Cartoon Brew

John K. Does More of Hollywood

Following up on the first round of caricatures from a couple days ago, Fred Osmond has posted more amazing caricatures by John Kricfalusi HERE. Thanks to Fred and Katie for sharing these drawings with everybody.

THE DISNEY PAGES

Our friend David Gerstein has been hard at work for many months compiling a new book for Gemstone that, I will tell you now, is a must-have. Mickey and the Gang: Classic Stories in Verse, doesn't immediately sound (by its title) like the major historical resource it is. But believe me, you want this book.

The main feature of the 360-page full color tome is the 123 lavish studio-produced "Disney pages" originally published in Good Housekeeping magazine between 1934 and 1944. This alone is worth the price of the book. But David has added much more background information and "bonus material" to each piece, including never-before-reprinted Disney Sunday strips by Floyd Gottfredson, rare comic art by Walt Kelly, Al Taliaferro, and Daan Jippes; gag cartoons and text features from Mickey Mouse Magazine, Mickey Mouse Weekly, and Walt Disney's Comics and Stories; photos of Disney toys and games from the period; and rare animation sketches by Carl Barks, Albert Hurter, and others. David explains the genesis of each of these Disney Pages, and explains why there is more there than meets the eye.

The book will be published in November and will retail for $29.95. Highly Recommended!

AVI AND THE CHIPMUNKS

Does Ross Bagdasarian know about this? Oy!

Eric Goldberg's Animation Books

Animation Meat notes that animator Eric Goldberg (the Genie in ALADDIN, animation director of LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION) is working on two how-to books about animation. No word on when they'll be published, but certainly something to look forward to.

Super Tibetan Racer

SUPER TIBETAN RACER is an animated short best described as Tibetan monks meet Super Mario Kart. Like another film we plugged here a while back, LE BUILDING, this is a student film project produced by the insanely talented students at the French animation school Gobelins, and it was used as one of the opening films at this year's Annecy animation festival.

Canemaker Article and Interview

John Canemaker's opinion piece in the WALL STREET JOURNAL, documenting the demise of hand-drawn animation at Disney, can now be read on-line HERE. Canemaker, who is one of our foremost historians on the art of Disney animation, is succinct and doesn't mince words. He writes, "...for me, as an animation historian, Disney's decision to eliminate hand-drawn animation for its features is sad. It implies on the part of management disrespect for the studio's history and a lamentable lack of flexibility and vision." Canemaker is the first to say that he thinks Walt Disney himself would have been excited by computer animation and would have explored everything the technique had to offer. But Walt would have done so in a dignified manner, without dismantling the entire legacy of the studio:

But somehow I doubt he would have thrown the baby out with the bath water by abandoning hand-drawn animation. Walt was known to spend years trying to find the best way to deploy the talents of certain of his artists, and perhaps he would have found new ways to use the unique qualities of the hand-made moving image--its inherent warmth; the happy accidents of the human touch; the immediate intuitive link between brain, hand and drawing instrument; the special flexibility and style that is so different from the dimensionality, essential coolness and realistic imagery of CGI.

Another bit of Canemaker news worth noting: Part Three of the interview with him has been posted at Animation World Magazine. It is an excellent read wherein John speaks candidly about his multi-faceted career as indie filmmaker, historian and educator. Be sure to check out parts ONE and TWO as well.

MEL BLANC ON CD

If you love Looney Tunes (and who doesn't?), you'll probably like these compilations of Mel Blanc novelty records and radio excerpts. PARTY PANIC was released a few years ago with the classic "Daffy Duck's Rhapsody". That CD is now joined by THE BEST OF MEL BLANC which has 25 tracks and includes Mel's WOODY WOODPECKER song and a rendition of BARNEY GOOGLE. THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMEDY, an import, is also worthy for the bits with Jack Benny and Burns & Allen.

(Thanks to Mark Dillman) That's all, Folks!

John Kricfalusi Does Hollywood

For my money, these recent celebrity caricatures by John Kricfalusi are some of the most outstanding examples of caricature I've seen in a long time. We tend to overlook the quirks of people's facial features, but John picks up on these slight differences in our human architecture and exaggerates them to achieve a grotesquely beautiful comic effect. This is not the generic exaggeration of facial and body features that typifies most caricature work today (eg. almost anything in ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY); these drawings have an intensity and specificity that truly comes from another place. It's the same reason I love the work of Ronald Searle and Expressionists like George Grosz and Otto Dix: these artists, like John, don't rely on the stereotypical images of beauty that have guided artists for centuries. Rather, they draw from the gut and search out their own truths, and the resulting work is infinitely richer and more honest.

KIDDIE RECORDS WEEKLY

Once again it's time to plug the ongoing 52 week project of Basic Hip Digital Oddio - their KIDDIE RECORDS WEEKLY archive/website devoted to showcasing classic 1940s and 50s children's recordings (and their packaging: the covers, sleeves and labels). Each album is available to download and the selections have been remarkable. Disney soundtracks for SONG OF THE SOUTH and SALUDOS AMIGOS, the original Dr. Suess recording of GERALD McBOING BOING, Mel Blanc as WOODY WOODPECKER are among the recordings of interest to animation buffs.

Two interesting finds among the collection: IT'S FUN TO EAT (1946) by Winston Sharples, features Jack Mercer on vocals and sports a Jim Tyer cover (above, signed on lower left as James Tyer) and label. Also note BELDA TALKING COMICS (from 1949, audio to be posted week 40, on Oct. 3rd) featuring artwork by Melvin "Tubby" Millar (of Termite Terrace fame), with vocals by Daws Butler and Marvin Miller.

