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)

Next Thursday, share an interactive evening with some of the most influential and creative artists on the east coast: J.J. Sedelmaier (producer of Beavis and Butt-Head, SNL “TV Funhouse Cartoons,” etc.), Ward Sutton (Village Voice cartoonist and animation designer) and Barry Blitt (political cartoonist, NY Times, The New Yorker, etc.).

The Westchester Arts Council presents J.J. Sedelmaier & Friends: Liberty Readings - Satire, Parody and Freedom of Expression, a panel discussion moderated by Craig Yoe, Thursday, April 3rd at 7:30pm at The Arts Exchange, 31 Mamaroneck Avenue, in White Plains, New York. For information on tickets call 914-428-4220 x 223 or check the website.

Cartoonist Sherm Cohen (Spongebob Squarepants, The Mighty B) has a great blog where, for the last several weeks, he’s been posting complete comic book stories from the golden age. His latest post is a Milt Gross classic starring Count Screwloose and previous posts include Jim Tyer Heckle & Jeckle (panel above), Sam Spade Wildroot Creme Oil ads, and some of the wildest Jack Kirby, Wally Wood and Dan Gordon comics I’ve ever seen. Check out Cartoon Snap.

Tron’s light-cycle chase recreated in cardboard, with stop-motion and pixilation techniques - no CG!

(Thanks Mark Mayerson)

A pair of animated films, discovered last year at an antique market in Osaka, have been identified as two of the earliest cartoons ever produced in Japan. Tokyo’s National Museum of Modern Art has announced the restoration of Jun-ichi Kouchi’s 1917 Namakura-gatana (”An Obtuse Sword” pictured above) and Seitaro Kitayama’s 1918 Urashima Taro (Taro, The Sentry: Submarine). Both films will be screened publicly on April 24th at the Museum’s National Film Center.

PandaPanther is, hands down, my favorite new commercial studio. Once you see their work, you’ll understand why. This young NYC-based outfit, operating for a little over a year now, is injecting a big whopping dose of artistry into computer animation, and dragging CG out of its literalist photoreal ghetto. It’s headed up by directors Jonathan Garin and Naomi Nishimura, and producer Lydia Holness.

Garin and Nishimura’s CG feels tactile and handcrafted. Their work looks unmistakably digital yet also retains a strong illustrative quality. They also seem to mix techniques quite well, as some of their projects appear to employ “stop motion” sets, like the Zune Arts and Yo Gabba Gabba! ones. Below are a few of their recent projects that I’ve enjoyed, though I recommend checking out everything on their site PandaPanther.com.

Mika’s Marshmallow Train, an animated short for Yo Gabba Gabba!

Nokia “Rock ‘n Roll Decadence”

Tale of the Cheshire Tree

Interstitals for MTV Tr3s. Full credits and brief interview with the filmmakers on this site.

Underwater Jungle Disco