This is the only animator-for-hire ad you need to read on Craigslist this week. Click image to embiggen:
(Thanks, Josh Ryan, via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page)
The Only Animation Ad You Need to Read on Craigslist This Week
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Author Archives: Amid Amidi
Sponsor News: Animal Drawing Workshop and a “Sleeping Beauty” Art Book
There’s some upstanding companies and artists advertising on Cartoon Brew nowadays, and we want to take a moment to highlight some of the useful products and services they’re offering the community. This week’s highlights include a drawing workshop by Mike Mattesi and a new Disney art book offered in the U.S. exclusively by Stuart Ng Books.
Mike Mattesi, author of the Force drawing book series, will be holding an Animal Drawing workshop on Saturday, June 1st, at the LA Zoo. The class will take place from 10am to 4pm and costs $100. Class description:
Mike Mattesi, author of FORCE Animal Drawing, will return to LA after six years for an eventful weekend. One of his favorite locations to draw and share his knowledge about FORCE is the LA Zoo. Join him June 1st, 10am at the front gate to the LA Zoo so he can share with you how to see, understand and draw the residents within through the concept of FORCE! Mike has a specific order of animals he will guide the class through to help you understand how to grasp FORCE. He will cover basic anatomy to shape and design. Mike will instruct the group and speak to artists individually based on your abilities.
Tuition can be paid through PayPal to mike@drawingforce.com Space is limited to 25 students.
Stuart Ng Books is the U.S. distribution partner of the upcoming Pierre Lambert book Sleeping Beauty (La Belle au Bois Dormant). Like the previous art-filled books in the series—Pinocchio, Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Walt Disney: l’Age d’Or, The Jungle Book—this new title promises to be chock-full of beautifully printed artwork from the classic 1959 Disney feature.
The recent books in the series, including this one, are only being published in France, and Stuart Ng’s should be the easiest way to get your hands on this in the United States. Stuart is offering a pre-publication price of $170 which includes an exclusive English translation booklet. The book will be released on June 30th. Preview and pre-order the book at StuartNg.com.
Comic-Con International: San Diego is less than 2 months away and we’ve got special advertising rates for the month of July. Go HERE to advertise your Con-related goods on Cartoon Brew today!
“Epic” Talkback
Blue Sky’s eighth feature film, Epic, directed by Chris Wedge and based on a book by children’s author Bill Joyce, opens in the United States today. Reception to the film has been fair to middling. The film currently owns a 63% critics’ rating and 74% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Stephen Holden in the NY Times sums up the majority viewpoint: “As beautiful as it is, Epic is fatally lacking in visceral momentum and dramatic edge.”
Check out the film and report back here with your opinion in the comments below. As always, this talkback is open only to those who have seen the film and wish to share an opinion about it.
(Epic Billboard via Daily Billboard)
Next Week in LA: Aboveground Animation Screening
On Thursday, May 30th, the Museum of of Contemporary Art in downtown LA will present a screening of Aboveground Animation featuring new commissions by Kathleen Daniel, Barry Doupe, Erin Dunn, Casey Jane Ellison, Lauren Gregory, Jacolby Satterwhite, Katie Torn, and the premiere of a video work by Ben Jones (Paper Rad, The Problem Solverz). The screening will be followed by a conversation with Aboveground Animation curator Casey Jane Ellison and Ben Jones, moderated by MOCAtv creative director Emma Reeves.
The screening will take place at MOCA Grand Avenue’s Ahmanson Auditorium (250 South Grand Avenue, LA, CA 90012). Doors open at 7pm, screening at 8pm. RSVP at rsvp.mocatv@gmail.com.
First Look at The Simpsons’ Springfield Area at Universal Studios
This summer, Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida will open a Simpsons-themed area at its park to complement its existing Simpsons ride. The new space will allow visitors to walk around Springfield and spend their hard-earned dollars on Simpsons-related food, like Duff Beer, which will be brewed exclusively for the park. Simpsons creator Matt Groening has said in the past that he wouldn’t allow actual Duff beer to be brewed because he didn’t want to encourage kids to drink.
The press release describes how parkgoers will be able to buy other food items as well: “[You] will be able to grab Krusty-certified meat sandwich at Krusty Burger, snatch the catch of the day at the Frying Dutchman, get a slice at Luigi’s Pizza, go nuts for donuts at Lard Lad, enjoy a ‘Taco Fresho; with Bumblebee Man and imbibe at Moe’s Tavern.”
The area will also feature a new attraction—Kang & Kodos’ Twirl ‘n’ Hurl—as well as the statue of Springfield founder Jebediah Springfield. Cick on the image at top for a close-up rendering of the new area.
