In Cartoon Animation with Preston Blair, acclaimed cartoon animator Preston Blair shares his vast practical knowledge to explain and demonstrate the many techniques of cartoon animation. By following his lessons, you can make any character-person, animal, or object-come to life through animated movement! Animation is the process of drawing a character in successive positions to create lifelike movement. Animators bring life to their drawings, making the viewer believe that the drawings actually think and have feelings. While animators must first know how to draw, the animation process involves much more than just good drawing skills. This book teaches all the other knowledge and skills animators must have:
How to construct original cartoon characters, developing a character’s shape, personality, features, and mannerisms
How to create movements such as running, walking, dancing, posing, skipping, strutting, and more
The finer points of animating a character, including creating key character poses and in-betweens
All about dialogue, how to create realistic mouth and body movements, and facial expressions while the character is speaking; with helpful diagrams showing mouth positions, along with a thorough explanation of how sounds are made using the throat, tongue, teeth, and lips
A variety of technical topics, including background layouts, cartoon storyboards, and the synchronisation of camera, background, characters, sound, and music
Full of expert advice from animation pioneer Preston Blair, as well as helpful drawings and diagrams, Cartoon Animation with Preston Blair is a book no animation enthusiast should be without.
The Collector’s Series offers a broad range of projects across a variety of mediums and genres, such as drawing, oil, acrylic, watercolour, cartooning, calligraphy, and others. This series is suitable for beginning to intermediate artists, and each title features in-depth instruction about how to work with the tools of the trade, master techniques, and use newfound skills in practical application.
