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Elemental Magic: The Art of Special Effects Animation
£29.70£37.00 (-20%)
Create amazing animated effects such as fiery blazes, rippling water, and magical transformations. Animation guru Joseph Gilland breaks down the world of special effects animation with clear step-by-step diagrams and explanations on how to create the amazing and compelling images you see on the big screen. ‘Elemental Magic’ is jam-packed with rich, original illustrations from the author himself which help explain and illuminate the technique, philosophy, and approach behind classical hand drawn animated effects and how to apply these skills to your digital projects.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Routledge, 1st edition (18 Feb. 2009) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 328 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 9780240811635 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0240811635 |
| Dimensions | 21.59 x 26.92 x 2.29 cm |
by Jamie Page
“‘Elemental Magic’ is jam-packed with rich, original illustrations from the author himself which help explain and illuminate the technique, philosophy, and approach behind classical hand drawn animated effects”
That’s basically it really, lots of illustrations… Theory and philosophies which should already be evident to any 2d Animator. This book could possibly be helpful to beginners or first year students, but beyond that the depth of the detail comprises of ‘line of action’ (one of the basics of animation applied to everything) of the different elements of a certain effect.
The author is obviously a genious and knows what he’s talking about, but for some reason he didn’t include not one single timing chart throughout the whole book! You have to be clear with what you’re animating and a dope sheet is key to visualising the feeling of movement. I expected a complete breakdown of things so I could learn something new but you’re only given half the story, I suppose not all those Disney secrets aren’t for sale.
I’m sorry to be negative but I was looking forward to this read and did expect more detail, on timings and rhythms especially. All said and done the book does provide different techniques on rendering and does give you help when approaching the different elements
Jamie
by Gemma R
This book on special effects animation is a great resource for professionals and/or students studying the craft. The author, Joseph Gilland, has packed a lot of thought and step-by-step drawings into this book to give you the best start on special effects animation. He has worked on Disney and Don Bluth films (this is evident in his style) so it’s coming from a reliable source!
I myself am studying animation at University and always puzzled how certain effects were achieved and what they look like frame-by-frame. Gilland doesn’t pretend to be the only resource or instructor for this type of animation, but his detailed chapters on theory and his incredible original drawings demonstrating the action certainly helps! There are also inspiring photographs of the elements to show where your research should always begin.
The most detailed section seems to be the chapter on water–he covers waves, rain, splashes, drips, surfing and more! It shows a huge amount of research and tips for how to get it looking just right, no matter what style you would prefer to render it in. A lot of his examples are actually lessons on the physics and understanding of it all!
This is a brilliant resource and provides a great read as well as an essential backbone for any aspiring special effects animator, or it will serve as a great supplement to any other type of animation, 2D, 3D or otherwise! Highly recommend this for students!
by Parka
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Joseph Gilland is an animator with over 30 years of experience. He has worked with Disney and other studios on movies like Lilo and Stitch, Mulan among many other titles.
When he wrote this book, there wasn’t any book dedicated to classical hand drawn special effects animation. It’s great to be able to highlight the work done by special effects artists, who are usually the unsung heroes of animation — if their work is good, nobody notices!
This book focuses more on dealing with liquids, fire, smoke, explosions and (other-worldly) magic. The chapters are broken down into the order of covering design concepts, discussing scale and perspective, then moving to breakdown the energy, action path and timing.
Joseph Gilland presents his topic with examples on his own, complete with tips and common mistakes to avoid. You’ll learn stuff like how animators can remove details and yet keep things realistic. For example, when dealing with liquids, he would talk about the different factors that affect animation, like water density, force, gravity, viscosity, after splash, etc. The various examples include the simple water droplet to creating waves on which surfers surf on.
There’s also a chapter on props. These are stuff like breaking branches, falling leaves, moving fabric, crumbling clay, etc. Animating special effects is essentially animating energy. Throughout the book, there are a lot of detailed explanation on how different elements and objects interact with one another.
While the book is on classic hand drawn animation, there are also some non-technical writeup on how you can use computers to aid in creating these effects.
Elemental Magic is a tremendously helpful resource that aims to help animators think through their approach before execution, to save time and effort without sacrificing quality. Even if there are other special effects books out there, this one definitely stands on its own.
It’s highly recommended guide for animators.
by HAL
Must have book for any aspiring SFX artists and animators
by radish
Son is a designer. Purchased for his birthday.
by Groovy13
Very helpful for any animator interested in learning the basics and tips at how to draw 2D FX, I would highly recommend it for anyone that wants to start in the animation industry.