Here’s a series of ten beautiful animated spots produced in France during the 1950s. It’s inspiring how these commercials take full advantage of the medium’s graphic potential. There’s no compromise in these pieces which is what keeps them so fresh and interesting over fifty years later.

We’ve needed a good animation festival here in the US for the long time and we may finally be getting it in the form of the Platform International Animation Festival, which will take place June 25-30, 2007 in Portland, Oregon. The recently launched festival website has more info including details on how to submit films (deadline is March 1, 2007).

The festival is sponsored entirely by Cartoon Network, which was initially some cause for concern, but thankfully, CN seem to be taking a largely hands-off approach and allowing this to become its own festival. I’ve spoken extensively with the festival’s director and founder Irene Kotlarz, and she’s attempting to really push the limits of what an animation festival can be. In addition to screenings of short films and special programs, Platform will weave in and out of related arts by having installations and art exhibits, as well as incorporating comics, illustration and toy design into the programming. It’s exciting to finally have a major festival so close to the animation epicenters of Southern California and the Bay Area. I definitely know where I’ll be next June.

What are you doing on Pearl Harbor Day?This Thursday (tomorrow, Dec. 7th) John Canemaker will be in Hollywood, hosting a program to celebrate the DVD debut of DISNEY TRUE-LIFE ADVENTURES 1949 -1960. He’ll be screening highlights from the pioneering live action Disney film series, and lead a discussion with a panel of filmmakers, including Roy E. Disney. Paul Kenworthy, Bruce Reitherman, and David Bossert. At 7:30 p.m. in the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA.I myself will be half a mile away, running a fine selection of vintage animated cartoons at the Janet Klein concert at The Steve Allen Theatre. I do this every month, the first Thursday of each. It’s a great evening of fun which starts at 8:00pm. For more info go here.

Art Lozzi, a background painter on the early Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons, has written a great little tutorial on his background painting techniques. It is posted on John K’s blog. In it, Lozzi shows when he used sponges, friskets and brush lines, and also discusses a bit of color theory. Well worth checking out.

Somebody recut Disney’s MARY POPPINS into a horror film. A cheap laugh but it works.

Today is Walt Disney’s 105th birthday!
As good a reason as any to celebrate.

What’s one of our favorite recurring topics here at Cartoon Brew? Of course, it’s the “Preston Blair swipe,” which is when an illustrator-hack pilfers artwork from Preston Blair’s classic animation textbook and uses it for their own commercial projects. The latest swipe was found by Adam Koford in Orlando, Florida. If you want to visit this shrine of cartoon incompetence, Adam has geotagged the location on Flickr:

Previous Blair rips on Cartoon Brew: Halloween decals, Ohio lottery ticket, Australian restaurant ad and Ohio school mascot.

Brew reader Arthur writes about this funny and well done commercial spoof of the classic British holiday special THE SNOWMAN:

To promote their tangy soda drink Irn Bru (the number one soft drink in Scotland), Scottish soft drink company Barr have created a cheeky homage to Raymond Briggs much loved christmas classic The Snowman, the commercial is also causing a bit of a stir due to the current hysteria in the UK over advertising junk food to children.

Read about the controversy HERE or watch the commercial below: