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JERRY BECK
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AMID AMIDI
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Eric Goldberg’s Character Animation Crash Course!
by amid
June 20, 2008 4:19 am


Eric Goldberg

The long-awaited how-to book from master animator and director Eric Goldberg is almost here. Character Animation Crash Course! will be released next month and is currently available to pre-order on Amazon for $23. Here’s what Eric tells us about the book:

“Well, the animation book I’ve been writing for 25 years, based on my animation notes, has finally arrived! Well, almost… Character Animation Crash Course!, published by Silman-James Press, is 240 pages of cartoon goodness, all geared to getting great performances from your characters on the screen. It comes with an accompanying CD that has animation movie files of selected sequences in the book. You can watch them in real time, or frame-by-frame, and they all include X-sheets, inbetween charts, circled keys, and underlined breakdowns, so the tests can be analyzed while you read the book, revealing how the principles actually look in movement and why. Shipping date might be as early as mid-July. Also, I’ll be premiering it at the San Diego Comic-Con, signing copies at Stuart Ng Books, Friday July 25th from 2 - 4, and Saturday July 26th from 11 -12. Also, the book provides examples from classic cartoons that can be pretty easily-accessed in this DVD, YouTube, iPod age so you can see my inspirations from the Golden Age Masters. And because, frankly, I’m a big geek.”

Eric Goldberg

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    • 39 comments   posted in Books

    « « Tom Hignite’s Home Imaginators   |   Japanese Animators Unionize » »

    06/20/08  5:12am
    Larry Levine says:

    Very cool–I’m definitely buying it. I had the honor of watching Eric Goldberg draw in person, he is truly one of the giants in animation!!!

    Before I pre-order, any possibility of Eric doing a NYC book signing?
    06/20/08  5:24am
    Adam Rosette says:

    Wow! I cannot wait to pick up a copy!!!

    I didn’t even know Eric Goldberg was making a book….
    06/20/08  6:14am
    JPox says:

    Awesome! Eric Goldberg’s style has always been an inspiration!

    Can’t wait to get a hold of this book!
    06/20/08  6:22am
    Scotty A says:

    Hot diggity daffodils!
    06/20/08  6:33am
    greg m says:

    An Early Xmas!!!!! Yaayyyyyyyyyy! I look forward to his section on working to music! Eric is a cartoon genius!!!
    06/20/08  7:09am
    Fernando Ventura says:

    Now people will have another book to copy besides Preston Blair’s classic one! :))
    06/20/08  7:25am
    Rohit Iyer says:

    Wow! It’s time to start saving up! Hopefully I can find a copy here in Ahmedabad, and it can find a place next to my copy of The Animator’s Survival Kit.

    Can’t wait!
    06/20/08  8:51am
    Virgilio says:

    Just made the pre order! =D

    Can’t wait ’till it’s released.

    Thanks a lot for the heads up.
    06/20/08  8:52am
    Dolph Stanley says:

    Wow! Eric Goldberg is still alive! And he’s written a book! He just became the Preston Blair of now.
    06/20/08  8:58am
    Paul N says:

    I have copies of some of Eric’s notes that I got when working at Disney, but nowhere near 240 pages of them. Can’t wait!
    06/20/08  9:25am
    Sherm Cohen says:

    Beautiful LIVELY drawings and a really attractive page layout! I just placed a pre-order, too. Thanks for the heads-up
    06/20/08  9:26am
    Uli Meyer says:

    Eric’s notes have been circulating for decades in the London studios. Can’t wait to get my hands on the printed and bound, yay!
    06/20/08  9:46am
    will says:

    ooOoooo Pre-Ordered that. Can’t wait till it ships!
    06/20/08  10:06am
    bobby pontillas says:

    Fantastic! I remember getting a hold of a few pages of Eric Goldberg notes way back from Animation Meat. Just a few pages and they taught me so much about animation timing.
    06/20/08  10:13am
    David Nethery says:

    This is great news ! I’ve been waiting for this book for years. (I too have the xeroxed notes from a few of Eric’s lectures given during my time at Disney, which are an inspiration, but I’m sure the book expands upon the notes and is a complete treatment of the subject. ) I’m headed over to Amazon now to place my pre-order.
    06/20/08  11:00am
    pbcbstudios says:

