"Daffy's Rhapsody" talkback
"The Snow Queen" trailer
"Arrietty" Will Be Ghibli's Biggest US Release Yet
Ricky Garduno, RIP
Barrier began interviewing animation artists in the late-1960s, and by the 1980s, he (along with his Los Angeles-based research partner Milt Gray) had recorded the most comprehensive collection of interviews with artists from the Golden Age of theatrical animation. To put his work into perspective, when he started chronicling the lives of these artists, few film critics took animation seriously, and even fewer regarded the classic Hollywood cartoons as a field worthy of study. In the face of such indifference, Michael had the audacity to not only interview the famous directors but hundreds of little known artists who contributed to the success of Hollywood theatrical cartoons ranging from animators and layout artists to cameramen and composers. 
. More recently, he wrote the noteworthy 
, an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the life of the legend.
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TAG FOR “Ideas/Commentary”Cartoon Brew's home for up-to-the-minute, unedited announcements and press releases direct from industry sources.
September 25, 2010 5:54 am
Great weekend read: Michael Heilemann explores how George Lucas created Chewbacca, or rather how he…um…borrowed…it from somebody else. The piece’s valuable insights into the creative process apply to all the arts, though they are particularly applicable to filmmaking, in which the final product is formed by the hands of many, influences come from all over, and authorship is often opaque:
(via Kottke) 8 Comments » posted in Ideas/Commentary, George Lucas, Process 
September 22, 2010 8:59 am
Bill Plympton, who is prepping for the October 6th theatrical release of his feature Idiots and Angels in New York, has been writing a blog diary describing the tough slog of self-promoting an indie animated feature. In the course of doing so, he revealed a worthwhile news tidbit in one of his entries from last week:
Akel’s on-line bio lists him as a supervising producer who heads digital production of shows and games across MTV.com. It’s nice that MTV is considering animation again, but in today’s bottom line-driven TV industry, don’t hold your breath for any network to aggressively embrace indie and short-form animation—even on-line. Can anyone envision a Liquid Television-type program ever happening again, where a network would support animated programming without concern about profit or return on investment? I certainly can’t. And more importantly, in the bountiful world of on-line animation, who needs a corporate monolith as a curator of animated content? MTV spent years cultivating an enviably hip identity through animated station IDs and short film commissions only to squander it all. If their on-line initiative recaptures some of that animation glory, nobody’s going to complain, but if they want to begin competing at this late stage in the game, they’re going to have to offer the Internet something truly special that hasn’t been seen before. 37 Comments » posted in Ideas/Commentary, Internet/Blogs, Bill Plympton, MTV, Tom Akel
September 8, 2010 4:55 am
The New York Times published an article by Brooks Barnes the other day in which he tried to explain to readers that animation was the number one medium at the box office last summer. Except, he and none of his editors were aware that animation is a medium, so Barnes wrote that, “Animation was the No. 1 genre.” It is utterly embarrassing for the “paper of record” to have no one in its employ who is able to distinguish between the terms genre and medium. Next thing you know, they’ll be calling oil painting a genre of art, and referring to hardcover books as a literary genre. Actually, they wont because this gross incompetence and obliviousness is reserved exclusively for the mainstream media’s coverage of animation. In such instances, we must call upon director Brad Bird for clarity and reason:
Mr. Bird, you have our permission to punch Brooks Barnes. 63 Comments » posted in Ideas/Commentary, Brad Bird
September 3, 2010 10:36 am
Here’s a talkback post dedicated to all the students who have graduated from animation schools in 2010. Now that it’s been three to four months since graduation, I’m curious to hear who’s had success finding a job in the animation industry. Would love to hear from students all over about what the job situation is like in your part of the world. And with schools starting up again right now, this year’s juniors and seniors will find your experiences useful to hear too. Here are some things you could address: 1.) What school did you graduate from and are you looking for full-time work in the industry, freelance work, or are you working on independent projects? 2.) What kind of work in the animation field have you been able to find? 3.) Is the job market what you expected it to be based on what you’d heard in school? 4.) Are you optimistic about the current state of the industry? We’d appreciate it if only students who have graduated in ‘10 would respond to this post. 61 Comments » posted in Ideas/Commentary, Student
September 2, 2010 8:40 am
Animation historian Harvey Deneroff writes perceptively about animation past and present, and not so long ago, he wrote something about computer animation that caught my attention and which helps to explain the ever-increasing complexity of animation imagery. He calls it “Deneroff’s Law”:
He explores “Deneroff’s Law” in much greater depth and gives it historical context on his blog which I recommend reading. 9 Comments » posted in CGI, Ideas/Commentary, Harvey Deneroff
August 25, 2010 10:02 am
Bob Last, producer of Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, sent a threatening email to one of the animators who worked on the movie because that animator had the temerity to promote the film on his blog. Animator Victor Ens posted a few pencil tests of HIS own work which prompted this ridiculous over-the-top letter from the producer:
It angers me to see a studio reprimanding an artist who was trying to promote a low-budget animation production with a limited marketing budget. It’s the type of corporate behavior that leaves a bad taste in the mouth and makes me NOT want to see The Illusionist. If anything, Victor should be commended for being so enthusiastic and doing what the studio itself should be doing in the first place, which is sharing pencil tests and other artwork on-line to promote their film. UPDATE: Director and producer Patrick Smith wrote a brilliant comment below where he suggests how the producer could have handled the situation with a respectful tone that showed appreciation for the artist’s contribution to the film. With Pat’s permission, I’m reprinting his alternate letter as a service to anybody who wants to see a more productive way of communicating with artists:
(Thanks, Florian Satzinger) 115 Comments » posted in Ideas/Commentary, Bob Last, The Illusionist, Victor Ens
June 15, 2010 4:09 am
Happy birthday to Michael Barrier who is celebrating his 70th today. Many Brew readers are already familiar with his achievements, but for those who aren’t, Michael Barrier is a historian of the finest kind and a true champion of our art form.
