THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reports that brothers Paul and Ga”tan Brizzi, most famous for directing the “Firebird Suite” in FANTASIA 2000, will be writing and directing the animated film RUBY TUESDAY, featuring twelve songs by the Rolling Stones. According to the REPORTER, the story is “a Faustian tale of a single mother searching for happiness in New York.” The project was initiated by the Brizzis, who approached Jagger’s camp with the idea. Filmmaker Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp is co-producing, financing and distributing the film, which is set for 2008 release. Few details have been announced about the project though it certainly sounds intriguing. And I can’t help but point out that it’s yet another example of how the most mature and distinctive animated features are originating out of Europe and Japan and not the US.

Even though I’ve mentioned this before, I think it’s worth doing so again. Disney story artist Mark Kennedy has been posting an excellent series of tips on drawing and design. His latest entries are about proportion and rhythm in drawing. A lot of the lessons should be obvious to anybody who draws, but it never hurts to get a refresher, especially when it’s as clearly and eloquently presented as Mark’s blog. Stay tuned to his blog Temple of the Seven Golden Camels for further lessons.

The Baxton Benefict Auction at CalArts this past weekend was a huge success, raising over $32,000, which will be going directly towards Larry Baxton’s care and rehabilitation. Between this and the Fyn Stec auction held earlier this year, the animation community has shown that it really knows how to come together when it counts. Definitely something that we can all be proud of.

AWN has a good INTERVIEW with NY indie Pat Smith. One thing Pat says in there really stood out to me:

The pitching system is a bad system though it works for a lot of people. My friend Tom Warburton pitched and pitched and he finally got a really successful show. But I see many talented artists working very hard pitching shows all the time. If they funneled that kind of energy toward making a film, they might have a little something more to show for it.

I can’t say how much I agree with that sentiment. There are so many artists nowadays who whittle away their careers trying to appease the arbitrary whims of development and network execs who don’t understand the medium. The end result is cartoons which don’t have a personal point of view and that nobody wants to watch. Then there’s people like Pat who are able to find a successful balance between independent and commercial work, and who actually have something to show for their hard work. If and when he decides to go mainstream, not only will he be able to do it on his own terms, but he’ll also have the benefit of a fully developed artistic voice, free of third-party interference, which will result in a much stronger final product.

Paul Grimault, whose feature LE ROI ET L’OISEAU was the subject of discussion HERE last month, also directed a short film in the late-1930s called LES PASSAGERS DE LA GRANDE OURSE. Michael Sporn has a book about this film and he’s posted some beautiful images from it on his BLOG. He writes, “[I]t was important historically because it was the first big French animated production trying to out-Disney Disney.” If we can’t see the actual film, at least we can enjoy these stills.

Three different artists, three different studios, three blogs worth noting:Colin Giles, an animator with Carbunkle in Vancouver, has started posting his work from Ren & Stimpy, with drawings and photos.Eric Wiese, a director at Laika Animation in Portland, doesn’t update his blog very often, but his artwork is so delightful I couldn’t resist mentioning it.Jakob Jensen, an animator and character designer at Dreamworks, is showing off his amazing talent and blogging about his drawing techniques.

If this doesn’t kill the SPONGEBOB craze, nothing will.(Thanks, Uncle Wayne Daigrepont)

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo currently has on display a massive exhibition of Disney artwork from the 1920s-1960s. The story, as I understand it, is that in the early-1960s, the Disney studio had lent 200 pieces of artwork to a Japanese museum for an exhibition. These pieces were never returned and considered lost until they were recently discovered at the Chiba University. Now, the’ve been put on display again, along with 350 additional pieces from Disney’s Animation Research Library.

The museum has also published a very handsome catalog of this work. The book is probably relatively easy to find if you’re in Japan, but not so easy for folks elsewhere. A limited number of these books were made available to Disney animation artists last week, and a couple of the studio artists - Mark Kennedy and Paul Briggs - are blogging about how great the book is and scanning pages from it. If you’re in Japan, I’d recommend checking out the exhibition, which ends on September 24. The rest of us will be trying to get the book. (If you happen to have an extra copy of the book that you’re willing to sell, please let me know. I’d love to get my hands on this!)

UPDATE: The official Japan Disney website for “The Art of Disney” exhibition is HERE. And, Tokyo Art Beat has details about the exhibition in English. (Thanks, Chris Keck)