Monthly Archives: July 2010

Cartoon Dump tonight!

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It’s that time of year again. This month the gang at Cartoon Dump invites you to help celebrate their 3rd anniversary. Join Jerry Beck and Frank Conniff (“TV’s Frank” from Mystery Science Theatre 3000) with Erica Doering as “Compost Brite” and J. Elvis Weinstein as “Dumpster Diver Dan” for Cartoon Dump – for another depraved offering of sketches, songs, puppets, stand-up comedy, and the most God-awful Saturday Morning Cartoons from the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Is there any better way to wind down from Comic Con? Special anniversary guests include Duncan Trussell, Ron Lynch, Michael Rayner and Jimmy Pardo. It’s tonight, Monday July 26th, at 8pm at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. Advanced tickets can be ordered here. Also join the Facebook Page.

Fantagraphics Announces Mickey Mouse Reprints

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Mickey Mouse comic by Floyd Gottfredson

Big news out of San Diego: Fantagraphics announced that they will be publishing a complete run of Floyd Gottfredson’s “Mickey Mouse” newspaper strip, which he drew daily between 1930 and 1975. As Fantagraphics publisher Gary Groth says, “I think it’s the last truly great, masterful strip that has not been reprinted.” Here’s an interview with Groth with more details about the project, which begins in spring 2011.

How Animation Veteran David Weidman Became Famous

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David Weidman print

Eighty-nine years young, David Weidman is the subject of a long profile in today’s LA Times written by David Keeps. Weidman began his career in animation in the 1950s working at John Hubley’s commercial studio Storyboard as well as on UPA’s The Boing Boing Show. An extensive career in TV cartoons followed as he painted backgrounds for the Crusader Rabbit revival, Calvin and the Colonel, and Wacky Races, among others.

In the Sixties, while running a vintage poster and framing shop (and still working in animation), he began to create silk-screened serigraphs in the back of his shop. He produced three hundred designs over twenty years, but few people expressed interest in purchasing them so he wound up with stacks upon stacks of serigraphs. But that’s not how the story ends. In the early-2000s, his work was rediscovered in the LA area, in part due to his nephew who was peddling the serigraphs at local flea markets (which is how I first learned about his work).

Since then, his star has continued to rise: a handsome coffeetable book of his artwork was published recently (it’s now in its third printing), and Urban Outfitters has begun licensing his work for pillows and wall art. It’s a happy story about a one-of-a-kind artist who deserves all the acclaim he’s getting. Weidman clearly loved and believed in the artwork he was creating–producing 300 different serigraphs that nobody wanted to buy is a testament to that–and it’s finally paying off forty years later.

There is a lot more information about him in the LA Times article which I recommend you check out. If you want to own one of his vintage serigraphs, visit WeidmansArt.com.

David Weidman print

News! by Darcy Prendergast

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Melbourne-based artist Darcy Prendergast, explains that his latest film, News!, was “inspired by my constant hatred for news and current affair programs on TV. It’s essentially a film about nothing, as I find myself less intelligent, with no new knowledge acquired at the end of the viewing.”

Darcy’s multi-frame approach is an effective way of illustrating the cacophonous assault on viewers, and the short is a funny and clever statement about TV news, which is apparently just as vacuous and pathetic in Australia as it is in the US. True story: A CNN producer who was trying to get me to appear on the network once told me point-blank that they’re in the business of entertaining viewers, not informing them. That’s unfortunate because they’re not very good at entertainment either.

Animator Featured in Elle Girl

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Julie Pott

In an impending sign of the apocalypse, Elle Girl magazine published a story about a female animator. The artist is Julia Pott, who provided a photo essay about a day in her life. Granted, it’s the Korean version of Elle Girl, but I’ll take anything we can get. Stories about female animators in the mainstream media are virtually nonexistent, particularly in any kind of contemporary fashion-forward context, so this can only be considered a step forward.

Job Offer of the Week: Make 500 Shorts in 90 Days

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I don’t know if this is a real offer, but it’s a classic. Somebody wants twenty-five hours, yes, HOURS, of animation produced in two to three months. On top of that, they’re offering between $7-10/per minute of animation. I hope some of our readers apply for the job and have some fun with these goofballs. Here’s the listing:

We are looking for a Flash Animator to finish a project for 500 of Flash short films; each film is about 2~3 minutes long. The films are about lovely & cute characters’ cartoon. Pay $20 / per film, which is 500 films x $20 = $10,000. Please submit your Flash art works for the consideration. Thanks.

