Cartoon Animation

by Preston Blair

In Cartoon Animation, acclaimed cartoon animator Preston Blair shares his vast practical knowledge to explain and demonstrate the many techniques of cartoon animation. By following his lessons, you can make any character—person, animal, or object—come to life through animated movement!

Animation is the process of drawing and photographing a character in successive positions to create lifelike movement. Animators bring life to their drawings, making the viewer believe that the drawings actually think and have feelings. Cartoon Animation was written by an animator to help you learn how to animate. The pioneers of the art of animation learned many lessons, most through trial and error, and it is this body of knowledge that has established the fundamentals of animation. This book will teach you these fundamentals.

Animators must first know how to draw; good drawing is the cornerstone of their success. The animation process, however, involves much more than just good drawing. This book teaches all the other knowledge and skills animators must have. In chapter one, Preston Blair shows how to construct original cartoon characters, developing a character’s shape, personality, features, and mannerisms. The second chapter explains how to create movements such as running, walking, dancing, posing, skipping, strutting, and more. Chapter three discusses the finer points of animating a character, including creating key character poses and in-betweens. Chapter four is all about dialogue, how to create realistic mouth and body movements, and facial expressions while the character is speaking. There are helpful diagrams in this chapter that show mouth positions, along with a thorough explanation of how sounds are made using the throat, tongue, teeth, and lips. Finally, the fifth chapter has clear explanations of a variety of technical topics, including tinting and spacing patterns, background layout drawings, the cartoon storyboard, and the synchronization of camera, background, characters, sound, and music.

Full of expert advice from Preston Blair, as well as helpful drawings and diagrams, Cartoon Animation is a book no animation enthusiast should be without.

Genres: Art, Drawing, Nonfiction, Reference, Comics, Education, Design

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

An American character animator, most noted for his work at Walt Disney Productions and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation department.

A native of Redlands, California, Blair began his animation career in the early 1930s at the Universal studio under Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan. He later moved over to Charles Mintz’s Screen Gems studio, and in the late 1930s moved over to the Disney studio. At Disney, Blair animated cartoon short subjects, Mickey Mouse scenes in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” section of Fantasia, and the hippo-alligator dance in Fantasia’s “Dance of the Hours” sequence. He also did some work on Walt Disney’s Pinocchio and Bambi.

Blair left Disney after the 1941 Disney animator’s strike, and was hired to work for Tex Avery’s unit at MGM. There, he became particularly noted for animating the titular female character in Red Hot Riding Hood. “Red” later re-appeared in more Avery cartoons, including Swing Shift Cinderella, Little Rural Riding Hood, Uncle Tom’s Cabana and the Droopy cartoons The Shooting of Dan McGoo and Wild and Woolfy, with animation by Blair. In the late 1940s, Blair teamed with Avery animator Michael Lah to direct several Barney Bear cartoons.

Blair continued his career in animation into the 1960s, working on The Flintstones at Hanna-Barbera. He is most noted, however, as an author of animation instructional books for Walter Foster Publishing. His first book, Animation, was published in 1948 and originally included images of the famous MGM & Disney cartoon characters he had animated, who were redrawn to obscure their origins in the second edition of the book. Blair would write many more animation how-to texts over the next forty years, culminating with 1994’s Cartoon Animation, a 224-page book which compiles most of the content from all of his books.

Preston Blair was the brother of artist Lee Everett Blair and the brother-in-law of artist and designer Mary Blair. He died on April 19, 1995.

Reviews

[Tom Beland · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father bought me this book when I was four years old. I now use the book to teach students and I'm 51. It really is to go to book on animation techniques and how to get your characters to act

[Justin Hawn]

The Animator's Survival Kit is without a doubt the first item on the list of all aspiring animators and animation enthusiasts, but Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair is a close second. It covers the same material seen in the Survival Kit, but just not as extensively; however, Blair spends ample time demonstrating how to construct and design classic Disney and Warner Bros. styled characters.

