Character designer and story artist David Colman (who is also the author of The Art of Animal Character Design) will be holding a weekend animal drawing workshop on January 30-31st. The LA-area classes take place at the Page Museum and Los Angeles Zoo between 10am-4pm each day. The class description:

Learn anatomy, gesture, and construction. Gain the tools needed to become proficient at the art of animal drawing, especially how to study from life. The class will consist of numerous handouts, accompanied with demonstrations and 1-on-1 instruction. First day is a six-hour course spent studying bones and skeletal structure @ the La Brea Tarpits in which you will learn the basic inner structure of quadrupeds. David will be doing a one hour demo study of one of the skeletons. The second day will be six hours spent @ the LA Zoo in which you will be studying about five different animals throughout the day.

The two-day workshop is $200, but Cartoon Brew readers who mention our site when signing up will receive $25 off. You can register either by email — dcolman27 (at) hotmail (dot) com — or by phone (818-512-6255). Cash, check or charge accepted. Students will be responsible for admission to the Page Museum and LA Zoo.

Following the disheartening Tintin story posted below, it seems appropriate to note that today, January 12, marks the first ever World’s Fair Use Day. The event is taking place in Washington, DC, and they’re showing live webcasts of all the panels. The event is organized by the DC non-profit Public Knowledge whose mission statement is “to ensure that communications and intellectual property policies encourage creativity, further free expression and discourse and provide universal access to knowledge.” Speakers at the event include a number of animators and cartoonists like Nina Paley of Sita Sings the Blues fame, Dan Walsh (Garfield Minus Garfield) and Machinima artist Chris Burke. The event’s keynote will be delivered by Pennsylvania congressman Mike Doyle, who will discuss the important of fair use in the digital age. The webcast starts in a few minutes so head on over to WorldsFairUseDay.org.

On February 14th at 7:30pm, HBO-2 will premiere the debut of a remarkable animated special, directed, co-produced and animated by New York indie filmmaker Debra J. Solomon (Disney’s Lizzie McGuire). Getting Over Him In Eight Songs or Less is a funny, touching, adult story about losing love and finding yourself. Solomon, whose animation drawings evoke Blechman, Driessen and Tyer by way of New Yorker cartoons, also wrote the eight songs, sings them and narrates the show.

Tuesday night (1/5/10), I will have the pleasure of introducing the film at an L.A. sneak preview screening at The CineFamily/Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax (near Melrose) in Hollywood. Solomon will appear in person for a Q&A discussion and we will screen several of her previous award winning short films. The program begins at 8pm, tickets are available (with discounts for Asifa-Hollywood members) here.

The son of animation artist Tim Hodge (Mulan, Brother Bear, VeggieTales) was in an auto accident last August. The situation is difficult for the Hodge family, whose son remains in a coma today. Tim explained on his blog:

As you may not realize, our short term insurance expired in September. The rest of the family could renew, but Matt became a pre-existing condition. So Matt’s healthcare since that time has all been out of pocket. Vanderbilt Hospital was gracious to us and forgave our six figure debt to them. But Matt’s ongoing care and future rehabilitation is still in the balance.

The help the family, the comics and animation community is rallying together to stage a massive eBay art auction beginning January 21st. The website HelptheHodges.com has images and details about the donated artwork. It is an impressive collection that includes a diverse group of artists including Drew Struzan, Charles Schulz, Nick Park, Frank Thomas, Craig McCracken, and Nico Marlet (above). The list of artwork is growing by the day, and it all goes to a worthy cause so participation is encouraged. Should you wish to simply help the family without participating in the auction, the Hodges’ website also has details on how to make a fully tax-deductible donation to the family.

It’s official. I’m hosting a regular series of cartoon screenings, the first Tuesday of each month, at the CineFamily/Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax Avenue. My screenings will be different each month. Sometimes I’ll show classic cartoon shorts in 35mm, or maybe I’ll screen a rarely seen animated feature, or possibly do a tribute to filmmaker.

For the first program of the new year, I’m extremely proud to be presenting the public world premiere of a new animated musical documentary from HBO. Written and directed by New York independent animator Debra J. Solomon (Lizzie McGuire), Getting Over Him In 8 Songs or Less is a sexy, funny and poignant film about losing love and finding yourself. Filmmaker Solomon will appear in person for a Q&A and we’ll also screen several of her other award-winning shorts. It’s happening Tuesday January 5th - a week from tonight — at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater at 8pm. Ticket info here.

Just a reminder, I’m hosting two (count ‘em 2) Christmas Cartoon Parties this week:

1. CARTOON DUMP - our annual Christmas special is tonight, December 21st, at 8pm. Our special guest comedian will be Billy the Mime. Join Frank Conniff and me for an evening of Holiday themed cartoons, music and skits at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood.

2. CHRISTMAS CARTOON CHAOS! - On Tuesday night, I’m running a full set of 35mm and 16mm Christmas cartoons - good ones - at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater. Rare film prints will be screened during this show on December 22nd at 8pm. It’s the biggest Christmas film party of the year… or at least, of the week! B.Y.O.E.N. (Bring Your Own Egg Nog)!

We usually don’t plug this sort of thing, but the array of talent assembled here is worthy of note. Thomas Brillante (The Art Institute of California) is organizing a charity art auction for the Loma Linda Children’s Hospital, pulling in contributions from many artists in the animation and film industry. Artists like Lorelay Bove, Lou Romano, Bill Perkins, Iain McCaig, Peter De Seve, Shuan Tan, Dean Yeagle, Bruce Smith, Floyd Norman, Glen Keane, Frank Kusuma (above), Glen Vilppu, Grace Lee, Pascal Campion, Stephen Silver and several others have donated either originals or prints. 100 percent of the proceeds go to the hospital — and any pieces that don’t sell will be gifted to hospital. The auction will be held next Saturday December 19th, 5pm to 10pm. For more information, updates and to view some of the art, visit the Gifted Artist Charity Art Auction website.

I’ll be plugging these again as we get closer to each, but here’s an early heads-up on three events coming up that I’ll be producing within the month:

1. CARTOON DUMP - our annual Christmas show will be on Monday December 21st at 8pm. Our special “Silent Night” guest comedian will be Billy the Mime. Join us for an evening of Holiday themed cartoons and skits at the Steve Allen Theatre in Hollywood.

2. CHRISTMAS CARTOON CHAOS! I’m running a full set of 35mm and 16mm Christmas cartoons - good ones - at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater on Tuesday December 22nd at 8pm. Rare film prints will be screened during this show, the biggest Xmas film party of the year! B.Y.O.E.N. (Bring Your Own Egg Nog)!

3. GETTING OVER HIM IN 8 SONGS OR LESS (World Premiere!) I’m extremely proud to be screening this new animated documentary from New York independent animator Debra J. Solomon (Lizzie McGuire) on Tuesday January 5th at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theater. Solomon will be at the Cinefamily in person to answer questions following the screening, which will also include some of her award-winning shorts! 8pm, Ticket info here.