Preston Blair (1908–1995)

Cartooning: Animation 1 with Preston Blair
Learn to animate step by step by Preston Blair is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. I like to try to draw realistically but for stress relief I love books like this! No, I am not trying to get into cartooning, I just want to have fun! This book is sure to provide both! It teaches the ways of cartooning and fun!
There are lots of step-by-step tutorials and added information on facial expressions, learning the cartooning body language, and much more! A fun book and great starting point for beginning cartoonists!… (mais)

Cartooning – Animation 1 by Preston Blair
Learn to Animate Step by Step

I remember watching cartoons and hearing about how they were created one frame at a time and how meticulous and accurate the artists had to be to string those frames together in a way that would create action. Reading this book reminded me of that but also made me realize that there is a lot more involved that I had not thought of. Sure, we think of facial expressions to show thoughts and feelings but to think of making the mouth shape accurate for what is being said? Hadn’t thought of that at all. I learned a new way to show faces from a variety of angles, how to use circles in creating characters, how to...well...there were many tips and tricks as well as terms that were shared in this book and I learned a lot and enjoyed reading it. I would love to have this book available to use should I ever take up cartooning!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Walter Foster for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars… (mais)

This is the companion book to Advanced Animation a.k.a. Animation or Animation 1 (Walter T. Foster #26) that you have been waiting for. Ref. 'Pointers on Animation to Remember' (on page 40 of #26) where it was written 'There is enough meat in these "pointers" for another book on advanced animation.'.

Following a recap of the fundamentals of the first book, Preston Blair dives straight into Timing and Spacing Patterns, Accents - Beats - Scene Timing, Camera + Technical. He also explains Still Backgrounds - Trucks - Fields, Pan Backgrounds - Overlays - Cels - Xerox, and goes more in-depth into all the areas covered in the first book, as well as a few more on top!

Although, this book can work in it's own right. It's true value comes from having read the first one beforehand, I feel; and I know many people who felt that the first one was too difficult for beginners. A fair point, since the original title of the first book was 'Advanced Animation' after all. However, I think that both of these books are inspirational and certainly make you want to reach for a higher standard, rather than being satisfied that you can animate stick-men. These books assume that you already know how to draw well enough to take up the Challenge of animating your work. A fair expectation I feel.
If you want to get tips from the master, you've found the right book here.… (mais)

This is a review for the book by Preston Blair titled ANIMATION, originally named Advanced Animation and subtitled 'Learn how to draw animated cartoons'. It is currently known as Animation 1 and is #26 in the Walter T. Foster 'How to Draw' Art Books series.

I bought this book from the art supplier just off of Place du Tertre, Monmartre, Paris. It was where my grandfather frequently went for his art supplies. I can't remember the name of that shop all these years later, but it was in the basement and doubled as the entrance to a little wax museum which I frequently snuck into. This was in the late 1970s.
This book was amazing. I read it every night before going to sleep, and frequently copied from it to learn how to animate - which was inevitably to take the form of tiny flip-books. I dreamt of one day constructing my very own animator's board, as demonstrated on page 40 (at the back of this book). Of course even if I had done so, where would I have sourced enough cheap animation paper to make even a short cartoon; and then there was the issue of a camera for producing cells. I did look into super-8 (the only option open to me at that time), but even second hand camera were out of my range, let alone the cost of film stock and developing. And so, it remained forever out of my reach. But, that didn't stop me. I started saving up and buying little bits and pieces, learning photography, even attending art school for a short time. As many studios fell into decline during the turn of the century, I managed to invest in more bits and pieces, till inevitably things got put on hold while I started my own family. As technology moved over to digital, I found myself finally in possession of the tools I needed to get underway with my animation, only to see my small children racing ahead of me on their nintendo DS' with flip-notes (an animation program). I don't think children today understand how privileged they are to have access to such powerful tools as computer tablets and virtual animation studios on their laptops. If I had had the same access to such things in my day... Ah, well...

But, back to the book review:
I remember every page as clear as day. And it was not simply through rose coloured spectacles! Years later I found this book again and it is every bit as incredible as I remember it being. Whereas some of the Walter T. Foster books can seem a little sparse on content (such as #23 'COMICS' - still a great book!), ANIMATION by Preston Blair feels like it has ten times as much content in roughly the same amount of pages. This is still my go-to book on animation not just for emotional support but because the lessons are simply perfection.

The title of my copy of this book Animation caused me some confusion, since in 'Pointers on Animation to Remember' (on page 40) Preston Blair writes that 'There is enough meat in these "pointers" for another book on advanced animation.', which I took as meaning a follow up book titled 'Advanced Animation'. To add to this, the series list at the back of my book states this copy as #26 Advanced Animation. It turns out that the original title of this book was in fact Advanced Animation.
The companion book he is referring to would become #190 in the Walter T. Foster "How To" series, and is titled 'How To Animate Film Cartoons'.… (mais)