Animated Adventures
Shop

DVDs
	Our First DVD! The Animated Adventures Summer 2004 Animation Festival is a compilation of short animated films made by more than 30 kids and teens. Meet Chef Bob, Mooky Chah Chah, Gohak, Sawhead, Neo, and dozens of other original characters come to life in clay, anime, and cut-out animation. Includes all student films plus the short "making-of" documentary film Animated Kids: Behind the Scenes, pencil tests, and production photos. Read more VHS edition also available				Animated Adventures Summer 2004 Animation Festival Price: $14.99
		Inspirational DIY Stop-Motion For young animators just getting started, this collection is a must-see. Ray Harryhausen, whose feature film effects work (i.e. Clash of the Titans) is known and studied by all types of animators, also has a slate of early work... Read more		Direct and Correct for Advanced Puppet Building (VHS) This is a great jump-start into understanding some of the possibilities of armature puppet animation. The corny but clear host describes a method for creating... Read more
		"Nightmare" is a Dream on DVD This is why DVD was invented...to give viewers a closer look at the film and how it was made. This DVD has everything a TNBC fan and aspiring animator could dream of, from character development sketches to pre-production animation tests. Read more		Peachy Keen Puppet Animation I was lucky enough to visit the set of this film in San Francisco while it was in production. Perhaps that explains my fondness for "Peach," being able to believe the life in these characters that I remember seeing as the less than foot-high puppets... Read more
		Worth it for the Title Film "Creature Comforts" is quite possibly the perfect animated short film; charming, funny, well-animated and just a little bit messy. Using real people's testimonies, the film depicts zoo animals talking about their living conditions. Everyone I have ever shown this to has loved it, young or old. Read more		Plympton for ALL Ages Bill Plympton's hand-drawn colored pencil cartoons are a joy to look at, and very funny with their multitudes of visual puns. But unfortunately most of his films are really for more mature audiences than can be shown in a classroom setting. This is the one DVD of Plympton's that is entirely... Read more
		The Leonardo of Animation Norman McLaren was god's gift to the art of animation. This may sound over-the-top, but one viewing of this DVD will prove it. As the driving force behind the now world-famous Animation unit of the National Film Board of Canada (NFBC)... Read more		Climb Aboard the Big Fuzzy Cat Bus This is one of my favorite "anime" movies because it is non-violent and has a positive message. The characters are adorable without being saccharine, and the film has just the right amount of suspense and action to keep you rooting for them. Read more
Books
		Great Illustrated Instructions As a visual person, I learn well when I see things demonstrated visually. That's why I like this book; lots of nice four-color photos of armatures, puppets, techniques for building them in great detail. What other book provides a close-up image of an armature joint? Read more		Cracking Good Book, Gromit! Aardman is one of the most admired animation studios around, known by animators and regular people alike as the creators of beloved clay animation characters like Wallace and Gromit, and the "Creature Comforts'" pent-up zoo cat ("I need space!"). Read more
		Methods of a Manga Master This is a gem of a book of knowledge and tips for making anime from the studio of Osamu Tezuka, the beloved Japanese artist behind Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion. As you'd expect from a book written by a whole studio, there is a lot of information... Read more		More Methods of a Manga Master Like its precursor, Osamu Tezuka's School of Animation volume 1, this wonderful book explains the secrets behind convincing anime style animation with clarity and expertise. In this book the focus is on the movements of animals, like lions... Read more
		Budding Anime Artists Start Here Nice and simple, without too much information all at once, this how-to-draw book is a great start for younger kids, 6-10. It sets up the right drawing habits, starting from basic shapes and lines and "building out" the image from rough to polished. Read more		Hooray for Hand-Made Manga! I love this book because it has actual colored-pencil drawings for illustrations. Seems logical enough...but most manga/anime drawing books feature computer-colored illustrations that although... Read more
Tools
		Camera for Animation We use these cameras in our clay animation workshops and we have been very pleased with them, even with heavy use. We switch out the memory cards to empty the photos, and allow students to keep filming without moving the camera. Read more		Good Tool for Drawing Animation Although some animators use much larger and more expensive light boxes to draw with, this simple desktop version is a cheaper and more manageable alternative. We use these in all of our Manga and Anime workshops. Read more
		Ideal for Stop-Motion Animation I like to use this tabletop tripod to hold the camera steady whil shooting still images for animation. By placing the tripod on the same surface as the artwork (puppets, clay figures, etc), I eliminate the risk of tripod-kicking accidents changing the scene... Read more		Cheap Animation Paper Who needs expensive punched animation bond when 3-hole punched copy paper will do? For several years now we have been using this kind of paper (any brand will do) to create animation drawings. For a pegbar, I use a modified wood ruler for 3-ring binders with short... Read more
		Amazing Material for Animation This stuff is incredible. It's a soft, clean, dry "clay" that molds easily and dries to be as lightweight as styrofoam. For clay animation, its very useful for creating props or parts of puppets that need mass. Since its so much lighter than... Read more		Clay Animation Starter Set For basic clay animation, the Alex clay works quite well. The colors are very vivid and the clay is soft without being melty like Crayola's modeling clay. The clay tools in this package won't last forever, but the variety included gives... Read more
Music
		Contemporary Kids' Favorites Music and animation are like peanut butter and jelly. Delicious together. This is a collection of more recent cartoon theme songs than found on the original Toon Tunes album. Its ideal for playing when younger people are around who watched or still watch Cartoon Network... Read more		Cartoon-arific Crowd Pleaser This is a great album to play whenever people are gathered together. People of different generations and backgrounds will respond to the music that they remember from their childhoods. For me its the Banana Splits infectious "Tra La La Song" that gets me... Read more