The best part about Eran Hilleli’s Between Bears is the distinctive style he crafted using Maya and After Effects. The graduation short was made at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. If you can read any meaning into the film, I’d be curious to hear your take; all I took from this short is that old men love butterflies made out of bear fur. Then again, I may still be a bit slow after my weekend getaway.
(Thanks, Nate Pacheco)
I don’t know how this news passed me by, but Don Graham‘s classic book about composition called Composing Pictures
This endorsement from Chuck Jones is about the finest one somebody could get:
The mark of a great art teacher is indicated by the quality and accomplishment of his students. By this measurement, Don Graham must be considered the finest teacher in America. His students range from people who have won innumerable awards in all fields and all media. … Composing Pictures. Read it. Draw it. Read it for pleasure, for reward, and for understanding. If you want to be an animator, you MUST read and draw this volume. It is not a luxury to you; it is a necessity.
Order Composing Pictures on Amazon for $30.
(Thanks, Tom Knott)
Nathan Love created this uncommonly appealing NBC station ID in collaboration with NBC ArtWorks, the on-air graphics department of the network. The source of its concept is clear, so I’m glad to see that Nathan mentioned it on the YouTube page: “Inspired by the infamous Spumco promos, as well as vintage NBC logos.” Frankly, I still prefer Spumco/John K’s version, but then again, I’m a sucker for funny, skillful character animation.
UPDATE: The animation studio Nathan Love commented about the production process on Motionographer: “It should be noted however, that this piece is entirely 3D, with the exception of the paint-stroke effect for motion blur, which was added in After Effects. We wanted to experiment with South-Park style animation, so in the end, every unique shape (expressions, head/body turns, etc), were all illustrated beforehand, and rigged in 3D.” There is also a behind-the-scenes video posted on Motionographer.
CREDITS
Client: NBC Artworks
Director: Nathan Love
Creative Director: Joe Burrascano
Art Director / Designer: Anca Risca
Animation & Rigging: Dan Vislocky
Additional Animation: Ryan Moran
FX Compositing: Sylvia Apostol
Sound Design & Music: Drew Skinner
Animation studio owner Larry Schwarz (pictured above in the sombrero) wasn’t pleased with our story from a couple days ago that reported about a lawsuit against his company Animation Collective. His lawyers sent us a cease and desist letter. Here’s the letter:
(click for larger version; the reason for the black bar is that they sent the letter to the wrong email address)
(click for larger version)
This was Cartoon Brew’s response:
Dear Mr Feldman,
We are using the photo of Larry Schwarz and the republication of information from the Wall Street Journal in the context of news reporting and critical commentary, which are uses that may not be authorized by your client, but which serve the public interest. For this, and other reasons, we believe our use is fair. We further do not accept that we have broken any criminal laws in publishing it, and in any event, there are multiple inaccuracies in your complaint. For example, the image of Larry Schwarz was not private; it was posted in a public, unsecured website and made accessible to everybody.
We therefore believe that we are entirely within our rights to publish the photo and the news, and as such we cannot comply with your removal request.
Sincerely,
Amid Amidi
Owner, Cartoon Brew LLC
Two important women in animation passed away recently:
Shirley Silvey died on July 17 in Fresno, California. When she started working in the mid-1950s, she represented new breed of woman animation artist who were allowed the same opportunities as their male counterparts. Unlike the earlier days when women in animation faced a nearly overwhelming uphill battle at a disadvantage to the men, Silvey was hired at UPA in the creative role of designer on the The Boing Boing Show where she designed cartoons like The King and Joe. She was one of two layout artists working under Bob Dranko on the UPA feature 1001 Arabian nights.
She worked at studios including Churchill-Wexler, TV Spots, Warner Bros. and, most importantly, Jay Ward Productions. She worked for fifteen years at the latter studio. Silvey said once in an interview that, along with Roy Morita, she drew 366 storyboards for Rocky and Bullwinkle, as well as all 104 episodes of Hoppity Hooper and countless episodes of Dudley Do-Right, George of the Jungle and Fractured Fairy Tales. There’s a nice interview about her career at this website. She is survived by a daughter, two grandchildren and brother, David Jonas, who is also an animation artist.
