My Top 10 Books On Animation | Drawing | Story | Art

Over the past few years, I’ve read a fair amount of books on learning how to draw, animate, tell stories, and the like. I know you learn a lot from drawing on your own, but I like to also read about other people’s experiences and advice. I think doing so can really help if you find yourself wanting to improve your skills. A big part of me also just enjoys reading these books because they are about what I love!

I’ve compiled my list of books through teachers’ recommendations and info I have gathered here and there from podcasts with well-known animators. Below are ten of my favorites! To those interested in studying animation, I highly recommend reading these books before attending school. Many of my classmates at CalArts already knew how to animate and had read these books before their first year. Needless to say, these students did extremely well on assignments and their films!

Books on animation

The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas

I loved reading this book! Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas (two of the Nine Old Men, a group of animators known for their incredible animation skills) give you the history of Disney animation and how animators discovered the principles of animation for portraying the ultimate “illusion of life.”

The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams

This is a book that time and again is brought up in our classroom discussions on animation. The principles of animation are very well explained. I felt like I saw these principles carried out everywhere I looked in real-life after reading it.

Books on drawing

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Dr. Betty Edwards

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain taught me how important it is to “be in the zone” while drawing. It’s a great book for improving one’s observational skills.

 

Dynamic Figure Drawing by Burne Hogarth

 

As an artist, it is so important to be able to draw from the imagination. For many, it is also the hardest thing to do! Burne Hogarth helps you learn how to draw the human figure without any kind of reference.

The Art of Animal Drawing by Ken Hultgren

The Art of Animal Drawing is good for learning to draw many kinds of animals, including horses, bunnies, lions and deer. But it is also a great source of information about posing, roughing in, arcs, line quality, and lines of action.

Drawn to Life (volumes one and two) by Walt Stanchfield, compiled by Don Hahn

Disney-animator Walt Stanchfield was a mentor to many co-workers and lead a series of lectures at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1970s-80s for improving drawing. These were then written down as reference for the artists at the studio and much later compiled by producer Don Hahn, who put it all together in a book split into two volumes. The result, Drawn to Life, is one of my favorite books! You can read about the impact the notes have had on story-artist Dave Pimentel, who attended the classes, right here. I've also found a promotional video for the book, with clips from the life-drawing sessions with Walt!

Books on story

 Story by Robert McKee

I have been told by many teachers that this is a must-read if you want to learn about story! Story explores how to effectively tell a story, so that you capture an audience and create interesting plots. As Pixar director Pete Docter once said, “there is no such thing as a lousy idea if it’s told well.”* Here, Pete Docter is talking about the power of layout, but I think it holds true of story-telling, as well. If you don’t execute a story well through effective storylines, the idea itself seems to crumble.

Invisible Ink: A Practical Guide to Building Stories that Resonate by Brian McDonald

Invisible Ink is a fairly quick read, and Brian McDonald’s teachings about story principles are easily digested! Through his insights, he manages to explain something extremely hard (story structure) and lay it out simply in a way I haven’t seen in other books on story. I felt very inspired to write a story and overcome any obstacles I may have with it after reading his book!

Books on creative businesses

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

Creativity, Inc. taught me about the origins of Pixar and the struggles of establishing CGI animation. Ed Catmull, President of Pixar, writes about what it means to have a creative vision and developing something new that no one has seen before or imagined.

As much as I like to forget myself in a world of fantasy, it is good to sometimes come down to planet Earth and connect fantasy with reality. Creativity, Inc. gives great insight to the business-side of making animated movies and entertainment in general.

Books on art history

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: A Global History by Christin J. Mamiya, Fred S Kleiner, and Helen Gardner

Art history is not a main focus in our animation studies at CalArts. Even so, we do discuss art styles, such as works by Muybridge, Futurism in general and Bauhaus. Such art movements helped inform the development of animation and some of its design aesthetics. This book will teach you the foundations of art history and give you an understanding of artistic terminology. Alternatively, another book that is also good for understanding art history is E.H. Gombrich's The Story of Art.

If you are interested in more books about one of these subjects, I am happy to recommend more. And let me know if you have any books you read and liked! These are just ten books that explain what I consider the essentials for understanding what makes the U.S. American animation industry tick.

*Docter, Pete. Foreword to Setting the Scene: The Art and Evolution of Animation Layout, by Fraser MacLean, 6-7. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2011.

Tips For The CalArts First-Year-Film

Throughout the year, many CalArts students worry that they won’t finish their films, that their files will be lost, or that some unforeseen event will prevent them from entering the Labs (the rooms where most students create their films digitally on cintiqs -- computers with a touch-screen that allow us to draw directly on the screen). 

I was no exception. I worried, since I had never made a film or a project on such a grand scale as the first-year-film before. 

