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The original animation bible |
Stuck for a Christmas present for the animator in your life? There's still time to pop to your local bookshop and get a copy of
The Illusion of Life, by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnstone, two of Walt Disney's legendary "Nine Old Men".
This hefty book is the original "animation bible"
, first published in the 1970s, and the first time anyone set out in print the accumulated wisdom of the Disney studio.
The 1970s were a lean time for animation; Walt Disney was dead and the revival that would come with
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and
The Little Mermaid (and, later, with 3D animation) was still far in the future.
So what's so great about this old book, and why is it still relevant today?