Michael Sporn has been scanning some beautiful photos and artwork from Bob Thomas’s classic long out-of-print 1958 book about Disney called The Art of Animation. So far he’s done two posts about the book (first post, second post). Even better, and especially if you read Spanish, Michael points out that Ernesto Pfluger has scanned and posted the entire Spanish-language version of the book on his blog. Even if you can’t understand the text, the imagery is a delight. I think I speak for a lot of classic animation fans when I say that I’d like to see this book reprinted.

Also, I love this comment by cartoonist Eddie Fitzgerald about the photos in Thomas’s book: “The artists look so hardcore, so professional! I love the serious faces of the four artists looking at the cel, the one with Al Dempster on the extreme left. I even like the picture of the ink and painters. Everybody looks like they’re soooo good at what they do!” Eddie is so right. The artists in these photos defy the stereotype of animators as goofballs. These guys were professionals in the truest sense of the word, and the films they created reflect their dedication to the art and craft.

Björk’s new music video for the song “Wanderlust” is AMAZING! It’s a staggeringly original mix of live-action, stop motion, CG and puppetry directed by San Francisco-based Encyclopedia Pictura (aka Sean Hellfritsch and Isaiah Saxon). The “regular” version debuted today, but they’ve also produced a stereoscopic 3D version that requires special glasses. This would definitely be something special to see on the big screen.

UPDATE I’ve removed the YouTube link because the directors of the video emailed to tell us that they’ve put up a beautiful hi-res Quicktime version of “Wanderlust” on their website, and they’d prefer if people could see this version. I think you’ll prefer seeing this version too.

Below is a ‘making of’ video and here is an interview with the directors about the challenges of producing the video in 3D. And these are the complete production credits.

Is it a book or a set of hankerchiefs? I’m not exactly sure what this is, but clearly it’s another example of bizarre Van Beuren cartoon merchandise from the early 30s. Brew reader Anita Holmes found it and shared these photos (click on images below to enlarge) with us. Beloved Van Beuren regulars Don Dog, Puffie, Al Squirrel and The Countess each get a full page (or hankie).

The hard to see words on the bottom left hand side say, “‘Tis Maytime and the fables gang Are dressed in colors bright. Genuine Aesop’s Fables Film Characters.” The right hand bottom says “We watched them as they danced around The pole in sheer delight.” Copyright Sept. 1, 1931 by The W.R. Woodard Co. By Permission of Van Beuren Corporation.

Sometimes the title of a post just says it all.

If you are a fan of animated opening titles, as I am, you’ll want to take note of these three items:

• A special tribute to Bob Kurtz is being featured on the Forget the Film, Watch the Titles website. Kurtz has done a number of distinctive animated film titles, mostly in cooperation with top title designers. So far the site has posted seven: City Slickers, Max Dugan Returns, Are We Done Yet?, The Pink Panther, Straight Talk, Honey I Blew Up The Kid and Four Rooms - and more to come. Kurtz himself contributes comments on every sequence posted.

• Here’s a new animated film title you really should see. It’s a remarkable piece, heavily inspired by the work by Oskar Fischinger, created by Paris based design studio Deubal, for the recently released French film Ça Se Soigne?. Comments by the title’s designer, Olivier Marquezy, also appear on the Submarine Channel site.

• And finally, an incredible oversized 320 page book which surveys the history of movie title design has just been released by BIS Publishers. Uncredited: Graphic Design & Opening Titles in Movies sheds insight into the work of dozens of title designers, including such artists as Saul Bass, Pablo Ferro, Maurice Binder and Milton Glaser. It retails for $55, but Amazon has it for $34.65. Highly recommended.

