How to Animate Film Cartoons signed by Preston Blair

As an illustrator and animator, I have always had a copy of the Walter Foster publication How to Animate Film Cartoons by Preston Blair on hand. I've used the illustrations and exercises within countless times for myself and my students when I teach animation to kids.

So imagine my surprise when a recent trip to the local Goodwill 'Bargain Barn' yielded this: Not only did I find an older printing than my 17 year old copy, but this one was signed by Preston Blair himself!

How to Animate Film Cartoons signed on the cover (and inside the book too) by Preston Blair!

Now I know most people could care less about this as most people wouldn't recognize the name. But chances are you've seen Mr. Blair's animation work: Fantasia, Bambi, The Flintstones, the list goes on and on. Oh yeah, then there's this sequence too:

Yup, Mr. Blair is the animator responsible for 'Red Hot Riding Hood' etc. - the gals that made the Wolf go ga-ga and made a hero out of Droopy, and pretty much inspired every cheesecake drawing I've ever done myself. Which is a few.

So finding this book, signed, at the Bargain Barn - a place where the stuff that doesn't sell in the Goodwill stores gets piled in massive bins and sells by the pound  before being incinerated (I hope, man there is some JUNK there!) - was a real lucky score indeed, and I can't help but find it more than amazing that a guy like myself, who would actually appreciate this thing, found it and was able to rescue it one small step before the landfill.