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Rating: 
Summary: If You Are New to Animation, Get This Book!
Review: Chris has created an invaluable resource for anyone interested in creating animation. I have recently created 2 animated shorts and am well into my third. My first effort was created using Toon Boom Studio's 2D software and for the second, I used Macromedia Flash. I then embarked upon an old-fashioned hand drawn animation with plans to scan the art, assemble it and then edit it. How to do it? My How to Draw animation books barely touched upon the tools needed and none of them covered modern technology, especially the all important modern tool, the computer.Lady Luck was smiling the day I discovered Chris Patmore's "The Complete Animation Course". The book is NOT a how to draw animated figures kind of book. However, it is a valuable resource filled with ways to produce an animation. The book is handsomely designed and easy to navigate. If you want to know how to find software to create "Pencil Tests" of your drawings to see how you animated action is unfolding, Chris lists several inexpensive programs (and some very expensive ones, too!) and tells the reader which ones are for Macintosh and which ones are for PC. You want to know about setting up a Rostrum Camera? It's in there. How about simple cutout animation or stop-motion animation (also know as claymation and stop-action)--it's also covered. Chris offers many options for the fledgling animator to choose from. He gives inside animator tips on equipment and procedures. I found myself regularly referring to his book as I moved through the various stages of drawing, shooting pencil tests and scanning the final art. I'm a long time illustrator but I'm new to animation. The Complete Animation Course has helped me immensely.
5 Stars & HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Introduction to the Craft
Review: I don't think one can review this book as anything less than a 5 out of 5. It's very well thought out, beautifully illustrated and I only wish it were available earlier when I still taught introductory college level animation. This will not teach you 'how' to animate -- to learn to animate you have to simply start doing it -- but it will give you a very good idea of what animation is about. If you're looking for a 'how-to' book, Richard Williams' Animator's Survival Kit and Disney's Illusion of Life are the standards.
Rating: 
Summary: Great High Level Fly By
Review: The title of this book is some what misleading as to its scope. It looks like a Preston Blair or Richard Williams calibre teaching book based on the title. It presents itself as a "complete" course on animation technique. It isn't. This is a very good "high level" fly by. It is a survey of some of everything in current animation from classical to computer. A lot of breath and very little depth. It's Intro to Modern Animation 101. If you are just starting out and you want to get a useful 20,000 feet off of the ground introduction to what's available out there then this is a great overview book. Easy on the eyes and easy to read. But, if you are trying to actually become a successful animator and you want specific technical instruction this is not that kind of book. If you are a complete novice and have little or no idea about modern animation and don't know where to begin, then I recommend this book as a great starting reference.
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