Mary Schuster with Ward Kimball (l.) and animator Julius Svendsen in November 1952 during production of Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom
This one is a bit late, but Mary S. Broggie passed away on March 10 at the age of 85. When she married Roger Broggie, the first Disney Imagineer, she took his last name, but prior to that, she had been Mary Schuster, an inbetweener and assistant animator in Ward Kimball’s unit during the 1940s and ’50s. She started at Disney in 1944. In a brief phone conversation once, she told me that she had always been an inbetweener, though it’s conceivable that she also did some assistant animation. She began working in Kimball’s unit shortly after she arrived at the studio, which was a unique arrangement because my understanding is that inbetweeners weren’t assigned to specific units. She worked on all of Ward’s characters including Pecos Bill, Cheshire Cat, Lucifer, and The Indian Chief, as well as Melody and Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom. She is survived by her son, Brian; stepsons Roger, Jr. and Michael; and eight grandchildren.
1946 drawing by Ward Kimball of the 1-D animation unit: (l. to r.) Ward Kimball, Clarke Mallery, Ollie Johnston, Mary Schuster and Al Bertino.
Andmapsandplans, aka Adrien Merigeau and Alan Holly, created this airy and evocative video for Jennifer Evans’s song “Scattered”. Merigau and Holly are also responsible for the recent Cartoon Saloon short Old Fangs.
(Thanks, Tomm Moore)
Usually, the posts about Famous Studios are reserved for Jerry, but just this once, I have to share a Famous short. I ran across Think or Sink (1967) last night and it’s a really goofy piece of animation. Shamus Culhane, the director, proudly proclaimed years later that it was the only Famous short which ever screened in competition at Annecy. The story was written by the crazy-man of East Coast animation Jim Tyer, who according to IMDB, hadn’t written a short since 1942′s You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap (can anybody confirm that?). Tyer appears to have modeled his short after Ernie Pintoff’s Flebus, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to note that Tyer was the primary animator of that earlier pop psychiatry-themed cartoon, not to mention that Tyer also animated the neurotic Terrytoons elephant Sidney.
There’s plenty of good stuff happening in this film. The Bobcat Goldthwait-esque voice of Roscoe the elephant, provided by Lionel Wilson, is a unique and funny choice. The film has three (!) designers–Hal Silvermintz, Dante Barbetta and Gil Miret. I don’t know how they divided the work up, but it looks fresh. The animation by Al Eugster is also a treat. There are some ridiculous moments–look at Roscoe’s forehead at the one-minute mark when his hat pops up. As simple as the animation is, Eugster’s poses are expert and move just enough to get the personalities across. I won’t go so far as to proclaim this a great cartoon, but it’s better than a lot and its obscurity is undeserved. Below is a layout drawing by Dante Barbetta found in Culhane’s Talking Animals and Other People:
Today’s Wall Street Journal reports that Brooklyn-based animation artist Kelly Denato (above left), is suing the New York studio Animation Collective. Denato claims that they have profited from her design of Ellen’s Acres and have not paid her contractual share of the royalties based on an agreement she signed in 2002 when she developed the character.
According to Denato, she had an agreement to receive 25% of all revenues stemming from animated versions of the character and merchandising. Afterwards, when the show was sold to Cartoon Network and other outlets, Animation Collective “flat out said, ‘You shouldn’t have been given that contract–it was a mistake,’” and attempted to renegotiate a less favorable deal. In addition to Animation Collective, her suit also names Animation Collective’s chief executive, Larry Schwarz (above right, riding on top); Animation Collective affiliate Kanonen & Bestreichen, Inc.; and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. It remains to be seen how this will play out in court, but Animation Collective’s poor reputation amongst artists and its shady history of how it treats employees lends credence to Denato’s suit.
