Cracking Animation: The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation (Third Edition)

The best book on the art of stop-action animation and a must-have for animators and animation fans.

From the creators of the wildly successful Wallace and Gromit films and Chicken Run, here is a unique guide to making your own 3-D (or stop-action) animation.

The book sets the achievements of Aardman Studios into the tradition of 3-D animation, which spans such Hollywood triumphs as King Kong and well-known characters like Godzilla. At the heart of the book is a guide to the process of 3-D animation today: a practical, fully illustrated, step-by-step description of how to create effective characters, a storyboard and sets, and then an entire film.

For this third edition, the introduction and the history of the medium have both been revised to incorporate the latest work by Aardman and others. All the CGI material has been augmented, updated, and integrated into the practical sections of the book. The “Making a Film” chapter is completely revamped to emphasize the difference in approach, structure, and technique when applied to scripting, characterization, short films, television, advertising, and feature films 350+ color photographs and illustrations

Peter Lord, with David Sproxton, founded Aardman Studios in 1976.

Brian Sibley is the author of numerous books on animation and writers.

Nick Park joined Aardman Studios in 1986. His Oscar-nominated A Grand Day Out introduced the world to Wallace and Gromit.