Hollywood 2D Digital Animation: The New Flash Production Revolution 1st Edition

If you're in a school catering towards animators, specifically 2D Flash animation (not so much web animation), this is the Bible for the moment. Reccommended by two of my professors whom work freelance for Bottle Rocket, Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios Burbank, you couldn't get a better start. The book covers a brief history of animation, as well as coloring, drawing in Flash, storyboarding in Flash, different production work flows and so much more. Backed up by industry veterans Hollywood 2D Digital Animation gives insight into making your flash animations better in a timely manner. Demonstrating shortcuts and techniques to make your animations less "flashy" and better animated. Keep in mind this book is NOT for the novice animator. You absolutely need to understand some of the principles of classic 2D animations and flash itself before you can make effective use of the book's techniques(ie: timing, spacing, contrapasta, Flash tools, etc). But if you can overcome these obstacles, turn off the music/tv, sit down with this book and practice the lessons included, you'll earn everything you can gain from it. *Please not this book is meant for animators whom plan to work in the US within small Flash studios in the Los Angeles, CA area. But that doesn't mean it can't useful for you. *If you want beginner material to fully take advantage of this book, I highly reccomend "Animators Survival Kit", "Hands On Training Flash Professional 8", and "Human and Animal Locomotion".Take care.

Let me just say right off the bat that this book is not for beginners. Apart from one chapter on effects animation, (a topic that could almost be a book in and of itself) there's just not much coverage of the actual ins and outs of animating in Flash. Unfortunately, Sandro Corsaro's other book, "The Flash Animator," which focused on Flash animation techniques, in now out of print.For those who have a solid working knowledge of Flash, this is an invaluable resource for using Flash for any level of 2D animation production. For people accustomed to traditional animation, you'll learn how Flash can work as a efficient alternative to the usual production pipeline.Much of this book may seem a little out of scope for those not in the big time of the animation industry, but even if you're a studio of one, there's plenty of tips to help cut down the amount of time you spend cursing Flash. Through proper pre-planning and design one can make the best use of Flash's time saving re-usability of elements. The ability to draw storyboards directly into Flash in another way to streamline the animation process.The interviews peppered throughout the book give some great insight on how Flash can best be used in the production process. Although you'll have get over the irony that most of the interviews came from people working on the now infamous Flash feature Lil' Pimp.Again, if you're new to Flash, you might want to hold off on this one for a bit, but if you have some experience and you're ready to make the most of animating in flash Hollywood 2D Digital Animation is a must-have.

When I first paged through this book, I was incredibly excited. It seemed to have so much information I had been looking for.I was a bit dissapointed when I actually started reading, though. The first six chapters focus mostly on basic animation techniques (not necessarily related to Flash) and basic Flash functions. Having already read two books on Flash and being fairly well versed in animation, I was rather bored through these chapters. The only things that kept me reading were the interviews with various artists scattered throughout (which are well worth the price of this book on their own).Once I hit chapter 7, though, more and more new and useful info started to show up. Actual Flash specific animation techniques!Since I have read this book, I've referred back to chapters 7-10 on more than a couple of occasions.If you're pretty wet behind the ears concerning animation and Flash in general, you will find massive amounts of useful info in this book. If you're a little more savy and have done some animation and Flash projects before (not necessarily together), I still think the book is worth it just for the interviews alone.

I was on AWN.com and noticed a panel for The Flash Revolution in TV Production. I had about an hour to get to the Skirball Galleria. That was one spontaneous decision I'm glad I made because I got to witness the new wave in Flash animation cresting with this panel. The guy that brought all these creative people together is the author of Hollywood 2D. Everyone on the panel is also interviewed in this book relating real world use of Flash in the Television animation industry. The people were with Warner Bros, Disney and Indys and they all know their stuff.And Corsaro knows his stuff and lays it out, not just Flash the program but the animation business and the service specialties in that insular biz. I was doing animation layout work for Curious George but I was new at it and was giving the art director some frustration. I asked him if there was a good reference book to learn a lot of things a layout artist has to know, nomenclature, pipeline conventions, etc. Corsaro's book, even though it focuses on Flash, is a great reference for animation people of all sorts. History, concepts, scheduling, pre-production, scripts, audio, post production. Tips, tips, tips. I've got underlined stuff on every page. Highly recommended. And believe it, Flash is coming on big time. Learn this program if you want some job security in the animation revolution that's just starting.