I finished reading Creating Animated Cartoons with Character: A Guide to Developing and Producing Your Own Series for TV, the Web, and Short Film by Joe Murray. He is the creator Rocko’s Modern Life and Camp Lazlo. I loved this book. It answered all the questions I had about what goes into putting an animated show together. Now I have no interest in doing my own show, I want to be an animator, but I do want to create an animated short, and there’s a lot of good useful information in this book. There’s also some really good interviews throughout the book with some of the most successful people in the animation industry like Steven Hillenburg (creator of Spongebob Squarepants), Everett Peck (creator of Duckman and Squirrel Boy), Tom Warbutton (creaor of Codename Kids Next Door) and many more. If your interested in getting into the industry, whether it’s being an animator, director, artist, creating your own show, whatever, this is a book you should have in your collection of books. It talks about dealing with networks, creating show pitch material, how to pitch your show, hiring voice talent (there’s a great interview with Tom Kenny, who does Spongebob’s voice), asking yourself why do you want to create your own show, creating a color pallet (which is something I’ve wanted to know for a long time, but could never find a clear answer) the hard work that goes into putting a show on the air, the positive and negative aspects to getting into the businees and there’s also some encouraging words and inspirational stories for those who keep hearing no. GET THIS BOOK!!! I want to be a self-taught animator, and I was feeling kind of lose without somebody to guide me. But this book has set me on the right path.One thing I wanted to say as far as the inspiration part goes. I know that the animation business is a tough business, I’m not in it, but I’ve read a lot negative things about it. One of the things I love about this book is that, it doesn’t sugarcoat the industry, but it also talks about the positives of being in it. To many times, I’ve talked to people about the industry, and they talk way to negatively about it, but then add a smattering of what’s good about it. I wonder is that some kind of scare tactic, to see if I’ll go run and hide in a corner. But I like the fact that Joe also talked a lot about whats good about the industry.
Now that I’m done with that book, the next book I’m going to read is The Power of Myth by Joesph Campbell with Bill Moyers. I only read the first paragraph, and I already can’t wait to dive into this book!
A few weeks ago I finished the whole The Animals of Farthing Wood series… 7 books? I forgot. I like the books better than the series by now! D:
Been reading Fire Bringer too but I can’t possibly like it as much as AOFW for some reason…
Also, I saw the Art of How to Train your Dragon yesterday. I wanted to buy it but it was 40 whoppin’ euros! And I had 50… Spent it all on two Apocalyptica CDs and a Donkey Kong poster though
I’m now reading Chuck Hogan’s The Town, formerly titled Prince of Thieves. It’s the book which was recently adapted into a Ben Affleck-directed movie, and it’s one of the best crime thrillers I’ve read. The pace is snappy, the characters are engaging, the insights… oh man, the author really knows his stuff. The amount of detail he reveals about how criminals rob banks (and how the Feds catch the criminals) is astounding; it almost reads like a ‘How-To’ guide for the curious.
The film surprisingly sticks closely to the book, right down to entire sequences and a few of the quotes. Like any book-to-film adaptation, it’s interesting to see how things have been changed in the translation (for example, the midpoint armoured van heist takes place at a cinema in the book, whereas in the movie, it was at another bank).
Doug, the hero, is sympathetic, as are his best friend and partner-in-crime Jem. The palpable friendship, almost brotherhood between the two is one of the strongest suits of the story. Doug’s relationships with the other characters, his romance with the bank teller he took hostage, his animosity towards his convict father, and his on-off relationship with Jem’s sister are equally fleshed out. Crawley, the Fed agent out to put him away (or put him out) is not as well developed, but I like how Hogan tries to make him emphatic as well (his comparison of the cleared-out vault to a murder victim was especially poignant).
There are a lot of foul language (this is Boston after all), and some mature themes, so it’s not suitable for younger readers. But if you’re old enough and you like dramatic crime epics, this book, and the companion film, are a must.
I came home last night after dinner to a giant Beatles anthology dropped on my bed, courtesy of Dad. Needless to say, it was an awesome thing to come home to and it is massive! Only a few pages in but excited.
I’m about 2/3rds through Stephen Donaldson’s The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covernant. TBH I haven’t had that much time reading of late, so I’ve been in and out of this book for the past 6 months. It was surprising how much I had remembered from the first 2 volumes, which I had read quite a few years previously.
Next book on my list to read is the 3rd Mass Effect book, which I’m really looking forward to. The other 2 books were great story fillers to the games, and the 3rd should be a great lead into ME3.
Another book I’ve been wanting to get is the 4th book of CJ Cherryh’s Chronicles of Morgaine, which is something Stargate fans could relate to. It seems as if these books is where the original idea for Stargate came from.
Other favourite series of books that I re-read from time to time are:
David Eddings - The Belgariad / The Malorean
Douglas Adams - Hitchhikers Series / Dirk Gently Series
Anne McCaffrey - The Dragon Series
Tom Holt - Snow White & the Seven Samurai
Anyway, right now I’m reading The Dark is Rising. Despite being for a book report, it’s a very engrossing novel. It’s kinda like a cross between Harry Potter and A Wrinkle In Time.
Well, i’m hoping (probably not exactly on topic with this) that my novel series could be in a book, and then each episode could be put into one giant book!
I need to re-read this book. Last time I read it, I dispised it. I think it was because I was reading it in English class, and I hate how the teachers make us over study and over think the book. I like reading books on my own terms, so I’ll give this book a second chance.
Lord of the Flies is such a good and surprisingly morbid story. I only really saw an old film adaption/heard my sister’s opinions of it while she was reading the book, but it’s intriguing.
I’m also thinking about reading Black Beauty pretty soon.