Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes: Volume 2: The Walt Stanchfield Lectures

I went to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. The teacher that recommended this book learned directly and worked with Walt Stanchfiled. She even took over the Quick Studies class he taught at Disney. All that said she recommended this book and would always site it for reference and teaching. All the "rules" and help in here are proven methods for animation that are still in use today at Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, Nickelodeon, etc. Such as "Squash and Stretch", "Opposing Shapes", etc. I am a storyboard artist myself and have leaned so much from the 2 volumes and I haven't even ready all the way through them.So in short if you are getting to animation, storyboards, Graphic Novels, or just want to draw better save your money and get volume 1 and 2.Finally these books are not "How to draw a horse" or "how to draw (insert whatever)" they are about rules and pronciples for making dynamic and energetic characters, drawings, and scenes.***Update 12/29/2014***Still have these books in my library and constantly refer to them. I am getting into storyboards professionally and these books are always helpful. Again they are INDUSTRY STANDARD PRINICPLES that all animation and art studios use and that are taught in major schools such as Academy of Art University, Cal Arts (in so cal). If you are trying to make your drawing better and more appealing get these books, read them, and put the principles into practice. Volumes 1 and 2 cost about 80-90 dollars and a class at AAU in SF costs about $2500, and they will teach you these principles. Save money and get ahead of the curve. These "rules" are so important that they are mentioned in all animation classes and are the foundation for any good illustration.

The media could not be loaded. Drawn to Life is a collection of lectures from long-time Disney animator Walt Stanchfield. He has worked for Disney since the 1950s.There are two volumes, each with over 400 pages. The reason for two volumes is probably to make the books easier to handle. Both are on gesture and life drawing, even though the cover art might suggest otherwise, especially the one with the lion. You can start reading from any book and any lecture. The order isn't important.There are plenty of essays in the books. Each is a lesson relating to drawing and animation. It can be tangent drawings, creating believable characters, learning to observe, understanding gestures, etc. There are tips on almost anything relating to drawing. Loose and sketchy sketches serves as examples to the lessons.These books are more thinking than drawing technique books. For example, the lessons are not about how to draw perspective, the lessons are about how to use perspective. You can view sample pages for volume one and volume two on amazon.com to get an idea.The books represent a tremendous wealth of information and insight into drawing, animation and observation. After all, Walt Stanchfield has more than 50 years of experience in animation.This book is recommended to those who are into animation and drawing.(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Hahn has done the world a favor, by collected and clearing the rights to Stanchfield's excellent worksheets.I haven't worked at Disney and probably never will, but I've been given the chance to get tip sheets from an old master. These pages used to be photocopies that were handed out in Disney classes for its artists. This means you can read a handout, making for a fun read; crack it open and quickly absorb a couple pages. Good for short attention spans. Important concepts are revisited again and again, like creating depth by overlapping, scaling, repetition and such. Some may find this repetitive but it works for me as I'm kinda thick-headed anyway.Powerful knowledge directed primarily at animators, but the ideas apply to anyone who is trying to give life to their drawings. (think storyboarders, comic book or children's book artists) Let me emphasize that this is not directed at fine artists or non-representational ones, but artists whose bread and butter depends on creating figurative art.

This series of books by Walt Stanchfield has been one of the most thought-provoking and inspiring works that I have read in a very long time. Reading this book always makes me want to draw. I can't count how many times a sentence or lesson has sparked my imagination and given me cause to break out the pencils once again. I am not an animator, but I really enjoy drawing from life. Walt's instruction has really helped make those life drawing experiences more fulfilling and challenging. I would definitely recommend this book to any artist that loves/likes to draw. It has been compared to "The Natural Way to Draw" - the best drawing handbook ever written. While Master Classes is less structured (no instructions to "draw for 3 hours"), it definitely deserves to be in a class with "The Natural Way to Draw." It really is that good.

I've borrowed this from my local school library and after reading the most of what I can, I knew I just need this book.It's not a step-to-step guide on how to draw but its definitely not a philosophical essay either. It meets you somewhere straight down the middle and for me, that is perfect. It is a great way to understand the principles of animation and drawing and will show you a good knowledge of it. If you are an inspiring animation I believe this is a good book to get and if you are not, I believe this is still a good book to read! (Although heavy) .