Not the most embarassing moment in my life, but it comes pretty close. By popular demand, and as a Brew 4th Anniversary special, here’s my appearance on Joan River’s syndicated TV show, Can We Shop, in February 1994. The longest eight minutes of my life:

There was absolutely no prep for this show. I met Ms. Rivers on the set. I have no idea what she would ask - and they had no idea what I might say. The show needed a “Looney Tunes expert” and they located me in L.A. on a Friday, flew me to tape the show in New York on Monday. I recall the day this was taped there was a horrible blizzard hitting the city. I took the opportunity of being in Manhattan to schedule a meeting at The Museum of Modern Art later that day to pitch a Famous Studios retrospective. Thanks to Joan Rivers flying me into New York for this, the February 1995 Cartoons From Times Square screenings and Famous Studios reunion at MoMA took place - one of the greatest moments of my professional life.

Cartoon Brew was launched four years ago this month - and my, how we’ve grown. Below are some thoughts on the anniversary from the Brewmasters:

Jerry Beck
Back in 2003, Amid was updating his Animation Blast website with commentary and news; likewise, I was posting a stream of information and reviews on my Cartoon Research page. I recall a conversation we had at the time, both of us enthused about the potential of the Internet to expand our writing about animation. We were eager to communicate our thoughts, comments and criticism and saw a huge opportunity to expose new talent. This discussion led to our decision to “team up”, and create a new blog to share our ideas on one dedicated site that could lead to something more valuable to us - and our readers. We launched Cartoon Brew on March 15, 2004.

It’s turned out to be the most exciting, fulfilling, pleasurable and yes, time consuming, project we’ve ever taken on. For me, Cartoon Brew is a natural extension of what I’ve always done: communicating with fellow animation buffs and sharing my views, as well as trivia and souvenirs, from a lifetime of cartoon research. I love it.

We’ve watched our humble blog grow from several thousand readers a week to several thousand each day. A little over a year ago we opened our posts to comments from our readers, expanding the conversation to include the entire animation community. I’ve considered all Brew readers to be my friends, as we all share a love for an art form which, despite all its commercial success, is still not completely understood and fully explored by the mainstream public.

And that’s why Cartoon Brew is important to me. If I can enlighten someone to the latest film by Miyazaki, alert you to specific classic animation on DVD, or point even one person towards a Spongebob Squarepants Musical Rectal Thermometer, then I can rest a little easier, knowing I’ve done my job.

Amid Amidi
Wake up, brush teeth, wash face, put on coffee, log onto the Brew. Working on the site has become second-nature to me. I’m always amazed at how many people tell me that Cartoon Brew is one of their essential daily reads, but what I always forget to reply is that it’s exactly the same for me on the other end. The Brew is such an essential part of my daily life. Even on days when I have nothing to say (obviously, those are pretty rare days), I still check into the site to see what Jerry is writing and what readers are discussing.

As we begin our fifth year, we have big plans for the website. We are currently hard at work on a relaunch of CartoonBrewFilms. The idea continues to grow and morph but our goal remains the same: making quality animation available to a wide audience while making filmmakers money for their work. We’re also looking at numerous ways to extend the Cartoon Brew community, both through real world events and through online sites. Along those lines, we recently started a Cartoon Brew Facebook community (for Facebook members only) that allows readers to interact with one another through the discussion boards, and share links to films and articles with one another. Whereas the comments section on the Brew is for specifically responding to items that we post, the Facebook community is an opportunity for any reader to initiate a discussion or post interesting items.

This is also a good time to thank a few of our friends without whom we couldn’t be doing this site: the fine design team at Also Design who redesigned our website and logo, the sales team at Federated Media who help bring us corporate advertisers that we could otherwise never get on our own, and Leslie Cabarga who came up with the original set of Brew logos…remember these?

Owning these 1930s cartoon character buttons is cool - but owning the original art for them is cooler!

Both are currently up for sale on ebay. Bosko’s Little Wilbur is here. Oswald’s girl friend Kitty is here. May the best man (or woman) win!

(Thanks, Dewey McGuire)

In terms of animation, the short is barely more than a glorified animatic, yet Graham Annable’s The Hidden People is incredibly fun (and scary) to watch because of his storytelling mastery. (via Flight)

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