Creating 3-D Animation: The Aardman Book of Filmmaking

by Peter Lord, Brian Sibley

Creating 3-D Animation, originally published in 1998 and based on the work of Nick Park and Peter Lord of Aardman Animation, creators of the wildly popular Wallace and Gromit short films, has become required reading for animation courses around the world. In addition to being the most thorough treatment of 3-D puppet animation, also known as stop-action animation, the book was the first complete how-to guide that catered to both novices and experienced animators.

Since the book was published, Aardman released Chicken Run, its first feature film and an enormous box-office success. Also during that time, the studio began to rely more heavily on computer graphics. This revised edition brings Aardman's technology and achievements up to date. With 32 additional pages that include techniques developed during the making of Chicken Run and a further exploration into the use of computer graphics-a necessity now for animators-this edition remains the best book on the art of puppet animation and a must-have for all animators and animation junkies. AUTHOR Peter Lord, with partner David Sproxton, founded Aardman Animation in 1976. He has received several Academy Award nominations for his work on Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, and Creature Comforts. Brian Sibley is a writer and broadcaster who has written extensively about Aardman, including Abrams' Chicken Hatching the Movie. Nick Park joined Aardman in 1986. His Oscar-nominated A Grand Day Out (1989) introduced the world to Wallace and Gromit.

Genres: Animation, Art, Nonfiction, Reference

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Peter Lord, CBE (born 4 November 1953) is an English animator, film producer, director and co-founder of the Academy Award-winning Aardman Animations studio, an animation firm best known for its clay-animated films and shorts, particularly those featuring plasticine duo Wallace and Gromit. He also directed The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! which was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.

Lord is the executive producer of every Aardman work, including Chicken Run, Arthur Christmas, and Flushed Away.

Reviews

[ari]

one of those non-fics that i feel is actually a bit disingenuous to leave a rating here, considering i am not the target audience nor well-versed enough on the subject of animation..so leaving an unofficial rating of 3/5!

i love animation so much, i always really really have, and stop-motion has always been the tippy top of that adoration! aardman is of course one of my lifetime loves, and i found this all in all to be such a lovely testament to the tedious and enduring love affair peter lord has with animation. while there's a lot to be learned, i will probably remember absolutely none of it considering i have no interest in getting into animation hence the lower unofficial rating but i personally thought it was an incredibly detailed divulging of how to get into stop-motion in every single aspect. to be clear - this is definitely less on the art side and more on the how to animate side! so people looking to purchase this should keep that in mind. frankly the most lovely thing that shone throughout is this message (especially relevant in the age of gen AI which remains among the most damaging inventions to the world but the land of art specifically) is how sincerely you can see aardman studio's passion for not just their own art and all the hundreds of people involved but for getting other people to try to create art. there's an emphaiss on creating animation with what you have throughout the whole thing, using as little resources as possible and i just thought it was so beautiful. there's also an insane amount of stunning photos for so many of my favourite films and shorts and peter lord and nick parker ensure to shine a light on all different types of animation, the things and films they were inspired by- just brilliant! companies please continue to hire aardman studios, not just bcs the commercials are banging but becuase it gives flight to the funding to so many grants and competitions pls pls stop using ai dear god. if my adoration and insane respect for (what is admittedly and fair to say i think) the most sadistic form of art, stop-motion animation, wasn't high enough, it sure the fucking hell is now! thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you aardman studios, you bring so much joy into my life!!

p.s. happy to read this and know that my "coffee table books" non-fic chunkos i buy at book fairs will ALWAYS be read!! onto the next for next year

[Jesse Bray · Rating 5 out of 5]

An adorable overview of animation done the Aardman way.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an essential item for any animator or enthusiast's shelf. Written as an introductory piece to Aardman's style of stop motion and cgi, "Cracking Animation" is written with heartwarming sincerity and showcases one of the UK's longest running studios. A must have.

[Gijs Grob · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a richly illustrated coffee table book, written by the founders of Aardman, with contributions of some of their co-workers, like Nick Park. The book is set up as a guide for starting stop motion artists, but rather fails in that respect, as the writers also want to tell something about how they have done things at Aardman. These chapters are in fact the most interesting ones of the book, but at the same time the least insightful for the starting animator. In the end the book is neither fish nor fowl: it's too sketchy for the reader interested in Aardman's history and technique, and it's too vague for the would-be animator. Best chapters are 'The medium', which is an excellent overview of the history of stop motion animation, ending with the history of Aardman itself, and Chapter 6, 'Making a Film', with insightful background information on 'Chicken Run', 'Creature Comforts', 'War Story', and 'Pib and Pog'. The rest of the book is also highly entertaining, but should be seen more as a celebration of Aardman than as a text book.

