Thursday, May 13, 2010

Out of School, Into Animation/Acting School

Now that I'm officially out of high school (not to mention on my way to college!), I can finally put more direct focus into the things I want to do for a career: drawing, writing, and making movies; everything that goes into animation, of course.

This summer will be one heck of a training course, because I'll be taking lessons from two of the most reliable sources in the field of acting and animation:

I. Richard Boleslavsky's Acting: the First Six Lessons

I've talked about this book a little bit a long while ago, and now that I've finally printed out the entire book (it's free domain, so I won't be sued), I can have the lessons with me at all times. This is probably the quentessential acting book, and certainly the best I've ever read. It's amazing how easily these principles can be translated for character animation. I have to thank animation historian Michael Barrier for referring to it, as it was always a source of inspiration for the late great Disney animator Bill Tytla. Interestingly, I have to thank another animation historian (not by title) and Ren & Stimpy mastermind, Mr. John Kricfalusi, for referring to this next book in his blog:

II. Preston Blair's Advanced Animation

Now this is probably the quentessential animation and drawing book. I'll admit that it's restricted to the solid, constructed drawing style of the best American cartoons (NO ANIME ALLOWED!!!), but since that's what I'm aiming for, it's the best thing to get me started.

With these two wonderful books to refer to for technique and practice, I'll be having a very busy, and very rewarding workout this summer and beyond!


Links for the two books:

Acting: the First Six Lessons by Richard Boleslavsky

Advanced Animation by Preston Blair