Whereas the age of a live-action film, no matter how classic, can always be discerned by the appearance of its actors, the cinematography, and the style of acting and direction, great animation has the capacity to be timeless. Take Yoji Kuri’s short AOS. It was made 46 years ago, yet the visuals feel as raw and disturbing today as when it first appeared.
A synopsis of the film can be found in Amos Vogel’s 1974 book Film as a Subversive Art
This extraordinary animation–already a classic–projects a universe of bizarre and frustrated lusts, in which monsters, voyeurs, and misshapen objects engage in nightmarish and often sadomasochistic outrages amongst Freudian symbols of anxiety. Max Ernst and Bosch come to mind, but the rage against repression is entirely Japanese and ideological:sexual anti-puritanism as a liberating device.
When you’re ready to take it a step further, check out Kuri’s 1970 film The Bathroom:
Big news out of San Diego: Fantagraphics announced that they will be publishing a complete run of Floyd Gottfredson’s “Mickey Mouse” newspaper strip, which he drew daily between 1930 and 1975. As Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth says, “I think it’s the last truly great, masterful strip that has not been reprinted.” Here’s an interview with Groth with more details about the project, which begins in spring 2011.
Portland cartoonist John Callahan, who had been quadriplegic since the age of 21, passed away yesterday at age 59. His crude, funny scrawls inspired two animated series: Pelswick and Quads. Here is an animated film he made in 1993 based on his struggle with alcoholism called I Think I Was an Alcoholic.
(Thanks, Ward Jenkins)
Eighty-nine years young, David Weidman is the subject of a long profile in today’s LA Times written by David Keeps. Weidman began his career in animation in the 1950s working at John Hubley’s commercial studio Storyboard as well as on UPA’s The Boing Boing Show. An extensive career in TV cartoons followed as he painted backgrounds for the Crusader Rabbit revival, Calvin and the Colonel, and Wacky Races, among others.
In the Sixties, while running a vintage poster and framing shop (and still working in animation), he began to create silk-screened serigraphs in the back of his shop. He produced three hundred designs over twenty years, but few people expressed interest in purchasing them so he wound up with stacks upon stacks of serigraphs. But that’s not how the story ends. In the early-2000s, his work was rediscovered in the LA area, in part due to his nephew who was peddling the serigraphs at local flea markets (which is how I first learned about his work).
Since then, his star has continued to rise: a handsome coffeetable book of his artwork
There is a lot more information about him in the LA Times article which I recommend you check out. If you want to own one of his vintage serigraphs, visit WeidmansArt.com.
Melbourne-based artist Darcy Prendergast, explains that his latest film, News!, was “inspired by my constant hatred for news and current affair programs on TV. It’s essentially a film about nothing, as I find myself less intelligent, with no new knowledge acquired at the end of the viewing.”
Darcy’s multi-frame approach is an effective way of illustrating the cacophonous assault on viewers, and the short is a funny and clever statement about TV news, which is apparently just as vacuous and pathetic in Australia as it is in the US. True story: A CNN producer who was trying to get me to appear on the network once told me point-blank that they’re in the business of entertaining viewers, not informing them. That’s unfortunate because they’re not very good at entertainment either.
In an impending sign of the apocalypse, Elle Girl magazine published a story about a female animator. The artist is Julia Pott, who provided a photo essay about a day in her life. Granted, it’s the Korean version of Elle Girl, but I’ll take anything we can get. Stories about female animators in the mainstream media are virtually nonexistent, particularly in any kind of contemporary fashion-forward context, so this can only be considered a step forward.
I don’t know if this is a real offer, but it’s a classic. Somebody wants twenty-five hours, yes, HOURS, of animation produced in two to three months. On top of that, they’re offering between $7-10/per minute of animation. I hope some of our readers apply for the job and have some fun with these goofballs. Here’s the listing:
We are looking for a Flash Animator to finish a project for 500 of Flash short films; each film is about 2~3 minutes long. The films are about lovely & cute characters’ cartoon. Pay $20 / per film, which is 500 films x $20 = $10,000. Please submit your Flash art works for the consideration. Thanks.
City,State: New York, NY
Salary: $10,000
Duration: 2-3 months
