| We are in an era where there are probably more books about animation than there ever were. So you would presume that with all that information out there, a young and aspiring student of animation would have more than enough to choose from. However, if you objectively look around at all those books off ered, you will fi nd one or two truly great books, but the rest tend to regurgitate the same old material over and over again, much of it losing its value and accuracy in translation and through imitation. Many people also refer to the classic age of “ cartoon fi lms, ” without ever really acknowledging that the great cartoon industry we once knew in “ the good old days ” has eff ectively been long, long gone! The actual core principles of animation never change of course — they are timeless and eternal, and will forever be so. However, the obsessive presentations that still hark back to an era where rubbery characters, slapstick gags, and the inevitable “ squash and stretch ” chase scenes proliferate ad infi nitum are totally misleading. The animation that once was, is no more, and the classic industry of cartoon filmmaking is now merely an illusion.
I am often criticized for being so pedantic about this knowledge, and for insisting that there is one way to do something and no other. In reality, animation can be approached in any way that you wish to. And may it forever be so, for variety is the spice of life! However, I write what I write with a knowledge that if you want to animate well and you want to animate in keeping with the requirements of the modern production age, you will fi nd it so much easier and so much better to adhere to the core principles that grace every era of the world of animation. Today, there is a new animation industry to conquer — arguably as powerful as it ever was in the cartoon days. Games animation proliferates, as well as Web animation, TV animation, and also still a little Hollywood-style theatrical animation. Yet each one of these can take the art form to previously unconquered heights, and there is still huge cause for optimism. |
