The best Animation Book compilation

A year and a half ago I wrote a post about the most interesting books for becoming a good animator. I think it would be useful for us to check it out again and take notes about all of them. Thanks to Carlos Baena, Sean and others. Without his contribution this compilation would not be possible.

I highly recommend adding this post into your favorites.

Some of this books could save your life!

Animation

• “Illusion of Life” – Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston
• “Animators Survival Kit” – Richard Williams
• “Timing for Animation” – Harold Whitaker & John Halas
• “La magia del dibujo animado” – Raul Garcia
• “Actores del Lapiz” – Raul Garcia
• “The Animation Book” – Kit Laybourne
• “Creating 3-D animation” – Peter Lord, Brian Sibley
• “Cartoon animation” – Preston Blair
• “Animation from script to screen” – Shamus Culhane
• “The Nightmare before Christmas” – Frank Thompson
• “The Animation Studio” – Christopher Hart
• “How to draw Animation” – Christopher Hart
• “Toy Story: Art and Making of” – J. Lasseter, Steve Daly
• “Animators workbook” – Tony White
• “Digital Character Animation (1, 2, 3)” – George Maestri
• “Thinking Animation: Bridging the Gap Between 2D and CG” – Angie Jones/ Jamie Oliff
• “Inspired 3D Character Animation” – Kyle Clark & Michael Ford
• “Inspired 3D Short Film Production” – Pepe Valencia & Jeremy Cantor
• “Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men and the Art of Animation” – John Canemaker NEW!
• “Drawn to life vol.1” – Walt Stanchfield  NEW!
• “Drawn to life vol.2” – Walt Stanchfield  NEW!
• “Chuck Reducks: Drawing from the Fun Side of Life” – Chuck Jones NEW!
• “How to Cheat in Maya 2010: Tools and Techniques for the Maya Animator” – Eric Luhta NEW!
• “Composing Pictures” – Donald W. Graham NEW!
• “Prepare to Board! Creating Story and Characters for Animated Features and Shorts” – Nancy Beiman NEW!
• “In Motion Book Collection” – Eadweard Muybridge NEW!
• “Animation” – Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Archive Series NEW!

Acting & Performance

• “Impro: Improvisation and the Theater” – Keith Johnstone
• “Acting Under the Circumstances” – Brestoff
• “A Practical handbook For the Actor” – Bruder et al
• “Sanford Meisner on Acting” – Meisner/Longwell
• “Building a Character” – Stanislavski
• “Respect for Acting” – Uta Hagen
• “Stanislavsky in Focus” – Sharon M. Carnicke
• “Lessons for the Actor” – Michael Chekhov
• “The Audition Book” – Ed Hooks
• “Acting for Animators” – Ed Hooks
• “An Actor Prepares” – Stanislavski
• “The Empty Space” – Peter Brook

Animation history

• “To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios” – Karen Paik, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, and John Lasseter
• “The Hanna-Barbera Treasury” (Hardcover) – Jerry Beck
• “Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898-1928″ – Donald Crafton
• “Cartoon: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation” – Giannalberto Bendazzi
• “Chuck Amuck” – Chuck Jones
• “I tawt I taw a puddy tat: 50 years of WB” – Jerry Beck
• “Experimental Animation” – Robert Russell and Cecile Starr
• “The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings” – Charles Solomon
• “That’s All Folks!: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation” – Steve Scheneider
• “Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons” – Leonard Maltin

Animation / Film technical

• “Understanding Digital Cinema: A Professional Handbook” – Charles S. Swartz
• “Stop Staring: Facial Modeling and Animation Done Right” – Jason Osipa
• “Body Language: Advanced 3D Character Rigging” – Eric Allen, Kelly L. Murdock, Jared Fong, and Adam G. Sidwell

Anatomy / Drawing / Body language:

• “Simpified Drawing for Planning Animation” – Wayne Gilbert
• “Manwatching” – Desmond Morris
• “Animal watching ” – Desmond Morris
• “Atlas of Human Anatomy” – Stephen Rogers Peck
• “An Atlas of Anatomy for Artists” – Fritz Schider
• “Body Language” – Julius Fast
• “Teach yourself Body Language” – Gordon Wainwright
• “Art Anatomy” – William Rimmer
• “How to draw the human figure” – Emilio Freixas
• “Big book of Cartooning” – Bruce Blitz
• “Cartooning the Head and Figure” – Jack Hamm
• “Drawing on the Artist Within” – Betty Edwards
• “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” – Betty Edwards
• “Dynamic Light and Shade” – Burne Hogarth
• “Skeleton” – Steve Parker – Eyewitness Books
• “El gran libro de como dibujar Comics” – Cels Piñol
• “Cartoon Dogs, Puppies and Wolves” – Christopher Hart
• “Comic Book Bad guys and gals” – Christopher Hart
• “Constructive Anatomy ” – George B. Bridgeman
• “The Natural Way to Draw” – Kimon Nicolaides
• “Gesture Drawing” (notes) – Walt Stanchfield
• “Biomechanics: A Qualitative Approach for Studying Human Movement“- Ellen Kreighbaum NEW!