City,State: New York, NY
Salary: $10,000
Duration: 2-3 months

Heart of Refuge by Piotr Kamler

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Polish animator Piotr Kamler (b. 1936) won the Grand Pix at Annecy in 1975 for his film Le Pas, but I’ve chosen to display an earlier film of his called Heart of Refuge (Couer de Secours, 1973). The visual imagery in this 1973 film is breathtaking, and it is cited by Amélie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet as the film that inspired him to pursue a filmmaking career. I discovered more about Kamler on this blog though I’m unsure of the original source of the write-up:

Piotr Kamler was born in Warsaw in 1936. He is a graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art. In 1959 he went to Paris to continue his art studies. it was there that he came into contact with Research Department at ORTF( directed by Pierre Schaeffer) and began to collaborate with “concrete” musicians such as Xenakis on experimental shorts( musical abstract films and “fables”) The ORTF Research Department which was later taken over by INA, was a hothouse for talent, enabling diverse artists such as Peter Foldes, Robert Lapoujade , Jacques Espagne, Jacques Rouxel, Andre Martin and Michel Boschet, Jacques Colombat, Jean-Francois Laguionie, Henry Lacam and Kamler to carry out a large number of bold and innovative personal projects. With astonishing regularity, Kamler came up with no less than eight unusual short films between 1962 and 1973…Kamler’s animated cinema suggests a singular variety of science fiction; it was he who provided the original idea for the Shadoks TV series. Completely unalike to more conventionally linear and text-based narratives, Kamler’s films instead explore a series of dynamic visual motifs. Typically, the conclusion of these films is less suggestive of resolution, than it is of recurring episode. What is most striking in all his films is the variety of visual invention that Kamler brings to each work.

Kamler made a feature in 1982 called Chronopolis which is viewable online in its entirety at UbuWeb. There’s plenty of information about the film on Wikipedia.

Here’s one more of his films–The Spider Elephant. The short is from 1967, but with visuals as fresh and relevant as anything being produced today.

Looney Tunes exclusive clip: Coyote Falls

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We still don’t know whether the new Looney Tunes Show for Cartoon Network will meet our lofty expectations, but I was invited to a screening this past week to preview the three new CGI Road Runner-Coyote shorts for theatrical release — and my verdict is in: They’re terrific!

Coyote Falls is the first one out (it’ll be attached to Cats and Dogs 2 opening next Friday, July 30th). These are three-minute, three-dimensional cartoons in widescreen (scope). It works perfectly for these characters – the feeling of space in the vast desert only adds to Coyote’s desperation. This time he has ordered an ACME bungee cord and has set up a birdseed trap under a highway bridge. It’s a “foolproof” plan that takes everything into consideration … except oncoming traffic.

The characterizations, posing, even the sound effects and music (by Chris Lennertz) are spot on. I especially liked the explosions, which in cg have a stronger impact and thus are funnier. The 3-D is even used to extend into the audience – something most modern filmmakers are loathe to exploit. At three minutes these films really are too short (I think some trailers are longer than that), but they show real potential. This is the first Looney Tunes short produced by Sam Register’s new Warner Bros. Animation division. (BTW, the film is simply a Warner Bros. Cartoon with no Looney Tunes or Merrie Melodies designation). Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone are supervising producers along with Allison Abbate (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Corpse Bride, Iron Giant), Matthew O’Callaghan (Curious George) directed in respectful homage to Chuck Jones. The film begins with a very cool 3D CG WB-rings logo designed by Peter Girardi. Below is a 25-second clip to give you a taste. Below that are three exclusive images (click thumbnails to enlarge).

[clip removed at request of producer]

Comic Con 2010

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I’m on my way to “Comic Con” (aka The San Diego Comic Con) and I’m hoping to have a great time — despite the crowds.

To recap my scheduled appointments, I’ll be signing my book The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons at the Insight Editions booth (#2913) on Friday 10:30-11:30am and Saturday from 2:00-3:00pm. I’ll also be signing the book TODAY (Thursday) at the Van Eaton Gallery booth #501 at 3:00pm. On Friday afternoon I’ll be moderating a special panel: Peanuts Turns 60 from 2:00-3:00pm in Room 25ABC. Panelists will include Jeannie Schulz (widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz) and Stephan Pastis (creator of Pearls Before Swine). And on Friday night, I’ll be screening my all-new edition of Worst Cartoons Ever at 9pm in Room 6BCF.

The photo above is not Stan Freberg at last year’s Comic Con. It’s Freberg with Peter Tork, Mickey Dolenz and Mike Nesmith from an episode of The Monkees in 1966. Stan and his wife Hunter will be appearing at the Con today in Room 6BCF in an interview with Mark Evanier at 11:45am. I’ll be there.

