Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital Animator

Exactly as described and delivered in time.

The long-awaited sequel to Tony White's ANIMATOR'S WORKBOOK is worth the wait. ANIMATION FROM PENCILS TO PIXELS is unique among animation books since artwork from White's short film ENDANGERED SPECIES is used to illustrate most of the sections of the book, though some student work is also included. Some material from THE ANIMATOR'S WORKBOOK is repeated, mainly in the sections that deal with action analysis. White has included valuable chapters on Flash and vector-based 2D animation. While drawing is clearly his first love there are also chapters on CGI '3D' animation written from the perspective of a professional animator. The massive book (over 500 pages long) is readable and easy to navigate. Images are large and well-placed (this has been a notable failing in many animation how-to books.) It's quite ambitious to incorporate preproduction, production, and post in two media into one volume. If you want a good, well written overview of animation production in the 21st century, this is the book to get. I would like to see ENDANGERED SPECIES on a full DVD copy; the PDF format in the original edition is a bit hard to play on this computer.

Il librò è molto completo, è proprio un libro, nel senso che non ci sono tantissime illustrazioni, è da leggere ecco. Inoltre è in inglese, il che può rappresentare un ostacolo per chi non ha dimestichezza con la lingua. In realtà con un pò di pazienza si può leggere, anche se il fatto che sia troppo "da leggere" lo rende forse più pesante rispetto all'argomento che tratta, e alle difficoltà della lingua.

I have studied animation for the last several years. I am a Flash designer specializing in E-learning in the Seattle market. I am not just a casual reader of this topic. Why I like this book. When you go to school for animation you have a lot of stuff thrown at you and no matter how good your notes are you can not remember it all. You need to refresh your skills. This book was not only good at that but also much more. It is a fun read, an interesting read. This book covers the complete process from picking up the pencil to marketing/distribution. Tony knows his stuff, he should he has been a professional animator for many years and you have probably seen his works. If you have seen the Pink Panther Strikes Again ("does your dog bite?") you have, he did all the animation for the film. Traditional animation is an art form and it seems like it is finally getting some of the respect it deserves. 3D is the rage these days, Pixel does an excellent job and nobody does it better, unfortunately there are more bad 3D feature films than good. Even Disney is hiring back some traditional animators and creating some old school, that's cool. If you want to learn animation pick up this book and The Illusion of Life and you will learn so very much. But the learning process also requires doing. Like the saying goes, "A dream and a number 2 pencil will take you anywhere". Keith Johnson Manager of the Seattle Flash User Group Flash Animator/ E-Learning Specialist

As a beginner 2d animator (with past experience in 3d), I've been searching for a book that provides soup-to-nuts, clear information regarding every stage of the animation process. Having leafed through books at Barnes and Noble, I found that most books would cover a little something (like discussing squash and stretch technique in classical animation), but nothing thorough enough to give me the comprehensive foundation that I need. While I haven't finished this yet, I've gone through the chapters...and this book has everything (including discussion of film shots, lenses, framing, etc.) *This* was money well spent.