Hi Jeffery,
Just in case you were talking about the principles of animation, instead of
just computer-based work, here are a couple of excellent resources:
"Animation From Script To Screen" by Shamus Culhane [St. Martins, 1988]
"The Animator's Workbook" by Tony White [Watson-Guptill, 1988]
"The Animation Book" by Kit Laybourne [Crown, 1979]
If you can find it, the absolute *best* source is "Disney Animation: The
Illusion of Life" by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston [Abbeville Press, 1981].
And if you're near a university, check in the library for old SIGGRAPH
journals. John Lasseter of Pixar (the grand old man of Luxo Jr. and the
Listerine commercials) has "Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to 3D
Computer Animation" in the 1987 papers. This is the most concise reference to
the *principles* of animation that I know of.
Good luck!
Regards,
John Dowdell
Macromedia Tech Support