*Disney animator and character designer Jin Kim has started a sketchblog that includes the humorous image above of animator Glen Keane playing the role of his character Tarzan.

* DreamWorks character designer Shannon Tindle is peeved (and justifiably so) about the new Blu-Ray DVD edition of Sleeping Beauty and how all of the DVD’s bonus features and documentary material omit mention of one of the film’s primary visual architects: character stylist Tom Oreb. When I wrote about Tom Oreb in my magazine Animation Blast back in 2001, there was admittedly very little information available about his career. It was only after a year of research and interviews with the likes of Vic Haboush, Ward Kimball, Ollie Johnston, David Swift, Iwao Takamoto, Marty Murphy, Ray Aragon, and Oreb’s sister Mary that I managed to compile a substantial account of his life and work. Today, thankfully, it’s a different story. Everybody is aware of Tom Oreb and his invaluable contributions to the Disney studio…well, everybody it seems except for the people that Disney hires to produce documentaries about their company.

* “Of Cabbages and Kleins” is a thoughtful (and thought-provoking) essay by animation historian Michael Barrier about labor politics, the Disney strike of 1941, animator Phil Klein and liberal journalist Naomi Klein (author of No Logo).

* I can’t remember the last time I’ve been jealous of anybody, but I’m definitely jealous of my animation pal Matt Jones who recently visited the legendary cartoonist Ronald Searle in France. He writes about the experience on his blog. Matt also runs the fine Ronald Searle Tribute blog.

* Richard O’Connor of Asterisk Animation has written an insightful post about collaborating with Kim Deitch and They Might Be Giants on this piece of animation:

Digital artist Pixeloo has created a super-real version of Nintendo’s Mario (full image on his site). It’s not bad but he’s no match for this Mario:

There may not be a whole lot that’s funny about the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto, but illustrator Steve Brodner managed to create this political cartoon that works in references to both Pluto and Bluto:

Speaking of Brodner, he not only has a blog that features his latest work, but also a fun new video series on the NewYorker.com—“The Naked Campaign”—where he does ‘chalk talks’ about the presidential candidates and places them in context of earlier presidents and cultural figures. The Obama/Lincoln transformation is particularly entertaining. The After Effects animation in these pieces is provided by NY commercial studio Asterisk Animation.

(Thanks, Jakob Schuh)

Daily Show associate producer Dave Blog posted a flickr set scanned from an old cartooning manual he picked up at an estate sale.

Tack’s Cartoon Tips for the Aspiring Cartoonist (Devoe & Reynolds, 1923). If anyone has any further information on B. “Tack” Knight, please fill us in.

Lev Polyakov sent this Thanksgiving greeting below.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Last week at Platform, Jerry and I both received a lot of compliments about our new CartoonBrew/CartoonBrewFilms promo piece. So I thought it’d be nice to take a moment and give credit where it’s due. Chris McD is the artist we commissioned to do our first two promo pieces and we’re quite pleased with how they both turned out. I think that’s because Chris is equal parts designer and illustrator, and he focuses as much on getting the concept and message right as he does into producing a striking visual piece.

I’ve known Chris since his days at SVA when we used to trade Animation Blast and Meathaus issues. Later on, I saw him frequently while I was working at Spumco and he was developing a feature project there for Ralph Bakshi. I actually have no idea how Chris found the time to do these pieces for us since he’s always super busy working on animated series (Yo Gabba Gabba, Tom Goes to the Mayor), designing books (the upcoming Ralph Bakshi one) and serving as one of the guiding forces behind the Meathaus illustration collective, which also has an excellent blog here.

Here are the two pieces Chris did for us. The first is an 8.5″x11″ flyer, the second is a double-sided 5.5″x8.5″ postcard (only the front is shown).

A new Pixar film usually means another great Chronicle Art Of book and, at the other end of the spectrum, another neat looking Little Golden Book.

It’s easy to overlook the Golden Books - and difficult to find them - even in major bookstores. I just came across the Ratatouille one at my local Ralphs supermarket this morning. It’s a 24 page delight (especially for $2.99), with gorgeous art, credited to Scott Tilley, Jean-Paul Orpinas (illustrators) and Tony Fejeran (designer). As a long time fan of vintage Little Golden Books, the recent Pixar volumes are excellent additions to the collection.

Have you noticed how Pixar’s character merchandising art translates perfectly in two-dimensional and hand drawn versions? That’s due, of course, to the characters basic design and Pixar’s cartooning aesthetic. It’s also due to the calibre of artists assigned to create this ancillary artwork. One particularly cool looking publicity project was a series of images inspired by A.M. Cassandre’s vintage French posters, designed and painted by Stephane Kardos (above) and Eric Tan. It’s this kind of attention to detail, and sense of style, that keeps Pixar ahead of the pack - on screen and off.

The GL. Holtegaard museum near Copenhagen has a Kay Nielsen exhibit on display until August 19. The show features over 120 drawings and illustrations, including some of Nielsen’s work from Fantasia on loan from Disney. If you can’t make the show, there’s plenty of Nielsen’s illustrations online at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive and ArtPassions.net.

(Thanks, Alex Rannie)