French animation studio BIBO Films is working on a new CG short called French Roast directed by Fabrice O. Joubert and with character designs by Nico Marlet. The short has a production blog—written in French but with lots of pics. The studio is also wrapping up its first feature—A Monster in Paris—directed by company founder Bibo Bergeron (co-director of Shark Tale and The Road to El Dorado).

(Thanks, Matt Jones)

Now that you can buy a copy of my Pink Panther Guide for as little as 24¢ on Amazon, MGM Home Entertainment is including it with The Pink Panther Ultimate Collection a DVD collection of all almost all Panther live action features and animated shorts owned by United Artists (MGM). This does not include Return of The Pink Panther with those gorgeous Richard Williams opening titles. However, among the 18 dvds are more Inspector, Roland and Ratfink and Ant and Aardvark cartoons than you’ll ever need. Oh, and I as I’ve mentioned, they’re throwing in a copy of my Ultimate Pink Panther book. The Pink Panther Ultimate Collection will cost $199.98 and will go on sale November 25th. More details are posted here.

Don Hertzfeldt has just completed his latest short, I Am So Proud of You. It’s his longest work to date, and to celebrate he’s going on a 16-city US tour this fall. During these events, he’ll screen the new short, as well as show some of his older films and speak with audiences. Below is the list of cities he’ll be appearing in. More details on his site BitterFilms.com.

I’m still at Cinecon watching movies. Picked up a few nice stills and lobby cards in the dealers room. Here is something I got cheap: an incredibly ugly Spanish movie poster for Beaver Valley and some Disney cartoons, with the strangest drawings of Mickey, Donald and Goofy… err, Pluto, ever seen on studio approved publicity. I both love it and hate it. And that giant realistic beaver hovering above them doesn’t help. Click on thumbnail below to see larger image of the piece.

“Too Art for TV” has put out a call for entries for its 2008 edition. The yearly New York art show, founded by Liz Artinian (the color supervisor on The Venture Bros.), is “designed to promote and encourage the fine arts in the animation industry.”

All types of art media are accepted for consideration, and 25-35 artists will be selected for the exhibition. According to the submission site, “All applicants are selected by committee this year. Our committee members are artists in the industry who have been pre-invited to help with the show. This year’s committee members (so far) are Kelly Denato, Todd Lown, Christy Karacas, Jared Deal, and Justin Simonich.”

The deadline to submit an application is September 5. The exhibition will take place in November at the Erebuni Gallery Space in Williamsburg.

Here’s news that’s sure to please a lot of folks. Pendleton Ward’s quirky Adventure Time short has been picked up for a full-series commitment by Cartoon Network, according to this Animation Guild story. The cartoon was originally produced for Nickelodeon’s Random! Cartoons, the as-yet-unaired (I think) shorts series produced by Fred Seibert.

As a refresher, here’s the original Adventure Time short:

(Thanks, Adrian)