts could be applied to any film-making medium.

Finally got my copy in the mail today. I'm a full-time animator myself and I have great respect for the work of the authors Glenn and Kevin. This book is something I've been looking forward to for months now, and having flicked through it all day, I'm not a bit disappointed. Many laughs.. the occasional tear.. learned a [lot]. I'll be sure to mention you guys on Oscar night. I love my new book.

Friends of ED, well done on getting these guys on board. More from them please!!

if you are interested in making visually dynamic,interesting animation with flash,buy this.strong on content with an emphasis on story and solid work methods,this book is simple without being basic,and shows the talent of its writers(who are professionals not just teachers).you will not be dissapointed,unless you need pretty colours(its in black and white)

Having dabbled with attempts at animation for a while now, my efforts were improved by purchasing a book on "Animation" prior to the book in question. This fired me up and made me really think about what I was trying to do. However THIS book dealt with animating in FLASH which puts a different spin on the process as it dealt with LIMITED animation besides FULL animation, the latter being more difficult for obvious reasons. whichever way you want to go, this book as heaps of tricks to use that only flash can provide which will make your animating more convincing.
The best bit is being able to pull apart and see how the animation created in the book is done by downloading it from the authors website, plus there is also another website with the authors work and others with numerous short LIMITED animations which will inspire you I am sure ....it did me.