Great read if you can find it.

[Barack Liu · Rating 5 out of 5]

307-Cartoon animation-Preston Blair-Tool-1908

Barack
2021/01/24

" Cartoon animation ", first published in the United States in 1980. It mainly explains and demonstrates many techniques related to cartoon animation.

Preston Blair was born in Redlands, California in 1908 and died in 1995. He has worked in Universal Studio, Disney Studio, MGM. Representative works: " Cartoon animation " and so on.

Table of Contents
Chapter 1: CHAPTER DEVELOPMENT
Chapter 2: CHARACTER MOVEMENT
Chapter 3: ANIMATION
Chapter 4: DIALOGUE
Chapter 5: TECHNICAL

“ It can be an exciting experience to create and develop an original cartoon character. Constructing and developing a character is not merely a matter of drawing the figure, each character also has its own shape, personality, features, and mannerisms. The animator has to take these qualities into consideration to make the characters seem lifelike and believable. ”

Creative work has its own charm. Animation Ye Hao, also writing strike, also, or programming, in fact, they are to imagine something into reality, this spirit of fun is actually very strong. Even, in my opinion, it is much stronger than any physical or sensory pleasure.

" PROPORTION IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN CONSTRUCTING A CARTOON CHARACTER. THE ANIMATOR MUST KEEP IN MIND THE RELATIVE SIZES OF THE BODY PARTS BECAUSE SPECIFIC PROPORTIONS ARE USED TO CREATE CHARACTER TYPES. EXAMPLE HATER, THE HEAVY, PUGNA A SMALL HEAD, LARGE CHEST OR BODY AREA, HEAVY ARMS AND LEGS, AND THE JAW AND CHIN NORMALLY PROTRUDE. ”

Animation which will involve different images, they have different size ratio, these things are very important in, it is these different images in order to create a colorful animated world.

" BUILD THE CARTOON FROM A ROUGH SKELETON, BUT DON´T EXPECT TO ALWAYS GET THE SKELETON RIGHT
ON THE FIRST TRY-NOBODY CAN DO THAT! EXPERIMENT... DISCARD... MAKE SEVERAL DRAWINGS, THEN
PICK THE BEST ONE. BE SURE TO WORK LOOSELY WHEN CONSTRUCTING THE CHARACTER. "

To understand the art, there should be a certain anatomical study of the foundation, so as to grasp the character of the architecture. Otherwise, the characters that are easy to draw are only superficial but lack true proportions.

" ALL ANIMATED CARTOON CHARACTERS CAN BE REDUCED TO A BASIC FORMULA. THIS FORMULA MAKES THEM
EASIER TO MASTER AND ENSURES UNIFORMITY THROUGHOUT A FILM, EVEN IF SEVERAL DIFFERENT ARTISTS
WORK ON THE SAME CHARACTER. "

When painting, copying is the same, first there is the whole, and then the details are carved. We first with the cylindrical body to build the framework, then carved the body of the organizational structure, and finally refine these details, which is actually the top-down model.

" THE EGG IS THE BASIS OF A GREAT MANY CARTOON HEADS. DRAW AN EGG LIKE THIS AND STUDY IT FROM
ALL ANGLES. ADD DETAILS AND DESIGN SOME ORIGINAL HEADS OF YOUR OWN. WATCH THE PERSPECTIVE
CHANGE AS YOU TIP OR TILT THE EGG MODEL. FOLLOWING THE CENTER AND MIDDLE GUIDELINES WILL
HELP YOU CONSTRUCT HEADS. ”

Creating animation also requires a relatively strong ability of spatial imagination, so as to be able to imagine the perspective when viewing the same object from different perspectives, and to have sufficient expressive power.