AN EVENING WITH THE BEATLES

The Van Eaton Gallery in Sherman Oaks is hosting an event around the 1965 ABC/King Features TV series THE BEATLES on Saturday August 20th. The guest of honor will be Ron Campbell, a longtime Hollywood animation industry vet (Hanna Barbera, Klasky Csupo, etc.) who started his career in Australia boarding and co-directing the original Beatle TV cartoons, then animating on the landmark feature YELLOW SUBMARINE. As tacky as the Saturday morning series was, it still holds a warm place in all our hearts as part of Beatle history. The event will start at 6pm and end around 10pm.

Judge Calls Disney's Eisner 'Machiavellian'

Direct from FOX NEWS: Judge Calls Disney's Eisner 'Machiavellian'

And Betty Boop's 75th Anniversary

CANEMAKER NOTES DISNEY DEMISE IN WSJ

See today's print edition of The Wall Street Journal for John Canemaker's article Disney Erases Hand-Drawn Animation (Leisure & Arts section, p. D-8).

READER REPORT: Disney @ Siggraph

Bill Robinson, an animation student at RIT, sent the Brew some thoughtful comments about Disney's appearance at SIGGRAPH '05. Here's what he has to say:

I was at Siggraph last week and I saw that same clip that the AICN guy was so excited about. I saw it a couple of times (once in the "Legacy of Disney Animation" special session and another on a tour of the Disney Studio given to students). It's amazing! It seriously is that Fragonard painting in three dimensions. I have no idea how they did it, but I assume it worked off their Deep Canvas technology as it looked like real oil paint. The other clip, the animated one, was also very promising. I'm not sure that the story will be anything too wonderful (it involves a lot of shape shifting and people being turned into animals and such) but the visual style is going to be great.

I was amazed at the presence that Disney Feature Animation had at Siggraph, way overshadowing tiny little Pixar's booth. They had one of the largest booths on the floor with three computer stations showing off the versatility of the characters from Chicken Little and Wilbur Robinson. There were Disney animators and technical artists teaching Maya Masterclasses, as well as the Disney Legacy special session and the tours they gave of the studio. They even brought Glen Keane in and introduced him as the face of the future of Disney animation. I can see from this massive effort that they are trying to put themselves on the map as the place to be for the top talent to work at. Pixar barely made a peep at the show, handing out some plastic teapots and hocking its Renderman software. I am happy to see that Disney only made the switch to CG after finding ways to do cartoony 2D animation in 3D. They showed some of their rigs for the Chicken Little characters and these things were terrific - squash and stretch, bendy arms and legs, fully sculptable silhouettes, smear controls on the mesh, the ability to literally break the rig into separate pieces and stretch things as far as you want in any direction...it's all very promising.

Bill also wrote about other aspects of the SIGGRAPH experience on his blog HERE. The report includes photos and is a fun read.

Glen Keane Down on His Knees

In his latest article, Jim Hill writes about how impressed he was that Glen Keane was willing to get down on his knees at SIGGRAPH. No, it's not what you think... you perverts. Hill also explains why he's more accepting of Keane's decision to switch to CG for his Disney directorial debut, RAPUNZEL UNBRAIDED.

Upcoming Ottawa Animation Festival Contest

Heads up: on Monday, August 22, we're having a most excellent contest on Cartoon Brew where we'll be giving away two full passes to the Ottawa International Animation Festival (September 21-25, 2005). Two lucky individuals will each receive the Ottawa "Animapass" valued at $195Can. The Ottawa festival is a who's who gathering of notable animation talents, and one of a handful of truly world-class cartoon events. These passes offer access to all the events at OIAF including:
* all screenings and workshops
* the famous OIAF picnic
* all the parties
* and an OIAF program book

Thanks to our friends at the Ottawa festival for generously making these passes available to Brew readers. Stay tuned for details...

AMERICAN DOG CLIP

Ain't It Cool News has video clips from SIGGRAPH of test animation from Disney's AMERICAN DOG and A DAY WITH WILBUR ROBINSON. You can view the clips HERE. The same AICN entry that hosts these clips also has a ridiculously over-the-top, and quite possibly fabricated, "fan report" on Glen Keane's RAPUNZEL UNBRAIDED. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney is trying to get some positive buzz out in front of this one, because RAPUNZEL sounds and looks like the weakest (and most exec-mangled) project among their upcoming CG films. At least one former Disney artist has already proclaimed online that the film is "a big f###ing mess." (Thanks, Jeff Hunsel)

EARLIER ON THE BREW: The promise of AMERICAN DOG.

Monday Morning Inspiration: Private Snafu

Archive.org has three WWII-era Private SNAFU shorts posted on their site, and as always, everything on the site can be downloaded for free. The shorts are well chosen: one is directed by Frank Tashlin (THE HOME FRONT), one by Bob Clampett (BOOBY TRAPS), and one by Chuck Jones (SPIES).

BEHEADED BOOP UPDATE

An update of an item we posted here on July 28th: Bill Griffith's ZIPPY THE PINHEAD steps in to save the day in this strip to be published September 26th:

Larger image

James Baxter's first indie work

Here's one of the first examples of post-DreamWorks animation by James Baxter. It's a TV spot for Microsoft that can be viewed HERE. His studio, James Baxter Animation, is uncredited, but Baxter and his wife both receive animation credit.