I though we could but together a little list for everyone here of recommended animation books. Perhaps this could be a pinned topic. Go ahead and suggest a book that either inspires you and/or has helped you learn animation.

I'll start with the two essentials.

Johnston, Ollie. Thomas, Frank. "The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation" Revised edition (October 19, 1995)
The ultimate animation book, filled with Disney related history. There are great tips on how to bring life into your character. You must have this if you like animation. I would say that's all of you!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846

Williams, Richard. "The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles, and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion, and Internet Animators" January 7, 2002
One of my all time favorite books. I would say it's the best how-to.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=books&n=507846



OTHER:

Maltin, Leonard. "Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons" May, 1990
Maltin covers nearly a century of american animation art in detail.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...=glance&s=books


Gilbert, Wayne. "Simplified Drawing for Planing Animation" This book is about Simplified Drawing for Planing Animation
http://www.anamie.com/

Also Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair. It's much like Richard Williams' book and you might get it cheaper since it's older. I have both and like them both.

Richard

Just to point out to you cheap bastards (like me) you can often get these books from libraries. And don't forget the web, lots of info out there.

Keith Lango excellent tutorials

Carlos Baena his misc. section has some good gatherings of info

12 principles by me, & links to versions by others

CgChar I've learned a lot reading the ask the pro sectins (I just read the pro's replies, not the rest of the noise.)

-Alonso

Ken Hultgren "The art of animal drawing" it is great in showing movements and poses by showin anatomy that anyone can understand. great both for the good drawers but nice for the talentless like me.

jack Hamm "How to draw Animals" a bit of the same but great on details on faces, noses etc in other words helps you see shapes. every animal is built from ainmle shapes and then added sceletons inside the shapes and muscles so it is easy to see why they must look like they do. great both for those that want to make cartoon animal lookalikes aswell as those that want anatomic correcness.

Christoffer hart "How to draw cartoon Animals" This is the book for those that love the very simplefied animal cartoons. I'm one of those. my favourite short films are those with simple figures but a great idea and lots of humor.

Robin Hall "The cartoonist's workbook". Perfect book to get us that can't draw starting drawing simple sketches. not really for animation but more to learn basic proportion and poses that will be useful when making our first self-made figures.

Lou darvas " You can draw cartoons" also perfect for the basics before 3D animation, but also useful, at least for me it will be, to choose and create my own figures - 3D animated funny ones hopefully some day.

This was a few of the books I bought in Glasgow this summer. LOL some shop clothes on holidays - I always buy books. Every one of the books above has been used and loved by several of my students.

Trine

Here are three books I'm planning on getting/loaning related to 'acting' since I'm hoping to do some real performances in TWO. I thought I would post them here so you can consider them also---

Manwatching By Desmond Morris. This looks like a great book on body language and gestures: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...921847?v=glance

Acting for Animators by Ed Hooks. The title says it all! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032500580...glance&n=283155

and Stop Staring:Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right by Jason Osipa. The F.A.C.E rig is based on the one in this book.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078214129...glance&n=283155

All of those books are really great. I own: Ken Hultgren - "The art of animal drawing" and Jack Hamm - "How to draw Animals". I must say that I prefer Hultgren's over Hamm's drawings. Hultgren covers the weight distrobution of animals and perspectives more than Hamm. However, Hamm draws on a variety of more species that Hultgren does, so I suppose both of them are a good combination to keep on hand. =)

I xeroxed the Ken Hultgren book page for page and now have it in a folder...is it back in print? It is X-ellent!

Shamus Culhan wrote a goody, "Animation from Script to Screen". In his book he writes a lot about doing what he calls "shlock animation" and his words have been most helpful to me over the years. Shlock animation is projects that are not Disney/Pixar calibre by any words... but they pay the bills...and they get you by from month to month until a good job comes along.

I am a "shlock-animator" thanks to Shamus.

There are a couple other books from Disney that are great companions to "The Illusion of Life".... "Treasures of Disney Animation Art" and "Too Funny for Words".

'Treasures' is a coffee-table picture book with full-size pencil drawings and cels from many a Disney classic.
'Too Funny' delves into what makes a cartoon funny, something I think has been lost over the years. It breaks down Disney humor into categories and explains in depth how and why people will laugh when these principles are properly utilized. It was Walt Disney who brought his animators to theatres and had them sit in front with their chairs turned toward the audience to watch firsthand the reactions of a crowd to his cartoons. Once he 'nailed' the humor aspect of making cartoons he then actually had to leave gaps between gags so that the audience could recover from laughing at gag A and properly witness the events that led to gag B and so on...

