Haven’t done this in a while, so here are a few artist blogs worth your time:

Animator Sandro Cleuzo’s blog is just over a week old, and it’s already filled with rare material, including work from unproduced Disney projects like Sweating Bullets and My Peoples. His credits also include Fantasia 2000, The Emperor’s New Groove, Tarzan, Home on the Range, Enchanted, Anastasia, Curious George, Asterix and the Vikings and the upcoming The Princess and the Frog. Check Sandro out at his cleverly titled Inspector Cleuzo blog.

Illustrator and Ice Age character designer Peter de Sève is also new to the blogging scene. I found it interesting to read a personal perspective on his forthcoming monograph, which I announced here last week. Visit him at PeterdeSeve.blogspot.com.

Dexter Smith has been working in animation since the groundbreaking Batman, the Animated Series. Since then, he’s worked on Superman, Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo, My Gym Partner’s a Monkey, Clone High, Freakazoid, and a bunch of other stuff. I liked seeing the artwork and hearing the development story about his personal project True Romance. More at Dexter-Smith.blogspot.com.

Not sure how long this has been online, but I just discovered a Daily Motion page which has several excerpts from the Renegade Animation Funny Face pilot. We first reported on Renegade’s plans to revive the animated characters back in March 2008. For more info on the folks who control the property today, click here.

We haven’t plugged any podcasts in a while. Here’s one that’s worth your time: Todd Dolce runs an animation/cartooning webcast that should be of interest to many Brew readers. Recently, Dolce has done terrific interviews with Gene Deitch (Tom Terrific), Don Bluth (Secret of Nimh), Dan Thompson (Rip Haywire), Joe Harris (Underdog), cartoonist Bob Scott, and illustrator Lowell Hess. All deserve a listen. It’s officially called the Boing Podcast and here is the link.

“Is it any wonder that our kids are growing up knowing more about Hannah Montana than about the Apostle Paul?”

That’s the question Phil Vischer is asking with his new faith-based company Jellyfish. He is the co-creator of VeggieTales, an idea which had its heyday a decade ago before Vischer’s company, Big Idea Productions, imploded in 2003. Jellyfish has created a show called JellyTelly, which is designed exclusively for on-line audiences. The segments are mostly puppets, with some live-action and animation. There are a number of episodes viewable on the JellyTelly site, as well as this short intro video that explains the concept. When Vischer launched the idea earlier this year, he had started with a subscription-based model but has since moved to giving away the episodes for free. He wrote on his blog that they’re currently trying to figure out a sustainable business model, or in his words, “awaiting the new direction God has in mind.”

When I was at Ohio State in Columbus this past weekend I had the pleasure of meeting writer Tom Gammill, who (along with his partner Max Pross) has written some of the funniest episodes of Seinfeld, The Critic, the Simpsons and Futurama. Tom also writes and draws the weekly daily online comic strip The Doozies and started an online series of humorous “How To Draw” videos (several featuring guest cartoonists and celebrity friends).

In episode 17, Gammill visits Greg Ford’s studio in New York to watch a work-in-progress of a Doozies animated cartoon. Gammill first met Ford back in 1986 when they co-wrote the Looney Tunes 50th Anniversary Special for NBC. Let’s see how Ford is doing…

Director J.J. Sedelmaier hooked up with design/illustration icon Seymour Chwast to create an online issue of Chwast’s publication The Nose. Animation is simple but effective. The piece takes a humorous look at the predictions that people have made throughout the past century.

Once again, tomorrow Wednesday June 10th, I will be the featured guest on Stu’s Show on Shokus Internet Radio. This will be my tenth or eleventh (I’ve lost count) visit to discuss all things animation with Stu and his listeners, live beginning at 4:00 p.m. PDT (7:00 p.m. EDT). Topics this time will include the upcoming Mighty Mouse DVD box set from CBS, forthcoming (if any) classic cartoon DVDs from Warner Bros. and your phone calls. As always, listeners will be encouraged to call in with their questions and comments on the station’s toll-free telephone number. Click here for more details. Tune In, Turn On and… Call Us!

I will be joining Stuart Shostak as co-host this Wednesday (5/20) on his live internet-radio broadcast of Stu’s Show. Our guests will be cartoon voice actor (Bullwinkle) and animation historian (The Moose That Roared) Keith Scott and the first lady of animation, June Foray. We will be asking June about her extrodinary career, and asking both about working for Jay Ward. Keith is also an expert on voice actors in classic animation - the subject of his next book - and I hope to squeeze in a question about his ongoing research. The two-hour show will be live on Wednesday and we intend to take phone calls from listeners. It’s broadcast from 7pm to 9pm East Coast Time and 4pm to 6pm on the West Coast. The show is not archived - you cannot download it later - but you can listen to a rebroadcast everyday the following week (Thursday through next Tuesday) at the same times.

I expect to barely get a word in edgewise - but I’m not too worried. I will be back as a solo guest on Stu’s Show in three weeks (June 10th), when I will discuss classic cartoons and forthcoming DVDs. For now, Click Here to listen!