How to Make Animated Films: Tony White's Complete Masterclass on the Traditional Principals of Animation [Paperback]

Tony White (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0240810333 | ISBN-13: 978-0240810331 | Publication Date: May 26, 2009 | Edition: 1

Become Tony White's personal animation student. Experience many of the teaching techniques of the golden era of Disney and Warner Brothers studios and beyond.all from the comfort of your own home or studio. Tony White's Animation Master Class is uniquely designed to cover the core principles of animated movement comprehensively. How to Make Animated Films offers secrets and unique approaches only a Master Animator could share. Includes hands-on Tutorials, demonstrations and final sample animations. . Whether you want to become a qualified animator of 2D, 3D, Flash or any other form of animation, Tony White's foundations bring you closer to that goal.  The DVD is invaluable, in that readers are not only taught principles and concepts in the book, they are able to see them demonstrated in action in the movies on the DVD.

*Look over the shoulder of award-winning Master Animator, Tony White, as he works at his animation lightbox. Watch, listen, experience as the author demonstrates everything you need to know.
*Tony White is a legendary animator with a strong following. His best-selling title: The Animator's Workbook has 80,000 copies to date.
*For aspiring animators on their own - without backing or funding. Get the same results the Disney animators do with bare minimum technique and equipment.
*DVD offers a perfect audio/visual companion to the book with movies of the author at his drawing desk, creating art in front of our eyes - demonstrating difficult techniques like flipping, inbetweening and superimposition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tony White is a marvelous teacher. He has great love for the art of animation, and also a talent for explaining complex ideas in simple, accessible language." -Nancy Beiman, Professor of Animation, Sheridan College and author of PREPARE TO BOARD! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts

"Tony White's enthusiasm for animation is contagious. His deep knowledge of the medium continues to guide and inspire eager students every year. That's why I'm delighted to see Tony's special brand of expertise made available to a wider audience. Animation enthusiasts will find this book a treasure trove." -Michel Gagné, Artist/Filmmaker

"Tony White offers a wealth of knowledge from his vast, extensive experience in the art of animation. From the basic mechanics to the sophisticated complexities of hand drawn character animation, Tony covers it all." -Don Crum, Professional Character Animator

About the Author

Tony White, renowned animator, director, professor, lecturer, and author, has been in the animation industry for over 30 years, and currently teaches 2D animation and oversees principal animation production classes at DigiPen Institute of Technology. White began his career working with legendary industry professionals like award-winning illustrator Ralph Steadman, animation gurus Ken Harris, Art Babbit (original lead animator on Pinocchio, Fantasia, and others at Disney). He also personally assisted, then directed/animated for Richard Williams (3-time Oscar winner and author of The Animator's Survival Kit). In addition to being the Dean of Fine Art and Animation at DigiPen, White founded and presides over The Animaticus Foundation, which he formed to preserve, teach and evolve the art form of traditional 2D animation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 510 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press; 1 edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0240810333
• ISBN-13: 978-0240810331
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Look over the shoulder of a master animator, July 30, 2009

By 

Brett McCoy "Programmer by Day, Musician by N... (Germantown, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: How to Make Animated Films: Tony White's Complete Masterclass on the Traditional Principals of Animation (Paperback)

I've studied animation techniques from Tony White's two previous books, but this one is the best one yet from this master animator from England. He provides an "over the shoulder" view of animation techniques, and lets you look over his shoulder on how in-betweens are done, how generic walks are created, and so on, as if you are a journeyman learning from the master. He starts off with a 10 part foundation course, with exercises for each section, and moves the journeyman animator into more and more complex animation techniques. I've got a long way go to myself in terms of my animation skills but Tony White sure has helped me along. The accompanying DVD is also very good as you get to literally watch him draw in-betweens in traditional 2D animation style, with pencil and paper! Tony also provides some lecture material on doing walks, both generic walks and walks with personality. His teaching style seems so patient and nurturing, it must be wonderful to takes courses directly from him. This book provides the next best thing!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tony White's latest book on how to animate films is thorough, detailed and just one of the best books out there on animation., January 27, 2010

By 

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Make Animated Films: Tony White's Complete Masterclass on the Traditional Principals of Animation (Paperback)

(What's this?)

For anyone interested or curious on how films are animated, look no further as legendary animator has written one of the most complete, concise books on how-to-animate with "How to Make Animated Films" from Focal Press.

The book is educational and utilizes a lot of images to show the reader how things are animated. White's "How to Make Animated Films" is a 10-step foundation teaching the core principles of movement in 2D or 3D animation and utilizes what he teaches at his production classes for DigiPen Institute of Technology in this book.

