Producing Independent 2D Character Animation: Making & Selling A Short Film (Visual Effects and Animation Series)

This book is on par with Kit Laybourne's "The Animation Book", and that is saying something! Too often are books on any art subject full of inspiration with little procedures from which to implement that inspiration. I am glad to say that this book is well worth the investment.

This book is the most concise, and comprehensive book I've seen on the subject of producing a 2D animated cartoon. While several other books focus on the art of animation, Mark Simon focuses on the nuts and bolts of "getting it done". Topics flow from planning, visualization, character design to storyboarding, audio recording and animatics, through editing, rendering and even distribution options. The sample CD-ROM has a huge assortment of demo programs to help you "work along" with the book. It is by no means the ONLY book you need to embark on animating a cartoon, but it is an essential one for any prospective cartoon filmmaker's library. Interviews with several industry professionals are included and add a perspective from the talent buyer's view. All in all a very handy resource for someone who knows what they want to do, but need guidance to realize their vision.

This book is selling for $27.99 at Barnes and Noble as of 2/24/04 - that's over $20 less than here!

Unfortunately, most softwares mentioned inside this book are outdated or obsolete. Remember this book was written in 2003, over a decade ago.If you want affordable softwares for 2D animation, view those below:1. Tupi, FREE to download. Tupi depends on donations.2. Anime Studio Pro, cheaper rival to Flash, great tweening tools. Warning: the learning curve is very steep.3. Tab 3.2 Pro (or its bigger sister software Toonz Harlequin), cheaper alternative to Toon Boom.4. PD Howler Pro (cheaper alternative to TVPaint)2D painting & design softwares below, those that you can use to export still images to new folders and import them into animation softwares.5. Artrage (very affordable, with highly realistic art materials including GREAT smoothing pens that all cartoonists love. Brushes are customisable.)6. Krita, FREE alternative to Photoshop7. Inkscape (free to download)8. Gimp (free to download)9. MyPaint (free to download)Digital flipbook10. Animation Paper (very user-friendly. It is so SIMPLE that you can easily learn all within about 10 - 30 minutes)11. Pencil-Animation (FREE to download)

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