Anyone
who has trained to become an animator, will have encountered Richard
Williams go-to book, the Animators Survival Kit. It's excellent, and
often revered as a bible for any self respecting animator. I
like it, it's a very useful book, but there are other books too, just as worthy
of high acclaim.
There
are three in particular, that I've found just as invaluable. Funnily enough though, not so much for when I was doing homework assignments/training... these are the books I have on hand at work, in the studio. They are my
go to books if I need to remind myself of certain techniques and they all help me to become a more accomplished animator.
1) Character Animation Crash Course by Eric Goldberg
I came across the
first book, Character Animation Crash Course, whilst I was a student, but it really came into its
own when I was at work, trying to create strong cartoony
animations. Eric Goldberg is the genius behind bringing visual life to
the Genie in Aladdin, and also features as an animator in Disney's Moana.
When I was working on Tree Fu Tom, we introduced a new character, Muru, who
was very zippy in motion. NOt that I ever had any shots with him, but this book really helped break down for me the
best way to make a convincing smear and jump across the screen. I mean,
you couldn't be in better hands than with a Disney legend like Goldberg.
Highly recommended.
2) How to Cheat in Maya (various editions)
The
second book is How to Cheat in Maya (using the right edition for whichever Maya version you are using). Firstly, this title is really misleading, it
isn't about cheating at all. The title gives a stupid suggestion that you'll find out
how to take a short cut in animation technique to make substandard work
or something, but it's not. It's more like an easy to read,
"help" window in Maya. It explains how to use elements and tools that
you might be unfamiliar with. For instance, one of the most simplest
things I found out was the "select by type" feature within the Graph
Editor. For instance, when I'm using a rig but only intersected in Y translates, I
can easily see every one of the selected joints, neatly arranged together
in one easy display. Admittedly I don't use it a lot, but it has certainly saved me
time by quickly working out why I might have a glitch in some of my
curves. This book sits on my desk at work, and will probably stay very
close by me whenever I animate! It looks like there's a 2017 version available here too.
3) Cartoon Character Animation with Maya by Keith Osborn
Lastly, Cartoon Character Animation with Maya: Mastering the Art of Exaggerated Animation. Similar to the first book, this book is great if
you're looking to improve your character animations, adding a polished
cartoony feel. Full of examples (and links to get a pretty sweet rig) it
shows you ways to push your poses and how to stretch your work (literally and figuratively) to achieve
the desired cartoony feel. Easy to read and follow, very recommended
again.
I'm
sure everybody has their own go-to books, to keep on hand and refer to,
but this little selection would certainly help start a decent library
of animation guidance and tips, that would help you with your characters. Do you
know better and more useful books too? Drop me a tweet (@animatormarc) to tell me, or
leave a comment...let's share the knowledge!
Thanks
Marc :)
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