My youngest daughter loves LEGO bricks. From building for fun to building on a LEGO Robotics competition mission; she is frequent LEGO builder.  While we love watching LEGO movies--we hadn't really thought of making our own LEGO animations.  Until now.  We recently discovered the latest book from author team David Pagano and Dave Pickett:  The LEGO Animation Book:  Make your Own LEGO Movies.  We are excited to offer both our review of this book and to offer one reader the opportunity to win a copy of the book!  What did we think of The LEGO Animation Book?

We received a complimentary copy of this book for use in our review.  All opinions are our own.

Quick Summary of The LEGO Animation Book:  Make your Own LEGO Movies by David Pagano and Dave Pickett.  Have you ever wondered what your LEGO creations would look like on the big screen? The LEGO Animation Book will show you how to bring your models to life with stop-motion animation--no experience required! Follow step-by-step instructions to make your first animation, and then explore the entire filmmaking process, from storyboards to post-production.
Along the way, you'll learn how to:
  • Create special effects like explosions and flying minifigures
  • Convey action and emotion with your minifigure actors
  • Design sets for animation--make three buildings look like an entire city!
  • Light, frame, and capture consistent photos
  • Add detail and scope to your films by building in different scales
  • Build camera dollies and rigs out of LEGO bricks
  • Choose cameras, software, and other essential animation tools
Dive into the world of animation and discover a whole new way to play!Recommended for ages 10+.

Check out the video animation created by The LEGO Animation Book authors...



The LEGO Animation Book is a great guide to beginning LEGO animation.  The authors do an amazing job presenting the information in this book in a way that is so simple enough for younger readers to follow--but, in depth enough for parents (and grown up LEGO fans) to learn from the guide as well.  There is SO much information included in a very usable, step by step style format that we were able to work through the pages and create an end product animation with no experience at all beyond taking videos on our smartphone. 

Great pictures and well written text make this the perfect guidebook.  Every page is loaded with step by step photos explaining the text.  This makes it great for both LEGO lovers who prefer photo diagrams (like my daughter) and for those who prefer written advice and direction (like me).

Awesome for STEM parents.  Okay.  I am a STEM mom of nearly 10 years.  LEGO engineering seems to be the go-to realm of elementary/middle school STEM with LEGO Robotics being the bridge point between upper elementary/middle to high school.  Adding the LEGO animation angle to your STEM curriculum is perfect from the technology standpoint (especially if your child is leaning more toward digital design and graphics).  If the kids are a little bored with basic building and robotics needs a little something extra--add animation.  This guide is perfect for STEM instruction and is really easy for parents to incorporate for an interested child.  


Would I recommend The LEGO Animation Book by David Pagano and Dave Pickett?  This book is great for beginners--and even those LEGO builders with a little bit of animation experience.  This book covers so many aspects of filmmaking creating detailed, yet easy to make, LEGO movie creations.  It was easy enough for my 10 year old daughter to read follow on her own--but, detailed (yet explanatory) enough that I  could help her to follow some of the more complicated aspects.  This is a great book for LEGO lovers seeking to take that leap into LEGO animation.  The kids will love it--and even grown ups who may have lost some of LEGO enthusiasm will be pulled right back in with the magic of animation.



Meet the Authors:

 David Pagano is an award-winning animation director and the head of Paganomation, a New York-based production studio. Since 2007, David and his team have created dozens of stop-motion shorts, ads, and music videos seen on LEGO.com, YouTube, Disney XD, Comcast On Demand, Nickelodeon, and for approximately two seconds in the climax of The LEGO Movie.

In 2014, David appeared in “A LEGO Brickumentary” in an effort to make "LEGO Animation Historian" his second unlikely career path. When he’s not otherwise occupied with work (which isn't often), David can be found sleeping in late, biking around NYC, and thinking critically about 1980s media.


Dave Pickett is a life-long LEGO fan and pop culture enthusiast. He runs the YouTube channel BRICK 101 where he shares his LEGO animations, custom LEGO creations, LEGO set reviews and other fun videos. Dave is co-author of The LEGO Animation Book (October 2016).

Dave is a self-taught animator with no formal training, but that hasn’t stopped him from making award-winning brickfilms like Nightly News at Nine, Metamorphosis, and Choose Your Own Storyline: The Fight for Paradise Hills. When he's not building with LEGO bricks, Dave enjoys playing video games, reading comic books, watching nerdy TV shows, playing board games, and exploring Chicago.

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