Recent CalArts grad J.J. Villard is having his first LA solo exhibition at Cirrus Gallery (542 S. Alameda Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013). His Bukowski-inspired animated short SON OF SATAN is an incredibly raw and powerful work, and the exhibit will include drawings from that film, as well as new paintings and sculptures. The opening night reception is tomorrow, Feb. 26, from 5-8pm, and the show runs through April 9. See artwork from the show HERE.

Tom Neely, director of BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A JOB?, wrote in about yesterday’s post, which included the Bird cover by David Stone Martin:

I thought you might find it interesting that I recently designed an album cover that is directly influenced by the Charlie Parker cover you posted (check out the arms and feet of my Godzilla-esque monster).

This has nothing to do with animation, but everything to do with good drawing and design. It’s a Japanese website that has an extensive collection of JAZZ RECORD COVERS. There’s sixteen pages of covers, so click around. (Thanks, Oscar Grillo)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will be holding it’s 9th Annual Marc Davis Lecture on Animation Wednesday March 23rd at 7:30pm at it’s Samuel Goldwyn Theatre on Wilshire Blvd.This year, the focus is on the work of Academy Award winner Frédéric Back, one of the world’s most honored animator-directors. Back earned his first Oscar with Crac! (1981), a chronicle of the changes the 20th century brought to life in rural Québec. Back followed Crac! with The Man Who Planted Trees, which won the Oscar in 1987. He spent more than five years on that film, with only a single assistant to help color the drawings.Back’s influence and work will be discussed by a panel of animators and historians including Pete Docter (Monsters Inc.), Production Designer Paul Felix (Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor’s New Groove), Glen Keane (Tarzan, Pocahontas), Bob Kurtz (owner of Kurtz and Friends animation studio, & creator of Cool Cat), and Charles Solomon (animation critic for The Los Angeles Times).Tickets are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences building, 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more program information, check oscars.org

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (September 21-25, 2005) has issued a call for entries for its 2005 edition. Entry forms are available at the FESTIVAL WEBSITE. The deadline is June 1 so there’s still plenty of time to enter. The competition categories are very similar to last year’s festival, but one particularly interesting twist is the creation of a Children’s Films competition that will be judged by a jury of local children. Festival director Chris Robinson explains the idea behind this category: “Every year there is controversy over the choices for Films and TV shows for Children. After the last Festival a posse of kids approached the OIAF organizers to complain about the ‘utter incompetence’ of the jury decisions. So this year, instead of just giving them a free t-shirt and sending them on their way, we decided to give the kids an opportunity to put their words into action.”

In addition to the competition and non-competitive Showcase screenings, OIAF 05 special screenings include Drawing in Pink: A Tribute to The Pink Panther (curated by Cartoon Brew’s very own Jerry Beck), The Best of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse Animation, Slovak Animation, a retrospective of award winning Italian Animator, Guianluigi Toccafondo, and DIY: Canadian Independent Animation.

Here’s an exclusive preview of this year’s Ottawa poster, designed by Gary Panter:

Check out the recent diary entries by MGM animator Irv Spence…apparently in February 1944 it was raining like crazy in Los Angeles…and if you’re in Los Angeles in February 2005, I’m sure you can relate.

Here’s another production blog called THE WUBBLOG. Bob Boyle explains it all:

After seeing your post about the production blog of Nick Cross I thought I’d let you know about mine. While Nick is documenting the struggle of an independent filmmaker I will be documenting the challenges of developing and producing a show for a network. I’m starting production on a pre-school show (WUBBY, WIDGET AND WALDEN) that I created for Nick Jr. through Frederator, and I’m attempting to keep a journal of the process.

The blog is only a month old but there’s already tons of valuable info on it that will help anybody interested in creating their own animated TV series. Well worth a bookmark.

Nick Cross, an incredibly talented Canadian artist who worked on REN & STIMPY: ADULT PARTY CARTOON, has started his own plog (or “production blog”) where he’s documenting the production of his 12-minute personal animated short THE WAIF OF PERSEPHONE. He’s been in production on the film for four years already and is well into the animation stage. Read his plog HERE and watch some of his earlier short films at his WEBSITE.