Researched Books

I have been researching several books that helped me strive as an animator and as an artist. I recommend these books to anyone who want to use digital programs to make art or animation:
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The After Effects Illusionist (by Chad Perkins)

   - This book is great for the program After Effects CS4 (it covers up to) and it sort of covers a bit of everything the program has to offer. This is a great starter book; in fact, I am using this book to help me with ideas for my current animation process. I have already used effects such as tritone from Ch.12 (pg 367) for my previous animation, "The Agency".

Bridgman's Complete Guide to Drawing from Life (George B. Bridgman)
 
    - Bridgman provides a plethora of sketches from every body position, and from all angles. This book, to me, is constructed as a huge diary for readers to get a glimpse of how to accurately portray, position, and proportion every aspect of the human figure. It helps me, and I see improvements when I work in my Life Drawing courses. I greatly recommend this book as it was recommended to me by Deon Nuckols ( who is a director of such projects for Mattel and Disney, and very recently Lionsgates).

The Animator's Survival Kit (by Richard Williams)

    - This book was recommended to be by 2 graduate students who also work on animation. The Animator's survival kit works less on anatomical structure compared to Bridgman's guide, and more on animation techniques that help enforce certain movements (or simply to make those movements stronger). This is practically the bible for animators from what I have heard. Personally, I also think this is a strong source for any animator, for it provides anatomical structures, pictures, references to other animators, and much more.

An Essential Introduction to Maya Character Rigging (by Cheryl Cabrera) and How to Cheat in Maya 2010: Tools and Techniques for the Maya Animator (by Eric Lutha)
 
    - Although I have not went through these books thoroughly, the 3D animators I know proved this book to be resourceful. I recently picked up this book because I was recently hired onto the UCIT department for the Graphic Designer position, in which we must serve clients with 3D models, architectures, animation, etc. My lack of 3D animation (I work on mostly 2D, although I was hired because of my 2D work) might serve as a hindrance to others (despite that we have orientation for about 2 weeks). So, in order to expedite my prowess, these books are currently serving as a reference for my job.