This page is a collection of books that relate to the art of animation. These books range from character design and animation to background design and layout, storyboarding, and more. All of these books are thorough and very well detailed in their technical advice, worthy of the shelf for animators, comic artists, and illustrators.
Click To Buy – Dream Worldsby Hans Bacher
The Book in Three Sentences: This book is a summary of production design in the animation industry with fantastic examples of each stage. Hans Bacher describes stylizing and searching for a look and feel for animation unlike any other description I have found in print. I would bundle this book with Directing the story and between the two books you will have a great Disney basics 101 on story and production that could easily help someone start their own production cycle with confidence.
Click To Buy – The Noble Approach – Maurice Noble and the Zen of Animation Designby Tod Polsen
The Book in Three Sentences: Although it does not go into great detail, this book has several chapters in it that are highly instructional on composing the shot. He gives fantastic advice on staging, shape language, and color harmonies; I was not expecting any of this in the book. Throughout the book he offers fantastic advice for the designer, the storyteller, and the animator along with specific and excellent reference to support the information.
by Francis Glebas
The Book in Three Sentences: This is a “must own” book on building a story from the script to the final output, done in story form beautifully illustrating the concepts he describes in great detail. I highly recommend this book to all artists, as it is a true testimonial to the amount of focused and dedicated work it takes to complete a successful project. Francis uses extremely descriptive but very easy to understand concepts to help articulate the design process and the level of depth each step undergoes as it is perfected to a finished product.
Click To Buy – Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist
By Chuck Jones
The Book in Three Sentences: Although this is biographical, there is so much useful technical information on the art of animation in this book, and it is highly entertaining. He tells stories of starting in animation, starting their studio, and the technical problems that they had to work out in order to achieve the action they were able to portray. Chuck also describes many of his memorable episodes and the inspiration he had creating them.
Click To Buy – Sketching for Animation: Developing Ideas, Characters and Layouts in Your Sketchbook (Required Reading Range)
By Peter Parr
The Book in Three Sentences: This awesome manual is filled with exercises of every kind, from non-narrative and feeling, to objective and mood driven. Fantastic explanations accompany beautifully illustrated examples for each exercise in the book, and some inspiring words about finding your own voice. There is also a section with some great interviews by the best animators in the business with inspiring, pertinent questions answered.