At CalArts, every student makes a short-film over the course of the year (on top of their regular classes) that is due in the end of April. Faculty then gathers in a room, watch them all for about seven hours, and grade these films. The ones with the highest scores are selected for the Producers' Show – a screening in Hollywood with notable guests of the film and animation industry.

BFA1s preparing for the CalArts Producer's Show 2015

As a BFA1, the task was to create a ninety-second animated film without dialogue, in black and white, and with the correct settings and format as set forth by CalArts. My assignments until this movie had all been three-second animation clips that could take me up to three weeks or more to perfect. I thought of my film as a series of three-second clips – otherwise it was too daunting!

When I was making the film, it really hit me how crazy the concept of animation is! Let’s draw every frame of a film!

My classmate became a part of CalArts itself while creating his film

Even so, I would do it all over again if I had to! I had the most fun making the film and felt excited getting up to work on it in the morning. It really is true that you learn the most from doing something, as opposed to theorizing about it. I learned so much making this film – about the programs I used, such as TVPaint, Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, and Photoshop; about story-boarding; about sound effects; and about animation!

If you’re a first year at CalArts about to make your own film, here are some of the things I did that I found worked really well for me over the five months I worked on it. I also share some thoughts on what I would have done differently.

Make a schedule

I planned out a schedule early on and stuck to it. For instance, I knew I had to animate a total of five seconds a day for a certain number of weeks. I had a week to make the intro. I had to be done with rough animation on a certain date so I could move on to clean-up, etc. In this way, I was able to finish on time.

Find a daily workflow

I found getting up early in the morning to work was the best workflow while I was making the film. On the weekends and during Spring Break, I would be ready to start working at 6.30am and be done by 11pm at night. If I went later than that, I still got up to start early the next day. I’d also recommend working on your film daily, as opposed to on certain days, even if you have 9 hours of classes (for me, the “Long Tuesday”). Just get a little done every day. If that doesn’t work for you, set a deadline of things you have to have finished weekly. 

Hold off compressing your files

I would recommend waiting to export your files from TVPaint with the best compression until you are in the finishing phases of production (by this, I mean exporting them as TIFF/PNG vs. Photoshop. ALWAYS use the correct format and plan your shots as 1920x1080 and 24 fps and nothing else, unless CalArts has changed the rules. Double-check with Fran Krause). Just make sure to save the original files from TVPaint, and not just your exported images. This way, you won’t have huge files and you can go back and make changes without waiting a very long time for everything to export again. Also, rendering won’t take as long. Then, composite your files with the correct compression when you you’re happy with the result. There is something very satisfying about being done and waiting for everything to render.

Test the camera moves

There are many camera moves in my film. Before making my backgrounds, I tested out the camera moves with rough sketches in After Effects to make sure my backgrounds would be the right size. For example, I have a shot in which we pan down Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in Disneyland Paris. In the story-board, there was plenty of time for a slow-pan and the full castle because I showed three separate drawings to make the illusion of a camera move. But once I tested it out, the actual camera move was too fast and the whole mood was ruined. And the movie could be no longer than ninety seconds! I couldn’t drag out time (neither did I want to). So, I “cheated” and made the castle smaller than it is so that the move does not take up as much time. Hopefully, the viewer can’t tell when they watch it! 

Back-Up

I had multiple back-ups for my files on USB-sticks, Gmail, my hard drive, and my CalArts user account. I use the Toshiba DTD210 1TB hard drive for storage.

Think about your health

I made sure to drink enough water and to go for walks outside. When you’re sitting inside all day in a dark room without windows and staring at a screen, fresh air and exercise can work wonders for your energy levels. A group of us went outside to play Frisbee daily.

Take breaks

I scheduled breaks. I would start at 6.30am and work until 10am. Then, I had a 30-minute break during which I had a few snacks. Then, I had a break again around 12pm to eat lunch. And another break at 3pm. And another at 6pm for dinner. If I had classes during the day, I would consider the class a 3-hour break. During a regular break, however, I would play the game Ligretto with my friends to do something non-computer related.

Pick classes wisely

I did all my reading/writing assignments for my “critical studies” classes in January/February, ahead of time. Otherwise, I knew I wouldn’t have time to finish these assignments once crunch time came around. Many of my classmates had to drop classes halfway through because it was too much. If you’re able, I’d recommend not having any classes that will take up a lot of your time during the Spring semester.

Regrets

If I could change anything, I would have started exploring story ideas earlier. This way, you have enough time to massage the story and make it the way you want it to be, while still feeling confident you have enough time for the rest of production.

If I could, I would go back and ask for more input from faculty and peers. I received a lot of feedback for my story. But for executing my film, I should have asked for more advice and shown more people what I was working on. The teachers are right there and they are so helpful!

-Christine-

Fallen In Love With CalArts? Application Advice

I’ve been planning to write a post about CalArts and its character animation program for a while now and I’m really happy to finally share some thoughts about it here on this blog!