    Looks great Eric!!!!!
    06/20/08  11:02am
    Gavin Freitas says:

    SOLD! See you at Comic-Con…
    06/20/08  11:09am
    Gerard de Souza says:

    This is great! His bootlegged notes were my favorite after the Preston Blair books and I personally liked them better than Illusion of life and the Williams book….and I love those.
    Just when I thought I had all the books I need. Must have!
    06/20/08  12:26pm
    Chuck R. says:

    The race is on!
    Let’s see if Eric Goldberg can spawn as many elementary school animal mascots as Preston Blair!
    06/20/08  12:53pm
    Christian says:

    “Wow! Eric Goldberg is still alive!”

    I’m holding out hope that that’s a joke. Why in the world is somebody thinking he may have died?
    06/20/08  1:12pm
    Dave says:

    Wow! It just seems animation information/education keeps getting better and better…I can’t wait to buy this book! One more thing to study, refer to, and geek out on… :)
    06/20/08  1:25pm
    Brett W. Thompson says:

    Wow!! I really love the drawings and I remember him on the Looney Tunes DVDs- I liked his comments. I hadn’t heard of his notes before- hopefully this’ll be another classic animation book! I can’t wait to see it!
    06/20/08  3:33pm
    Craig Clark says:

    Now That’s Exciting! Congrats Eric, I’m picking up mine!
    06/20/08  3:53pm
    Mukpuddy says:

    Man, I can’t wait for this book!!!
    06/20/08  7:04pm
    awd! says:

    I met Eric Goldberg when I was 10 at the Disneyland Hotel… He’s the one that got me wanting to get into animation in the first place, so I’ll definitely be into this book.
    06/20/08  10:51pm
    Mr. Semaj says:

    Awesome
    06/21/08  7:18am
    JASON GROH says:

    Wow!
    I look forward to this !
    I have been patiently waiting for a book from him for close to 10 years.The 5th generation xeroxed copy of his notes are wearing kind of thin.Congrats to Eric for finishing this and sharing it with us all!
    06/21/08  10:09am
    Floyd Bishop says:

    This looks like it’s going to be great! Think of all the office toner that could have been saved had this book come out sooner :)
    06/21/08  12:54pm
    Marc Crisafulli says:

    Awesome!
    06/22/08  7:16am
    Steve Gattuso says:

    “Think of all the office toner that could have been saved had this book come out sooner :)”

    Yes, but who cares what the office pays? ;3
    06/22/08  7:39pm
    Greg Holfeld says:

    I had the good fortune to be Eric’s assistant for a few weeks at Pizazz Pictures about 20 years ago. I’d never seen anything like his work and haven’t since. If this book has half of what I learned doing those few scenes, it is well worth the money. I’m reaching for my credit card…….
    06/22/08  10:31pm
    Eddie Fitzgerald says:

    I’m going to Amazon right now!
    06/23/08  10:02pm
    EHH says:

    And I thought speed smears were only used in TV animation.
    06/25/08  2:08pm
    Malcolm Thomas says:

    This book looks so good that I’ve already made a test animation with the preview page.
    07/2/08  12:50pm
    TheAnimator says:

    Man I’m geeking out I didn’t even know he was finally making a book. Now if I only had the money to preorder it D:.
    07/20/08  7:33pm
    vic says:

    has anyone got their book yet ?

    i pre ordered from amazon…still havent got my copy yet, whereas on the site it says it come sout july 15th…
    07/21/08  10:15pm
    Eric Goldberg says:

    DON’T PANIC! The book is at all the warehouses (and has been since July 14th). There are physical copies at Samuel French Bookstore (and you can web order them as well). Eventually, Amazon will get around to pressing the “ship now” button to their suppliers, and the pre-orders will be filled.
    07/22/08  3:24pm
    vic says:

    thats awesome !

    thanks eric…i still cant believe my eyes you just answered my question…

    big fan here… hope to meet you in person someday…
    09/20/08  7:52am
    Mahesh says:

    I m still waiting for this book….I cant find..it…anywhere..Sold out. thats wht i get…
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