Kinetic Aesthetic by Khouri, Jacques; Spencer, Kathryn;

Long description:

Master animators generally apply basic design principles to their work. And animation professors try to teach this technique to students, but the task can be daunting. There is a dirth of codified information and professors are forced to pull together their own favorite examples - until now. "Kinetic Aesthetic" codifies this knowledge and brings it all together into one book covering the great design influences on the kinetic (or moving) image.

We are used to so many stunning visual effects (achievable of course through software and technical advances of the day). These garner most of the attention in films today. But design practices still underly most of these advances, even if they are not so obvious. Budding animators still need to develop and improve their craft by learning basic design aesthetics. This book captures design principles in one handy reference, and applies them to animation and motion graphics.

Good aesthetics are never solely based on static imagery or kinetic imagery -but a blending of the two. This book bridges the gap between the two disciplines, and places a great deal of emphasis on content and form, which are central to any design solution, script or film. Design elements have never been covered to this level of detail for animators. The accompanying exercises, explanations, and examples provide a valuable ancillary for professors.

The book comes with a CD that includes: a test bank of exercises and lessons; visual break down of an animated short, with onion skin overlap showing principles applied; annotated artwork from book.


--"Kinetic Aesthetic" occupies a unique position in the marketplace. It covers design principles for animation and motion graphics: an extremely relevant topic that has long been neglected.
--Khouri proposes a new and different way of producing animated content - taking cues from graphic design successes. Professors are sorely in need of a teaching tool for design of animation (currently they cobble their own examples together from the web, magazines, footage).
--Author, Jacques Khouri, Professor of Animation at SCAD, is in a key position to bring the book to us. He has first hand teaching experience on how to fill the void, and has assembled the lectures, examples, exercises into a first rate teaching tool.
--Exercises accompany each chapter - these can easily port over to classroom use.
--Animation is expanding to new micro-cinema venues like youtube and tiny iPod screens; simple design is absolutely necessary for success on these small screens - Khouri offers ways to achieve design success in new mediums.
--CD includes: test bank of exercises and lessons; visual break down of an animated short, with onion skin overlap showing principles applied; annotated artwork from book.