Posted by When I was a kid, I remember being enamored with animation. In fact, that is how I came to really love #kidlitart.
Animation and illustration have a lot of overlap, especially for trade markets or those interested in creating works from shared IP that tend to crossover from stories to animation deals. Keep in mind, they are very different mediums and with very different rules, however, we can still learn a lot from the greats.
So with that said, I wanted to share some resources for those who might be dabbling in animation or are influenced by animation.
Resources
➡️ Chuck Jones: The Evolution of an Artist: former video essayist Taylor Ramos and Tony Zhou dives into one Chuck’s artistic philosophy about humor.
➡️ Drawn: The Story of Animation: Holly Frey, history buff and podcaster from Stuff You Missed in History, explores animation from art to music to sound and everything in between.
➡️ Actors with Pencils: in the Imaginary Worlds podcast, host Erin Molinsky covers the history of Disney’s golden-age animators.
➡️ Kelly Light Interview Part 1 & 2: Giuseppe Castellano interviews kidlit creator Kelly Light, covering her illustrator journey, animation influences, and thoughts on a creative life. Part of The Illustration Department podcast.
➡️ Hair Love (short film): First, Hair Love was a a picture book by Matthew A. Cherry and Vashti Harrison. Then Cherry helped produced this short film, deepening the award-winning story and adding some of that movie-making magic. See the interview, here.
➡️ Drawing Simple, Clear Facial Expressions: Aaron Blaise, teacher and former Disney animator, breaks down key elements to design simple face expressions to communicate emotions in stories.
