Andy Lyth created this trailer using the track from the Spielberg trailer with visuals from 90s cartoon series.

(Thanks, Betsie Beadling, via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page)

Hollow, by Cal Arts Experimental Animation grad Oliver Franklin Anderson, uses photographs, artwork and live actors to create a haunting mood piece. The film has been accepted as an Official Selection at Slamdance 2012.

One of the true highlights of the festival circuit this past year was Wild Life by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, who were nominated for an Academy Award in 1999 for their short When the Day Breaks. We are pleased to present—courtesy of our sponsor The National Film Board of Canada—the exclusive on-line debut of this Annie-nominated short.

Told in a robust, rustic style that captures the spirit of the new frontier, Wild Life won the 2011 Canadian Film Institute (CFI) Award for Best Canadian Animation at the recent Ottawa International Animation Festival. Set in 1909, the film is from the POV of a dapper young man sent from England to Alberta to attempt ranching. It soon becomes clear that nothing in his refined upbringing prepared him for the harsh conditions of the New World. Wild Life is also part of the new NFB dvd compilation Animation Express 2.

Credits after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

If drawings of cartoon people in the nude is NSFW – then Burrow by Frederico Gutierrez is “Not Safe For Work”. This is Gutierrez’ graduation film from the Vancouver Film School Classical Animation program. I have no idea what its about – but I enjoyed its surreal sensibility.

Electroshock feels like feature film condensed into 8-and-a-half-minutes. Directed by five students (Hugo Jackson, Pascal Chandelier, Valentin Michel, Bastien Morteleque and Elliot Maren) at France’s ESMA School of the Arts (Ecole Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques), it’s a nicely paced spoof of superhero/geek culture.

We are pleased to present—courtesy of our sponsor The National Film Board of Canada—the exclusive on-line debut of Patrick Doyon’s Annie-nominated film, Sunday. It’s clever, quirky and stylishly hand drawn, with a limited color palette that defines its nostalgic point of view. Sunday captures a child’s imagination as only a keenly observant cartoonist can. Sunday is also part of the new NFB dvd compilation Animation Express 2.

Credits after the jump.
Read the rest of this entry »

What if Swiss claymation star Pingu met John Carpenter’s The Thing? Animator Lee Hardcastle provides the answer:

In memory of Ronald Searle’s passing, we present this tribute by Matt Jones. Besides working as a story artist at Pixar, Matt is the curator of the Ronald Searle Tribute blog, a fantastic repository of Searle’s artwork and a required first-stop for anyone interested in his work. In the piece, Matt speaks about the friendship he formed with Ronald Searle in the final years of his life.

My Friend, Ronald Searle
by Matt Jones

Disney’s Nine Old Men, Ken Anderson, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, Joe Grant, Art Babbitt . . . all the American icons of animation had already left us. I moved to the United States too late to meet any of them, but at Pixar I work with many people who had the privilege of knowing and learning from these legendary artists, and I listen to their tales with glee. When I lived in Europe, however, there was still one legendary artist left who had outlived them all, one who had influenced them all, and one who I was fortunate to meet and get to know—the incomparable Ronald Searle.

I first became aware of Searle’s work trawling the second hand bookshops on London’s Charing Cross Road. His work struck me as the forebearer of a British cartooning tradition dominated by Ralph Steadman and Gerald Scarfe at the time. I had discovered them in art school and came to realize that Searle was the original master of the scratchy, spattered ink line, influencing all who followed. I was dissatisfied with the materials that were available online about Searle, and sought to establish a resource of choice scans from my growing collection of his books. I undertook the blog merely as a fan. Little did I know that I would later come to know the artist and even have him contribute material to the site.
Read the rest of this entry »