Film

• “Film Directing Fundamentals” – Nicholas T. Proferes
• “The Film Experience” – Timothy Corrigan & Patricia White
• “Understanding Movies ” – Louis Giannetti
• “Hitchcock” – Francois Truffaut
• “Directing: Screencraft ” – Mike Goodridge
• “Setting Up your Shots” – Jeremy Vineyard
• “Shot by Shot” – Steven D. Katz
• “Cinematic Motion” – Steven D. Katz
• “The Technique of Film Editing” – Karel Reisz, Gavin Millar
• “Making Movies ” – Sidney Lumet
• “Directing Motion Pictures” – Terence St.John Marner
• “Video Basics ” – Herbert Zettl
• “On Directing Film ” – David Mamet
• “Objetivo: Corto” – Lola Fernandez, Montaña Vazquez
• “Film Form” – Eisenstat
• “Film Sense” – Eisenstat
• “the Eye is quicker” – Richard D. Pepperman
• “Making Movies Work” – Jon Boorstin
• “In the Blink of an Eye” – Walter Murch

Cinematography

• “Painting with Light ” – John Alton
• “Digital Lighting & Rendering” – Jeremy Birn
• “Design Basics” – David A. Lauer, Stephen Pentak
• “Pantone: Guide to Communicating with Color” – Leatrice Eiseman
• “Color Harmony: A guide to Color Combinations” – Bride M. Whelan
• “5 C’s of Cinematography” – Joseph Mascelli
• “Black and White: Landscapes” – Terry Hope
• “Screencraft: Cinematography” – Peter Ettedgui
• “The Visual Story: Seeing the Structure of Film, TV and New Media” – Bruce Block.
• “The Visual Story (Second Edition): Creating the Visual Structure of Film, TV and Digital Media” – Bruce Block
• “Pixel Cinematography” (Siggraph ’96 – Panel #30)
• “The Art and Science of Digital Compositing” – Ron Brinkmann, Ron Brinkman
• “Cinematic Storytelling ” – .Jennifer Van Sijll
• “Cinematography: Theory and Prctice” – Blain Brown
• “Lighting for Television and Film” – Gerald Millerson
• “Reinventing Music Video: Directors, their inspiration and work” – Matt Hanson
• “The Technique of Special Effects Cinematography” – Raymond Fielding
• “Film Lighting: Hollywood’s Cinematographers & Gaffers” – Kris Malkiewicz
• “Light-Science & Magic: Intro to Photographic Lighting” – Paul Fugua
• “Digital Compositing” – Scott Jenkins
• “Digital Textures and Painting” – Owen Demers

Writing / Script writing

• “How to Write Animation” – Jeffrey Scott
• “Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters” – Linda J. Cowgill
• “Writing the Short Film” – Patricia Cooper, Ken Dancyger, Pat Cooper
• “Writing Short Scripts” – William H. Phillips
• “Screenwriting from the Soul: Letters to an Aspiring Screenwriter” – Richard W.Krevolin
• “Conflict, Action and Suspense” – William Noble
• “Writers Journey” – Christopher Vogler
• “Making A Good Script Great” – Linda Seger
• “Story” – Robert Mckee.
• “Writting Down the Bones” – Natalie Goldberg
• “Wild Mind” – Natalie Goldberg
• “Bird by Bird” – Ann Lamott
• “Zen and the Art of Writting” – Ray Bradbury

Inspiration

• “The Making of Fantastic Mr. Fox” – Roald Dahl NEW!
• “The Art of Kung Fu Panda” – Tracey Miller-Zarneke NEW!
• “The Art of How to Train Your Dragon” – Tracey Miller-Zarneke NEW!
• “The Art of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” – Tracey Miller-Zarneke NEW!
• “Cartoon Modern” – Amid Amidi NEW!
• “The Art of Puppeteer” – Verge
• “Blacksad” – Juanjo Guarnido. Juan Diaz Canales
• “El Archivista ” – Schuiten. Peeters
• “Monster Allergy ” – Centomo. Enoch. De Martino
• “Kabbala” – Gregory Charlet
• “Le Docteur Heraclius Gloss” – J. S. Bordas
• “Frezzato: Sketchbook ” – Heavy Metal
• “Nira Works” – Yasushi Nirasawa
• “HR Giger: Retrospective” – Morpheus International
• “Darkwerks: The Art of Brom” – FPG
• “Sandman” – Neil Gaiman
• “Dustcovers” – Dave Mckean
• “Calvin and Hobbes” – Bill Watterson
• “JTHM: Director’s Cut” – Jhonen Vasquez
• “SQUEE’S” – Jhonen Vasquez
• “Burton on Burton” – Mark Salisbury
• “Airbrush in Japan” – Page One Publishing
• “Sin City: That Yellow Bastard” – Frank Miller
• “Destiny” – Kwitney, Williams, Zulli
• “Hellboy” – Mike Mignola
• “Louder than words” – Sergio Aragones
• “Faeries” – Brian Froud, Alan Lee
• “Bad Faeries ” – Brian Froud
• “The Fantastic Art of Beksinski” – Zdzislaw Beksinski
• “Poco” – Richard Castells
• “Dead End” – Thomas Ott
• “QUINO – Quinoterapia” – Editorial Lumen
• “The Magic of M. C. Escher” – M. C. Escher
• “M.S.Era” – Bandai
• “The Thief of Always” – Clive Barker
• “Los Guardianes del Maser” – Frezzato
• “Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy” – Tim Burton
• “Cocina Ligera”- Leonora Ramirez