If you are like me and enjoy everything animator Pendleton Ward (Adventure Time) does – check out this new series of casual mini-webisodes Ward and colleague Ian Jones-Quartey have been posting every Sunday night. They’ve done three so far and they are a lot of fun.
In addition to the growing Adventure Time empire, Ward has recently launched a new series based on his other Random Cartoons pilot, The Bravest Warriors. Four episodes of the new show are online now. Good stuff!
Yann Moriaud, a student in the Masters program in Directing at the Bellecour Schools of Art in Lyon, France, pointed us to this unusual animated film he co-directed. Notice its unique size and shape.
It was created for a famous annual event “Fête des Lumières” (The Festival of Lights) and the finished work was projected onto the side of a building. Moriaud explains:
“It is a big annual event that takes place in the streets of big french cities during December. This event gathers many creations of artists from different horizons around one theme: the light. There are many form of expression like wall-projections of classic or CG animation and live-footage, interactive experiences for the visitors and so on.
“This project is dedicated for a specific program of student experimentation, to intentionally bring a new vision to the installations. Students were constrained and informed of technicals aspects which are proper to the monumental projection.
The building’s surface for this event was impressive (about 24 meters high, 79 feet). This is why we thought about doing something imposing, huge, to catch and keep the attention of the audience and enhance the building.
So we decided to use the surface as a big aquarium where a big fish, Bobby, eats other little fishes. Unfortunately for him, his gluttony will not be without secondary effects…
We were given a free hand concerning the choice of subject and its complete design, so we felt free to propose our own vision for the event. Because of our studies and our personal desires, we naturally followed the structure of a very short 3D cg feature. We also brought in some cartoon humor with our little gags.”
We were 5 directors:
Yann Moriaud: Directing, Project management, Character Rigging/Scripting, Props and Characters Shading, Rendering.
Alexandre Spontak: Directing, Main character Modeling and Shading, Lighting, Compositing, Rendering.
Fabien Weibel: Directing, Concept, Main character Animation, FX : water simulation.
Antoine Marduel: Directing, Character-design, Secondary Characters and Props Animation.
Youssef Krafess: Directing, Secondary characters, props and background modeling.
The tools we mainly used are 3DSMAX for all the CG part and the animation, and After Effects for the compositing. Concerning the water simulation we prefered to use an open-source tool : Blender.
Here’s a bit of a behind-the-scenes video:
Looking for something to do after all the presents have been opened and all the parties are over? On Saturday, December 29th at 2 & 7 pm, The Alex Film Society (of which I am a part of) will be presenting the 3rd annual Greatest Cartoons Ever event at The Alex Theatre in Glendale California (216 N. Brand Boulevard).
Each year we select eight great cartoon shorts from the golden age of animation, then project rare 35mm film prints (some of them in original Technicolor; all of the from the studio vaults) on the large Alex Theatre screen. Great characters, great films and an incredible movie-going experience.
This year, our classic animated program will include films from Warner Bros., Disney, MGM and even an amazing pre-sound classic from the Paramount’s Fleischer Studio. (I’ll post the titles of the specific cartoons being shown in a reminder post right after Christmas). Asifa-Hollywood president Frank Gladstone and I will be there to introduce the program.
General Admission: $15 general admission; $12.50 seniors/kids & groups of 15 or more.
Advance tickets are on sale now online or you can buy them before the show at the box office. Hope to see you there!
The Alex Theatre
216 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
Mike Carlo is an animator at Titmouse’s N.Y. Studio, and the animation director on Superjail. Over the last few years Carlo has been working on a bunch of his own short films, (we posted one of them two years ago, The President of the Universe). Says Carlo:
“Someone from Nick development saw Science Fare a year ago and I’ve been working on pitches for them ever since. I’m always working on another one, I try to do one a year for a show an animator friend of mine throws each year out here in N.Y. It’s called Midsummer Night Toons, and every year 5-6 animators make original shorts and premiere them at the show, so its been great motivation to make something. I hand draw everything, and provide the voices for most of the characters.”
These are very polished, professional cartoons that look as good – and are just as funny – as anything on Adult Swim or Comedy Central. I predict he’ll be running his own show very soon.
Sad news to relay: veteran animator, producer and director Rusty Mills (Animaniacs, Pink Panther, Pinky and the Brain, etc.) passed away yesterday, due to organ failure from colon cancer.
To say he was one of the “good guys” is an understatement. I really only knew Rusty from industry social functions (usually annual Christmas parties and through various mutual acquaintances) but he was always friendly and truly interested in advancing the cause of creating good cartoons. He will be missed.
The Animation Guild is reporting that Rusty’s wife, Andrea, and Evan, their 15 year old son, could really use help. Please visit their fundraising blog and give what you can.
