Animated Performance: Bringing Imaginary Animal, Human and Fantasy Characters to Life (Required Reading Range)

Great resource for animation

Useful

This book, 2nd edition, is worth every dollar. Pass up purchasing several cheaper books and save your money up to buy this one. You will love it and keep it for a lifetime. Every animation student, or lover of the art of animation, should have this book on their bookshelf besides these two books, also my favorites: "Cartoon Animation" by Preston Blair and "The Illusion of Life" by Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. I really wish this book was available thirty years ago when I was trying to improve my cartooning skills.Firstly, Nancy is a wonderful cartoonist; I particularly love her pig drawings. The book is great for students as it is not only information packed, but has 38 drawing exercises to help you apply the information she's explaining. Even if you can't draw, it has beautiful cartoon animation drawings that will train the animation lover's eyes to better understand what they're seeing on the screen.One thing I really love is her expansion on the flour sack concept which was introduced in "The Illusion of Life". The student is introduced in Chapter One to the very basic concepts of character movement and then slowly expands on this base to more complex concepts. This is not only helpful for animators but also for cartoon artists like myself who want to create dynamic drawings that don't appear stiff on the page.This book is so jam-packed with information that it's difficult to encapsulate it in a brief review. She begins with the familiar bouncing ball and the flour sack then demonstrates how these basic concepts can be translated to more complex character drawings with volume. Pendulum action, action arcs, lines of action, primary and secondary actions, simultaneous actions, consistency, timing, context, and opposing action are explained in just the first 70 pages. The book even demonstrates the difference between how famous Disney animators Frank Thomas and Eric Larson approached their drawings, something I hadn't known.I really cannot praise this book highly enough. I have many drawing books on my shelf and I JUST LOVE IT!!!

This book is a must buy for anyone who is interested in learning how to animate. By itself it's a great course of study for students, with a very good teacher - Beiman's excitement and passion for the material is evident on the page. Nancy Beiman's many credits as an animator include A Goofy Movie, Treasure Planet, Fievel Goes West, Hercules and Fantasia 2000, and we get a behind the scenes look at how scenes with Goofy and Max were thumbnailed and constructed. Ellen Woodbury shows us how she crafted Rowan Atkinson's performance of Zazu for The Lion King, and the late great Art Babbit (who developed Goofy and taught at Richard Williams studio) also chimes in with some wisdom from a 1979 session. This book sits comfortably on the shelf with other major animation textbooks, like those by Richard Williams, Preston Blair, Tony White, Eric Goldberg, and Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. It has some similar lessons but goes in its own direction. You'll start with the basics - the bouncing ball, swinging pendulum, living flour sack, and a generic character called "Sam," but Beiman goes the extra mile to show how to give a character personality and make it alive and thinking on the screen. She also involves her cats as character models. Advanced students will get the most out of this book but there's a lot here to inspire beginners and those who are merely curious about how an animated performance is crafted. It's an ideal textbook and an entertaining read.

This book is definitely one of the best about performance in an animated film. As a director of animated features and television series it has sort of been my 'bible' to which I referred regularly. I used it extensively when I was an assistant director on the Dutch animated feature "Pim & Pom, het Grote Avontuur" (Pim & Pom, the Big Adventure) and also when I was consultant on the "Miffy's Adventures, Big & Small" tv-series. It's a must for any animation student and gives real insight into making your cartoon characters perform better and more clear.Highly recommended!

Especially well-suited for college students who are interested in character animation. Various aspects of acting, setting, character interaction, timing, etc. are presented in a very engaging way.

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Nancy Beiman is at it again on helping out on teaching 2D animation! This time on teaching students on how to give more life to your characters within your work, how to properly express the emotions and timing within the frames. It's a must read for anyone who wishes to sharpen their skills in this art trade. An absolute necessity, alongside her 1st book Prepare to Board-Creating short stories and characters for animated features and shorts. If you've ever had a hard time on getting the proper expression right alongside the timing in your animation, this is the book you need!

Written by NAncy Beiman, a former industry animator who's appreciation for the artform shows in every page, this is a very indepth path of study in order to learn animation, or to better onesself as an animator.Beiman goes through the fundamentals, as well as giving you assignments to better understand what she's communicating. As well as this, she provides links or movie examples to showcase what she means regarding acting and performance, be it a normal human, or an imaginary creature.As well as this, she speaks to artists and animators regarding how they approached a character (such as Pegasus in Disney's Hercules) be it analysing sports videos, or animal movement.Beiman also provides behind the scenes samples of her own work, be it her storyboards for A Goofy Movie, or her approach to animation Billy Bones in Treasure Planet. She also discusses Bones' development-and the creatures she drew on to create his memorable part in the film.There are a wealth of different styles covered in the book, from abstract, to Disney-esque, to CG to Stopmotion animation. And Beiman breaks it down as to how to achieve these different degrees of performance-from humble hero, to comical sidekick, to sinister villain-often showing it's not just the design, but the performance that will convey the character.I'd highly recommend this book, as well as Richard William's The animator's Survival kit, and Eric Goldberg's Character Animation Crash Course book.Together, they grant you a wealth of knowledge you won't find anywhere else.

Al leer los comentarios, compré el libro con grandes expectativas. Aunque la edición está muy cuidada, no aporta mucho más de lo que ya hacen publicaciones como la de Richard Williams.