" / DRAW AN OVAL WITH PERSPECTIVE GUIDELINES.
/ ADD NOSE CONSTRUCTION, MAKE SURE IT FITS SOLIDLY.
/ NOW DRAW OVALS FOR THE EYES.
/ BE AWARE OF THE PERSPECTIVE WHEN CONSTRUCTING THE REMAINING DETAILS.
STUDY THIS BASIC FORMULA, THEN DRAW THE DOG IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.
ASSEMBLE THESE "

This way of painting is also from the whole to the part. If you start from the details when copying the problem still is not too large, but the creation of time, from the beginning of the details, is almost impossible.

" THE JOB OF AN ANIMATOR IS THE SAME AS THE JOB OF AN ACTOR IN LIVE ACTION PICTURES. BOTH SHOULD
BE MASTERS OF PORTRAYING EMOTIONS. STUDYING YOUR OWN GRIMACES IN A MIRROR IS A MUST. PICK A
CHARACTER YOU KNOW AND GO THROUGH THE EXPRESSIONS WITH HIM, AS I HAVE HERE WITH THIS LITTLE
PUP. "

When painting, vivid performance figures of expression is actually a very difficult thing. Animal faces are actually quite anthropomorphic faces. In real life, these animals may not have so many expressions. These expressions, in the final analysis, are derived from human expressions.

" HERE IS THE BASIC FORMULA FOR GOOFY TYPES THAT ACT LIKE A "SIMPLE SIMON" CLODHOPPER . "

The author actually summed up many models, these models are a kind of experience summary. The image created by combining these many characteristics gives people a feeling and tendency as a whole. Just like a chemical formula, when two substances are put together, a specific reaction occurs. It is not unruly.

But from another perspective, the style drawn according to this technique may be a typical Disney style. If you want to develop another style, you need to sum up another model yourself.

" FIT THE CLOTHING TO THE BODY BY USING PERSPECTIVE GUIDELINES. "

Think about the overall proportions first, and then fill in the details. Followed by some more interesting details. The more important elements such as nose, ears, hands, and feet are added later.

" STUDY THE FORMULA (UPPER ABOVE) FOR THESE BAD BOYS. IT ALSO APPLIES TO FOUR-LEGGED TYPES, SUCH
AS THE BEAR ABOVE AND THE BULLDOG SAILOR ON PAGE 72. ”

I think this is also a typical Western aesthetic. The strong performers here have a very standardized model. For example, the chest is very large, and the lower limbs are relatively small. But in Eastern painting, it is not necessarily this kind of routine. One of the best oriental art in this respect is probably Japanese animation. Japanese animation actually took another path.

" -ROUGH IN THE BASIC CONSTRUCTION
-FIT ON THE DETAILS CAREFULLY.
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN WHEN WOLF SEES A PRETTY GIRL... "

Painting and other techniques similar, they are a repeated sanding process, not at the beginning when it was already very very good, necessarily needs to have a repeated process of change. In this process, the creator is actually trying to find the best. At the very beginning, he actually didn't know where the most suitable line was, so he needed to patiently and constantly look for it.


" AN ANIMATOR MUST BE ABLE TO DRAW FROM ALL ANGLES.
LOOK AT YOUR OWN FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IN A MIRROR FOR A GUIDE ... ”

When I was painting myself, my ability to imagine the space was a little worse. A copy is relatively simple to me, but to imagine all angles, for me, still a little difficult.

" PERSPECTIVE GIVES ANIMATED DRAWINGS THE DIMENSION OF DEPTH BY USING VANISHING POINTS (VPS)
ON A DISTANT HORIZON LINE AND FORESHORTENING (WHEN AN OBJECT SEEMS TO COME TOWARD THE
VIEWER). THE HORIZON LINE RELATES TO THE VIEWER´S EYE LEVEL. IF THE VANISHING POINTS HAVE BEEN
POSITIONED TOO CLOSE TOGETHER, THE DRAWING WILL APPEAR DISTORTED. EXPERIMENT WITH YOUR
SUBJECT TO FIND A COMFORTABLE POSITION FOR THE VPS. ”

The principle of perspective is a basic principle in painting. Only a proficient mastery of perspective skills can show the three-dimensional sense as much as possible on the two-dimensional paper. The line is relatively simple, but in the actual painting, also needs light and shadows to reflect the three-dimensional sense.