I first learned about the school when I was writing a history-research paper on the Walt Disney Animation Studios in high school. Once I knew about the program and how Walt Disney initiated it as a place to train artists, the idea of attending slowly started building in my mind. I have always wanted to be an animator, but it never seemed like a tangible dream. I finally decided to attend the CalArts Summer Session to see what it was all about and after that, I was hooked.  I knew I had to do everything in my power to get into CalArts!

Luckily, I was accepted, and within a year I was a student walking the halls and attending the Friday Night Guest Lectures – all of which I had only dreamed of doing!

Friday Night Guest Lecturer Glen Keane!

I know there are many artists around the world preparing their applications for CalArts right around this time of year.

Are you asking yourself, "how do I get into CalArts?" 

If the answer is yes and if you have, like me, fallen in love with CalArts, I would like to share with you the things I considered as I was making my portfolio and sketchbook. While there isn’t one formula for getting into CalArts, I believe hearing about another person’s experience might prove helpful.

Sketchbook

The concept of a sketchbook was relatively new to me. I had been sketching about in various sketchbooks from real life for about a year before my application. Once I knew that I was applying to CalArts, I started seriously making time to sketch, and I had around four “practice” sketchbooks before I started my final sketchbook for submission.

I got a small sketchbook that could fit into a bag and come on-the-go. Since most of my sketches in it were observations from cafes and the Zoo, I think having a bigger sketchbook would have been impractical. The small sketchbook was also meant as a gesture in itself -- to show CalArts that I am able to take it with me everywhere and draw at any time.

My sketchbook was the Strathmore Toned Tan 50 sheet version, bought in Michael’s.

Many people also use moleskins as their preferred sketchbook. In either case, it was important for me to choose a good-quality sketchbook. In my mind, it shows CalArts that I care. In the end, though, you just have to choose a sketchbook you feel good about and like!

My sketches were made with Sakura Pigma Micron Pens, Faber Castell and Staedtler Pigment Liner sketch pens, as well as a 2HB pencil and a white pencil for the toned paper.

When I first started to sketch in it, I made the mistake of choosing to draw on random pages throughout the sketchbook. I wasn't filling it up chronologically. The reason was that I felt I wasn’t good enough to start “the” sketchbook yet and needed to hide away the first few pages throughout. I don’t know what prompted me to wake up, but I suddenly realized it would be better to fill it up chronologically, so that anyone looking through the sketchbook can look at my progress – after all, that is the point of a sketchbook! I sketch to get better and improve. Luckily, I realized this rather quickly, so I didn't have to start over and get a new sketchbook.

I decided to make the cover unique so that anyone picking the sketchbook up could recognize and remember it. I took off the standard cover and replaced it with a red cover and dedicated the first page just to my name, in bold letters. I drew mandalas all around my name, something I’ve been drawing since I was about thirteen, before I knew they were called mandalas. It feels very personal to me.

I wanted my sketchbook to show that I practice a variety of things. There are observational sketches of perspective and people, as well as animals. There are also character designs and compositional studies from movies.

For my observational sketches, I found it important to sketch things that are moving. I would draw the animals that move around the most in the Zoo, and I would draw people standing up, walking, or having conversations in populated places.

Portfolio

I wanted my portfolio to showcase a variety of subjects, as well as various media and tools. I had story-boards, perspective drawings, pastel drawings, ink drawings, charcoal drawings, and an animatic (story-board put together in Final Cut Express with added sound and recorded voices).

As well as story-boards and observational drawings, I also included figure-drawings that showcase movement, mass, weight and proper understanding of forms. To this end, I went to figure-drawing classes once a week for about three months.

For these classes, I used a big 18x24 white paper Strathmore drawing pad, and sometimes colored paper. I also used a Prang charcoal pencil soft and Nupastels for coloring.

For me, the presentation of my portfolio was really important. I wanted the individual drawings to be clearly visible. For instance, I had one big drawing with ten bicycles and many small details. Unfortunately, the judges of the CalArts application are not able to zoom in on portfolio pieces. Consequently, I decided to break up my drawing into smaller parts to make sure the judges really saw my drawings.

On that same note, I think the quality of an image is really important. I decided to scan the drawings that were made with traditional media. My drawings were too big for the scanner, so I used Photoshop to put together the individually scanned pieces in the computer.

To do so, I used the “Photomerge” option in Photoshop.

Finally, I believe the CalArts application process is an opportunity for you to be quirky – to be unique! Above all, CalArts wants to see who you are and how you are different from all the rest. Please don’t copy other people’s styles! Teachers at CalArts have explained to me that there are students who have had amazing applications but who have been denied, because the drawing style looked "too much like everyone else's."

Also, once I got in the application, I continued to draw in the Spring. I knew that if I did get in, I would be going to school with some of the best artists in the world. Getting into CalArts was really just the beginning!

At the 2015 CalArts Producers' Show.

That’s all, folks! Hope you found it helpful to read these tidbits of information! Work hard, have fun and good luck!