John Knoll Named Chief Creative Officer of ILM
Veteran visual effects supervisor John Knoll has been promoted to the position of chief creative officer at Disney-owned Industrial Light & Magic, reports Variety.
Working directly with ILM president Lynwen Brennan, Knoll will ensure creative consistency throughout the planning and production stages of ILM projects. The move is similar to John Lasseter becoming chief creative officer at Pixar following Disney’s purchase of the company.
Knoll is held in high regard throughout the visual effects industry. He was a visual effects supervisor on the Star Wars prequels as well as the first three Pirates of the Carribean films. He has worked on countless other major projects at ILM stretching back to Willow and The Abyss, and including films in the Star Trek and Mission: Impossible franchises. Knoll is also known as the creator of the software package Adobe Photoshop, which he developed with his brother Thomas in the late-1980s.
Besides serving as a creative voice in the production process, Knoll told Variety that he will leverage the company’s talent pool by encouraging interaction between crews working on different projects. He also said that he will remain hands-off in many instances:
“We have well-established supervisors here that certainly don’t need me to interfere with their project. Michael Bay comes because he wants to work with Scott Farrar. J.J. [Abrams] comes to ILM because he has a great relationship with Roger Guyett. These things are already working and I don’t need to interfere. [My role] is just to help from a facilities standpoint to make sure they get the resources they need, and to troubleshoot problems.”
Student
CalArts student Tom Law has an idiosyncratic sense of design and movement, which comes …
Mel Brooks Talks About Ernest Pintoff’s “The Critic”
The clip above is an animation-related outtake from the new Mel Brooks documentary Make a Noise which debuted earlier this week on PBS. In the clip, Brooks talks about the genesis of Ernie Pintoff’s Oscar-winning short The Critic:
This wasn’t the first time Pintoff had collaborated with a Jewish comedian. An earlier film he’d made, The Violinist (1959), featured the voice of Carl Reiner:
Neither of the shorts, however, can live up to Pintoff’s greatest collaboration with a Jewish actor—Flebus—the 1957 Terrytoons short that featured the vocal stylings of the inimitable Allen Swift.
(Thanks, Rogelio Enrique Toledo, via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page)
Bob Clampett Centennial Screening in Zurich
On Thursday, May 30, the Filmpodium Zurich in Switzerland will present a screening of nine Warner Bros. shorts directed by the legendary Bob Clampett. The show is being presented in honor of his centennial, which was earlier this month. Clampett’s work isn’t well known in Switzerland and the film lineup is a solid primer to his work:
- Porky in Wackyland (1938)
- A Tale of Two Kitties (1942)
- A Corny Concerto (1943)
- Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs (1943)
- Draftee Daffy (1945)
- Book Revue (1946)
- Baby Bottleneck (1946)
- Kitty Kornered (1946)
- The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946)
Better yet, each film will be introduced by Swiss animator and historian Oswald Iten, who will discuss different facets of Clampett’s visual style. Iten runs one of my favorite animation blogs Colorful Animation Expressions, where he has recently been writing some fantastically informative posts about Clampett’s art. Ticket and screening details are available on the Filmpodium Zurich website.
Sneak Peek: Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe” by Rebecca Sugar
Cartoon Network has released a seven-and-a-half-minute preview episode of their upcoming series Steven Universe. The show was created by Adventure Time artist (and Singles director) Rebecca Sugar. Notably, she is Cartoon Network’s first-ever solo woman series creator.
Disney Announces “Star Wars Rebels” Animated Series for 2014
Dave Filoni, who was supervising diretor on Clone Wars, will head up the production as exec producer. He will be joined by Clone Wars veterans Kilian Plunkett (Art Director) and Joel Aron (CG Supervisor), as well as some fresh faces:
Leading the development of the series is a creative team of exceptional talent. Screenwriter/producer Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class, Sherlock Holmes, Mr. & Mrs. Smith) is an executive producer on Star Wars Rebels and will write the premiere episode. He is joined by Dave Filoni as executive producer, who served as supervising director of the Emmy nominated Star Wars: The Clone Wars since 2008. Executive producer Greg Weisman brings with him a wealth of animation experience with credits such as Young Justice, The Spectacular Spider-Man and Gargoyles.
Tomorrow in Brooklyn: Dash Shaw Screens Rare Anime
Cartoonist Dash Shaw, who has been working on a feature-length animated film of his own, will present a selection of his recent animation work on Tuesday, May 21st, at Light Industry (155 Freeman Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn). In addition to his own work, Shaw will screen the rare 1980s anime biker drama Bobby’s Girl, a film that has inspired his own approach to animation.
