Author Archives: Jerry Beck

“Odin’s Afterbirth” by Joseph Bennett

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Joseph Bennett is an animation artist for J. Walter Thompson by day, working on various commercials for MicroSoft and Zyrtec, and by night he does his own thing. Here’s one of ‘em: Odin’s Afterbirth, part of a trilogy he’s working on. I like his stuff, reminds me of animated mini-comics. Warning: this 3 minute chapter is a bit violent.

Season’s Greetings From a Few of My Favorite Animators

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No one does Holiday Greetings better than those in animation. Here’s a few I received this year at Cartoon Brew headquarters:

First up, from my friend Andrew Kaiko:

From Hans Bacher:

From Xeth Feinberg:

From John Dilworth:

From my friends at Mukpuddy Animation:

Here’s a clever one from Matthias Hoegg, currently at Beakus in London, who was in our BrewTV Student Festival:

CLICK HERE and drag the glasses over the image.

And finally, from Gene Deitch and his lovely wife Zdenka in Prague:

POP QUIZ: Megamind Book Contest!

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Insight Editions is giving our readers an incredible Christmas gift: an autographed copy their latest Dreamworks tie-in book, The Art of Megamind by Richard von Busack. The book, and the production art it showcases, is very cool. Sketches, paintings, storyboards and much more from names you should know like Tony Siruno, Craig Kellman, Andy Bialk, Kory Heinzen and Tim Lamb (and many others) fill the pages. Absolutely great stuff. What do you have to do win a free copy? The first five people to correctly answer the following Megamind question in the comments section below will get it (Dreamworks/PDI employees should refrain from answering).

Here’s the Question: What is the name of Megamind’s TV reporter girlfriend?

The contest is now CLOSED! Winners are listed in the comments section below. Thank you for your participation. To all those who didn’t win… buy the book, it’s one of the best “Art-Ofs” I’ve seen, and makes a great Christmas gift.

P.S. We no longer announce Cartoon Brew Pop Quiz Contests in advance. They will appear occasionally and mysteriously. The reason: we had server overloads the last few times we gave advance notice. So keep reading Cartoon Brew regularly for your chance to win free books and DVDs. You never know.

Tron Legacy talkback

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Though not strictly an animated film, Tron Legacy certainly has its roots in animation and contains some incredible CG visuals. Yay or Nay? Should our readers go see it? Those who’ve screened it should post their reviews below.

Meanwhile, for those of you who need a Tron recap, check out the cardboard version below (originally posted here back in March 2008):

“Yogi Bear” talkback

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“Yogi Bear” gives cheap hackwork a bad name” – Michael Phillips, LA TIMES

“This mostly live-action film is a bland 21st-century family comedy without a single moment that captures the wit, energy or sophistication of the original, which by now dates back more than 50 years.” – Mike Hale, NY TIMES

“Dumber than the average cartoon adaptation. Yogi Bear is a big boo-boo!” – Claudia Puig, USA TODAY

The critics have had their way with Yogi Bear and we’ll miss bashing this film ourselves. So here, one last time, we open the commentary to those brave souls who actually screened this cinematic travesty. C’mon – someone reading this blog must have seen it. Tell us who you are – and what you thought.

“I’m A Monster” by Headless Productions

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I had the pleasure of moderating a Q&A with Adrian Garcia, Alfredo Torres and Victor Maldonado of Headless Productions at the recent CTN Expo in Burbank. This Barcelona-based trio is fighting the good fight to revive hand drawn character animation in new exciting ways. Case in point: this test piece created for their latest project-in-development I’m A Monster. We sneaked this at CTN and I’ve been waiting for them to post it online to share with our readers worldwide – now, the wait is over. Someone, please, give these guys the money to make this movie:

Original “Rudolph” GE spots

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Here’s a rare holiday treat. Someone posted the original GE commercials, the open and end titles from the original 1964 NBC airing of Rankin Bass’ Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer on YouTube. It’s a black and white kinescope featuring Santa’s Elves showing off the latest GE appliances, and some bonus shots of the voice cast to wish you Season’s Greetings. The unidentified actors pictured are Janis Orenstein (Clarice), Paul Kliegman (Donner and The Coach) and Paul Soles (Hermey), then Paul Soles, Billie Mae Richards (Rudolph), Carl Banas and Alfie Scopp (Charlie-In-The-Box).

(Thanks, Mike Nickel)

The Greatest Cartoons EVER!

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For the past 10 years, animator/educator Frank Gladstone has presided over a very successful big-screen Three Stooges Festival each Thanksgiving weekend at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Expanding on the idea of big-screen movie events, Gladstone and the Alex Film Society have decided to start an annual “Cartoon Hall of Fame” to screen each year, the day after Christmas.

I was asked to be a member of the selection committee, and I’m proud to say the inaugural presentation is shaping up to be a real event. The Greatest Cartoons Ever! on Sunday, December 26th, will screen studio vault prints of eight animated classics: The Rabbit of Seville (Bugs & Elmer), The Band Concert (Mickey Mouse), One Froggy Evening (Michigan J. Frog), Snow White (Betty Boop), Three Little Pigs, Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a half Century, Mechanical Monsters (Fleischer’s Superman) and a brand new restored print of Popeye The Sailor Meets Sindbad The Sailor – all projected as they were meant to be seen, on the big screen in 35mm.

It’s going to be a real celebration of classic cartoons. On-line tickets are available now for two shows, at 2pm and 7pm, and will also be available at the door – at the historic Alex Theatre, 216 North Brand Blvd. in Glendale. If you happen to be in Southern California for the holidays, join us!