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

Just add talent!

Award-winning animator Tony White brings you the ultimate book for digital animation. Here you will find the classic knowledge of many legendary techniques revealed, paired with information relevant to today's capable, state-of-the-art technologies.

White leaves nothing out. What contemporary digital animators most need to know can be found between this book's covers - from conceptions to creation and through the many stages of the production pipeline to distribution. This book is intended to serve as your one-stop how-to animation guide. Whether you're new to animation or a very experienced digital animator, here you'll find fundamentals, key classical techniques, and professional advice that will strengthen your work and well-roundedness as an animator.

Speaking from experience, White presents time-honored secrets of professional animaton with a warm, masterly, and knowledgeable approach that has evolved from over 30 years as an award-winning animator/director.

The book's enclosed CD-Rom presents classic moments from animation's history through White's personal homage to traditional drawn animation, `Endangered Species.` Using movie clips and still images from the film, White shares the 'making of' journal of the film, detailing each step, with scene-by-scene descriptions, technique by technique. Look for the repetitive stress disorder guide on the CD-Rom, called, `Mega-hurts.` Watch the many movie clips for insights into the versatility that a traditional, pencil-drawn approach to animaton can offer.

* Valuable CD-ROM contains a complete animated film made by the author and teaches how to apply the techniques in this book!
* Chock full of tips and secrets from this award-winning animation veteran
* The glossary of animation-related terms is worth its weight in gold

User review
Great book for anyone learning animation
This book has really helped me and I have learned a lot from this book. I would recommend this book.

User review
a little bit of everything
This book has a little bit of everything where animation is concerned. It has a lot of solid advice, though it can get wordy at times. This book touches on many concepts that other books go into with greater depth. You sort of follow the author through the production of his pet animated product, and the author teaches the principles of animation and animation production as we follow along, though the author himself admits many of the concepts he teaches on aren't even adhered to in his own production. If you are interested in animation and want to take a nosedive into this world, give this book a whirl. If you are truly seeking in-depth animation techniques, look elsewhere.

User review
Wonderful! A current and deep book!
Wonderful! A current and deep book! A book that shows the whole technique of the contemporary animation. Written by one of the great names of the animation. It is a wonderful reference for everybody that love animation. Pretty!

User review
Extremely helpful book by Mr White
I'm glad Mr Tony White wrote this book because in it he doesn't shy away from the fact that traditional 2D animation is an art superior to computer animation. He doesn't hit anyone over the head with that view. He doesn't have to; it makes itself known on nearly every page.

As one who is utterly bored by the digital revolution I am glad there are still skilled men like Tony White out there showing us the fundamentals of an art that may (or may not) be on the verge of extinction. His first book, THE ANIMATOR'S WORKBOOK is a masterpiece, a work in a class by itself, and is one book that I wished I had had when I was still young. Had I had that book in my hands in my formative years I have little doubt that I would have made a career in animation. That fine book cannot be recommended too highly and every aspiring tradional animator should have it.

This new book is excellent, too, in that it tries to keep the art of 2D alive while acknowledging the fundamentals of the current hot toy, 3D computer-based animation. For those in the 3D world who want to break away from the infantile and over-the-top productions currently in vogue and wish to bring back (if that is possible) some genuine art into this new animation realm this book will be a godsend. For many reasons this book is to be highly recommended. It shows again what a fine skill the author has, and it has inspired even me at this late stage in my life to begin to learn tradional animation. Buy it.

If I have one gentle criticism to make regarding this excellent book, it would be that the authors and book editors need to know that the reading public is growing increasingly tired of reading `he or she` when simply `he` will do nicely. Have we not all now grown up enough to realize that women are not offended when the pronoun `he` is used only, and that it is totally unnecessary to include a `she` after every `he`? Gosh, I hope so.

Lastly, the cd that was enclosed with the book included a delightful little production called `Endangered Species`, Mr White's lament to an art being lost. On my copy the narration was recorded so low that I could not hear what was being spoken. Hopefully future editions will correct this problem.

User review
A dream and a number 2 pencil will take you anywhere
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