Cartoon Brew launched six years ago today. We’re not doing a whole lot to celebrate—unless eating raisins counts as a celebration—but we didn’t want to let the day pass without some sort of acknowledgment. It would be an understatement to say that the online animation scene is different today than when we launched in March 2004. Back then there was no YouTube or Vimeo, no animation podcasts, only a handful of animation blogs (our pathetic blogroll from March 2004 illustrates the barren landscape of the time), and a much smaller community of animators and cartoon aficionados online. Since those days, the online animation community has grown a lot, and if our site traffic is any indication, continues to grow a lot. In fact, if we may blow our own horn for a moment, we’ve set new traffic records on the Brew five of the last six months.

Your enthusiasm and excitement for this amazing art form and its limitless possibilities is what keeps us motivated to update everyday. And we’re not planning to stop anytime soon. Cartoon Brew TV will return in April with a very special month of new episodes, and we’re refreshing the site’s look and adding new features later this spring. To be sure, many people gravitate to the site for our occasionally controversial topics, but we get our greatest satisfaction from exposing readers to new films, artists, and ideas. When somebody tells us that we made them aware of a classic piece of animation they hadn’t seen before, or when a young, talented artist writes to say that being featured on the Brew got them a job, that’s when we know we’ve done our job right. Who knows what the next six years will bring, but even if the entire industry switches over to making “emotion capture” films, we promise to keep doing what we do as long as you keep reading and participating. Cheers!

Cartoon Brew’s traffic has grown significantly over the past few months resulting in an increase in the number of comments posted by readers. We welcome everybody’s participation, but to ensure a high level of discourse and civility, please make sure to review our guidelines for posting comments before commenting on the site. The following two points will be more strictly enforced in the future:

* It is OK to post with a nickname or alias, but your email address (which we will NEVER share publicly), must be a real, permanent email address. Comments with fake or non-permanent emails will be deleted.

* Be considerate and respectful of others in the discussion. If your comment is defamatory, rude or unnecessarily antagonistic, it will be deleted without comment.

David Scheve’s lawyers at The Deep Archives sent us a DMCA takedown notice today demanding our webhost Webintellects remove the photo of him. The letter from his lawyers has been reprinted on the original post. (If you can help us out legally with the DMCA counter-notice, please contact us). In the comments of that post, director and story artist John Sanford recommended that we hold a caricature contest. Now, with the prospect of having to replace the picture of him with something else, we actually have a valid reason to do this.

So here’s the deal. Everybody is invited to draw their interpretation of David Scheve. Links to the images can be emailed to me here. Deadline is the end of Monday, February 15. I’ll choose an image that I like and send the winner a signed copy of one of my books (your choice): Cartoon Modern, The Art of Pixar Short Films or A Sketchy Past: The Art of Peter de Seve.

UPDATE: I’ve looked through all the entries and chosen David de Rooij from The Netherlands as the winner of the David Scheve Caricature Contest. There were a bunch more terrific entries and I’d love to share them, but I’ve decided to be nice and give David Scheve another chance to prove himself as a decent guy.

Following his falsely filed DMCA notice of copyright infringement, Cartoon Brew filed a counter-notification. For now, the photo of him can remain on this site. Should he choose to pursue further frivolous legal action forcing us to remove the photo, then I will have no choice but to replace his photo with David de Rooij’s drawing and share all of the other entries.

However, I’m hoping that he’s had a chance to study up on fair use laws and recognize that Cartoon Brew is fully within its legal rights to use his photo. Fair use “allows for limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching or scholarship.” The ball is in his court now. If he’s willing to be an adult about the situation, so am I.

Prepare yourself! That’s all I can say about David Sheahan’s Together! (2009). The first time I saw this film was like a punch in the face. It’s bizarre, unsettling, endlessly inventive, and wicked fun. In a nutshell, it’s a completely original take on traditional cartoon animation. The character animation of Candice is inspired, and the use of space and camera is dazzling. The multi-talented Sheahan also composed the music, and voiced the Spider and Candice (the words “I’m wearing a dress” have never sounded so disturbing). Sheahan made this as a graduation film at Pratt Institute, but his fully-realized vision of Together! pushes far beyond student film territory and into a realm of its own. Discover how a moth and roach come Together! exclusively on Cartoon Brew TV.

CONTEST CLOSED! The first six readers who provided a correct answer to this question in the comments section below will receive a copy of the new DVD feature, Rob Zombie presents The Haunted World of El SuperBeasto (courtesy Starz Media/Film Roman). This film is for adults only and will require the winners to state they are over 18.

Paul Giamatti plays Dr. Satan in The Haunted World of El SuperBeasto. Name any other animated film, animated TV series or independent animated short Giamatti has loaned his voice to.

See the answers in our comments section below. CONTEST CLOSED! NO MORE ANSWERS ACCEPTED!

Are you ready??

What is the name of the actor who does the voice of “Wallace” in the Wallace and Gromit Films?

THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED! WINNERS TO BE ANNOUNCED SHORTLY!

The earliest person to correctly answer gets a copy of the latest Aardman Animation production, Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (courtesy of Lionsgate). The second place winner will receive a copy of David Levy’s vital new book Animation Development (Thanks to Allworth Press). The lucky people who correctly answer fourth, fifth, sixth and beyond will get nothing (or as Stan Lee used to say, “a No-Prize”!) The poor unfortunate who’s correct answer is the third received will get an unopened, mint-in-box Scooby Doo and the Samurai Sword, the latest direct-to-DVD production from Warner Bros. Animation.

RESPONSE TO THIS CONTEST CRASHED OUR SERVER. OUR SECOND CONTEST (El SuperBeasto) WILL BE RE-SCHEDULED FOR LATER THIS WEEK!

Don’t say we didn’t warn ya: We will be holding two contests on Monday (10/5) and be giving away a bunch of cool prizes.

Winning both contests require you being the FIRST few people to correctly answer a question about animation, a question somewhat related to the prize. The first contest will be posted at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern and the first prize is a copy of the latest, wonderful Aardman Animation production, Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death (courtesy of Lionsgate). The second place winner will receive a copy of David Levy’s vital new book Animation Development (Thanks to Allworth Press). The booby prize third prize is Scooby Doo and the Samurai Sword, the latest direct-to-DVD production from Warner Bros. Animation (hey, they sent me a copy and a gotta give it away to somebody!).

At 11am Pacific Time (2pm, east coast), we will have a second contest question and the first six adults to answer correctly will receive a copy of the new DVD feature, Rob Zombie presents The Haunted World of El SuperBeasto (courtesy Starz Media/Film Roman). This film is for adults only and will require the winners to state they are over 18.

We ask that winners of recent Cartoon Brew contests of the past year not compete, and allow others a chance to win a prize. See you here tomorrow, and good luck to all!

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.