The screening will be followed by a conversation with Shaw. Doors open at 7pm, and tickets are $7. More details at LightIndustry.org.
Here’s a clip from Bobby’s Girl:
(Illustration at top by Dash Shaw)
ASIFA-East Animation Festival 2013: The Full List of Winners
Last night in New York City, the ASIFA-East Animation Festival Awards were presented for the forty-fourth year in a row. The Best in Show prize was awarded to the NYU student short Based on a True Story directed by Jacob Kafka. In the Independent Film category, first place went to Celia Bullwinkel’s Sidewalk. Other prizes in the indie category were handed out to films by Mark Kausler, Arthur Metcalf, Bill Plympton, Richard O’Connor and David Chai.
New York veteran Candy Kugel took home first place in Commissioned Films for her TEDEd short Sex Determination, while first place in Student Films went to Michelle Ikemoto’s Tule Lake, produced at San Jose State University.
The complete list of winners is below:
BEST IN SHOW
Based on a True Story
Directed by Jacob Kafka
INDEPENDENT FILMS: FIRST PLACE
Sidewalk
Directed by Celia Bullwinkel
INDEPENDENT FILMS: SECOND PLACE
There Must Be Some Other Cat
Directed by Mark Kausler
INDEPENDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
It Took A While To Figure Shit Out
Directed by Arthur Metcalf
INDEPENDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
Drunker Than A Skunk
Directed by Bill Plympton
EXCELLENCE IN ANIMATION
It Took A While To Figure Shit Out
Directed by Arthur Metcalf
EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN
Christmas Day
Directed by Richard O’Connor, designed by Kelsey Stark
EXCELLENCE IN WRITING
A Knock On My Door
Directed by David Chai
EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
The Productive AniJam
Produced by Katie Cropper & Cynthea Diaz
COMMISSIONED FILMS: FIRST PLACE
TEDed: Sex Determination
Directed by Candy Kugel
COMMISSIONED FILMS: SECOND PLACE
Quiet Loud (Sesame Street)
Directed by Bob Boyle
COMMISSIONED FILMS: THIRD PLACE
Sniffles
Directed by David Cowles & Jeremy Galante
STUDENT FILMS: FIRST PLACE
Tule Lake
Directed by Michelle Ikemoto
STUDENT FILMS: SECOND PLACE
Chasing Unicorns
Directed by Deena Beck
STUDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
The Crawler
Directed by Seth Brady
STUDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
Good Night Guard
Directed by Janice S. Rim
STUDENT FILMS: HONORABLE MENTION (TIED)
Mirror
Directed by Q-Hyun Kim
STUDENT FILMS: HONORABLE MENTION (TIED)
Register Rap!
Directed by Josh Weisbrod
Help Crowdfund the First Animated Feature from Costa Rica
For this week’s crowdfunding profile, we travel to Central America where the husband-and-wife team of Guillermo Tovar C. and Nadia Mendoza A. is working feverishly to complete Costa Rica’s first full-length animated feature
“>The Esoteric Birthday (El Cumpleaños Esotérico). They have been working on the film for the past two years, and plan to finish it by this December. They describe their unconventional-looking movie as an “experimental digital” animated film:
The Esoteric Birthday tells the story of the coming of age of a peculiar little girl who is about to become a powerful witch. She has to undergo a ceremony of initiation that involves a series of dangerous trials. It all takes place in a fantastic and mysterious tropical island, with over 50 characters, like a group of intergalactic witchdoctors, a religious sect of wild animals, two cannibal Amazonian warrior twins, and lots and lots more.
Guillermo and Nadia, who operate as Interdimensional Studio, are asking for $25,000 for the post production which includes sound design, original music, and hiring a small crew of local animators for lighting, texturing and compositing. The entire 70-minute film will be released online at no charge after its festival run in 2014. The rewards they are offering include drawings from the pre-production phase and having a donor’s face drawn into the film as a background character. They have currently raised just over $4,000 with 51 days left in their campaign.
Frenzer Foreman Animation Forum #2: Desiree Stavracos
Today on the Frenzer Foreman Animation Forum, Bill Plympton’s producer Desiree Stavracos visits the program. She talks about what it takes to produce cartoons for America’s King of Indie Animation, shares the genesis of Plympton’s upcoming animated feature Cheatin’, reveals Bill’s favorite kind of pencil, and teaches the proper way to communicate with artists.
LINKS RELATED TO THIS EPISODE
DesireeStavracos.com
Bill Plympton’s Website
Bill Plympton’s Tumblr
Ticonderoga Pencils