The research and interviews appeared in his seminal journal Funnyworld which was published during the 1970s. It was before my time, but I’ve heard the stories. As the first American publication to write about animation thoughtfully and critically, every issue was eagerly anticipated by artists, researchers, and fans, and its contributors included some of the leading researchers of the day including John Canemaker, Joe Adamson, Mark Kausler, and Bill Blackbeard. It remains to this day the gold standard for magazines about Hollywood animation. Barrier has also written a number of books about comic art and animation. Most notably in 1999 he published his impeccably researched and feistily opinionated history of animation Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age It’s safe to say that I wouldn’t be doing what I do today if not for the trailblazing work of Michael Barrier. Our collective understanding of the animation art form is richer and more nuanced because of his tireless efforts, and this is a fine occasion to acknowledge his contributions to the field of animation. Keep up to date with his latest projects at MichaelBarrier.com. 39 Comments » posted in Ideas/Commentary
June 7, 2010 1:34 pm
Last Thursday, Variety published a list called “Tomorrow’s toon talent: 10 animators poised to become household names” and it was an embarrassing revelation of how far behind the times they are in covering the animation field. Don’t get me wrong, the people on the list are wonderful, but they are not tomorrow’s talent, they are today’s. Most of them are already established names (as well established as anybody can be in our field), and some of them have been around for years. And with the exception of the two feature directors, all have appeared on Cartoon Brew. Arthur de Pins? “Here’s a name to start watching closely,” I wrote on June 30, 2004. Pendleton Ward? “Pen Ward is a great new talent,” Jerry wrote on January 11, 2007. David OReilly? Cartoon Brew was the first web site ever to write about any of his projects, back in March 2007 when I didn’t even know his name. Michael Langan? His short Doxology was the premier short on Cartoon Brew TV. Stephen Neary? First appeared on Cartoon Brew in November 2008. The biggest headscratcher is the inclusion of Teddy Newton. I profiled him in Animation Blast #8 way back in 2002 (yes, eight years ago) and when I wrote that piece, he was already considered one of the most original talents in the mainstream industry. Other inclusions on Variety’s list are less about pointing out new talent than jumping on the bandwagon of projects that have been popular recently, like Patrick Jean’s Pixels, which was on the Brew on April 8 and Headless Studio, which appeared here on May 4. It might be more understandable if this Variety article was the work of a single reporter who was overextended and on deadline. But they credit their findings to the “Variety staff” and list four people at the end of the piece. In other words, an entire braintrust of Variety staffers worked on this together and they still couldn’t come up with a single up-and-coming talent. Variety’s list is symptomatic of the animation industry’s weaknesses. Executives on the development side are unable to identify original talent using their own eyes and reasoning because they are too uneducated about the art form. They have no sense of history to understand what has preceded them, and no understanding of the art form’s possibilities to be able to predict its future. So they rely on others to tell them what or who is currently popular. The result is that they’re usually years behind in uncovering trends and artists. Conversely, when I look to some of the more prominent artist-run studios like Augenblick, JibJab and Titmouse, that’s where I find the young and fresh talents who will lead this art form into the future. Jerry and I don’t publish silly lists like Variety, but we take our work far more seriously than those who claim they are identifying new talent. We pore through countless submissions, speak to artists, attend events, and actively scour the web to identify the future of this art form. Case in point: yesterday I posted the student short Mars! on Cartoon Brew. Prior to my post, it had had a grand total of 3 views in the eleven days since its appearance online. In less than twenty-four hours since appearing on the Brew, it’s gained ten thousand views and is starting to go viral. For those looking for a real taste of tomorrow’s animation talent, tune in to our Cartoon Brew TV Student Film Festival beginning next week. |
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