How to Draw Animation: Learn the Art of Animation from Character Design to Storyboards and Layouts [Paperback]

Christopher Hart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997

These lively pages burst with hands-on instruction for creating clever, colorful character animation. Once again, this best-selling author knows just what readers want, and he provides it with this timely instructional on that hugely popular and magical art form: animation.

Everywhere we turn—movies, television, videos, CD-ROM—animated characters capture our imagination. This superb book shows aspiring cartoonists and animators how to learn or adapt skills to the lucrative, ever-growing field of animated art. Inviting, step-by-step demonstrators present animation with the emphasis most helpfully placed on cartooning, rather than film technique. The wide-ranging instruction teaches how to create images of hilarious antics and mischief; bring alive enchanted fairy tales and action adventures; conceive brand-new characters with original looks: design contemporary looking settings and backgrounds; and prepare professional-quality storyboards.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christopher Hart is Watson-Guptill's best-selling author; his previous books have sold more than a million copies. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823023656
• ISBN-13: 978-0823023653
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.4 x 11 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #799,572 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thanks for taking a look at my books, and this "Author Bio." I'm a competent tennis player, who also enjoys playing computer chess while I'm watching TV at night (Hey, it prevents me from channel-surfing). I'm keenly interested in M-theory, although i have become skeptical of it of late, despite Brian's Green's full-body gushing... I love being with my family, and even my extremely evil dog, a Welsh Springer Spaniel named "Rusty." Oh, yes, he truly is that evil.

As for my work, I'm the author of many How-To-Draw books, published by Watson-Guptill,the art imprint of Random House. Thanks to a lot of the wonderful readers (and you know who you are!), I have sold over 3 million copies domestically, which have been translated into 20 languages worldwide.

I'm fortunate to also have had 26 of the Best-Selling art books in the country, according to Bookscan.(Bookscan is the publishing industry's rating system for books, which is owned by same company that does the Neislen TV ratings.)

I also have my own drawing show on the Comcast Network, called, "How To Draw Action Heroes With Chris Hart." It's on Comcast's "Activity TV." I hope you like my books, and find them a valuable adjunct to your own imagination.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars WARNING: This Book is For The Little Kiddies, April 30, 2000

By 

Gail Willis "music maven" (Baltimore, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Draw Animation: Learn the Art of Animation from Character Design to Storyboards and Layouts (Paperback)

This book is not for people who are interested in becomingserious animators. The book seems to be geared towards children whoare interested in how animation works. So if you are a seriousanimation student I would have to warn you to stay clear of this book. However, this is a good book to give the little kiddies on how animation works. On the bases of it being a Childrens book about animation I would have to give it 5 stars. Since I am sort of an animator in training I would have to give it 2 stars for content. Why? You ask because the content is very brief and does not go into much detail. ...

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A bookshelf MUST for any aspiring cartoonist or animator, March 1, 1999

By 

M. North (Roseville, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Draw Animation: Learn the Art of Animation from Character Design to Storyboards and Layouts (Paperback)

I find myself constantly going back to this book, above all my other books on cartooning and animation, to see how certain techniques are done. There's a ton of extremely well-crafted cartoons and figures shown in the book. Christopher Hart writes clearly and intelligently, and addresses issues any animator or cartoonist must grapple with in order to break past personal plateaus in artistic development.

I constantly refer to this book as a guide for basic animal and human movement, as well as for ideas for character creation. Christopher Hart's characters sparkle with a certain magical quality that is, in my opinion, the hallmark of a truly gifted artist.

I'm pleased to say that I've made tremendous progress in my own work since using this book.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Should be called: A Very Brief Introduction to Animation, December 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Draw Animation: Learn the Art of Animation from Character Design to Storyboards and Layouts (Paperback)

I was extremely disappointed in this book. It has very little real content and the book only touches very briefly on many topics. The concepts contained in the book could have been written on 3 sheets of paper. My guess it is written for children to see some of the animation concepts