Animated Storytelling: Simple Steps for Creating Animation and Motion Graphics

This is required reading for my upper division university-level storyboarding course. The content is approachable and easy to digest, and is a fantastic quick glimpse into the phases of producing motion graphics beyond the software.

Animated Storytelling is a concisely written and beautifully deigned book that gives the reader a comprehensive look at the filmmaking process. It's kind of like having a mini film school in the palm of your hand! (Although it focuses on animation, I would argue that much of this book's information applies to live-action storytelling as well.) For the aspiring filmmaker, it serves as a workbook, taking the reader through the entire filmmaking process with pertinent and contemporary illustrations of the concepts being discussed as well as assignments that help the reader put those concepts to use in their own film. For the veteran, it serves as a great reference guide and creative-block-lifter: encouraging the reader to experiment and not be afraid of failure while reminding them of key techniques and concepts that can help elevate their work to a whole new level. As a side note, I believe this book would be a great educational companion piece to Richard Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit" (see link below). As Williams' book delves into the nitty gritty and hard core mechanics of character animation, Blazer's book shows the reader how to combine that animation with design and storytelling to create a film. A great combo for any aspiring animated filmmaker! The Animator's Survival Kit: A Manual of Methods, Principles and Formulas for Classical, Computer, Games, Stop Motion and Internet Animators

La información no está tan interesante, incluso, algunas cosas son un poco genéricas.

After reading this book, I feel the need to have a mini Liz Blazer perched on my shoulders during all my creative endeavors. Through the midst of wonderful refreshers from color theory and composition of frame to the importance of audio and timing, there’s a lesson in particular that i think ALL CREATIVES NEED. She really teaches you to embrace our crazy, hectic, thought-stuffed minds. And gives you comprehensive and EASY steps that help you organize the chaos and DISCIPLINE YOUR CREATIVITY to make your work come to life with purpose, intention, and all of your creative juices flowing. I’d recommend this book to a seasoned professional, just as I would to a beginner starting out for the first time. If nothing else, its an incredible refresher and a visual feast with illustrations that are as quirky as some of Liz’s great lines scattered throughout the book.

Even though this is a small book, I consider it as a peace of Art, because it gives you so many important and accurate information that you can use when creating your projects. I didn't knew anything about storytelling, this book gave me a good amount of information to be able to organize my animation and motion graphics projects. I am new to this business, and for now it's like a hobby, but this book opened a world of possibilities to me, because it aught me how to organize my work, and how to follow very import rules to do quality work.

Just finished reading Liz Blazer's book and I have to say it's really, really great. What is particularly wonderful about it is its concise presentation of the most critical aspects of creating animated works—delivered in a style that is clear, fun, 'contemporary,' and, yes, compassionate. While it is not a 'deep' look at any one of the aspects of film (one will not find an analysis of Bergson, Albers, Mulvey nor Campbell in here) it is indeed comprehensive and therein lies its strength. Blazer presents a lot of information in the simplest and most direct way...the mark of great design. I will be making this required reading for my animation students.

This book is great! It gave me a clear path to thinking through & clarifying my creative intentions, and then following through on a specific project. The illustrations/art are awesome -- and bonus: it's funny! A wonderful read, like someone speaking directly to you, like your own personal professor. I felt inspired and confident after I read it, and I had a firm idea about how to proceed. I'd highly recommend this one.

Detracted 2 stars because someone thought it was great idea to put a bar code sticker on the front cover. When peeling the sticker off it started to remove the surface of the cover, so I started peeling the sticker off from a different angle and was able to then get most of the sticker off and then dig at getting the sticker adhesive and remaining sticker paper off the cover. I finally got the sticker off, but was angry when I received a book with a sticker that isnt easily removable placed on the cover almost dead center of the book. I dont know why the ISBN barcode on the back of the book wasnt good enough to use that someone had to use their own bar code system and place it on the top of the front cover vs on the inside of the front cover hidden which would make for a better buyer experience!

L'approccio all'animazione, alla motiongraphics, sono elementi fondamentali. Conoscere solamente i software e basarsi su quelli per creare i contenuti quando dietro manca sostanza, la storia, lo storytelling, il suscitare emozioni già prima di accendere il proprio Computer è fondamentale. Il libro fa un escursus su tantissime tematiche che mi hanno aperto gli occhi e che ritengo indispensabili per ogni buon Motion Designer. Esempi, esercizi ed illustrazioni sono molto validi per far andare la mente su una concezione tutta nuova, se non conosciuta. Mi è così piaciuto che mi sono rifatto delle mappe mentali per riassumere i tanti concetti espressi. Straconsigliato!

I liked book a lot. It is good foundation or reminder about very simple and basic things, which works not just for animation but also film. Simple excellent guide through your creative process especially when you stuck and need some creative push!

Es un libro muy recomendable para gente que se enfrenta a proyectos de animación y motion graphics. Te acompaña a través de todo el recorrido de un proyecto, para que entiendas cada etapa y te enfrentes de la mejor manera para encontrar los resultados deseados. Facil de entender, con ejemplos y ejercicios que te ayudarán a llevar a buen puerto tus proyectos.

Excelente material para quienes inician o se dedican a la pedagogía en el medio. Abarca de manera simple y sencilla al proceso creativo, de planeación y de preproducción de proyectos audiovisuales sean animados o no.

El libro es interesante pero muy básico. Describe paso a paso, pero es info que fácilmente se podría sacar de internet, no hace falta comprar el libro. La calidad de impresión deja mucho que desear.