In the clip below taken from a recent episode of ROBOT CHICKEN, Bugs, Daffy, Elmer and Porky are recast in the Eminem film 8 MILE. I wouldn’t exactly call it funny, but I’d still take this version of the WB characters any day over the official Warner Bros. shorts that Larry Doyle and company hacked out a few years back.

(via Something Old, Nothing New)

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and ICE AGE art director Brian McEntee writes to let me know of a good cause that’s bringing the animation community together. Martha Baxton, the longtime secretary of the CalArts Character Animation program, has been going through difficult times following a stroke that her husband Larry suffered. Former students are rallying together and holding a benefit auction next month to raise funds for her husband’s hospital bills. Martha is fondly remembered by CalArts grads, who call her the “backbone” and “heart and soul” of the animation program, and describe her as “the den mother” to the animation students.

The auction website has details about how to contribute artwork for the event. Here’s a bit more about the auction from the website:

There really are people in this world who give & give, never asking for anything in return. Martha Baxton is one of those people, and she has helped countless character animators start their careers. Martha did not give us art instructions, but what she gave us all was maybe more important: love, support and friendship. For countless students, there is simply no way we could have made it through CalArts without her.

Now, after doing so much for us, our friend needs help. Through our auction we hope to raise funds to help her pay off her husband’s mounting hospital bills. Be prepared to dig into your wallets to give what you can. It’s payback time for Larry & Martha!

(Auction poster above by Elizabeth Ito and Pen Ward)

Michael Dobbs has had a lifelong obsession with the Fleischer Studios. And his efforts to write a book - and the subsequent book he has written - are now being blogged via his new site Made Of Pen & Ink.(Thanks, Michael Sporn)

Animated cartoons with a point of view on current world wars and the political scene are relatively scarce compared to the days of World War 2. Luckily, Adolf Hitler is still a villain we can all agree on. German cartoonist Walter Moers has taken on Adolf Hitler in comics, and now has a music video adapting his Adolf, Der Bonker which has been posted on the internet. It’s fun, and the tune is catchy. Here’s an English translation of the lyrics.(Thanks, Peter Krause)

Inspired by Mick LaSalle’s MONSTER HOUSE review, Nick Tam has posted some excellent thoughts on today’s state of animation criticism. There are solid ideas throughout the piece, but I thought the following section stood out in particular:

I think that’s the problem with animation. It’s a technology story. The critics who mishandle it think about it as an experimental bastard-child offspring for kids, a testbed for ever-improving methods marching and heiling towards some indeterminate horizon of progress. The Hollywood execs play into their hands, and the end result is the flooding of the CG market that we’ve seen all year.

You’ll often hear the same films referred to over and over as being the landmark advances of the form. You’ll read that Steamboat Willie gave as sound as we know it, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was animation’s induction into feature-length territory, and Toy Story did the same for the digital age and shifted the mode of thought from drawing to sculpting. Framing the history of animation as a series of technological advances is really easy to do.

But it’s also a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. While these films were undoubtedly seminal in method, that’s not why we remember them. We remember them for the echoes of a wishing well and a toy in a spacesuit falling with style. That such masterworks of storytelling were also technical pioneers is a happy coincidence.

Oscar-nominated animation director Michael Sporn has a thought about all the negative reviews that the Nickelodeon feature BARNYARD is receiving:

Too bad. When you have a live-action auteur like Steve Oedekerk come in to write and direct an “animated feature,” surely you’re on the right track. Why should the director know anything about the craft?

My sentiments exactly.

Speaking of prints, the image above is a vintage lithograph that I picked up in San Diego (click on it for a larger version). The company that I purchased it from, Century Guild, had tons of these German lithos that were based on larger poster designs. It’s hard to believe that in the 1910s and 1920s, you could walk down a street in Germany and see illustrated posters like this plastered around town. The artwork is by Paul Scheurich (1883-1945), who apparently was one of the leading poster artists in Germany. I was surprised by how stylized it was for the time that it was done. Everything about it is just works: the guy’s funky posture and odd proportions, the bold colored shape that makes up his body without any use of line, the meaty hands with great line details, and the incredible design of his face (dig those dot eyes and wild nose shape). I have no idea what the poster is actually selling - maybe a German-speaking Brew reader can let us know - but I think the ad is great from a visual standpoint. Below are a few more Scheurich posters that I found online. Man, what I wouldn’t give to see an animated feature that looked this cool.

UPDATE - Brew reader Holger Pfläging offers a translation of the poster. He says: “The poster is advertising a company wich posts announcements and ads in the subways and elevated railways of I don’t know which German city. The upper card says: “Hollerbaum & Schmidt - Posters” the lower says: “Postings on elevated railway and subway - U. Thiemt & Co.” Thanks Holger!

UPDATE #2 - Florian Satzinger writes: “Thank you for this great post. Scheurich’s art reminded me of the Austrian artist Josef Danilotwatz (1877-1945). The atmosphere of Danilowatz’ “caricature paintings” and the feathery brush strokes are stunning. Last year we posted some of Danilowatz’ illustrations out of the book “Motor in der Karikatur - Ein lustiges Kinderbuch für Erwachsene”, ROB Verlag Vienna (1925), on our site HERE.

UPDATE #3 - Benjamin Leng and Patrick Walter both wrote to tell me the hilarious translation of the last Scheurich poster at the bottom of the post. It says, “Let’s go to the Butchery-Exhibition at the Zoo! There will be free sausage, beautiful bulls and fine piglets.”

UPDATE #4 - JJ Sedelmaier writes, “Regarding German poster design, check out the work of Ludwig Hohlwein. He’s the top! He influenced scads of his contemporaries and modern graphic designers as well, even the likes of Seymour Chwast. His breakdown of color and dramatic art direction is awesome! The ‘drawback’ is that much of the work towards the end of his career supported a politically incorrect cause (Hello, Adolf. . .)”

- click on image above for larger version -

The boys at Fleet Street Scandal - Kevin Dart and Chris Turnham - have posted a comprehensive set of photos from the Comic-Con with lots of animation folks that you’ll surely recognize. If Frank Espinosa’s comic ROCKETO was the hit of the 2005 Comic-Con among the animation set, I’d say Kevin and Chris were the hit of the ‘06 Con. It seems everybody I ran into in San Diego had bought one of their illustration prints, and with good reason: both of these guys are super-talented with sophisticated graphic sensibilities combining good draftsmanship, color and design. I believe they do CG in the game industry, but they should be working in animation, and preferably producing their own independent animated shorts. Their prints can be purchased online at Fleet Street Scandal.