Flash 5 Cartooning (with CD-ROM)

Rating:
Summary: confusing
Review: This book falls into the typical tech book wasteland. The artwork is pretty bad and the writer's tone is beyond [bad]. How could a guy like joecartoon wantt o be in a book like this??? I got a migraine just form skimming through the book upon its arrival. It had no clarity and vision what so ever, just technical garble and AWFUL artwork that often times didnt correspond to the text. Avoid this book if you are serious about flash animation or cartooning.

Rating:
Summary: Great for the amateur flasher!
Review: This book is great for begginners i loved it. I had just gotten flash to play around with for fun and i did some online tutorials but they only taught me the very basics (like drawing and keyframes with motion tweening). It was a start. After reading this book i would consider myself a mediocre flasher. I can make reat movies now. Now that i have learned this i am moving on to actionscripting which is the only thing this book lacks. But all-in-all this is a great book and i still use it every now and then for reference.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book! Thanks Mark...
Review: This book is great if you are familiar with the flash interface and can do basic things in it. For learning to write and animate cartoons in Flash it's a must. I think Mark covered just about everything you need to know for cartooning in this book and alot more. I've read just about every tutorial on Flash 5 on the web. I've been designing a website and was having trouble with "movie clips" and "tell target" (after all the tutorials) until I read this book. If you're new to flash >>> get it! Even if you aren't real interested in cartooning there is alot of good information for beginners here. I'll use it as a reference book for years to come. Thanks again Mark... you da' man!

Rating:
Summary: Flash cartooning is a breeze with this book!
Review: This book takes a difficult technical subject and makes it easy to understand. The tutorials are well-designed and easy to follow. The cartoons are delightful, as is Mr. Clarkson's refreshing writing style which makes a potentially dry subject fun to read about. If you only buy one Flash book, make it this one!

Rating:
Summary: This Book ROCKS!!
Review: This book totally helped me to redo my site. Check out what I did at....

Rating:
Summary: Money very well spent
Review: This is a must have book for Flash users, or those interested in cartooning. I waited with great anticipation for this book. You will not be disappointed, and neither was I. BUY IT NOW! Mr. Clarkson provides great info on cartooning technique, flash methods, and lots of resources to learn from. He is a great tech writer. But the CD-rom that comes with the book is the real treat. The whole book on CD, great demos, and example Flash cartoons!!! The book is easy to read, and the pictures/diagrams , (which there are lots of), are easy to follow and add to the points he makes. There are dozens of Flash books out there, but this one is the best.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely recommended for beginners to Flash Cartooning.
Review: This is excellent book, I'm still working with it now, and it's going much smoother than I expected. I was a bit leery about buying the book at first, because I had bought a competitor's book first (Art of Cartooning in Flash). I was really disappointed with that one. This book however is great. I've only been working with it for two days and I already did my first bit of real character animation (Chapter 8's Stickman). I didn't expect to pick Flash up so quickly. Brilliant writing, Mark Clarkson.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book !- Incomplete CD Rom
Review: This was an excellent book. Great ideas on how to construct a cartoon charachter and animate it. Covers everything on creating a basic Flash Cartoon animation. As with many books though, the accompanying material is incomplete. Some of the files Mr. Clarkson refers to in his book and states that they're on the CD Rom are missing --- One in particular that I wanted to work with was the file "Labels and Buttons.FLA". But, even without the CD, the book is worth more than twice the cost.

Rating:
Summary: Want to be a Flash Cartoonist?
Review: Want to be a Flash Cartoonist?
Walk, no run and grab a copy of "The Art of Cartooning with Flash" by Daniel Gray, "Flash 5 Cartooning" by Mark Clarkson, "The Big Book of Cartooning" by Bruce Blitz and a flatbed scanner.
In my opinion you need all three books in order to be successful with cartooning in flash.
"The Big Book of Cartooning" isn't a flash book but will teach you how to draw or improve your drawing skills.
I also recommend getting all of these books from the Amazon.com used book marketplace in order to get more bang for your buck. Once you have a grip on Flash Cartooning, you may want to start creating some flash games.

You must also have a few simple items to create your cartoons: paper, pencil, papermate felt tip pen and scanner, graphics tablet or mouse.
I draw my cartoon characters using paper and pencil so I prefer to use a scanner instead of a mouse or graphics tablet.

These books have taught me a lot and are a lot less expensive than going to animation school, flash cartoon workshops, buying how to cartoon in flash tutorials online or buying how to use flash tutorials on cdrom. I also have the following books and think that the Savvy series is great:
"Dreamweaver MX / Fireworks MX Savvy" and "Flash MX Savvy".

10/5/04 - Update
"The Art of Cartooning With Flash" includes several transitions that "Flash 5 Cartooning" doesn't.
Transitions are a must in your cartoons!

10/7/04 - Update
"The Art of Cartooning With Flash" is for advanced users and "Flash 5 Cartooning" is for beginners.

10/13/04 - Update
I have purchased several flash cartooning books. In my opinion "The Art of Cartooning With Flash" covers everything you need to know about creating cartoons with flash.
This includes the principals of animation, walk cycles, grouping symbols and how to create a flash cartoon from start to finish.

2/7/05 - Update
I just purchased "Macromedia Flash 5 ActionScript for Fun and Games" for $5.
I'm using Flash MX but the Flash 5 actionsript code will still work with this version of flash.
I didn't want to pay $30 for a how to create games using flash book since creating games won't be my primary goal when using flash.

Rating:
Summary: Want to be a Flash Cartoonist? BUY THIS BOOK!!
Review: WOW!!
I had come to that strangest of life decisions, to become a Flash 5 Cartoonist. I looked up on Amazon for books related to this, and I found this book, just like you are doing right now!
Within a month I had not only learned Flash 5,
but had learned crucial lessons about cartooning itself!
It is so fulfilling making cartoons/movies using Flash.
Flash 5 gives you the power to make art, and Flash 5 Cartooning teaches you how!
I especially enjoyed the specific chapters in the book.

The chapters about watching and writing cartoons are very helpful for me. This book is more useful everyday!
Mark Clarkson is a wonderful teacher for all the young padawan Flashers out there. Mark clues you in to all the tricks of the Flash cartooning trade!
He even provides you with earnest advice about selling your art!
Mark Clarkson put heart into this book and it shows.
His genius will be proven by future generations of Flashing Americans. THANKYOU Mark Clarkson! You rock!