Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 71
 WOW I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY THE BIBLE OF ANIMATION! October 15, 2009
J. Petty (USA)
I HAD HEARD THIS BOOK REFERRED TO AS THE BIBLE OF ANIMATION! IF YOU HAVE AN APPRECIATION FOR DISNEY ANIMATION THIS REALLY HITS SOME GOOD TOPICS AND EXPLAINS CERTAIN THINGS AND GIVES BACKGROUND(HISTORY) BEHIND THE CHANGES ETC. GREAT IMAGES AND THE TEXT IS REALLY LARGE AND THEIR IS EVEN FLIP BOOK IMAGES LOCATED IN THE TOP RIGHT HAND CORNER OF SEVERAL DISNEY CHARACTERS WHO CAN BE PUT IN MOTION. I"M REALLY HAPPY WITH IT!
A "must have" book for all animators September 30, 2009
Gonzalo Andres Toso (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
I've been studying animation at [...] and this book is by far what best describes this amazing art form. As complete as it is, this book is a "must have" item for all animators or prospective animators. Full of illustrations, examples and anecdotes, The Illusion of Life is a beautiful journey through Disney's animation history.
Twitterpated.....totally! September 21, 2009
K. Rothko (Auckland,New Zealand)
I first saw Disney's Pinnochio as a six year old, and it changed my life. It lead to a life-long love of art, animation, ecology, whales, and the sea.
As I grew older I was to learn that Pinnochio, along with Bambi, is regarded as among the very best, if not THE best of Disney animation. I have both these films on DVD, and any law abiding animation fan shouldn't be without them.
Nor should any animation nut be without this book. This is a most comprehensive, colourfully illustrated document of the why's and wherefore's of Disney animation.
While it goes into considerable detail, it is strictly speaking not a manual as such.
It is more designed as an insight into the mysteries of animation for the lay person, with more than enough to inspire and inform any potential animator. It covers the various aspects of the animation process, and the history of Disney animation. It is accompanied by ooddles, and oodles of full page colour photos, reproductions of animation sequences of famous Disney characters, diagrams, sections on each of the main Disney animators, and hilarious caricatures that animators did of each other.
This book is simply a "must have" for any Disney animation fan, or any animation fan period.
I am thrilled to have this book. It arrived in record time too, and well packaged.
Do yourself a favour, and get this. You'e GOT TO HAVE IT!
You won't be disappointed.
Great Reading and Illustrations too August 2, 2009
Animation Student (North Carolina)
This is a great find if you are a Disney fanatic or just into animation and its process. I highly recommend this product for anyone.
What to expect; what not to expect July 13, 2009
W. Card
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Many call this book the closest thing to an absolute Bible for animation. I'm personally inclined to agree.
However, the first thing you need to know is that this book is not an instruction book. Neither this book, nor any other book, contains enough information to transform you from layman to professional in one fell swoop. While it does contain invaluable information on animation, I promise you that you still have to work at it to perfect your ability.
That being said, the book does contain information that deals in all facets of animation, and, sometimes, on the wider scale of dramatic and literary techniques relating to the visual medium. Since animation is essentially a unification of film, acting, drawing, and writing, techniques from all four are important. This book does contain the twelve principles of animation - essentially, several key elements to any good animation, which are employed by any good animator, in anything from Disney's "Steamboat Willie" to Pixar's "Up."
Speaking of Pixar, I would recommend this book to those interested in 3-dimensional animation as well - an art form that is built on the principles of the 2-dimensional.
Overall, this book is brilliantly written. It can be witty at times, and is written in a voice that is both interesting and insightful. It relates animation back to its roots in human nature and psychology, exploring why it has various effects on people.
The attentive reader will glean from this book not only a better understanding of the logic and technique behind animation, but perhaps a better ability to create his or her own animations, as well as a better knowledge of the history of Disney's animation (as an aside, this book is largely about Disney's animation form. Thomas and Johnston try to include examples from outside Disney history, but as they are largely speaking out of experience, and as they needed to keep the book down to a manageable length, they cut some major animators from the book, or only acknowledged them briefly).
Showing reviews 1-5 of 71
|
