39 Comments »   posted in Cartoon Culture, Feature Film, Ideas/Commentary

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Charles Kenny at the Animation Anomaly spotted these Mickey and Minnie Mouse plates at his local Target. They appear cool in that, “Look, Disney is celebrating its heritage” kind of way, but a closer look reveals a clumsily conceived idea.

The most glaring defect is that the construction lines are drawn OVER the final artwork. In actuality, the artist draws the construction lines first, a rough version to work out the pose and scale of a character. Not only are the construction lines here printed on top of the finished drawing, but the lines appear to have been inserted haphazardly after the fact and bear no connection to the drawing of Mickey. The construction circle over Mickey’s head doesn’t even follow the tilt of his head in the finished drawing. Construction lines are fascinating because they reveal an artist’s thought process and how he or she arrived at a finished drawing; these lines look like the random scribbles of a toddler struggling to copy a drawing. There’s no reason to insert these construction lines into a piece of merchandise unless the purpose is to draw attention to the heritage of drawing at the Disney company. So why not get it right? As it stands, it looks like a cynical attempt by the Disney company to exploit the fondness that people have for classic animation.

Will the general public who buys these plates notice anything amiss? Probably not. But when a company cares, it sweats every detail, even the ones that aren’t always noticed. That’s what Pixar does, that’s what Apple does, and it’s what Walt used to do.

43 Comments »   posted in Cartoon Culture, Disney, Ideas/Commentary, Merchandising, Mickey Mouse

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Bert & Harry Piel

January 21, 2012 1:00 pm

Just for fun – and thanks to Chuck Howell, the Archivist at University of Maryland’s Special Collections in Mass Media & Culture – we are happy to show off these cool 1957 Bert and Harry Piel bar coasters. The characters were created in 1953 for a TV ad campaign by UPA New York, under Gene Deitch’s supervision. Jack Sidebotham designed the characters for the Cunningham and Walsh agency – and of, course Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding provided the voices. For more about this (and to see one more of these coasters), read Gene Deitch’s account on his blog.

12 Comments »   posted in Advertising, Cartoon Culture, UPA

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The Greatest Cartoon Album Cover of All-Time

January 19, 2012 3:50 am

I think we have a winner — “Makin’ with the Magilla”:

No song could possibly live up to the cover, but if you must:

If you have a more perfect cartoon-themed album cover, share it in the comments.

(via John K Stuff)

18 Comments »   posted in Cartoon Culture, Classic, Hanna Barbera, Magilla Gorilla, Making with the Magilla

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The Latest Developments in Motion Capture

January 17, 2012 6:08 pm

Michael Bay, Jon Favreau, Ray Liotta, Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel all participate in this Funny or Die video about the latest developments in motion capture. I don’t want to ruin it so just click on the link and watch the two-minute short.

(Thanks, Daniel Savage, via Invisible Creature’s Twitter)

17 Comments »   posted in Cartoon Culture, Ideas/Commentary, motion capture, Performance Capture

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“You’re A Creep, Charlie Brown!”

January 17, 2012 10:00 am

Animator Rob Yulfo edited this collection of Peanuts clips set to Vega Choir’s cover of Radiohead’s Creep. This sums it all up.

16 Comments »   posted in Cartoon Culture, Peanuts, Rob Yulfo

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