Chris Dan and Celia have been collecting interviews with animation people like Lou Romano, Victor Navone, Nate Wragg, Armand Serrano, Aurore Damant (that’s her art above), Carlos Grangel and many others over on their Arte y Animacion Blog. New one posted each month. Worth a bookmark.

Drips of humanoid wax worship the fire that gave them life, and then risk everything to investigate a mysterious object that lands beyond the next horizon. This is a 40 second trailer for Mike Dacko’s 5-minute short, Lightheaded, currently playing festivals around the country (though sadly not in Ottawa this week). Dacko is an animator at Disney’s ImageMovers Digital Studio (A Christmas Carol).

This Thursday, October 15, Galerie Arludik (12-14 rue Saint-Louis en l’Île, 75004 Paris) presents a one-man show of the work of illustrator and character designer Peter de Sève. The opening, from 6:30 to 9:30pm, will feature published and upublished pieces by de Sève, some of which will be available for sale. A preview of the show’s artwork can be found at Peter’s blog here, here, and here.

The event also marks the official launch of Peter’s monograph—A Sketchy Past: The Art of Peter de Sève—for which I wrote the introduction. I haven’t seen the finished product yet, but Peter tells me that it looks gorgeous, and I bet that he’s right.

Last month we told you about the animators expo shaping up for this November in Burbank being organized by former Disney character designer/animator Tina Price. In addition to the folks attending we mentioned in the last post, we have these updates and additions to announce:

• Pixar Art Director Daisuke “Dice” Tsutsumi, Laika Art Director Lou Romano, Sony Art Director Andy Gaskill, and Disney Art Director Dave Goetz discussing the art of Color Scripting. Moderated by LA Times animation critic and author Charles Solomon.

• Pixar comes to CTN-X with Andrew Gordon (Pixar/Spline Doctors), character designers Derek Thompson and Jason Deamer, art director Scott Morse and Pixar recruiter Pam Zissimos who will be participating in Raising the Bar Recruiting, looking for Story Artists.

• Live art demonstrations by Sean Galloway (Got Cheeks?), Marshall Vandruff, Kent Melton, Peter de Sève, Eric Goldberg and Mike Mignola.

• A screening of The Secret of Kells and Banjo the Woodpile Cat on Saturday night. 3-day pass holders admitted first.

• An artist contest sponsored by Corel and Wacom. Artwork is executed on site at CTN-X and judged by top creative talent. Two categories Pro and Non-Pro and the winners of each win a free software package of Painter from Corel and an Intuos 4 tablet.

• Also, Cartoon Brew will be holding a contest for 2 free room nights at the event hotel plus a 3-day pass. Includes all panels and speakers, Raising the Bar Recruiting, Speed Talent Portfolio Reviews and CTN-X@nite schmoozing and connecting.

• Also note: as of Oct 1st the exhibitor floor is sold out.

The CTN Expo will be held at the Burbank Marriott Convention Center – located across the street from the Burbank Airport and an Amtrak Station – on Friday November 20th through Sunday, November 22nd.

Early bird tickets are $25 for the exhibit floor only, $50 for a day pass and $125 for a 3-day pass. Early bird deadline is Sept. 30, 2009. Discounted rates are available to students, active military and professional industry organizations. Space is strictly limited at this groundbreaking event. Click here for more information or to register or call (800) 604-2238 and mention the special member discount code (BrewX09) to obtain an extra 10% off any 1-day or 3-day professional/general passport.

Joe Murray is in the planning stages of a new site called KaBoing TV, which he envisions as “an all cartoon, all animation channel, not only with my content, but bringing in other content providers as well.” Murray, who has a long history in TV animation with series like Rocko’s Modern Life and Camp Lazlo, wrote on his blog about his desire to “make a home for animation that is cool, creator driven, and fair business wise to the people who make the entertainment, as well as being responsible in the advertising we choose to run.”

To date, most of the major online cartoon channels and animation video sharing sites have been started by corporations looking for ways to exploit creators. There hasn’t been any attempt on the part of sites like Aniboom or Channel Frederator to find sustainable and fair models that encourage online animation production. Murray’s track record as an artist responsible for successful shows on both Nick and CN gives him a unique edge as an entrant into the field of online animation distribution. It’ll be interesting to watch what he does.

(Charles Brubaker via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page)

Here’s the scariest thing you’ll see all month: