Animation is a limitless medium for telling stories. Artists can create worlds, defy gravity, flip from factual to fantasy, and transport audiences to places they never imagined. The challenge is having the discipline to reel it in and be intentional about your storytelling choices. This book shows you how. In Animated Storytelling, you’ll learn how to create memorable stories using animation and motion graphics by following 10 simple guidelines that take you through the stages of concept development, pre-production, storyboarding, and design. Award-winning animator Liz Blazer uses clear examples and easy-to-follow exercises to provide you with the instruction, encouragement, and tools you need to get your designs moving. Whether your goal is to create exciting shorts for film festivals, effective messaging for broadcast or online, or simply to gain a deeper understanding of the medium, Animated Storytelling simplifies the process of creating clear and engaging stories for animation and motion graphics so you can get started easily. In Animated Storytelling, you’ll learn how to: Write a creative brief for your project Find and communicate your story’s big idea Create a tight story using linear and nonlinear story structures Use color to clarify and enrich your story Define the rules for your animated world, and commit to them Ease into the challenging task of animation Make the work you want to be hired to do Share your work with the world!

Animation is a limitless medium for telling stories. Artists can create worlds, defy gravity, flip from factual to fantasy, and transport audiences to places they never imagined. The challenge is having the discipline to reel it in and be intentional about your storytelling choices. This book shows you how. In Animated Storytelling, learn how to create memorable stories using animation and motion graphics by following 10 simple guidelines that take you through the stages of concept development, pre-production, storyboarding, and design. Explore traditional linear storytelling and learn different processes for creating successful nonlinear animated stories, and also discover the wonders of experimental filmmaking. Award-winning filmmaker, educator, and motivator Liz Blazer uses clear examples and easy-to-follow exercises to provide you with the instruction, encouragement, and tools you need to get your designs moving. Whether your goal is to create exciting shorts for film festivals, effective messaging for broadcast or online, or simply to gain a deeper understanding of the medium, Animated Storytelling simplifies the process of creating clear and engaging stories for animation and motion graphics so you can get started easily. Animated Storytelling teaches you how to: • Write a creative brief for your project • Find and communicate your story’s Big Idea • Create tight stories with linear and nonlinear structures • Explore experimental filmmaking techniques • Use storyboards to communicate your visual story • Use color to clarify and enrich your story • Define the rules for your animated world • Ease into the challenging task of animation • Make the work you want to be hired to do • Share your work with the world! “Equal parts inspiring and practical, Animated Storytelling is a step-by-step guide that takes aspiring storytellers from raw idea to final render to distribution. –Justin Cone, Co-founder, Motionographer “This book is the instruction manual for navigating the complex world of animated storytelling. It's informative, inspirational, and extremely entertaining to read. Anyone working (or hoping to work) in the field of animation needs to read this. –Joey Korenman, CEO & Founder, School of Motion

Learn the skills and techniques needed to tell your own great visual stories/ explore story modes, emotional connection development, and all the animation techniques needed/ find valuable insights and tips from industry pros and view a variety of film clip examples.

Francis Glebas, a top Disney storyboard artist, shows how to reach the ultimate goal of animation and moviemaking by showing how to provide audiences with an emotionally satisfying experience. Directing the Story offers a structural approach to clearly and dramatically presenting visual stories. With Francis' help you'll discover the professional storytelling techniques which have swept away generations of movie goers and kept them coming back for more. You'll also learn to spot potential problems before they cost you time or money and offers creative solutions to solve them. Best of all, it practices what it preaches, using a graphic novel format to demonstrate the professional visual storytelling techniques you need to know.

Learn how to generate and develop successful story ideas that fulfill the unique storytelling challenges of animation shorts between 2-5 minutes in length.

PIXAR STORYTELLING is the first book to offer an in-depth analysis of the screenwriting techniques that make Pixar's immensely popular films so successful and moving. Learn what Pixar's core story ideas all have in common, how Pixar creates compelling conflict and stakes, and what makes their films' resolutions so emotionally satisfying.

Lighting for Animation is designed with one goal in mind - to make you a better artist. Over the course of the book, Jasmine Katatikarn and Michael Tanzillo (Senior Lighting TDs, Blue Sky Studios) will train your eye to analyze your work more critically, and teach you approaches and techniques to improve your craft. Focusing on the main philosophies and core concepts utilized by industry professionals, this book builds the foundation for a successful career as a lighting artist in visual effects and computer animation. Inside you’ll find in-depth instruction on: • Creating mood and storytelling through lighting • Using light to create visual shaping • Directing the viewer’s eye with light and color • Gathering and utilizing reference images • Successfully lighting and rendering workflows • Render layers and how they can be used most effectively • Specific lighting scenarios, including character lighting, environment lighting, and lighting an animated sequence • Material properties and their work with lighting • Compositing techniques essential for a lighter • A guide on how to start your career and achieve success as a lighting artist This book is not designed to teach software packages—there are websites, instructional manuals, online demos, and traditional courses available to teach you how to operate specific computer programs. That type of training will teach you how to create an image; this book will teach you the technical skills you need to make that image beautiful. Key Features Stunning examples from a variety of films serve to inspire and inform your creative choices. Unique approach focuses on using lighting as a storytelling tool, rather than just telling you which buttons to press. Comprehensive companion website contains lighting exercises, assets, challenges, and further resources to help you expand your skillset.

Apply universally accepted cinematic techniques to your Flash projects to improve the storytelling quotient in your entertainment, advertising (branding), and educational media. A defined focus on the concepts and techniques for production from story reels to the final project delivers valuable insights, time-saving practical tips, and hands-on techniques for great visual stories. Extensive illustration, step-by-step instruction, and practical exercises provide a hands-on perspective. Explore the concepts and principles of visual components used in stories so you are fluent in the use of space, line, color, and movement in communicating emotion and meaning. Apply traditional cinematography techniques into the Flash workspace with virtual camera movements, simulated 3d spaces, lighting techniques, and character animation. Add interactivity using ActionScript to enhance audience participation.

This colourful undersea adventure from the bestselling creators of The Gruffalo and Stick Man is now available in board book format! Tiddler is late to school every day, and he always has an elaborate excuse for his teacher. One day, as Tiddler is thinking up his next story, a net sweeps him up and hauls him far away from his school. How will Tiddler find his way home? All he has to do is follow the trail of his biggest, fishiest story yet! Full of bright colour and bouncy repetition, this engaging book makes a fun introduction to the wonders of story-telling!

The all-time classic picture book, from generation to generation, sold somewhere in the world every 30 seconds! Have you shared it with a child or grandchild in your life? For the first time, Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar is now available in e-book format, perfect for storytime anywhere. As an added bonus, it includes read-aloud audio of Eric Carle reading his classic story. This fine audio production pairs perfectly with the classic story, and it makes for a fantastic new way to encounter this famous, famished caterpillar.