By Alan E. Rapp
The gulf between casual 'toon potato and serious industry suit is bridged by Animation Magazine, which, now in its seventh volume, is as august as they come. As indicated in the scope of the magazine's departments, the field of animation has a hand in every business involving mass-market visual media: commercials, feature films, multimedia, and VR arcade attractions. But on another axis are the voices of the puppet-masters themselves, blending their own techtalk with personal views on the boundaries between imagination, technology, and narrative structure.
Animation refuses to be wowed by the current state of computer animation, sharing attention between the cel painter and the software designer. It also gives the reader a sense of the historical (one issue features an interview with godfathers of limited animation, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera). Animation damn near looks like the ultimate resource for the medium, and sophisticated as it is, you also get the cute baby animals.
Animation Magazine: US$4.95.Thoren Publications: +1 (818) 991 2884, fax + 1 (818) 991 3773.
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