Inspired by Michael Sporn’s recent series of posts about his favorite animation books, I wanted to share this list I’d compiled a while back of autobiographies written by animation artists. The list is depressingly short considering how many hundreds of great artists worked during animation’s Golden Age. It amazes, and saddens, me that none of the A-list animators at Warner Bros. or MGM ever bothered to record their memories or offer insights into how they worked. Imagine how much richer the art form would be today if we could refer back to the thoughts of animators like Ken Harris, Ben Washam, Bill Melendez, Irv Spence, Rod Scribner, Emery Hawkins, Bobe Cannon and Ray Patterson. The one cartoon animator who did produce a couple of books, Preston Blair, is evidence of how much these artists had to offer to future generations; Blair’s book is to this day one of the most widely admired animation texts around

To be fair, there are many more biographies about animation artists, like Joe Adamson’s books on Tex Avery and Walter Lantz, John Canemaker’s volumes on Mary Blair, Winsor McCay and the Nine Old Men, and various bios of Friz Freleng, Max Fleischer, Charlie Thorson and Ub Iwerks, among others. But as far as artists writing about their experiences in their own words, it’s a meager library. That’s a shame too because as necessary and valuable as bios are, they are rarely (if ever) as entertaining or enlightening as the best of the autobiographies, like those of Shamus Culhane, Jack Kinney and Chuck Jones. If you can think of any other titles that should be added to the list, please mention them in the comments.

Student films have come along way since my day.

Our friend “DeK” has just posted this little gem by three students of the CSC, Italy’s national film school. Based on a poem with the same name written by Jacques Prévert, Page d’ecriture (”Writing Sheet”) uses hand drawn and CG to illustrate what happens when a bored child in class dreams of being free as a bird.

The filmmakers — Filippo Giacommelli, co-director, co-art director, script writer and 3D animator; Fabio Tonetto co-director, co-art director and 2D animator; and Juan Correa Diaz co-director and technical director — also have a great production blog.

Animation legend Frédéric Back (Crac, The Man Who Planted Trees, The Mighty River), who turned 83 this week, has launched a new website at FredericBack.com. Currently, the French version is functional, while the English version will go live next week. Even with only the French version available, I couldn’t resist linking to it because the site is phenomenal. It’s a comprehensive site featuring dozens of autobiographical pages documenting Back’s career with plenty of photos and artwork, video examples of all his animation including his commercial work from the 1950s and ’60s, and many galleries of Back’s illustrations and paintings. Definitely a fitting tribute to one of animation’s greats.

Eric Pigors has worked at Disney Feature animation for fifteen years. He’s also contributed his art to Family Dog, Ed, Edd and Eddy and made his own demented Liquid TV cartoon short, Let’s Chop Soo-E, with Marv Newland’s International Rocketship.

But Pigor’s heart has been in creating his own world and expanding his Toxictoons empire, with a website showcasing his macabre art, toys, T-shirts, stickers, and so on. He’s got an artshow coming up at the Hyaena Gallery in Burbank April 16th-30th, and you can meet the mind behind the madness at the reception on Friday April 20th at 8pm.

Hardie Gramatky (1907-1979), one of the great American watercolorists, actually started in animation working at Disney from 1929-1936. Joe Campana points out on his blog Animation - Who and Where that yesterday marked Gramatky’s 100th birthday anniversary. Besides painting and animation, Gramatky was also known for his children’s storybooks, particularly Little Toot, which was adapted into an animated segment for Disney’s Melody Time. An extensive bio and many of Gramatky’s paintings can be found at Gramatky.com, a site maintained by his daughter, Linda Gramatky Smith. More of his stunning watercolors can be viewed at CaliforniaWatercolor.com.

No, this isn’t a frame from the forthcoming digital restoration of the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons. It’s an actual production cel and background from Let’s You and Him Fight (1934).

Original art from Fleischer cartoons is scarce, but this cel and hundreds of other super-rare pop culture artifacts are on permanent display at Geppi’s Entertainment Museum in Baltimore Maryland. I haven’t visted the place myself, but I just recieved a copy of the beautiful souvenir book, Pop Culture with Character and if this book is any indication, Geppi’s Museum is a place I must visit next time I’m on the East Coast.

It’s the history of pop culture told through artifacts and mementos dating back to the early 1800s and continuing up through 2007’s Spongebob and Shrek. The book is a catalog of cool stuff, and I can only imagine that seeing this memorabilia in person, at the museum, would be mind blowing. Thanks Mr. Geppi for collecting this material and sharing it with us.

Starting today and continuing through Monday, there’s an interesting event happening in Ohio: “Women In Animation: A Columbus College of Art & Design Symposium.” The goal of the event is to celebrate “women’s achievements in animation, and to encourage young women to envision themselves contributing to every part of the industry, from personal aesthetic expression to the topmost echelons of production and direction.”

The event is free and open to the public, and takes place in the Canzani Center Auditorium. There are some well known presenters including Joanna Quinn, Clare Kitson, Jayne Pilling, Rebecca Allen, and Jinko Gotoh, among others. A complete schedule of events is posted at the CCAD website.

(Thanks, Eliza Kinkz)

This Saturday the Corey Helford Gallery (8522 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA) is opening a new solo show by the phenomenally talented Andrew Brandou. “As A Man Thinketh, So He Is” features over thirty new paintings that “explore the history of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple, creating a visual roadmap of the Jonestown story.” Brandou, who comes from an animation background working on shows like The Simpsons, Duckman, Rugrats and Spongebob, is now focusing full-time on producing his own artwork, which is fine in my book since his personal paintings are incredibly fun and appealing, not to mention classically skillful.

More about the upcoming show from the press release:

Integrating wood from significant locales of Jones’ past into the series of acrylic and silver and gold leaf paintings, Andrew Brandou’s stable of symbolic animal caricatures lead the viewer from Jim Jones’ Indiana birthplace and his days as a young preacher in the San Francisco Bay Area to his final destination - Guyana. Through his vibrant and childlike imagery, Brandou translates tragic themes into engaging narratives that are as alive with cultural and religious references as they are just plain dark fun. The exhibition includes a life-size recreation of Jones’ iconic throne, on which patrons may have a specially framed commemorative Polaroid taken. Open to the public, the reception for “As A Man Thinketh, So He Is� will take place on Saturday, April 14 from 7 to 11pm, and the show will be exhibited until May 5, 2007.