[Mike Levere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book I absolutely adore. Aardman, along with Wallace and gromit, were another insanely influential life long thing for me.

The wizardry behind stop motion animation is fascinating and mind blowing, and watching aardman produce the things they do, was always something special.

again, for animators and artists, I would argue that this specific book is as good and essential, as the illusion of life or the animators survival kit.

After reading this, one can very much go ahead and start making their own claymation movies - no problem.

I give it 5/5 sheep 🐑🐑🐑🐑🐑

[Xavier Remacle · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in depth study on the foundational skills needed to create animation through the Aardman method. They focus a large portion on the text in expressions and emotion. I found that really eye opening into the nuances of understanding how context of a scene and the belayment of expression have a tight coupling. Very cool

[Parka · Rating 5 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

This is sort of a behind-the-scenes book that looks at animation production inside the famous Aardman Studios, creators of successful Wallace and Gromit films, Chicken Run and others.

The perspective is that of Aardman Studios so this book focuses on stop-motion animation. The 3-D in the title means the physical 3D, the actual construction of stuff, as compared to computer generated 3D (only a small section is on that).

The book starts with a long but interesting history of animation, right from the day stop motion was used for films up to the recent releases for Aardman Studios.

The second part jumps into the more technical side of making animation. There are chapters on basic clay animation, model makings, set designs, animating movements and expressions and using CGI. These are all furnished with lots of great pictures and insightful commentary from the staff. It's difficult not to marvel at the ingenuity behind making these animation. There are explanation on the camera tricks used, on how to create enduring characters on paper and in clay, and other production stories.

The final part looks at film making in depth, from scripting to animating, including thoughts given to creating other related content like games and websites. Several films were used as mini case studies, such as the early Peter Lord's Adam, Curse of the Were-rabbit, Chicken Run and other lesser known films.

This is a very insightful book on stop-motion animation, and on how Aardman Studios make theirs. Recommended to fans and enthusiasts.

[Jake Hainey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tend not to like non-fiction or reference books, always preferring novels but having recently completed an Honours degree in animation I was very interested in this book when I found it for a bargain price.
I’ve never been a massive fan of Aardman animations but in terms of claymation you don’t get much better, therefore you would think an educational book from them would be a no-brainer, sadly I didn’t find this to be the case.
The problem I usually have with books designed to educate on a particular topic, is that these books are usually written by people at the top of their fields. These people are able to write in detail to a professional level but often struggle to give basic steps for people with no experience. This is very much the case here, after a few pages of basic exercises the reader is bombarded with tips on how to work at Aardman’s level. Given that Aardman animators have been working since the 70’s to get to their level I find it unlikely that the jump from amateur to pro can be made after ten pages of trial and error.

It’s educational value aside, the book does a good job of telling the history of Aardman and the chapters detailing their work are a good read. The highlight, the opening sixty pages that give a detailed history of claymation, listing several obscure films that I will now definitely track down.

While these are a treat to run through I couldn’t help but feel let down that the book doesn’t live up to it’s purpose and I can’t really recommend it for anything else than the opening essay. If you can get it cheap, it’s worth a look, but I’d refrain from getting it at full price.

[Jeremy James · Rating 3 out of 5]

I debated much on my rating for this book but in the end this seemed appropriate for what I was able to gain from it.

I got this book hoping to find some good step by step instruction into stop motion clay animation. I've long admired the films Aardman has released and with that I started to read. Unfortunately nearly half the book was nothing more than a fairly dry history of animation.

It was beyond this point where I became interested again as they begin talking about equipment and techniques. I really never realized that each clay figure has its own metal armature underneath the clay to make movement fluid and easy. They show, step by step, the making of some of their iconic characters, such as Grommit and talk in depth about motion and studying movement. It also includes a great section that shows step by step, simple, clay progressions that you can follow to practice the craft.

Despite the dry beginning I did enjoy this book as a sort of Claymation 101. In terms of being an in depth tutorial on the subject I'm sure there are better options out there. But in terms of learning a few techniques from one of the greatest studios to produce Claymation films it was surely worth it.

[Jellysix · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hoping for more straightforward information on creating 3d animation. About 3/4 of this book is a history of animation in general and Aardman studios in particular. It was an interesting book, and I did enjoy it, but it's far from a technical manual, even in the parts where it does get a little technical. So, good for reading and looking at pictures; not so good for reference.

[Karetchko]

This is a fun book for fans of Wallace and Gromit (and other claymation features).

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the kind of lively, entertaining, insightful book about animation-making you might expect from one of the finest teams of animators in the biz.

[Jeff Youngstrom]

My review from September 9, 2005

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blew my tiny 7-year-old mind.