Don’t judge this book by it’s cover… or the guy holding it.

I’m very proud to have been part of a team that helped assemble this fantastic new gift book, The Hanna-Barbera Treasury. My goal with this project was to try to recall the original visual appeal of HB 1960s TV stars and I think we suceeded. The book lavishly reprints images from original animation art, comic books, dolls, toys, merchandising, along with over a dozen removable collectibles. There is a smile on every page. Writers Martin Goodman, Earl Kress and Bob Miller helped me compile the text in record time. Much of the memorabilia came from the Hanna-Barbera collection housed at the Warner Bros. archives (though several images and comics came from my humble stash). Mike Van Eaton loaned us a bunch of animation art and former H-B head honcho Fred Seibert wrote an wonderful introduction. The book goes on sale later this month and I’ll be doing a book signing / launch party at the Van Eaton Gallery in Sherman Oaks, CA on Saturday Dec. 1st (from 1pm to 3pm). Please drop by and geek out with me on all the Saturday morning goodness.

Starting today and continuing through the weekend, New Yorkers will be treated to a three-part Museum of Modern Art retrospective of the work of director Michael Sporn. The films being shown include Sporn’s adaptations of classic children’s books by the likes of William Steig, Quentin Blake and Mordicai Gerstein, as well as his adaptation of the Lewis Carroll poem “The Hunting of the Snark.” I wish I was out east for these programs because I have enjoyed the pared-down elegance of the few Sporn films I’ve seen over the years like Doctor De Soto and The Man Who Walked between the Towers. The films being screened are:

Program 1: New York Stories
Five short films by Michael Sporn: Mona Mon Amour, Champagne, The Man Who Walked between the Towers, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, The Little Match Girl

Program 2: Fables
Four short films by Michael Sporn: Doctor De Soto, Abel’s Island, The Red Shoes, The Hunting of the Snark

Program 3: A Peaceable Kingdom
Five short films by Michael Sporn: Goodnight Moon, The Marzipan Pig, The Amazing Bone, Ira Sleeps Over, The Story of the Dancing Frog

On Monday, November 12, the series concludes with a discussion between Michael Sporn and John Canemaker. Here’s the description of that program:

An Evening with Michael Sporn
The artist takes part in a conversation with animation historian/filmmaker John Canemaker and MoMA assistant curator Joshua Siegel. The discussion is illustrated with clips from Sporn’s award-winning animated films, including a new short, Pab’s First Burger, and an excerpt from his feature-length work-in-progress about the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. Sporn’s career is also traced through his commercials, public service announcements, title sequences, and visuals for the Broadway stage.

Historian Michael Barrier also has some thoughts on Sporn’s work that are worth a read.

In case you haven’t seen this, Pixar has established a website for the fictional corporation in their forthcoming film Wall-E.

Check out BuynLarge.com. Once you realize it’s bogus, it’s subversively hilarious. And check out the Store page (with actual stuff for sale).

(Thanks Brad Constantine and the Luxo Blog)

That’s me (at right) today with curator Lucy Shelton Caswell at the incredible Cartoon Research Library, housed in the Wexner Center on Ohio State University.

Wow! This is the place. Everything from McCay to Manga - an incredible collection… perhaps the collection of comic strip art and artifacts in the U.S. I saw rare Winsor McCay, Milton Canniff, Noel Sickles, Schulz and on and on… If you live in Ohio I urge you to visit and support this incredible resource. If you live out of town, add this to your vacation plans next year (a big Jeff Smith exhibit is being prepared now for next spring-summer, May 10-Aug. 17, 2008).

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the names of the 12 films submitted (and potentially qualified) for a Best Animated Feature Film award this year.

“Alvin and the Chipmunks�
“Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters�
“Bee Movie�
“Beowulf�
“Meet the Robinsons�
“Persepolis�
“Ratatouille�
“Shrek the Third�
“The Simpsons Movie�
“Surf’s Up�
“Tekkonkinkreet�
“TMNT�

Only three will be nominated. Care to take any guesses?

No one animator’s career covered the history of animation, with so many important cultural touchstones, as Grim Natwick. His work spanned the entire 20th Century, influencing and contributing to all the important studios, characters and films. When he died at age 100 (in 1990), Steve Worth was given the task of organizing the hundreds of pieces of animation artwork he had personally saved from his career. Worth is currently in charge of ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Archive and has now curated an amazing exhibit culled from this material. He has also created an on-line exhibit catalog, with much of the art and commentary outlining Natwick’s life story.

But nothing compares to seeing this artwork in person. It will be on display at the ASIFA-Hollywood space on Burbank Blvd. for the rest of the year. I highly recommend you check this out if you are in the area.

GRIM NATWICK’S SCRAPBOOK
An Exhibit Presented By The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
2114 W Burbank Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91506
Now Showing, Tuesday through Friday 1pm to 9pm

“Bazooka Joe is my new Mickey Mouse.” - Michael Eisner

Story at USA Today, analysis at Mayerson on Animation.

(via The Beat)

Graphic design students from Brazil attempt to recreate Chuck Jones’ One Froggy Evening in CG as their finals project. Here is the two-minutes they created:

And for comparison, this is the Jones original:

UPDATE: Virgilio Vasconcelos, one of the students who made the film, offers some background about the reason for the project. He wrote in the comments below:

“As a regular Brew reader, I never thought our project would be shown here.

Before anyone yells that we had killed the masterpiece, I would say that everything was done only for learning purposes. We never wanted to say that CG is better or even that we could make something comparable to the original.

We never had formal education in animation (neither do we have where to study animation where we live), so our goal was to study a classic from a great master frame by frame to see if we could learn something. I believe it was quite successful on its goal: we have learned a lot.

The original, 2D one, is an all-time classic. Just incomparable. Chuck Jones is my hero, and I thank him and all fellas at Golden Age who motivated us to learn about animation.”