Hans Bacher (the art director of Disney’s Mulan) reports on his blog that his new book, Dreamworlds, has just been released in Japan. The book offers a primer on animation production design, and judging from the preview pages Bacher posted some months back, it should be a how-to book well worth owning. Right now, the book is available only in Japanese (Amazon Japan link here), but Hans says an English version is also in the works and should be released later this year.

Anybody who’s studied animation in recent years is doubtless familiar with Walt Stanchfield’s drawing handouts. Stanchfield (1919-2000), an animator at Disney, taught drawing at the studio for many years and his class notes have been passed around by everybody, first as photocopies and now online (Animation Meat has a nice collection of the notes).

Leo Brodie had the ambitious idea of taking Walt’s notes and arranging them in a more cohesive order to create a book as Stanchfield might have written it. Brodie calls the book Gesture Drawing for Animation and has made it available as a series of downloadable PDF files. Brodie explains on his website how his version differs from the original handouts:

As I was reading the notes and trying to absorb as much as I could, I thought I might understand them better if it were all laid out in sequence, with basic topics followed by more complex ideas. I wanted to see his ideas grouped by subject so I could compare the ideas. In other words, I wanted the topics to be arranged like a normal book. So I’ve re-arranged bits and pieces from the handouts into cohesive chapters, while taking the liberty to eliminate redundancy and make minor edits just as book editor would.

Whether you prefer the raw notes or the book version, Stanchfield’s notes are an excellent source of knowledge, and considering they’re free, there’s no excuse not to take advantage of them.

Ok, as promised in the post about the book last Friday, we’re giving away two copies of the book Three Trees Make a Forest, courtesy of the folks at Gingko Press.

The first two people to correctly post the answer in the comments below will win the book. Here’s the question:

One of the artists in Three Trees Make a Forest, Ronnie del Carmen, has had one of his drawings appear in almost every issue of Animation Magazine published in the last decade. What company/organization/product is his drawing advertising?

The Contest Is Now Closed! The winners are Chad Townsend and Peter Avanzino. Thanks to all who participated. And be sure to read Ronnie’s great story about how the ad came to be at the bottom of the comments section.

Man, I can’t wait for this one! Ammo Books is getting ready to release what could become one of the must-have books of recent times: a humongous monograph on mid-century illustration legend Charley Harper. The project was initiated by fashion designer Todd Oldham who discovered Harper’s work in 2001 and has been collaborating with Harper since then to put together this book. What’s particularly exciting is that it looks like Ammo and Oldham are doing this right: the format is huge (17×12 inches) and if the cover is any indication, it’s going to be packed with visual goodness. As far as I know, Harper never worked in animation, but his work has inspired countless animation artists from 1950s-era designer Cliff Roberts to Samurai Jack background painter Scott Wills. Animator Nate Pacheco was even trying to translate Harper’s designer into Flash animation last year.

The 420-page hardcover book is scheduled for release in June, and retails for a steep $200 but is only $126 at Amazon. There are also four limited edition versions of the book (each $400) which come with a silkscreen print.

Here’s more about the book from the Ammo website:

Charley Harper is an American original. At 84, Charley continues to make art in his studio in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. He is beloved for his delightful, graphic and often humorous illustrations of nature, animals, insects and people alike. Charley likes to say, that when he paints a bird, he doesn’t count all the feathers in the wings – he just counts the wings. Minimal realism, he calls it, and his unique and precise style continues to resonate and inspire his admirers.

Charley Harper - An Illustrated Life, showcases his illustrations that appeared from 1950-1975 in the Ford Times magazines, as well as in books such as the beloved “The Giant Golden Book of Biology� in 1961, “Betty Crocker’s Dinner for Two� in 1961, and “ The Animal Kingdom� in 1968, among many others. His well loved book “Birds and Words�, first published in 1974, is considered a classic.

To see a preview of the type of art that will be in the book, check out this nice online collection of Harper’s work.

In fall 2005, two story artists at Pixar—Ronnie del Carmen and Enrico Casarosa—joined forces with Japanese illustrator Tadahiro Uesugi to put on an exhibit of paintings and drawings. They called it “Three Trees Make a Forest.” Now, Gingko Press has released a beautiful book collecting the artwork from that show.

Unlike many art shows that take place nowadays, there wasn’t a specific theme or high-concept driving this show. It was simply an opportunity for three artists who respect and admire each other’s work to exhibit together. The results are unpretentious and lovely. Uesugi, Casarosa and del Carmen each have their own distinct stylistic approaches, but their work also shares a lot in common, from their fearless use of digital tools over traditional media to the contemplative serenity that surfaces in all their art.

Another trait shared by the three is the brilliant simplicity and directness of their work. One of my favorite pieces in the book is del Carmen’s “Nina Yellow on Blue,” a gouache that appears modest in execution yet offers so much in terms of composition, color and design. There are similar pieces throughout the book by all three participants; pieces displaying an effortless confidence that belies the years of hard work and artistic practice required to achieve such results.

Three Trees Make a Forest is available on Amazon for $16.50. Also, the fine folks at Gingko Press have given us two copies of the book to give away to readers. We’ll post a trivia question this Monday at 1pm (Pacific time); check back then for your chance to win a copy.

Great news for fans of Walt Kelly (like me). Fantagraphics Books has acquired the rights to publish a comprehensive series of Walt Kelly’s classic POGO comic strip. The first volume will appear in October, 2007, and the series will run approximately 12 volumes.

Kelly joined the Walt Disney Studio in 1935, where he worked on numerous shorts and features, including Pinocchio, Dumbo, and The Reluctant Dragon. Kelly left Disney in 1941, moved back east and began drawing comic books for Western Publishing (Dell comics). It was during this time that Kelly created the character Pogo Possum for Dell’s Animal Comics (as a supporting player in the Albert the Alligator stories). In 1949, the Hall Syndicate started distrbuting Pogo as a comic strip to newspapers in the United States.

Each Fantagraphics Pogo volume will be designed by Jeff Smith (Bone). This continues Fantagraphics teriffic series of hardbound comic strip collections - which already include Schulz’ Peanuts, Ketchum’s Dennis the Menace and Segar’s Popeye. For more information, check the Fantagraphics website.

Three years ago, I – and twenty-three colleagues of mine – put together an illustrated animation history timeline called Animation Art. The goal was to create a concise visual overview of animation history over the past hundred years. I’ve been delighted to hear, during the last year, from many college and high school teachers who have told me the tome makes a great text book and starting point for discussion of animation history.

Now, particularly for those who were afraid to get the book due to the strange, off-putting psychedelic eyeball on the cover (above left), I’ve got some good news. Our long international nightmare is over. My publisher has changed the cover image. Now it’s a mongtage of current (mostly CG) images. At least the forgotten 1930s inkblot “Foxy” rates a spot – pointing a gun at my byline. If the cover kept you from getting a book before, now you have no excuse to pick it up and take a peek. It’s back in bookstores this month.

If you couldn’t make it to last summer’s incredible Tokyo The Art Of Disney exhibition, or couldn’t get a copy of the fantastic exhibition catalog (pictured above), you still have one more chance at it. Disney Japan is releasing a DVD/Blu-Ray copy of the exhibition on April 25th. Click here to see a trailer for it. The question is: Will it be accessible outside of Japan?

(Thanks, Celbi Pegoraro)