Early Donald Duck cartoons are hilarious...especially when Donald lost his temper and things got out of control. NOBODY--- and I repeat, NOfreekingBODY is making cartoons that are THAT funny in this day.

So I can also recommend "Too Funny for Words"

MC aka JBB

I don't really have any new books to add to this list at the moment, but I must say that I got my first 6 animation books ever!!!! They're all so wonderful!!!

I decided which ones to get based on this thread and Victor Navone's recommendations on his site. So thank you so so so so so very much everybody! As I said before they're all excellent and now I'd be happy to recommend them to anybody.

I'm over one hundred pages into The Animators Survival Kit, The Illusion of Life, and Of Mice and Magic so far. I can't put them down!!! I also just got Acting for Animators, Stop Staring, and David Rogers Complete Guide to A:M today in the mail!!!!
(I guess David Rogers "Animation:Master A Complete Guide" isn't on this list yet, so I'll add that one, it'll really help me learn my way around A:M I hope)

Anyways, I was so anxious and excited about all these new books I just had to post on here. If I go missing off this forum for a while or I don't post any work, it's most likely because I'm reading!!! I want to get a firm foundation, so I can produce quality stuff once I jump in!!!

Eadward Muybridge;"The Human Figure in Motion", "The Animal in Motion". Dover Books.

Though over a hundred years old, these are still the best motion reference EVER. I do not know a single professional animator who does not have these on his or her bookshelf.

Rodney, this is for you...hopefully you read this post...if not I'll try to contact you some other way.
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Thanks Teresa. I've got it.

Edit: Wow. Very pro quality there. Nice!

You can also surf this site

Animationmeat

Here are the Rodney ,for the extra DVD...I'm not sure why they didn't stay in the last attachment? Anywho, here the are...

edit- urgh, they aren't attaching how I want them to attach! Are you able to drag and drop them like you can on a mac? If so, how I posted them should be alright. If not, then I'll try to get them to you some other way after I get back from the lake.

I would also suggest picking up any of the "Art Of" Pixar books as they are a great resource.

Thanks Teresa. Those are all very fine books.
Sad to say I still need to pick up 'Stop Staring' and 'Animals in Motion'.
I also haven't yet picked up the newest edition of 'Animation:Master 2006 Handbook 'by David Rogers.
If I see it on the shelf... I'll buy it. Unfortunately distribution isn't playing nice with David's book.
I'll probably have to order that one online and (for me) online money is a different color than real world cash.
I treat the two like they come from a different bank account.

'Stop Staring' is such a great book. I have no idea why I didn't buy it when I had the chance.
I must have had other purchasing priorities at the time I saw it on the shelf. I have purchased books via the internet (usually at better prices) but there is just something satisfying about buying a book right off the shelf.

My collection needs some serious updating!

I picked it up, have read through the first 3 chapters, and already learned more than I did doing the excercises in the "manual"...

[Had to edit this post because of another review I did... Lets just say its finally resolved]
This is a negative response, Rated-R. For Mature Audiences Only. I think its useful to avert someone to another source rather than this book. Animation:Master 2002 complete guide. It just really confusing from the learning aspect. Its a reference guide yes, and informative as a reference to A:M's features, but its so jumbled the way it is written/published and can be very confusing to follow as it jumps around ALOT with its words and example. It has a ton of information, but lacks any in-depth/concise exploration.

My Recommendations: AM Siggraph 2002 video, AM Siggraph 2004 video, Jeff Lew video.

thanks everyone for the great tips on the books

This is just awesome, awesome, awesome!
That's all I can say!
Go check it out!
http://punchandbrodie.com/leo/stanchfield/
(and it's completely free)

It is good to see you again Woot. That's a great find.

Thank you.

Walt Stanchfield's handouts mentioned by Teresa earlier in this topic have long been removed from the internet.
If you follow the link to the animation meat site you'll find out why.

Walt Stanchfield's widow requested they be removed as they were projected to be collected into a new book.
After a considerable wait it looks like the collection is about to go to print.
Better yet though... there isn't just one volume... there are two.

For those of you that have these notes you already know their value.
For those that don't... you hear a lot more about it.

Save your pennies guys and gals.
You will want to get these books.

Looks like we can preorder via Amazon for about 34% off.