Drawing and Animation Resources
Anime Studio enables you to be creative, but it is only a tool. If you need to improve your drawing skills, there are several resources that can help. The listed resources are skewed toward mainly cartooning and animation instead of traditional types of drawing.
Books on Drawing Characters
Drawing characters that have life and personality is an essential skill and the following books can help hone these skills:
Creating Characters with Personality: For Film, TV, Animation, Video Games and Graphic Novels by Tom Bancroft and Glen Keane
All About Techniques in Drawing for Animation Production by Sergi Camara
Cartoon Cool: How to Draw New Retro-Style Characters by Christopher Hart
Cartooning: Character Design by Walter Foster, et al.
Exploring Character Design by Kevin Hedgpeth
Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach by Katherine Isbister
Digital Character Design and Painting by Don Seegmiller
Books on Animation
Animation skills are uniquely different from drawing and painting skills. The following list of books will help as you develop your animating skills:
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation by Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas
Acting for Animators by Ed Hooks
Timing for Animation by Harold Whitaker and John Halas
Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for Digital Animators by Tony White
The Animator’s Workbook: Step-by-Step Techniques for Drawn Animation by Tony White
The Animator’s Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles, and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion, and Internet Animators by Richard Williams
Digital Character Animation by George Maestri
Helpful Web Sites
In addition to books, there are a number of helpful Web sites that include online tutorials and lessons:
Larry’s Toon Institute at AWN: www.awn.com/tooninstitute/lessonplan/lesson.htm#top
Animation Meat: www.animationmeat.com/
Karmatoons: www.karmatoons.com/drawing/drawing.htm
Cartoon Smart: www.cartoonsmart.com/
CG Society: Society of Digital Artists: www.cgsociety.org/
Digital Animators: http://animators.digitalmedianet.com/
Animation Nation: www.animationnation.com/
These resources are in no way comprehensive and many more excellent books and Web sites are available, but these are provided just as a place to start.