Art Clokey, creator of Gumby, died this morning according to San Luis Obispo.com. Clokey, who lived in Los Osos, California was 89.

Clokey popularized clay animation with his Gumby cartoons in the 1950s and 60s. His studio thrived for decades doing various Gumby adventures and Davey and Goliath films for television. An excellent illustrated Clokey timeline is at the Premavision website. Gumbasia (1955) is the film that started it all – it’s success led directly to creating the Gumby universe and the Clokey style:

Here are Clokey’s opening titles for Dr. Goldfoot and His Bikini Machine (1965) – with vocals by The Supremes:

Clokey also did a more inventive 3-minute opening title sequence for How To Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965). No one posted that on You Tube, but the whole film is available free (and high quality) on Hulu.

After a successful 1st term last year, New York based indie animator Bill Plympton has decided to bring his School of Animation back for the spring. With limited enrollment, the 10-week school begins on January 18th and goes until March 22nd, every Monday night. The fee is $1,200.00 per student. Registration is on a first come basis. According to his press release:

“…you can now learn the secrets of animation from the Master. Learn how you can make amazing films that can earn money. Learn the tricks of drawing, design, layouts, storyboards, writing, humor, directing, backgrounds and editing. Learn the business of animation, budgets, funding, selling, distribution, festivals and cost-cutting tricks.”

No one knows the ins, the outs, the techniques and how to play the game like Bill. Call (212) 741-0322 or email at Plymptoons-at-aol.com for more information.

Howard Beckerman is the king of New York animation; a teacher, a mentor and a living legend. It was his birthday yesterday, on Christmas, and to celebrate the occasion we present The Trip (1967) which Beckerman wrote, animated and co-designed — another hidden gem produced during the Shamus Culhane era at Paramount. Howard recalled:

“The film was originally titled “The Vacation”, but Paramount changed it to “The Trip” and it always gets confused with the Peter Fonda live-action production.”

Happy Birthday, Howard!

Óscar T. Pérez is a wonderful book illustrator based in Madrid, Spain. Now, Perez has posted a group of animated shorts – films sponsored by his publishers Edicions Bromera and La Galera — made to promote some of his recently published books. Below is a stylish one for The Encyclopedia of Monsters and Other Terrifying Creatures, written by Enric Lluch. To see more of Perez’ illustration art visit his blog.

ASIFA-East is raising funds this holiday season by offering (to U.S. customers only) a limited edition 2010 calendar illustrated by some of New York’s finest (not the cops, the animators!). Bill Plympton, Emily Hubley, John Dilworth, Mo Willems, Michael Sporn, George Griffin, Xeth Feinberg, Candy Kugel, Debra J. Solomon, Signe Baumane, Christy Karacas and Jennifer Oxley deck your hall each month (click thumbnails above to see a few samples). For more information on how to order, Click here!

This review is long overdue – by a year in fact – and I hope Richard Williams and Mo Sutton can forgive me for the delay. They sent me a review copy of Wiliams’ Animation Masterclass DVD, The Animator’s Survival Kit and I have watched it in fits and starts over the past year with animation director Yvette Kaplan. As a non-animator, I was highly entertained by Williams lectures, drawing and demonstrations, but I realized that Yvette was a better judge of the information, knowledge and principals being discussed. Therefore, I’ve asked her to write this review for readers of this blog:

Richard Williams’s 16-DVD box set is an impressive and impressively packaged expansion of his best-selling book of the same name. Based on the now legendary Masterclass he taught at Blue Sky Studios in New York, actual footage of the class itself has been combined here along with over 400 specially animated examples of the principles he covers. Between the classic and in-depth nature of these lessons and William’s touching sincerity, generosity of spirit and profound love of the art form, if he had titled the set “Animation’s Survival Guide”, he would not have been wrong.

And Dick Williams does indeed dig deep in this extensive tome. More than thorough, it sometimes borders on the obsessive; but what is an animator if not obsessed? Dick Williams is obsessed with the beauty of movement, and he has structured his lessons very specifically, with the basics, and even before. In DVD #1, accurately titled, “Starting Right”, he describes how he himself learned the art of animation through dedication, hard work, struggle and persistence spread over the course of many years. Of course he stresses the importance of life drawing and keeping sketchbooks, but it’s when he gets personal that the real magic starts. He has no end of praise and credit for the impact of his mentors, most notably master animator Milt Kahl, of whom he speaks with obvious affection and even awe. According to Williams, it was Kahl who opened his eyes when he was just starting out, who got him seeing and thinking in a special way, and pushed him to strive for excellence and beauty.

Next, he moves on to the tools of animation. Disc 2 is titled “Timing and Spacing” and it is actually an entire DVD dedicated to the beginner’s animation class stand-by, the bouncing ball. But this is a lot more than your standard bounce or ball: Williams breaks down the laws of physics and weight in such detail only a mathematician could compete. He treats even this seemingly mundane animation exercise like a work of art in progress. He shows us examples of every possible variation and how the spacing (between the drawings) determines everything. There are so many possibilities and choices it made my mind reel. Yet challenging as the concepts are, Williams happily manages to make them ultra clear by using a Penny moving across a variety of spacing charts, an example I thought brilliant in its simplicity and clarity.

He then moves onto even MORE Timing and Spacing, since after all, “It’s all in the timing and spacing.” On this DVD he breaks down the concepts of exposure sheets and the numbering system, whether to use one’s or two’s, and how to decide where in-betweens should fall. He proves his points with clear and sometimes amusing examples of how variations in spacing charts, or the skill level of the in-betweener, can make or break the movement and sometimes surprise us, in both good ways and bad.

