Character Animation Crash Course!

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Character Animation Crash Course! is a veritable Genie's lamp stuffed with everything the aspiring animator could wish for! Renowned animator Eric Goldberg's detailed text and drawings illuminate how to conceive characters "from the inside out" to create strong personalities. Classic animation techniques are analyzed and brought to life through this unique book and its accompanying CD that offers readers animated movie examples that show, in real time or frame-by-frame, the author's principles at work. Add to this Goldberg's discussions of classic cartoons and his witty, informative observations based on the wealth of knowledge he's gained during his 30-plus years in professional animation, and you have a tour-de-force guide to character animation with the classic touch.

Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Best Animation book by far August 8, 2008
10 out of 11 found this review helpful

This book is without a doubt one of the best how to animations books out there. Believe me there are many others but the fact that it was written and fully illustrated by master animator Erik Goldberg makes this an absolute must have. His drawings just pop off the page with life and it is very inspirational to look at. Goldberg takes a different approach to teaching animation because here he assumes you already know the basics and shows you how to make your animation come to life with style and fluidity. It's different from say the Richard Williams book The Animator's Survival Kit because in this book it covers things like walk cycles and what not but in a more technical way. Don't get me wrong that's a wonderful book as well, but Goldberg expands on what Williams did. An example would be Williams talks about mouth shapes but Goldberg shows how and when the shapes should be used effectively; such as hitting accents with a bigger shape and pose. This is not for someone who is just starting out but more for someone who knows a little already and wants to improve to the next level. I've been a professional animator for years and nothing has helped me more than this book. I would highly recommend this book to students of animation and working professionals. The golden age isn't dead yet!

3 out of 5 stars

some of the animation just don't work August 11, 2008
8 out of 17 found this review helpful

Most of this book is very inspiring for an animator; so you should definitively buy it.

But after looking at the cd that comes with the book, I'm a little disappointed.

The cd contain some short fully animated movies, and most of it is really fun and interesting; but some of the stuff just don't work from an animation point of view.

Main ex is his weight animation where there is a very simple fat character moving his belly up and down.

The drawings are nice enough but there is no weight whatsoever. And this animation is supposed to demonstrate how to animate your characters with weight.

Another ex is his animation of a character running full speed and hitting a door; then continue to run.
It just doesn't work. It just look and feel wrong.
Same thing for his animation of a guy punching; looks like a bad student animation.

There is some great stuff in there; but i just find it weird to see that there is also some really bad stuff...

Everybody talks of Eric Goldberg as a guru; but if he cannot get some really simple animations to work properly; I just don't know what to think of this...

5 out of 5 stars

Best Animation Book for Students and Pros Alike August 17, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This book by esteemed Disney animator Eric Goldberg is a must-have in your animation library. There are a lot of books out there which are hundreds of pages long and seem to have a lot of information in them, but the actual meat of the lessons get lost in history lessons and fluff. Not in this book: lessons are simple, clear, concise, heavily illustated, and even animated by Eric on the included dvd! This is a godsend to animation students and teachers -- it's like having a pro animator at your side to give the lesson and then show it to you animated to confirm you are "getting it". I am an animation pro and have taught for years, and I think this is a great book for students (can't beat the price!) and also for pros who like to see an individual animator's way of working. This is pure "school of Eric Goldberg". Now you will know his secrets!

5 out of 5 stars

Best Animation Timing & Breakdown Manual published so far. August 23, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

When I went to animation college 10 years ago, there were NO books to instruct you on actually HOW to practice weight balance, mass and volume in your character animation tests. Plenty of old books existed with great artwork, with the exception of Preston Blair's book Cartoon Animation (The Collector's Series) and later on (after I graduated) the great Richard William's book The Animator's Survival Kit. But there was nothing to actually show you step by step the principles of posing, timing and movement for hand-drawn animation, Richard's book had some nice technical stuff for walk cycles and timing, but Goldberg's book is a first for really outlining the basics efficiently.

This book IS the first and best book to lay out the principles of character movement; antics, overshoots, settles, squash and stretch, break downs, in-betweeing, timing, spacing and all the other basics needed for any classical or CG animator.

I highly recommend this book to all students, teachers and even veterans, because not only does it cover all the fundamentals but it goes beyond into more advanced concepts that ALL types of animators must know and practice, whether it be 3D, traditional paper, or stopmotion animation, this book is definitely worth it.

3 out of 5 stars

Nice little package but nothing you haven't see befor. August 14, 2008
3 out of 14 found this review helpful

If your new to producing small animated films for lets say flash or
gif animation this is the book for you but if you already
have the skills or any other books on the subject you wont need this one.
It's just more of the same.

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