The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (Disney Editions Deluxe)

Product Information

Written by two of Disney's famous Nine Old Men, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, this book goes back to where animation was born, made and enjoyed by people all over the world. Not only are there animation drawings and film stills, but also concept art, candid photos, and staff caricatures. Each chapter includes carefully worded information that helps guide the reader through the history of Disney animation and animation procedural techniques alike.

Though the latter aren't essential for understanding the animation itself, they are a great personal touch and give glimpses into the personalities of the caricaturists and their subjects. They explain the particular challenges of the animator trying to put across different story and character points. To me, the key take away is how a complex, stylized animation style can be decomposed into smaller, understandable chunks (i. A "magnificent volume" that remains "essential for film collections and a feast for the most casual peruser. While not a tutorial book, it does covers subjects like camera techniques, styles of background paintings, effects, colours and other technical approaches to creating animation, right down to how they voice sync a talking door knob.When I moved to engineering scool, my engineering graduation Master thesis was about animation and robotics, and this book was key for me to do things right. They personally animated leading characters in most of the famous films and have decades of close association with the others who helped perfect this extremely difficult and time-consuming art form. If something is going to happen, people have been quite familiar with it, so they can prepare in advance. In 2013, the book's third chapter (which explains the twelve basic principles of animation) was republished in its entirety with the permission of the authors' heirs in the Disney Animated iPad app from Touch Press. We struggled to build interesting, appealing characters, but most of all we worked to find ways to make the audience feel the emotions of the animated figures— emotions the audience could “'relate to, identify with, and become involved in.

A role from the beginning of conception, to move the process on the final shape of the big screen, is probably a bit like a human process from birth to the last final nail. The most interesting character in the world is not very exciting when sitting and listening to a symphony concert. Full of great drawings and art from the films, it also gives you an inside look at how Walt ran the studio and how some of the most beautiful animation scenes were filmed. It contains 489 plates in full color, as well as thousands of black-and-white illustrations, ranging from storyboard sketches to entire animation sequences.The most complete book ever written on the subject, this is the fascinating inside story, told by two long-term Disney animators, of the gradual perfection of a relatively young and particularly American art form--which no other movie studio has been able to equal. The most complete book on the subject ever written, this is the fascinating inside story by two long-term Disney animators of the gradual perfecting of a relatively young and particularly American art from, which no other move studio has ever been able to equal.