If you can get into Hall H, the very first thing you’ll see is a Dreamworks Megamind panel at 10am. Tron Legacy is previewed there at 11:15am. Bill Plympton will be discussing his work in Room 8 at 1:30pm. Nathan Greno and Byron Howard (directors), Glen Keane (animation supervisor), and other artists from Tangled discuss the new film in Room 5AB at 2:00pm. There will be a panel about The Hub, the new Hasbro animation channel/animation studio with producers Bob Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Jeff Kline, along with President and CEO Margaret Loesch, in Room 7AB at 4:30. Robotech and Carl Macek will be remembered at 6:45 in Room 6DE. And that’s just some of today’s activities.

Tomorrow (Friday) starts with a 10am Comedy Central panel devoted to Ugly Americans with series creator Devin Clark, animator Aaron Augenblick and several voice actors in Room 25ABC. Tom Sito hosts a State of the Animation Industry panel with Raul Garcia, Joe Haidar, Beth Sleven and Sean Petrilak in Room 9 at 11:30. The Adventure Time panel with Pen Ward (creator), Jeremy Shada (voice of Finn), John DiMaggio (voice of Jake), and Tom Kenny (voice of Ice King) is in Room 6A at 11:45. A Neighbors from Hell panel is at 12 noon with the voice cast including Molly Shannon, Patton Oswalt, Will Sasso, Kurtwood Smith in Room 25ABC. Don’t miss my Peanuts panel at 2pm in Room 25ABC. Pixar’s Ronnie Del Carmen discusses the story process and what it’s really like to work in Story at Pixar, followed by Q&A, at 4:30 in Room 26AB .

Saturday begins with a SpongeBob panel with producer Paul Tibbitt, creative director Vincent Waller, storyboard director Tuck Tucker, background painter Andy Clark and the voice of SpongeBob, Tom Kenny, 10am in Room 6A. This is opposite a panel called Writing Animated Feature Films with panelists Alan Burnett (Green Lantern: First Flight), Darren Lemke (Shrek Forever After), John Musker (The Princess and the Frog), Dean DeBlois (How to Train Your Dragon) and Wallace Wolodarsky (Monsters vs. Aliens), in Room 8. The Futurama panel with producers Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, cast members Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katey Sagal, and Maurice LaMarche, is at 12:45 in Ballroom 20. The Simpsons panel with Groening, showrunner Al Jean, executive producer Matt Selman, and supervising director Mike Anderson follows at 1:30 in Ballroom 20. Mark Evanier’s Cartoon Voices panel (part 1) features Evanier and Earl Kress talking voice acting with April Winchell, Candy Milo, Gregg Berger, Tom Kane and Jason Marsden in Room 6BCF at 1:45pm. After this, I’m personally spending the rest of the day going through the dealers room…

There are so many booths I’m anxious to hit. One in particular is shared by Pixar artists Josh Cooley, Bill Pressing and Scott Morse (Booth #4800). Cooley has has a new book, inspired by his love of classic movies mixed with his love of Golden Book art, Movies R Fun- A lil’ Inappropriate Book, a parody depicting scenes from favorite R rated movies in the Golden Book/Mel Crawford-ish style. Pictured below is Bill Pressing’s limited edition Intercontinental Cuties playing cards, which will be available at the Con at the same booth.

On Sunday – after Cartoon Voices part II with Phil LaMarr (Futurama), Janet Waldo (The Jetsons), and Cheryl Chase (Rugrats), at 11:15 in Room 6A – I’m leaving. And if I’m lucky I will have bought some old comic books.

Seventeen by Hisko Hulsing

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Seventeen by Hisko Hulsing

It’s surprising that I’ve never written about Hisko Hulsing’s film Seventeen considering how much I enjoyed it when I saw it at Annecy in 2004. I hadn’t seen it since then, and it’s never been posted on-line, but somebody recently uploaded a copy onto YouTube allowing me to rediscover this hand-drawn gem. I’m delighted to report that the film holds up after all these years, and it’s even better than I’d remembered.

Seventeen is a powerful and complete package, and achieves a cinematic quality as few animated films do, which can be attributed to Hisko’s expert storytelling through camera, cutting, color, sound and music. The visual imagery, which draws on magical realism, is fantastically creepy as the title character–a drunken and horny seventeen-year-old construction worker–staggers around a small European village that shifts between hellish nightmare and carnal fantasy. The animation is inventive and fun, and suits the style of the film perfectly.

Hisko hasn’t made a short since Seventeen which is understandable when you realize that he not only directed and wrote Seventeen, but also painted the backgrounds, composed the music, and animated most of the film. He’s currently working on his next film Junkyard. There’s a short clip posted on Vimeo that gives a taste of how he’s pushing his work to an entirely new level. His website is HiskoHulsing.com.

Seventeen is eleven-and-a-half minutes and can be viewed in two parts below. It might be considered NSFW.