so sorry to ask, could you share a list of some animation books you recommend? You had some on your old blog that I was interested in but I never got around to reading them (or writing them down). History, how-tos; you name it, I'm interested! Thank you in advance :)
No apologies necessary, I'm MOOORE than happy to share!! Especially since I'd like to be particularly heavy handed on the sharing-of-the-goods aspect this time around! AND because I've also been aiming to read a tonnn more animation books myself this year!
Have read, can attest to:
Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in its Golden Age - Michael Barrier
Anvils and Dynamite: The Unauthorized Biography of Looney Tunes - Jaime Weinman
Cartoon Voices of the Golden Age, 1930-70 Vol. 1 and 2 - Keith Scott
Living Life Inside the Lines: Tales from the Golden Age of Animation - Martha Sigall
Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist - Chuck Jones
The Noble Approach: Maurice Noble and the Zen of Animation Design - Tod Polson
Animation Anecdotes - Jim Korkis
Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren and Stimpy Story - Thad Komorowski
The Art and Flair of Mary Blair - John Canemaker
The Animator's Survival Kit - Richard Williams
Advanced Animation (First Edition) - Preston Blair
Want to read/have been recommended by other people:
The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney - Michael Barrier
Drawing the Line: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson - Tom Sito
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation - Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston
That's All Folks: The Art of Warner Bros. Animation - Steve Schneider
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons - Leonard Maltin
Think Pink! The Depatie-Freleng Story - Mark Arnold
The Colored Cartoon: Black Presentation in American Animated Short Films, 1907-1954 - Christopher P. Lehman
When Magoo Flew: The Rise and Fall of Animation Studio UPA - Adam Abraham
Cartoon Modern: Style and Design in Fifties Animation - Amid Amidi
Drawing the Iron Curtain: Jews and the Golden Age of Soviet Animation - Maya Balakirsky Katz
Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements of Chinese Animation, 1940s–1970s - Daisy Yan Du
Birth of an Industry: Blackface Minstrelsy and the Rise of American Animation - Nicholas Sammond
Animation Under the Swastika: A History of Trickfilm in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 - Rolf Giesen and J.P. Storm
The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation's Golden Age - Jake S. Friedman
A New History of Animation - Maureen Furniss
Japanese Animation: East Asian Perspectives - Masao Yokota
The Animation Smears Book - Christian Avender
SpongeBob SquarePants: The Art of an Undersea World - Tracey Miller-Zarneke
And I've said it before but just in case, for books like Chuck Amuck and The Animator's Survival Kit, they're probably best read for a glimpse into Chuck Jones/Richard Williams' minds rather than taking what they say as gospel. The techniques in Williams' book are very very subjective IMO, and Chuck has a habit shared by Bob Clampett and Mel Blanc of stretching the truth and spouting revisionist nonsense. Which he can do because he's Chuck Jones. But it's annoying!! So just be mindful :)