Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist
Welcome to the supporting website for my book, Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist.
Who’s this book for?
I wrote this book for all the people who approached me at trade shows and seminars saying “OK, I’ve learned the software but my designs still don’t look great. What am I doing wrong?”
If you’re a student or are new to motion graphic design this book is also for you. When teaching design students I found it frustrating that I had to recommend ten books to each student to cover the basic design principles for their foundation year. The university library never had enough books, the students couldn’t afford to buy them, and on top of all that, they only really needed one chapter from each to provide what they needed to get started.
What will it teach me?
The book is designed as a one-stop, getting-started guide for anyone new to motion graphic design who wants to get the basic principles under their belt so they can get started quickly, making better design decisions as they go.
After reading this book you’ll be comfortable with the basic concepts and principles of design, animation and editing. There’s a chapter on drawing that teaches you the importance of learning to see through fun drawing exercises. Among other things, you’ll learn how to choose color combinations that work and how to create convincing and compelling movement in your animations.
Where will it take me?
“Design Essentials” confidently points you in the right direction on the road to becoming a better designer and animator. The book presents the principles of design in an engaging and inspiring way. Each principle is explained in plain English with illustration, and photography where necessary. As well as mastering the fundamental concepts and principles of motion graphic design, with my unique creative approach to teaching, you’ll learn how to manipulate and bend the rules to create something unique that will also achieve your communication goals.
Once you’ve finished reading this book you should have the confidence to implement what you’ve learned to your motion graphics projects. An an extensive Recommended Reading List on this website lets you know where to go next to increase your knowledge of these basic principles even further.
Here you can find links to all resources mentioned within the pages of my book, including;
- My “where to go next?” Recommended Reading List
- Resources and links referred to in the chapters of the book
- Links to other useful training materials such as a blog & tutorials written by me, the author
[...] it’s never too late to learn, in the Drawing chapter of my book, Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist I talk about my mother who didn’t start drawing till she was in her 70’s. It has made a [...]
[...] My 3D Cityscape tutorial is one that I’ve had great feedback on and it really was one of the biggest compliments when an artist I admire told me that this demo had inspired some of his own work. Rob Chiu (AKA The Ronin) is a well respected live action commercial director and photographer. Black Day to Freedom was one of his first films, an animation entirely built in After Effects. This was actually inspired at least technically by this tutorial where a very basic city is built with skyscrapers and lights. Rob took this as a starting point and created his own world to help anchor the story. You can find out more about Rob on his website or you can read the foreword he wrote and see exmples of his work in my latest book, Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist. [...]
[...] featured in an interview about my creative approach, ideas and some of my latest projects. Please check out the book at amazon or have a look at the [...]
[...] month in the May 2011 issue of Digital Arts magazine. It’s an excerpt from my book “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist” which covers my twelve golden rules of [...]
[...] Arts featured an excerpt from my “Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist” as their feature article in the May edition of their wonderful magazine for creative professionals, [...]
[...] based upon the Typography chapter from my book, Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist. Not everyone likes to read books or needs the level of detail covered in Design Essentials so this [...]
[...] a step away from standard textbook fare, Design Essentials for the Motion Media Artist is not a software manual, style guide or compendium of protips. Instead it’s a roadmap of [...]