" THESE CHARACTERS DIFFER GREATLY IN PERSONALITY AND SHAPE DUE TO THEIR PROPORTIONS. NOTICE
THE DIFFERENCES IN BEAKS, LEGS, NECKS, AND WING SIZES. FOR EXAMPLE, THE BABY CHICK HAS NO NECK
(THE HEAD SHAPE OVERLAPS THE BODY SHAPE), WHILE THE OSTRICH´S NECK IS EXAGGERATED. ALL OF THE
CHARACTERS ON THESE TWO PAGES HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED USING THE CIRCLE AND ROUNDED FORM
METHOD. "

Disney's painting style adopts a strong anthropomorphic characteristic, and its painting techniques for animals also greatly refer to human painting methods. Through different modes, to reflect the characteristics of different roles. This is an obvious point in Disney's painting style.

" PERSONALITY CAN BE PROJECTED THROUGH HAND EXPRESSION-YOU DON´T NEED TO SEE THE WITCH´S
FACE TO KNOW THAT SHE IS "WICKED." ”

Sometimes, in real life, we talk about phase from the heart, in my opinion, it is a grain of truth, but the principle behind it is actually, in the end, is what it does? If a person undergoes plastic surgery, can one mind change? Or even if the plastic surgery, the heart will gradually affect the plastic surgery results?

Of course, this is only a statistical concept, and there will definitely be special cases. It was beautiful as was snake-hearted, there are people ugly but good at heart. But in general, most people are willing to believe this. It probably has some realistic basis. On what basis is this realistic basis based?

[Nada Muhammad · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب واضح جداً ومفيد لمن هم مبتدئين مثلي في علم الرسوم المتحركة
I highly recommend this book for all the beginners in animations .

[Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Preston Blair is one of those people that everyone knows without realizing that they know. He worked under both Disney and MGM, helping to created some of the most memorable cartoons of all time. As such, it is only fitting that he wrote books on the subject. This particular book is well-known in the industry, having been used by animation students for decades. Once I read it, I quickly understood why. Blair very clearly breaks down the movements of animation, something that mystifies many. How do I make a character walk or run? How do I make them look angry/happy/sad? How do I lipsync to dialogue? All these questions and more are answered in this book. As you can find this book in most art stores for about $20 or so, it is worth every penny to pick up because it will help you to see just how to make animated characters come to life.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Creo que este libro es indispensable para aquellas personas que quieran adentrarse en el mundo de la animación, especialmente para quienes disfrutan del estilo clásico de Disney o Warner Bros.

Preston Blair introduce de forma amena y clara todos los conceptos básicos que debemos conocer para animar. Además, cada sección está repleta de dibujos que puedes tomar como referencia para poner en práctica lo aprendido.

Habiendo leído antes el "Animator's Survival Kit" pienso que "Cartoon Animation" es ideal para comenzar y asimilar los principios básicos de animación ya que su lectura es más rápida y se centra en llevar los conceptos a la práctica.

Sin duda es otro de esos libros que revisitaré ya sea para tomar referencias, notas o simplemente para inspirarme con los dibujos, ¡muy recomendado!

[Arturo Manuel De la Guardia Oteiza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ideal to start animating. This one and Eric Goldberg’s Character Animation Crash Course are both great. Golberg goes more in depth and touches more the subject of animating itself, but Blair has some excellent tips for rapid character creation of cartoon animals that are just too good not to try them.

To make the most of this book, you have to do the exercises, if not, you will not assimilate the lessons.

[Frog · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to stare at this book instead of listening to the teacher at school. It's a good book that reminds you of obvious things you might forget when you draw cartoons. Your drawings do look surprisingly different if you follow its advice.

