Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life

I did not read this it was a present for someone else

amazing book!

Thanks to a review of the other version of this gem, I managed to locate the original, better quality, version. According to an anecdote that I read in one of Korkis' books, when Hyperion wanted to reprint this book, they didn't want to spend the money to rephotograph all the artwork, so instead they bought an older copy from a used bookstore for $300, took it apart, and scanned every page. As a result the Hyperion edition is lacking in color quality. This is the version to get. Thankfully Amazon has a separate page for it. Now onto the book itself: This is a book every Disney fan and enthusiast must own, ditto for animators starting out. Lots of artwork of all kinds, explanation of various techniques, an overview of the Disney Studio, all written by 2 of the guys that perfected Disney Animation.

Un tesoro

I got this book for a class while studying computer animation and must say that it is AMAZING! If you're serious about the art of animation and want to really tap into the great minds of Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas (two of Disney's Nine Old Men) I highly recommend this book. It is very thorough and uses examples from favorite Disney classics. Keep in mind that this is quite a big read and it's tips and lessons are best learned when applied, like most animation material ;) It's also a great tool to refer back to and tends to reveal something new or previously overlooked in the animation process. This book will definitely give you great insights, help improve your knowledge and understanding of animation as well as the study of life/movement in general.

This is a beautiful book, honestly, it's gorgeous. You really feel the weight of it's wisdom in your hands when you hold it, it's one of those heavy, big books that make you want to prop yourself up in a comfortable chair and hold it in your lap and read through it much like you would when you were a child. The 1981 edition is beautiful but I imagine the 1995 edition would also be a wonderful book for your collection. I went with the 1981 edition because I read a review saying the colors are more brilliant and more original looking and the quality of the paper was better. However it's still a wonderful book, I'm a beginning animator and II love Disney, their movies, their animations and all the timelessness of their golden era of animation. Looking through the book it's steeped in full color images and sketches and examples for drawing and there's so much history in the book about the Disney company, and animation. It's not a light read, it's a novel but that's part of what makes it so amazing. A lot of pictures and a lot of information for you to take in, and you will be the better for reading it. You can't read this and not come away with something special.

THE BEST. Worth every penny. If you're a fan of Disney films you would do yourself a huge favor to look at this treasure trove of info. Written by two of Disney's best animators, both legends. Great color photos and the corner of this book's pages has a cool flip book feature to it. Try to snap it up at a reasonable price, though and try to get an older copy. Big and heavy so be prepared to make room for it.