The Animation Book

The first edition of The Animation Book, published in 1979, became the authoritative guide to making animated movies. Now, as we enter the twenty-first century, the explosion in computer technology has created a corresponding boom in animation. Using desktop hardware and software, animators can easily produce high-quality, high-artistry animation and mix the aesthetics of traditional cel animation with dazzling 3-D effects. Kit Laybourne's digital revision to The Animation Book brings you to the cutting edge of animation technology. Richly illustrated with frame-grabs, production stills, and diagrams, this volume shares Kit's infectious enthusiasm for the limitless possibilities of today's hybrid techniques, and it provides beginning animators with all the information they need to jump in and start their own animation projects. More advanced animators will find The Animation Book to be an invaluable resource with detailed descriptions of filmmaking gear, computer hardware and software, art supplies, plus Internet and other resources.

Using an innovative case-study approach, Kit deconstructs how a range of digital projects were carried out at some of today's hottest animation studios, including Wildbrain, Blue Sky, Protozoa, Fantome, Broderbund, Nicktoons, and Klasky Csupo. These step-by-step studies show how desktop animators can follow the same creative process in their own films.

Kit Laybourne is a highly successful independent producer who has worked on such television series such as MTV's Emmy-winning animation series Liquid Television and Nickelodeon's Eureeka's Castle and Gullah Gullah Island. During 1995-96 academic year, he taught the Advanced Animation Seminar at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. His full-time gig is Chief Creative Director at Oxygen, a new media company developing interactive content for the convergence of TV and computers. He is also Executive Producer of Hank the Cowdog' an animated feature film and TV series being developed by Nickelodeon.