"Captain Jack" <Cap### [at] comcastnet> wrote in message 
news:4abb93e0@news.povray.org...
> Encouraging your child to be creative may be the very best gift you can 
> give her, I think.
>
> I'd suggest you get her a copy of the basic version of the software Anime 
> Studio from Smith Micro. It's really very easy to use, it's not awfully 
> expensive, and it comes with some good starter content. Despite the name, 
> it's good for almost any kind of 2D animation. You can import your own 
> images to animate, it's got good vector drawing tools, and it can even 
> import some 3D content (OBJ format, I think) and give you a 2D 
> representation of it.

Maybe later.  My philosophy in that regard is not to get bogged down in the 
tools, but to learn to draw first.  Although, arguably some tools teach you 
to draw, so it's something I'm keeping in mind.

> For traditional animation, I highly recommend "The Animator's Survival 
> Kit" by Richard Williams. It covers 2D cel style animation, but it's got 
> stuff that's very useful for any animation medium. Another old one I like 
> is "Timing for Animation".
>
> Manga art on paper, which is the art style that Anime derives from, is 
> traditionaly done with brush and ink or brush markers. If you hunt around 
> you can find some nice felt tip brush markers that are made with the Manga 
> artist in mind; they'll come in sets of varying thickness, with black and 
> a couple of shades of gray.

Currently, that's where she is most interested.  She's certainly not 
animating anything yet, but she loves doing manga-style characters.  Thanks 
for that tidbit.  :-)

> For general study in drawing, you can't beat "Drawing on the Right Side of 
> the Brain", by Betty Edwards. There's a companion workbook you can get for 
> it that's pretty good, too.
>
> I've found a lot of good art instruction books at my local used bookstore 
> (Half-Price Books is the chain I have access to around here) and they're 
> always pretty affordable.

The way I see it, anime/manga is her starting point.  I'd like to open up 
the rest of the world from that point.  Who knows, in 10 years, manga-style 
illustration may be huge in the US.  Or maybe she'll want to move to Japan. 
Or, maybe graphic-design is eventually where she will find herself.  Or 
maybe she'll become a lawyer.  I just don't want to ever feel like I'm 
"pushing" her in one direction or another, but simply giving her some 
parental guidance.

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