Animation: The Whole Story by Howard Beckerman This expert guide provides animation artists with all the tools and know-how they need to get started. Drawing from his versatile background as an animator, entrepreneur, and studio owner, the author offers an accessible roadmap to the technically complex art of making animated movies. Vivid sketches, screenshots, and step-by-step illustrations guide readers through the various stages, from crafting suspenseful characters and stories, creating story boards, and layout techniques to the animation process, the use of form and color, filming, creating soundtrack, and editing. Topics are balanced carefully between classics such as storytelling techniques and recent digital trends, between guidance for aspiring studio artists and those seeking independence. Readers receive advice on the role of the art director, how to find work in the animation industry, how to market oneself, and how to put together one's own project within a limited budget. A comprehensive chapter on the history of animation, presented in a witty, easy-to-understand style, offers insightful lessons to educators and students. More versatile, comprehensive, and accessible than most recent animation books, this primer provides budding studio animators and independent artists with everything they need to find their niche in today's quickly evolving animation industry.