The Van Eaton Gallery in Sherman Oaks is hosting an event around the 1965 ABC/King Features TV series THE BEATLES on Saturday August 20th. The guest of honor will be Ron Campbell, a longtime Hollywood animation industry vet (Hanna Barbera, Klasky Csupo, etc.) who started his career in Australia boarding and co-directing the original Beatle TV cartoons, then animating on the landmark feature YELLOW SUBMARINE. As tacky as the Saturday morning series was, it still holds a warm place in all our hearts as part of Beatle history. The event will start at 6pm and end around 10pm.

Direct from FOX NEWS: Judge Calls Disney’s Eisner ‘Machiavellian’And Betty Boop’s 75th Anniversary

See today’s print edition of The Wall Street Journal for John Canemaker’s article Disney Erases Hand-Drawn Animation (Leisure & Arts section, p. D-8).

Bill Robinson, an animation student at RIT, sent the Brew some thoughtful comments about Disney’s appearance at SIGGRAPH ‘05. Here’s what he has to say:

I was at Siggraph last week and I saw that same clip that the AICN guy was so excited about. I saw it a couple of times (once in the “Legacy of Disney Animation” special session and another on a tour of the Disney Studio given to students). It’s amazing! It seriously is that Fragonard painting in three dimensions. I have no idea how they did it, but I assume it worked off their Deep Canvas technology as it looked like real oil paint. The other clip, the animated one, was also very promising. I’m not sure that the story will be anything too wonderful (it involves a lot of shape shifting and people being turned into animals and such) but the visual style is going to be great.

I was amazed at the presence that Disney Feature Animation had at Siggraph, way overshadowing tiny little Pixar’s booth. They had one of the largest booths on the floor with three computer stations showing off the versatility of the characters from Chicken Little and Wilbur Robinson. There were Disney animators and technical artists teaching Maya Masterclasses, as well as the Disney Legacy special session and the tours they gave of the studio. They even brought Glen Keane in and introduced him as the face of the future of Disney animation. I can see from this massive effort that they are trying to put themselves on the map as the place to be for the top talent to work at. Pixar barely made a peep at the show, handing out some plastic teapots and hocking its Renderman software. I am happy to see that Disney only made the switch to CG after finding ways to do cartoony 2D animation in 3D. They showed some of their rigs for the Chicken Little characters and these things were terrific - squash and stretch, bendy arms and legs, fully sculptable silhouettes, smear controls on the mesh, the ability to literally break the rig into separate pieces and stretch things as far as you want in any direction…it’s all very promising.

Bill also wrote about other aspects of the SIGGRAPH experience on his blog HERE. The report includes photos and is a fun read.

In his latest article, Jim Hill writes about how impressed he was that Glen Keane was willing to get down on his knees at SIGGRAPH. No, it’s not what you think… you perverts. Hill also explains why he’s more accepting of Keane’s decision to switch to CG for his Disney directorial debut, RAPUNZEL UNBRAIDED.

Heads up: on Monday, August 22, we’re having a most excellent contest on Cartoon Brew where we’ll be giving away two full passes to the Ottawa International Animation Festival (September 21-25, 2005). Two lucky individuals will each receive the Ottawa “Animapass” valued at $195Can. The Ottawa festival is a who’s who gathering of notable animation talents, and one of a handful of truly world-class cartoon events. These passes offer access to all the events at OIAF including:
* all screenings and workshops
* the famous OIAF picnic
* all the parties
* and an OIAF program book

Thanks to our friends at the Ottawa festival for generously making these passes available to Brew readers. Stay tuned for details…

Ain’t It Cool News has video clips from SIGGRAPH of test animation from Disney’s AMERICAN DOG and A DAY WITH WILBUR ROBINSON. You can view the clips HERE. The same AICN entry that hosts these clips also has a ridiculously over-the-top, and quite possibly fabricated, “fan report” on Glen Keane’s RAPUNZEL UNBRAIDED. I wouldn’t be surprised if Disney is trying to get some positive buzz out in front of this one, because RAPUNZEL sounds and looks like the weakest (and most exec-mangled) project among their upcoming CG films. At least one former Disney artist has already proclaimed online that the film is “a big f###ing mess.” (Thanks, Jeff Hunsel)

EARLIER ON THE BREW: The promise of AMERICAN DOG.

Archive.org has three WWII-era Private SNAFU shorts posted on their site, and as always, everything on the site can be downloaded for free. The shorts are well chosen: one is directed by Frank Tashlin (THE HOME FRONT), one by Bob Clampett (BOOBY TRAPS), and one by Chuck Jones (SPIES).