Mexico Book Review

My book has been reviewed in a recent issue of Onderfilm magazine in Mexico, published by my friend Ricardo Torres at Golem Producciones. It's all in Spanish so I had a student at VanArts translate it for me:

It has became relatively simple to do animations: a web cam, a PC of last generation and done, you have your first project. However, doing a quality animation with this kind of technique, its still complex and requires a lot of knowledge in different areas like chemistry, mechanics and anatomy. The best way to learn how to do professional projects, its taking a course, a lot of practice and a lot of good reading about the subject. Believe it or not, these last ones are scarce.

The Art of Stop Motion Animation is a new book that talks about this form of animation
with a didactic point of view. Unlike other publications which are descriptive and informational, this book contains exercises that you can do to obtain better results on screen. Ken Priebe, the author of the book, has been a stop motion instructor for more than 7 years, and in these pages you can find the knowledge gained in those years. Also the author enhances the content by doing interviews to people with a vast experience in the studies of animation and the details of the world of stop motion that so far have been great mysteries.

According to Ken, this book focuses en la in the construction of characters, it also talks about which is the best way to get involved in the process of animation and it helps you by giving you tips about the cameras, programs, and plasticine that you should use. " I believe that is important that people have a greater visual reference so they can start their way in the media. Stop Motion is hard work there are thing that work and things that don't. I don't want to touch every single detail, for that you would need a whole bookcase " Ken commented for underfilm.

Looking at the book, you will find that technology has come to evolve since animation was invented; Today we rely on certain tools and tomorrow may be others. everyday is less important which camera or which computer you use to achieve a project with great quality.
" Technology is impressive nowadays but its far away for being the answer for everything. Just because you have the best digital equipment does not mean that you are going to create an excellent animation, you can do a great job with just a webcam. there are people that know all about the tools but do not know how to use key concepts like poses, timing and character design. This is something that takes a long time to learn." Assures Ken.

Nick Park, creator of Wallace and Grommit, a year ago said for underfilm that right now there more people hired to do stop motion than in any other time in history. a great industrial movement is developing in Europe and North America since the production of movies and television series. In Toronto Canada, Cuppa Coffee studios has just been classified the largest stop motion studio in the world. The animator, specialist in this technique are considered by the industry like a rare thing to find; However,every day the gap between producers and artists is closing thanks to the internet. " I posted some of the animations my students made on you tube , and received several mails from animation productors interested in putting them on T.V
It is a lot easier nowadays to show a work. when i went to Mexico, I saw a lot of interest in stop motion, and i believe its because their culture is very handcrafted, people like to do thing s with their own hands. All these people have now access to the same technology and the same exhibition quorum as the others. Now you have to worry about learning and training about how to make professional animation. this is the way there will be more and better animators, art will get stronger and become more popular. My book talks about the best way to get yourself inside the world of stop motion", Ken concluded.