COLLISION is a student film by Max Hattler of the Royal College of Art. He describes it as, “Islamic patterns and American quilts and the colors and geometry of flags as an abstract field of reflection.” I say it’s a pretty funky politically-charged piece of abstract animation.
(via fous d’anim)

We’ve just learned that animation designer Charles McElmurry passed away on December 5th.McElmurry began at Disney in 1940 but was soon drafted into the Marine Corps. After the war, he moved to New York to work as an illustrator while living in Connecticut. Art Babbitt was instrumental in getting McElmurry into John Hubley’s Storyboard Productions as a layout artist/designer. He also worked at John Sutherland Productions and Quartet Films. McElmurry’s design work will be better known with the publication of Amid’s CARTOON MODERN next spring. Here’s a link to a tribute posted on daughter Jill McElmurry’s BLOG.

UPDATE: More thoughts about, and artwork by, Charles McElmurry at the Cartoon Modern blog.

The post title pretty much says it all. The House of Blues (Downtown Disney, Anaheim) will host “An Evening With John Kricfalusi” on Wednesday, December 28. But people hoping to see John belt out a few tunes are out of luck. The event description says, “John will be discussing the creation of REN & STIMPY as well as telling stories and showing never before seen REN & STIMPY cartoons and ending with a Q&A session.”

Pixar story artist Ronnie del Carmen is chronicling the adventures of the Pixar artists who are currently in New York for the opening of Pixar: 20 Years of Animation at MoMA. If you can’t make it to New York, the exhibition catalogue can be purchased at the MoMA bookstore. Also, there’s some good lectures planned in conjunction with the exhibit: John Lasseter speaks at MoMA this Friday, Ralph Eggleston and Bill Cone discuss the art of the colorscript on January 6, and Gary Rydstrom and Michael Giacchino offer insights on the art of sound design on January 20.
UPDATE: More thoughts on the MoMA show from animator Michael Sporn.

If you’ve ever wondered how Scrooge McDuck is related to Potcrack McDuck, or which of Donald Duck’s exs had an affair with Manuel Gonzales, then THIS is the family tree for you. The most important thing I learned from this is that somebody needs to teach the concept of birth control to all the Disney ducks.
(Thanks, Dai Kun)

Our friend Michael Sporn has arrived online with a beautifully designed website and blog at MichaelSpornAnimation.com. Mike has been a fixture of the New York animation scene for many years. When he started in animation during the 1970s, he worked with John and Faith Hubley (COCKABOODY, EVERYBODY RIDES THE CAROUSEL), Richard Williams (RAGGEDY ANN AND ANDY) and R.O. Blechman (SIMPLE GIFTS). He started his own studio in 1980 where Sporn has spent a significant portion of his career creating elegant hand-drawn children’s book adaptations in a wide range of illustrator styles including those of William Steig (DOCTOR DESOTO), Quentin Blake (STORY OF THE DANCING FROG) and Chris Raschka (YO! YES?, HAPPY TO BE NAPPY). One of his latest films, THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS, an adaptation of a children’s book by Mordicai Gerstein, is shortlisted at the Academy and is a strong contender for an animated short Oscar nomination this year.

Blue Sky Studios is holding an AUCTION to benefit the victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The auction runs through December 19 and includes original pre-production artwork and maquettes from ICE AGE and ROBOTS. All proceeds (minus auction fees) will go directly to either the Red Cross or The Humane Society.

“Chicken Little is the third elaborate and expensive industrial product (I almost said ‘movie’ or ‘film’) whose principal fabricator (I almost said ‘director’) was Mark Dindal. It is an odd item, even by the warped standards prevailing in Hollywood.”

So begins Michael Barrier’s review of CHICKEN LITTLE. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I wholeheartedly concur with every word of Barrier’s review. His assessment could also describe most every other Disney animated feature of the past decade. The benchmark of animated storytelling, art and technology is no longer to be found at Disney, and CHICKEN LITTLE is simply a sad confirmation of that fact.