[Labeba Salameh · Rating 5 out of 5]

صحيح ان هناك امور كقيرة لم افهمها وصحيح ان الكتاب يشرح الطريقة القديمة في التحريك والتي لا تتصمن ادخال الريومات الى الكمبيوتر وتحريكها عبر برامج المونتاج.. لكن يستحل ان تختص في الانيميشن دون المرور بهذا الكتاب العبقري

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantástico libro que te ayuda desde la creación de un personaje hasta como lograr animarlo. Altamente recomendado para aquellos que les interesa la animación en 2d o animación en general tanto de animales como humanos o solo si te interesa aprender del tema 10/10

[Andrea Dvořáková · Rating 5 out of 5]

Klasika, která nezestárne 🤍 Perfektní průvodce pro každého, kdo se chce naučit základy animace. Srozumitelně vysvětlené principy, skvělé ilustrace a praktické tipy! Povinná četba pro všechny animátory 😁

[Alex Wylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this Animation book!!!

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi

[Genius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best for animation

[Nora Hafez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woow .osam

[Alec Longstreth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another book I spent my whole childhood looking at constantly but only just now read for the first time. It contains tons of useful information which I will be revisiting for years to come

[Chris Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for animation basics, but also for character design ideas.

[Aneesh Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good one

[stefi ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's very useful for character design, besides animation which is the main topic, of course.

[Tulip · Rating 5 out of 5]

mình chủ yếu đọc phần dialogue thôi, cơ mà nói chung bất ngờ vì kỹ thuật lipsync trước đây (và cũng là kỹ thuật tốt khi build offline realtime cho thiết bị) lại có 1 bộ hinhf-âm từ cuốn này

[3moopydelfy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un livre à offrir à tous ceux qui apprécient l’animation et aiment crayonner. Un cadeau intemporel séduisant, pour petits et grands. Les explications et certains dessins ont été revus en fonction des droits. Pour les curieux, Preston Blair a donné naissance à la pin-up dans le style de Jessica Rabbit en nettement plus craquante de Tex Avery, la version Chaperon Rouge qui a su émoustiller toute une génération à son époque. Le ton s’avère simple, pratique, sans grands difficultés. Il est parfait pour débuter ou se perfectionner. Si vous avez des enfants, ils seront ravis de suivre les modèles pour créer leur propres personnages mignons. Le recueil permettant de suivre pas à pas le procédé de créations, les dessinateurs en herbe risquent rapidement de trouver crayons et papier pour mettre en pratique les idées posées dans les pages de Cartoon: l’animation sans peine. - See more at: http://www.newkidsonthegeek.com/avis-...

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by Preston Blair, an animator for both Disney AND MGM during the Golden Age of Animation, this book talks about animation, creating cartoon characters, and depicting their actions. While he talks about animation principles towards the back of the book, don't write off this book as being useless to anyone else.

Blair demonstrates the principles of geometric shapes, constructing your characters, and depicting action. These are solid principles that make up drawing in general and should be ones that anyone wanting to draw should know!

This book is necessary for anyone wanting to draw.

[Nina Harp · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is hands down one of the greatest reference books for those interested in hand drawn animation and provides great insight into transforming your workspace into a home animation studio on the cheap. Invaluable tips on squash and stretch, walking, running, and simplified anatomy.

[Stephanie Yuhas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paired with "The Animator's Workbook" and online software tutorials, you can learned more from this book than a 4-year degree from arts school. Believe me, I know - I just paid off that degree a few weeks ago.

[Liston Morris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a quick and handy reference. Preston Blair let go a lot of secrets in this book and almost got in trouble.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

fantastic. my college animation professor turned me on to preston blair's books. i was able to get the two large size editions before they combined 'em into this one book.

[Sky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must for anyone doing any kind of animation from cell to stop to 3D!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books EVER written about animation.

[Jiaying Wang]

- -

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant resource book for animation techniques! Highly recommend :)