For years, people have been asking me about a good book on special effects animation and I've never been able to recommend one.
This is about to change.
My friend, Joe Gilland, has written and illustrated a phenomenal manuscript on the subject. The book is called Elemental Magic: The Classical Art of Hand Drawn Animation and it will be published by Focal Press this coming March.
Joe sent me a PDF mock up a few weeks ago and I thought it was fantastic. I can assure everyone that this will be a "must have" reference for animation students and those interested in the art. The book will feature step by step demonstrations covering all the main categories: liquids, fire, smoke, explosions, magic, transformations, and spiritual entities. In addition to Joe's art, the book will display photographs, diagrams and artwork from various artists in the field. I was honored that Joe used several of my illustrations, designs and film frames. He also asked me to write the foreword.
The last sentence of my foreword is:
"I hope that the wealth of knowledge and gorgeous artwork contained in these pages will ignite passion within the hearts of young animators, and will encourage a whole new generation to carry on the swirling, smoking and sparkling torch of classical effects animation."
And because of it, Joe asked me to draw a "swirling, smoking and sparkling torch of classical effects animation" to go with the text as a signature piece. This is what I gave him:
Click for larger view.
Prelude to Eden on Family Guy
November 24, 2008