The Noble Approach: Maurice Noble and the Zen of Animation Design

The Noble Approach is a book that's part biography and part animation design tips featuring the late great Maurice Noble. As a kid, I would watch the Warner Bros cartoons and never think about things like art and design. They are good which is why people watch them. Well, in this book, you'll go behind the scenes and look at the person who has a hand at creating some of these animated productions, and understand his design philosophies. Author Tod Polson who has apprenticed under Noble has done a good job with the biography detailing the designer's life and career right from the start. It's an inspiring tale of someone who has gone through a tumultuous period, with the need to support his family while still young, going through various career changes, having the ups and downs with co-workers, while still maintaining the passion to put out good design for animation and screen. The biography is about a third of the book. The rest are his philosophies on design. It's on how he handles story beats, story elements, using reference, contrast, simplifying elements, colour theory, perspective, layout, and more. The text and the illustrated examples are insightful. It's a collection of design principles he has learned and compiled over the 60 years he spent in the industry. It's a good book for those into animation and design, or into traditional animation design. (There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

If you're reading this review, you obviously don't need an introduction to who Maurice Noble was. His contributions as a designer and layout man to such landmark animated films as RABBIT SEASONING, WHAT'S OPERA DOC?, DUCK AMUCK, ROBIN HOOD DAFFY, the Road Runner series, and DUCK DODGERS IN THE 241/2TH CENTURY make his name as firmly inseparable from them as the director Chuck Jones's. Tod Polson was a protégé of Noble's who has finally realized his generous teacher's dream of putting all of Noble's notes and theories on animation design in book form. You'll first learn about Noble's history and find out how things were like in the ever-evolving Golden Age of animation, and then how things got so bad that Noble was afraid the wisdom he mistook for common knowledge would vanish into the ether - hence why he wanted his thoughts recorded in the first place! If you want to know how Noble did it and how you can possibly instill some of his own virtues into your work, don't just watch the films. Let Polson take you on this very intimate journey and show you how Noble took care to make sure his design met the needs of every single element of an animated film and not the other way around. More importantly, the book is lavishly and colorfully illustrated to appropriately aid the instructions, driving home every point clearly and beautifully. Anyone with an interest in animation, filmmaking, or art in general should buy this book without hesitation. It'd be the Noble thing to do!

One of the best animation books I have. I've collected many animation books. This one is at the top of the heap. There's plenty of great art examples in this book from one of - if not the best animation bg designers of all time. Much of the art is in raw form to illustrate points - it's not just a series of pretty pictures. And you get to hear his perspective on design for animation and read insights into the business that are just as pertinent today - even more so, because today many talented young designers are clueless about the ideas Maurice expresses and would benefit greatly from them. In addition, it's an easy read: It's broken into subjects and the authors don't get too philosophical. Most of the material is clear, concise and helpful to anyone working in animation.

The book arrived in great condition. The pages are packed full of Maurice Noble's artwork (sketches, handwritten notes and final paintings) and design process explanations. It's amazing to read about his approach to animation design. The book is broken up into sections on story, design, color, etc. I also really enjoyed learning about his job history, including the Disney strike. I recommend to any animator, illustrator, or visual artist. It's well worth the money. Reading just the color section is equivalent or better than a color theory course - but with thoughtful insights from Maurice Noble himself.

Hardcover is currently unavailable. That is a shame. I hope it's re-printed. Maybe I'm old-school, but his book deserves to be handled in print. There is a Kindle edition, and some reasonably priced (and insanely priced!) used copies. This is a terrific, beautifully produced book about my favorite animation production designer. Noble's work with Chuck Jones gave us some of Warner Brothers best cartoons - including What's Opera Doc? and Duck Dodgers in the 24th & 1/2 Century. The author gives valuable insight into Noble's processes. Great sections on design and color! I had the distinct pleasure of seeing some of Noble's original sketches and paintings at a recent George Eastman House exhibit. A real treat!

I loved Maurice Noble's design, but I gotta say the best thing about this book is the writing... you learn without noticing! As an artist it makes you see things differently, it teaches on how to observer, grab what matters to YOU. It truly builds up so that one develop an original style without sugarcoating it or saying it's easy. Mr. Noble would slap you in the face :) Tod did an incredible job structuring this book, and Maurice's approach is so simple but so ingenious. Anyone in involve, in ANY kind of art should read this. This is not just for layout and design artists, it works for everyone.

Excellent book for learning layout for animation.

I absolutely love this book. Lots of pictures and loads of information. Right down to the basics of layout and colour.

O melhor e mais didático livro que já li sobre desenhar cenários de animação. A primeira parte do livro se dedica à biografia de Maurice Noble e a segunda parte às dicas compiladas pelos seus colegas e aprendizes. O livro é muito rico em ensinamentos e imagens para entender o raciocínio que norteava o trabalho de Maurice Noble. Para quem quer saber sobre a história dos desenhos animados também é muito envolvente. Eu comprei a versão KINDLE e indico demais. Li no meu computador para ver as imagens coloridas, mas também li no KINDLE físico. No kindle as imagens são preto e brancas mas dá para acompanhar bem o texto, que é muito legal. Indico super.

Ho sempre considerato i cortometraggi diretti da Chuck Jones (in particolare quelli realizzati per la Warner Bros.) tra le vette assolute dell'animazione. Una verità per me incontrovertibile. E la grandezza di questi corti l'ho in massima parte sempre attribuita al genio di Chuck Jones. La verità è che, stante l'indiscutibile genio di Chuck (che nel bene o nel male aveva sempre l'ultima parola in quanto regista), quei cortometraggi straordinari erano frutto di un lavoro di squadra di diversi talenti senza pari (la regia di Jones, le storie di Mike Maltese, l'animazione di Ken Harris, le voci di Mel Blanc e il design di Maurice Noble), comunque fantastici presi singolarmente ma inarrivabili come team (a dimostrazione di ciò, basti vedere i lavori dove alcuni di questi componenti vengono a mancare). Questo libro ci fa intuire lo spessore e il peso dell'opera di Maurice Noble, vero e proprio genio del design, senza il quale quelli che oggi riteniamo dei capolavori dell'animazione, anche a distanza di così tanto tempo dalla loro realizzazione (non invecchiano mai), sarebbero stati un qualcosa di molto diverso. Tod Polson, allievo di Noble, ci illustra il suo mentore partendo dalla sua vita fino ad arrivare al suo modo di intendere il design in un film di animazione. Pur nell'impossibilità di condensare 60 anni di lavoro come designer, il volume riesce a fornire abbastanza elementi per intuire la vera, incommensurabile, grandezza di Noble. Libro che non può assolutamente mancare nella libreria di chi aspira o magari già lavora non solo nell'animazione, ma nelle arti visive in genere, e magari anche in quella di semplici appassionati.

Good insight into what really went on behind some of the most iconic cartoons. This book emparts simplified truths of process, technique on design in a quirky narrative way.