Monthly Archives: September 2009

Own a piece of Pal

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Auctioneers Profiles In History are currently having an incredible entertainment memorabilia sale which is including a Lot of 100 puppets and pieces-of-puppets from the George Pal’s Jasper Puppetoons. The bids start at $8000. Here’s the link. There are also separate lots for puppets from individual non-Jasper films such as The Gay Knighties, Rhythm In The Ranks, Two-Gun Rusty, John Henry, Tubby The Tuba and on and on! This lot was part of the estate of William Nassour who, with his brother, produced several Hollywood movies and experimented in stop motion animation. Apparently they took over the Puppetoon shop when Pal moved on into feature production – and held onto these puppets until now!

If those prices are too steep, you can own one of Pal’s most iconic movie models for a more modest $35. Pegasus Hobbies, under license from Paramount Pictures, is exclusively selling reproductions of the Martian War Machines from War Of The Worlds. They sell them as either plastic model kits or pre-built and plated. I actually have one of the pre-built ones and it’s quite beautiful.

Mark Evanier also points out that the Hollywood auction above is also selling an astonishing collection of Walker Edminston’s Time For Beany Beany & Cecil puppets and memorabilia. Lot’s of jaw-dropping Clampett puppets and ephemera here.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, June Foray!

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Her birthday was yesterday, Friday September 18th. Mark Evanier sent us this great photo of June and Walter Lantz (click thumbnail at left to see it at full size) to mark the occasion. June’s new autobigraphy can be ordered at her website, www.juneforay.com – and I highly recommend it. She’s a living legend – and been much more than animation’s greatest voice actress: she’s been a tireless worker in bringing respect and recognition to the animation field. We love you, June! I know she’s reading this website, so feel free to send her a greeting in the comments below.

Paul Julian’s Piccoli

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Piccoli

One of the rarest children’s books illustrated by an animation artist is Philippe Halsman’s Piccoli (1953), with illustrations by Paul Julian. It’s rare no longer as Michael Sporn has scanned in John Canemaker’s copy of the book, and has made available all of Julian’s stunning artwork from the book. The painting of the boy hiding under the sheets reminds me of a similar scene in UPA’s The Tell-Tale Heart, which shouldn’t be surprising because Julian was creating his exquisite paintings for that film right around the time he illustrated this book. For more Julian animation art, check out these Warner Bros. backgrounds; Pete Alvarado told me that Julian set the WB house style (and the standard) that all the other painters followed at WB in the 1940s.

Laika cuts computer animation

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Portland’s Laika studio (Coraline) has scrapped all its plans for creating CG features and will instead focus on making stop-motion films exclusively. The studio laid off 63 computer graphics employees today, according the website SlashFilm. UPDATE: Studio publicist Maggie Begley wrote in to clarify: “It’s not accurate to say that the studio is abandoning CG altogether. They will continue to use CG opportunistically in stop motion films and will continue to develop CG projects in house for further down the road.”

I personally think the decision to specialize with stop-motion is great move – not only for the health of the studio, but for the art of stop-motion animation itself. And this is shaping up to be a helluva year for stop-motion. I just attended an advance screening of Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox today. It’s not from Laika, but it’s an outstanding film – which, compared with 2009′s other stop-mo releases (Coraline, Mary And Max), shows the wide range of this technique. I’m delighted to know this ancient hand made animation process has a somewhat healthy future.

TONIGHT IN BROOKLYN: Too Art for TV 4

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Too Art for TV

Too Art for TV, the annual exhibit of fine art by animation artists, returns to Brooklyn tonight for its 4th edition. Masterminded by Liz Artinian, the color supervisor on The Venture Bros., the show offers a solid line-up of animation artists displaying their personal art–most of them from the New York area, but from other parts of the world as well. Opening reception is from 6-9:30pm at Erebuni (158 Roebling St. Williamsburg, NY). The show will remain up through October 17.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs talkback

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Saw Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs last night – and it’s hilarious. It’s 3 for 3 (or 4 for 4 if you count Monster House) for Sony Pictures Animation. Phil Lord and Chris Miller made a real “cartoon”, loaded with laughs and filled eye candy (the 2D end credits are especially gorgeous). See it in a theatre this weekend! The 3D effects are outstanding, and the directors really fill the wide-screen with all sorts of Kurtzman/Elder “chicken fat”. I loved it.

How about you? If you’ve seen it (and only if you’ve seen it), post your opinion here in our comments section.

The Magical Toyland of Bernie Shine

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Anyone who has been to the Shine Gallery at L.A.’s Farmer’s Market or has seen Shine’s collection showcased on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD know that Bernie Shine is one of the world’s biggest collectors of original Disney memorabilia.

Former LA County District Attorney Gil Garcetti has recruited Shine to host a party in his home for a very worthwhile charity, Wells Bring Hope. That’s Willie Ito’s art on the poster (above). Rarely does Shine allow anyone but his closest friends into his home see his entire collection. Please click this link for full details of a unique evening of cartoon fun for a good cause – a must for Disney fans who think they’ve seen it all. It’s happening on Friday October 16th at 7:00pm. If you are in L.A. that evening, it will be well-worth attending.

Insert Coin by Vurup

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Vurup is a team of animation students working together in Buenos Aires, who have created their first short film called Insert Coin. The students, who hail from Argentina, Mexico and Colombia, are Gabriel Fermanelli, Leonardo Campasso, Bruno Olguin, German De Vivero, and Luz Lazzaro. Their short is a good example of how to tell a story in under one minute, and there are creative moments of drawn character animation throughout the piece. Hopefully we’ll see more from them in the future.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

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We wanted to take a moment to thank some of our recent sponsors. We’re growing the site and planning lots of great things for the future on Cartoon Brew, and it is in large part due to the support of the companies and individuals who advertise on the site.

Our major sponsor for the past couple months has been Animation Mentor. They do a fine job of training students for CG animation work, and we’re glad to have them on board. If you’re curious to find out more about the school, they are hosting a live, behind-the-scenes look tomorrow evening, September 17, at 6pm(PST). You can register to virtually attend the free webinar at Animation Mentor’s website.

Other sponsors who have joined us recently include:

I Love My Scarf: A Picture Book by Kyle Boyd

Nomad Gallery

The book Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol: The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special

CTN Animation Expo

For info about advertising on Cartoon Brew, please visit Reachout Media.

Fruitless Efforts

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We’ve highlighted the talented filmmakers at MAKE, the animation studio out of Minneapolis Minnesota, before. And as long as they keep making great little films, we will continue to point them out to you.

Here’s the latest short from the MAKE team: Fruitless Efforts: Fruit of the Womb. This cartoon highlights a day in the life of Apple, “an average fruit guy trying to hold a job, have friends and just live his life in peace like a normal apple.” It’s fast, funny and pretty cool lookin’. This short, which combines 3D and hand-drawn animation, was directed by Aaron Quist and Andrew Chesworth. See it here.