As an art educator in the animation industry, it's rare to find a publication that covers areas that are important to what we do on the production side of things. Steve Rude's "How-to Draw the Animated Nexus" is an exception in that much of what is missing in other material is covered in his book.
For example, not enough attention is paid to character rotations in other how-to books dealing with character design. Rotations are a very important aspect of the design process when preparing for production. They define the look of the character and are used by storyboard artists and animators as a reference for how to draw and stage the character. Rotations are the foundational aspect of character model sheets in animation.
Steve Rude's book is full of character rotations. It's an excellent reference source for artists. In fact, most of the book is fashioned as a pre-production model package and complemented with lessons in the basics of action / adventure character design with various illustrations, vehicle designs, scene layouts, action poses, and is a marvelous showcase for the work of an extraordinary talent.
It's a spiral bound book which makes it handy for placing it flat on your drawing table and would be a fine addition to the collection of animation and comic art connoisseurs.
I would highly recommend "How-to Draw the Animated Nexus" as a must have for all up and coming animation and comic artists as well as art students and professionals in general who are looking to learn something new or just gaining valuable and inspirational content to keep their chops up as well as those who appreciate the distinctive quality of the author's great skills and beautiful work.
Charles Zembillas
The Animation Academy
