A simple but effective experiment: Daniel Savage, creator of the iPhone app Gif Shop, wanted to try animating Chris Van Allsburg’s classic children’s book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. “The potential of e-books is something that fascinates me,” he says. “This video demonstrates what could be done, even without interactivity.”

I love animated GIFs and the seemingly infinite variations on the form. Comic book artist Kerry Callen has come up with a new twist: animating vintage comic book covers and he pulls it off quite well.

(via Mark Evanier)

The New York Film Critics Circle, which I can only presume is a circle of film critics from New York, has announced their picks for the best films of the year. This year, they chose not to hand out an award for best animated feature. It’s the first time they’ve withheld the honor since initiating the category in 2000, which is a bold (and arguably unwarranted) rebuke of this year’s crop of animated features. Then again, the group isn’t afraid to take risks and consistently acknowledges worthy animated films. The winners of their best animated feature category over the last four years have been Persepolis, WALL-E, Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Illusionist. Compare that to the Academy, whose membership has handed the Oscar to Pixar for the past four years in a row.

Meanwhile, the mysterious National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, which is comprised of “a select group of knowledgeable film enthusiasts, filmmakers, academics, and student,” also announced the winners of their film awards, and they chose ILM’s Rango as their best animated feature. It’s notable in that they’d given the animated feature award to Pixar for the last five years in a row. When the National Board of Review can’t bring themselves to pat Pixar on the back, you know the Oscar race is wide open.

This appealing, exquisitely colored 1952 magazine illustration of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by children’s book illustrator Gyo Fujikawa will be auctioned next week at the Illustration House. Fujikawa worked briefly at the Disney animation studio before she moved to New York to pursue a career in advertising and illustration. The auction estimate for the painting is $5,000 to $7,000.

I’m selling the original “Old Pro” model sheet artwork on eBay right now. It’s a prime example of Cartoon Modern styling by one of the most prolific studios of the decade Playhouse Pictures. The character, which was created for Falstaff Beer, was among the most ubiquitous characters of the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in literally dozens of commercials (many of them directed by Bill Melendez). This is the final model of the character—it’s a large piece that contains 13 delightfully rendered drawings of the character pasted onto posterboard. (There’s a detailed description of the piece and its physical flaws on the auction listing.) I’ve always enjoyed the piece but haven’t had the space to give it the proper framed treatment. It’s time to set it free from my storage and get it into the hands of somebody who can really enjoy it. The auction on eBay ends on December 5th.

Serbian animation outfit GlossyRey came up with Be a Vegetarian, which if not particularly effective at making its case for vegetarianism is at least cute. Pre-production artwork from this brief After Effects piece is posted on their website.

CREDITS
Production Company: GlossyRey Animation and Design
Story: Nemanja Zivkovic
Art Direction: Stanko Stupar
Art Direction: Nemanja Zivkovic
Animation: Stanko Stupar
Rigging: Nemanja Zivkovic
Music and Sound Design: Rajko Stupar
Special Thanks to: Marko Bugarski and Nemanja Saric