SVA student Tamara Gildengers Connolly used type characters to create this music video for Nina Simone singing “Feeling Good.” Using type in this manner seems to be a fairly typical assignment in motion graphics and design classes, but the results manage to impress in this piece.

(via Grain Edit)

Disney historian and author Jim Fanning has written a fine appreciation of the little-seen Ward Kimball featurette Dad, Can I Borrow the Car? (1970). I also wrote some thoughts about this film a few years back. Best of all, somebody has posted the film onto YouTube and it can be seen below in three parts (though it should be noted that there is also a later TV version that is twice the length). And if you’re a fan of Kimball, stay tuned to the Brew for an upcoming post about an even rarer project he directed at Disney.

On Wednesday Stu Shostack celebrates the one year anniversary of his internet radio show with a return visit by his inaugural (and frequent) guest Mark Evanier. Mark and Stu will discuss the new Schulz book and why the family is upset about it - Monte Schulz will be calling in to discuss his point of view. They’ll also be talking about the writer’s strike and Mark’s producing and writing of Garfield and Friends. Sevreral other special guests who are VERY big in the animation and comic strip world will be calling in to join the discussion. It’s broadcast live tomorrow, (Wednesday 12/5) from 7-9pm (Eastern)/4-6 pm (Pacific), with taped rebroadcasts each day following, at the same hours. Click Here to Listen.

Oh, and in two weeks (on Dec. 19th), I’ll be on again with another open forum to discuss classic cartoons.

Anybody who’s somebody in animation has been Barrier’d at one point or another, and I’m pleased to report that my latest book project, Inside UPA, has now been Barrier’d as well. Not only has esteemed animation historian Michael Barrier reviewed the book, but he also provided this terrific photo identification for the one photo that wasn’t properly ID’d in the book.

Purchase your copy of Inside UPA today, before the limited edition run of 1000 is sold out!

Over the years, Craig Yoe has put together some of my favorite compilations of classic cartooning (Weird But True Toon Factoids, the Arf series of books) and his latest project, Clean Cartoonists’ Dirty Drawings, is another winner. As the title suggests, it’s a saucy compilation of cartoons, but the content is largely PG-13. It’s a fun (and quite affordable) way to add a little spice to your favorite cartoonist’s stocking.

Just when you thought the era of ugly Popeye merchandise was over…

In a universe of bad ideas, we may have winner! Or this may be genius. You decide. Limited edition rubber duck incarnations of famous people and cartoon characters called Celebriducks. This is the brainstorm of entrepreneur Craig Wolfe, and his product is now showing up at retail outlets like Virgin Megastore, and even at Disney World.

Check out the animated characters including Betty Boop, Pink Panther and Felix The Cat. Even more outrageous are the movie stars (The Lone Ranger, Mae West and Mr. T) and religious figures - which includes rubber duck versions of Moses, Satan and Jesus Christ!

(Thanks, Steve Moore)

I’m getting an award!

The Annie Award nominations were announced this morning. The big news is that the juried awards are going to John Kricfalusi, John Canemaker and Glen Keane (getting The Winsor McCay Award, for lifetime achievement), and to Jonathan Gay, Gary Grossman and Robert Tatsumi, the creators of Flash computer software (recieving the Ub Iwerks Award for technical achievement). And little ‘ol me will be recieving the June Foray Award for “significant and benevolent or charitable impact on the art and industry of animation”. I’m not sure what to say… except that I’m sincerely honored!

The Annie committees also nominated Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie, Persepolis, Surf’s Up! and Bee Movie for Best Animated Feature; Everything Will Be OK (Bitter Films), How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (Walt Disney Feature Animation), Mascot Prep (Walt Disney Television Animation), The Chestnut Tree (Picnic Pictures), and Your Friend the Rat (Pixar) for Best Animated Short Subject. Click here for the full list of nominees and winners. The Awards will be presented Friday February 8th at a new location, Royce Hall (on the UCLA Campus) in Westwood. Tickets are now on sale, more information here.

The animation history round-ups have become one of my favorite types of posts to do on Cartoon Brew. It is always eye-opening to see the wealth of classic material that appears on-line on a regular basis. The cartoon history being posted online is about as grassroots as an effort gets, lots of various people (animation historians, the families of artists, and students and fans of the art form) coming together to share things from their collections without any specific agenda. There’s also no financial incentive here, only the desire to help one another and the art form grow and prosper. It will be exciting to see how the new generation of artists learns from this material and pushes the art form even further forward.

• Powerful Dumbo storyboards by Bill Peet are matched only by powerful Dumbo animation by Bill Tytla.

• Rare drawings by Playboy cartoonist (and former Disney story artist) Eldon Dedini (via Flog!)

• Animation director Ward Jenkins examines the Tex Avery-Tom Oreb classic Symphony in Slang (1951).

• A Virgil Ross-animated pencil test of Bugs Bunny from A Hare Grows in Manhattan.

• The wonderful commercial animation of animator Jack Schnerk can be seen in the reel below as well as the second and third reels on YouTube. Director Michael Sporn offers some memories of working with Schnerk on his blog.

• “It is a well-known fact at Disney’s that a man has to love an animal thoroughly before he can draw it well,” says this 1942 article from Nature magazine about the making of Bambi.

• Animation director Bob Jaques offers an appreciation of Jim Tyer’s animation in the 1946 Popeye cartoon The Island Fling.

Previously on Cartoon Brew:
Animation History Round-Up #1
Animation History Round-Up #2
Animation History Round-Up #3
Animation History Round-Up #4