White breaks down each chapter as "Master Classes" and featured are:

* Masterclass 1: Animation Basics - A chapter about key positioning, breakdown positions, flipping, arcs, timing and space and more.
* Masterclass 2: The Bouncing Ball - A chapter about weight, mass and flexibility. Gravity, timing, mass, volume and more.
* Masterclass 3: Generic Walks - A chapter about the lower body, walk cycle, upper body and more.
* Masterclass 4: Personality Walks - A chapter that goes into the hip and shoulder rotation, double-bounce walk, rotation of the head, balance, timing, etc.
* Masterclass 5: Generic Runs - A chapter about running, head-on runs and more.
* Masterclass 6: Quadruped Walks - A chapter about front legs, rear legs, neck and head, tails, realistic quadruped movements and more.
* Masterclass 7: Weight - A chapter about using a rubber ball, ping-pong ball, bowling ball and comparing them.
* Masterclass 8: Anticipation - A chapter about the benefits of anticipation and more.
* Masterclass 9: Dialog - A chapter on body language, facial animation, lip synching and more.
* Masterclass 10: Final Project - A chapter on staggers, joints, eye blinks, eye brows, gravity and more.

The second part of the book deals with other aspects of animating film such as:

* Film Production 1: Exploring Ideas, Storytelling and Scriptwriting
* Film Production 2: Concept Art, Viz Dev and Camera Maps
* Film Production 3: Character Design
* Film Production 4: Thumbnails
* Film Production 5: Storyboards
* Film Production 6: Filmmaking Techniques
* Film Production 7: Audio Record
* Film Production 8: Animatic and Bacher Boards
* Film Production 9: Background and Environment Layouts
* Film Production 10: Color Script
* Film Production 11: Audio Breakdown
* Film Production 12: Block in Key Poses
* Film Production 13: Placement and Timing
* Film Production 14: Two-Dimensional In-Betweening
* Film Production 15: Rolling, Flipping and Pencil Testing
* Film Production 16: Clean-Up
* Film Production 17: Scanning
* Film Production 18: Background and Environments
* Film Production 19: Coloring
* Film Production 20: Compositing
* Film Production 21: Rendering
* Film Production 22: Final Edit

Needless to say, "How to Make Animated Films" is a very detailed book but White does a great well of explaining the details and along with those details you get examples. And in addition to the book, included is a DVD featuring lectures by Tony White (from the classroom) plus demos that are featured in the Masterclass chapters. From inbetweening to lectures on generic walks and personality walks, these are not several minute lectures, these lectures are 15-25 minutes long.

Many people may not have the chance to go to a professional school that teaches animation but fortunately Tony White does a great job in providing those interested in animation in learning the core basics of animation through this book.

If you are a person who wants to get into animating and wants to learn from one of the best, purchasing "How to Make Animated Films" by Tony White is an affordable way to do so. Detailed, educational and thorough, "How to Make Animated Films" is definitely recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good start for newcomers to animation, December 18, 2009

By 

Grant Beaudette (Missoula, MT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How to Make Animated Films: Tony White's Complete Masterclass on the Traditional Principals of Animation (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Learning animation takes a lot of study and practice, and if you're just starting that learning process and don't know much about animation yet, a book like The Animator's Survival Kit--Revised Edition: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators might confuse you since it's more theoretical than practical.

How to Make Animated Films doesn't go into nearly the depth Richard Williams does, but it's a lot more practical and hands-on. For someone just starting out this is probably a good book to cut your teeth on before moving on to more advanced books like Williams'.

This book covers the entirety of the animated filmmaking process. The first half teaches basic animation techniques- inbetweens, bouncing balls, walks, lip sync, etc...- while the second half of the book focuses on animated filmmaking, some of which is similar to live action filmmaking as well as animation-specific concepts like layouts, color scripts, cleanup, and the like.

Even though this book is presented as a "one stop shop" for making animated films, getting the most out this book hinges on reading Tony White's previous two books- The Animator's Workbook: Step-By-Step Techniques of Drawn Animation and Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator. Both are needed to make up the depth that's lost in order to cover all of animated filmmaking in 470-some pages.

I personally think there's a lot more White could've taught about animation before moving on to making a film with it. Things like drag, follow through, overlap, etc... aren't mentioned much.

The included DVD is a decent supplement to the instruction in the book. They help explain in video what White is teaching in text, although it could've gone further. The bouncing ball and flour sack exercises aren't even covered on the disc. And it would've been nice if it included the two films that're often cited in the book rather than two student pieces.

If you've studied animation for a while, even if just in reading some books, feel free to skip this one. But if you're completely new to animation, How to Make Animated Films is a good starting point and you can graduate on to other books later.