The level of detail and sense of endless possibility that Williams applies to everything is nowhere more evident than when he talks about the animated walk. He devotes four whole discs to this one topic, acting out nearly endless variations with his own amazingly rubbery cartoon body. He dissects the low, the pass, the high and the contact drawings, the flexibility of joints, and then moves on to variations on the themes like sneaks and runs and of course animal walks, using stunning animated examples. He impressed me completely by breaking down a horse gallop , (something I always found daunting) in such a way as to make it clear to me for the very first time. He even breaks down an 8-legged walk with patience and clarity, and I’m positive that if there were such a thing as a 12, or even 200-legged creature, we’d have seen that too!

Appropriately, Williams ups the ante once basic skills are internalized. Getting deeper into the difference between merely making something move and making it live and breathe, he becomes his most inspiring with Disc 9, which is devoted to Overlapping Action and Weight, and Disc 12, on Anticipation and Accents. He also loosens up a little with a couple of discs devoted to fun principals like “Takes” (what animator could resist that one?) and a disc titled “Vibrates”. That one is a particular favorite of mine as I love to use the technique in my own limited way to add little nervous trembles and tics when appropriate to liven up an otherwise talking head on a TV series.

It’s only during the last few discs, that Williams finally puts the icing on this well made cake and gets down to focusing on creating animated performance. There are two discs devoted to Dialogue animation, yet surprisingly only a single disc for Directing and Performance. Two discs on Timing and Spacing, four discs on walks and only ONE on how to make a character ACT? Isn’t that the heart and soul of animation and what we all want to achieve? How can that be?

My guess is the answer lies in Disc #16: “Putting It All Together.”
By the time the conscientious and dedicated viewer has made it to this point, he or she has delved deeper into the techniques of animation than most students ever get the chance to. Yes, it was a long journey, but now, armed with the proper tools, and a master’s mind set, the Animator’s Survival Kit graduate can start his or her work in earnest: making characters live and breathe and think and act. Not like carbon copies of someone else’s work, but in their own unique voice.

And it all becomes clear; by consolidating the fruits of his many years of love and labor into a finely crafted and curated tour of a Master Animator’s mind, William’s has given us the same gift his mentors gave to him. This time, packaged for a new generation, inside a single, albeit BIG, box on 16 DVDs.

Sounds like a pretty great gift to me. You can watch excerpts from the Masterclass or order the set directly from Williams on his website.

Say what you will about Shrek, Bee Movie or Shark Tale, the artists at Dreamworks (north and south) themselves are terrific. Now comes Travisty’s Beard, a collaborative blog of artists from the art department of PDI/DreamWorks in Redwood City. The artists choose a topic each month and submit their interpretations. The blog is not officially associated with DreamWorks and is for the artists to explore their own personal work and have fun.

(Thanks, Goro Fujita)

The Oscar nominated animator and creator of Cartoon Network’s Courage the Cowardly Dog will present the best of his films and other surprises next Tuesday at SVA. ASIFA-East presents an evening with New York’s resident animation madman, John R. Dilworth on Tuesday Dec 8, 2009 at The School of Visual Arts. Dilly will answer questions, draw funny pictures and premiere his latest short, Rinky Dink. The screening will be in the 3rd floor amphitheatre at 7pm, SVA is at 209 E 23rd Street, Admission: FREE!

Jeremy Hopkins attended the CTN Expo a couple weeks ago, and he’s posting videos from the event on his website XSheet.net. He currently has a couple vids with Don Bluth and Eric Goldberg, and he tells me that more are forthcoming. Here’s a thought from Bluth about the importance of preserving the technical history of animation:

This 1970 German documentary on Robert Crumb contains rare footage of Ralph Bakshi in his studio during the making of Fritz the Cat. Young Ralph is shown in the studio, walking through New York and looking at one of his animators flip through drawings. The documentary was loaded onto YouTube in three parts (embeded below) and is NSFW (not safe for work, due to naked hippies). Bakshi first appears a little after 6:30 in part one:

(Thanks, Rogelio Toledo)

One last post and a few more snaps from CTN yesterday:

Peter De Seve signs copies of his new book A Sketchy Past for a huge crowd. NOTE: Stuart Ng has Peter’s new book in stock and available NOW. Amazon won’t have it until March (and Ng’s copies have an exclusive signed illustrated bookplate).

Two kings of modern day good-girl art: Dean Yeagle and Bill Pressing

Jerry Beck and Lou Romano

The final day of the CTN event was as exciting as the first two. Everyone I spoke to agreed that this was a successful first effort and all praised Tina Price for creating such an artist friendly evironment. The whole thing felt less like a Comic Con and more like a party for cartoonists and animators – a great way to spend the weekend with old friends or making new contacts. I picked up a lot of sketchbooks, prints and art that I will write about in a separate post later this week.

First a few quick snaps:

Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells) and Donnachada Daly

Lou Romano (center) gives a young artist some advice.

Craig McCracken (right) and his wife Lauren Faust (left) look over some of their notes.

For a Friday afternoon of an inaugural event it was pretty spectacular. This was supposed to be the “slow day”, but the first day of the CTN-Expo in Burbank was a overwhelming success due to the large amount of attendees and the incredible array of artist exhibitors. In addition to the large exhibitor room, there are two rooms of informative panels which are seemingly filled at all times. An interview with Mike Mignola (Hellboy) and a seminar on Crafting the Pitch were particularly popular. The day concluded with a VIP Party which ran from 6pm to midnight.

Day two starts today at 10am. If you want to be in the industry, want to be inspired by other artists, or simply want to hang out with a who’s who of current cartoon making, check out the CTN-Expo today or tomorrow. If you were there yesterday (or today) let us know what you think of the Expo in the Comments section below.