As a personal tribute, let’s take look at one of his episodes of Animaniacs, a holiday themed cartoon – A Christmas Plotz:
We first posted about Bert and Jennifer Klein’s beautiful 2D independent short Pups of Liberty in 2009. This short explains the American Revolution (or Americanine Revolution) through traditional hand drawn animation, making it a perfect educational tool for kids. Starting today the film available for sale to teachers as well as the public at izzit.org and Amazon.com.
The production is superb – animated in off hours by veteran Disney artists including Mark Henn, Eric Goldberg, Hyun-Min Lee, James Lopez, Frans Vischer, Tony DeRosa and Barry Atkinson – and I’m delighted to see it get a legitimate video release. Here’s a clip:
For more info and behind the scenes images, check out the izzit.org website – and if your a fan of this project, “like” the Pups Of Liberty facebook page.
Sometimes you just know cool when you see it – this terrific music video for French indie band Stuck In The Sound by animators Alexis Beaumont & Rémi Godin (The Rabbi’s Cat) is cool. Done primarily in beautiful, full 2D animation, Let’s Go:
(Thanks, Stav Levi)
He’s not Felix and definitely not Fritz. Franklin is an enterprising cat looking for love in the big city.
Oslo-born, New York designer/songwriter Bard Edlund funded this new series of shorts through Kickstarter. The first episode is a bit laid-back and a little talky, but it has a certain charm that justifies its being. I like it. Edlund sent us this note:
“Long-time fan of the Brew! This started out as a short film, but I edited it down to become the first episode of a series. I’m a beginner, with lots to learn about both animation and writing, but I hope this could still be of interest! I feel it has a quiet mood to it that differs from most of what’s out there.”
Dear Warner Bros.,
Hire these guys to make your cartoon posters.
Today, Texas-based Mondo will be releasing two more entries into their limited edition Looney Tunes poster series. Mondo creates limited edition screen print posters of favorite classic and contemporary films. They also have a gallery space in Austin.
The two new posters will be available online today – Thursday, December 6th – at a random time. Hyde and Go Tweet is by Phantom City Creative; Hair-Raising Hare is by artist Michael De Pippo. Click the gallery below to see these and earlier releases by artist Tom Whelan. To purchase, you have to follow Mondo on Twitter for the on-sale announcement. Each edition is limited to 260.
(Thanks, Thom Foolery)
Dreamworks’ The Croods will hit U.S. theaters March 22nd, 2013. Here’s the latest look. What do you think?
No, not that Rodney King – Nelvana animator RodneyGK wrote, scored, sung and animated this disturbingly violent music video. Never has anything in such bad taste been so appealingly executed. Safe for work – but pretty rough…
Says Mr. King:
“I just finished my first animated short and posted it Sunday. I’ve been animating in television for about 10 years, I’ve always wanted to do a short of my own. It’s been an exciting experience being able to post and have people react one way or another, I put a lot of work into it. I did everything from Music, to design to animation.”
Please leave your reactions in the comments section below.
London-based motion-graphics designer Adam Wells (whom we featured last month with his outstanding film Brave New Old) is back with a shortie. A good excerise in concise story telling with stylized characters – as well as some beautiful eye candy, animated to a beat.
Says Wells,
“I made this just for the internet, as I wanted to put fresh work online without having festivals preventing me from sharing. Its a follow up to Brave New Old, with mostly left over ideas and some personal significance. The Rest is Science is the last outing of the Cube headed people for some time. I made it while I was waiting to hear back on festivals for Brave New Old. Its kind of some left over ideas. Anyway, if you enjoy please share the project. Am gonna be putting out some stuff about my big new project through facebook in the next few weeks so ‘like’ the page to find out more.”
Mr. Burns Explains the
“Fiscal Cliff”
We rarely – make that never – run promo clips from current series, but this one for The Simpsons was produced in record time
This week I will once again sit down with Stuart Shostack for another hard hitting, riveting interview, covering a wide range of animation subjects. Stu’s Show is an internet radio show, broadcast live at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific at StusShow.com. It’s free to listen live on Wednesday. After that, you can download the show anytime for 99 cents. Today, we will be discussing all the latest events in animation – past, present and future. And especially Looney Tunes, Noveltoons, TCM, reviews of the new animated features and the future of classic animation on DVD. We’ll take questions via phone and email from listeners; we might also talk about Terrytoons – again. Join us and listen in here.
This is limited animation at its most creative. Directed & created by our friends at Erie, PA-based MoreFrames Animation (Mortifera), Rob & Nino: I Just Wanna is a spectacular science fiction adventure using still photos, miniatures and expressive drawings. More info on its production at the MoreFrames blog.
