The Holy Trinity of Animation Books

While there are a number of fine books on animation, the following three books are absolutely essential to every animator.

The Illusion of Life by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas.


Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair.

The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams.

Why all three? Isn't at least one of them good enough on its own? Yeah, each one stands well on it its own. I believe owning all three is important because, while there is some overlap, they are dealing primarily with different aspects of animation.

The Illusion of Life is most notable for its HISTORY and THEORY. You're going to be doing a lot of reading on this one. Preston Blair's book is concerned mainly with DRAWING and CONSTRUCTION. Lastly, Williams' book is about the PROCESS and really dissects actions, particularly walks. It is like they are three galactic lions and together they form Voltron.*


*Technically, he was formed with five lions but the metaphor is still good.

Mr. Poof's Replacement

Picked up a new scanner so here's a real scan of the Preston Blair suspicious dog, in which you can actually read my notes:


Here's another older study from Preston Blair, a bunch of hands:


Lastly, a recent study sketch of Professor Layton all up in your grill:

Mr. Poof

A study from Capcom's Okami Art Book:


I started to scan in some more older stuff I wanted to post, but my scanner died with a loud pop and a puff of smoke. Dammit.

Using my cell phone as a temporary scanning solution, here's a quality image of another Preston Blair study:

Some Sketches Old and New

From many moons ago, some dog studies from Preston Blair's book Cartoon Animation:

From a couple weeks ago, a study from Jack Hamm's great book Cartooning The Head & Figure:
From a couple months ago I think, I brought together some sketches I made while watching a Ren & Stimpy episode. Love the design of the droopy ghost:
Lastly, from today, some studies from the manual of the video game Professor Layton and the Curious Village:
I am going to make it a habit of not only putting the date on all the things I draw, but keeping track of how long I spent on each drawing. As you can see in the image, I spent 45 minutes on the full body Layton and 20 minutes on the closeup.

The Effects of Drawing Everyday

The saying goes the best way to get better at drawing is to draw everyday. Sounds good in theory but how about some proof? I found a perfect candidate online and, if you play video games, chances are you've heard of him. Mike "Gabe" Krahulik has been the drawing half of the creative team behind the online comic Penny Arcade since its inception in November 1998. I went through their archive and chose a single comic from each year, mostly at random but making sure the choices included the protagonists Gabe and/or Tycho. Presenting them in chronological order really showcases Mike's progression as an artist.

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004
2005

2006

2007

2008

Mike's drawings have come a long way in those ten years. Somewhere around 2003 or so a unique style started to emerge and I think 2005 was really a breakthrough year. He's a real powerhouse of an artist now.

This is what happens when you draw everyday for 10 years.

Lethargic

*drool

Satisfaction

The theme for today's daily pose was "satisfied," as in full or the opposite of hungry. There's probably a better word for it, but I can't think of it right now. I used yet another Maya rig I found online. This one is called Sergio and it's a beautiful model with a pretty robust rig. Am I satisfied with this pose? Eh, it's okay, but he seems a tiny bit off balance.

He's contemplating seconds.