John Lasseter: The Whiz Who Made Pixar King (Legends of Animation)

Lenburg, Jeff

ISBN 10: 1604138408 ISBN 13: 9781604138405

Publisher: Chelsea House Pub, 2012

Synopsis

A two-time Academy Award-winning director and animator, John Lasseter is a founding member of and the creative force behind Pixar Animation Studios. Pixar is responsible for ushering in the age of computer-animation and revolutionizing the industry, having produced blockbuster features such as Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., and Wall-E. Lasseter began his career in animation at Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he soon became fascinated by the potential for creating animation using computer-generated images. After a move to a division of Lucasfilm that would become Pixar, Lasseter wrote, directed, and produced many computer-animated short films and television commercials, including the first completely computer-animated short to win an Oscar, Tin Toy. He then began work on the first computer-animated feature film, the landmark Toy Story, which forever changed the animation industry. In John Lasseter, learn how this creative mind keeps bringing lasting characters and stories to the big screen through the wizardry of animation.

Chapters include:

Uncovering His Artistic Passion
Taking a Creative Leap
Championing Computer Animation
Living in a Pixar World.

About this title

About the Author

Jeff Lenburg is an award-winning author, celebrity biographer, and nationally acknowledged expert on animated cartoons. He has written nearly 30 books--including such acclaimed histories of animation as Who's Who in Animated Cartoons and The Great Cartoon Directors. His Facts On File book The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons is considered to be the definitive reference for animation fans. His books have been nominated for several awards, including the American Library Association's "Best Nonfiction Award" and the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association's Gold Medallion Award for "Best Autobiography/Biography." Lenburg lives in Arizona.

From the Back Cover

The Legends of Animation series tells the life stories of the amazing artists who built and shaped the animation industry, created some of animation's most enduring characters and stories, and influenced the technology of animation. These are the animators whose technical wizardry and creative inspiration made them legends. Emphasis is given to their professional achievements, their impact on popular culture, and the innovations they pioneered. Each book takes readers behind the scenes with a discussion of the animator's personal and educational background, early work, styles and influences, key films and television productions, origins of their characters, and much more.

This unique series is perfect for general readers and students interested in animation.

· Each volume in Legends of Animation chronicles the life of an animation legend selected from animation's more-than-100-year history.
· Included in each volume are black-and-white and full-color images.

Reviews

Lenburg, author of these titles in the Legends of Animation series, has the right credentials. He has written a number of books on animated cartoons and several biographies. These two are complete treatments of the cartoonists, their careers and characters, and their places in the ever-changing world of animation. The subject of John Lasseter is described as being like a duck in water when it comes to animation. Present at the moment when computer animation opened new vistas for those in the field, Lasseter ran with the ball (though not without a few stumbles), eventually arriving at Pixar Studios. His Toy Story brought animated films to a new level. Lenburg’s solid offerings (though sometimes a tad on the dry side) are brought down a bit by lack of publisher oversight. For instance, on p.29, the typeface is mangled, and the relative paucity of images from Pixar films makes the book somewhat unanimated. Overall, this series continues to offer plenty to excite the future animators among us. Grades 7-10. --Ilene Cooper

Edition details

• Publisher: Chelsea House Pub
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1604138408
• ISBN 13: 9781604138405
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 135