Cartoon Brew

Preston Blair X 100

Erik Knutson writes in about yesterday's item:

Over the years, those Preston Blair bulldog drawings have become the generic bulldog of school sports teams. My own high school (Tracy High), used just about every version of that bulldog in a variety of ways. Here's a link with a real poor version of one of the drawings (If you look close, you can see it's initialled by the artist and it's not "PB"). And I can remember at least two other high schools in the area that were "Bulldogs" and used those Preston Blair dogs for their logos.

Posted by AMID at 12:49 PM

Buckeyes Love Blair

It seems that the fine folks in Ohio really enjoy the work of animator Preston Blair, and moreso, they love plagiarizing drawings from his ANIMATION how-to book to suit their own needs. The last time we pointed out a Blair swipe, it was the Ohio Lottery Commission. This time, it's the Edgerton Ohio School District which has decided to appropriate Blair's bulldog as their mascot. Adding insult to injury, they've lost the subtlety of shape and solid construction that made Blair's original drawing so good.

BOOK SIGNING

Join me on Sunday afternoon - from 2pm onward - for a book signing and birthday party for Martha Sigall at the Van Eaton Gallery in Sherman Oaks, CA.

We are celebrating Martha with family and friends in honor of the publication of her memoir Living Life Inside The Lines. It's just come out - I saw the book last night at my local Barnes & Noble bookstore, and it's available on amazon.com. I highly recommend it - a unique look at the golden age of animation, not by a star director or animation historian, but by a member of the ink & paint crew. It's filled with great stories, photos and wonderful memories. Come by on Sunday, get a piece of cake and an autograph - and meet one of the few surviving members of Termite Terrace.

THE ART OF TEENAGE ROBOTS

I had a blast last night hosting an Asifa-Hollywood behind the scenes look at MY LIFE AS A TEENAGE ROBOT at Nickelodeon Studios in Burbank. Series creator Rob Renzetti, art director Alex Kirwan and background designer Joseph Holt joined me to discuss the origin of the show, its artistic influences (Astro Boy, Fleischer cartoons and Buffy the Vampie Slayer) and how the series is put together. We screened several episodes on the big screen - I was impressed how much better they looked that way - the design on this show is really superior and worth a closer look.

In fact, you can have a closer look, thanks to a limited edition book, now available at the Frederator Teenage Robot Store on Cafe Press.com. I got a copy of this 120 page sketchbook last night, and its loaded with great full page black & white pencil sketches of various characters, prop designs, background layouts and model sheets. Fun stuff and a great glimpse at the work that goes into designing a show. Highly recommended!
Oh, but if all series released a book as this.

CHILLY WILLY

If you like CHILLY WILLY - the Walter Lantz penguin character developed by Tex Avery (after a frigid debut by Paul J. Smith) - and I mean really like Chilly Willy, then we've got a website for you.

Chilly Willy's Sub-Arctic World is a new fan site compiling everything about the little critter - including streaming video (and plot synopsis) of every one of penguin's animated appearences.

TAX TIME = EBAY TIME

Looks like I owe a little more than I thought this year - so it's time to check the archives and put some of my excess materials on ebay.

Check my ebay listings the next several weeks while I rid myself of some extra film prints, records, books, videos and publications that I just don't feel I need anymore. One man's junk is another man's gold - and new items will be added every couple of days for the rest of the month.

The Art of Animation Timing

Here's a heads-up on an event I'm doing which I'm really looking forward to -- "The Art of Animation Timing: A Master Session with Fred Crippen." It'll take place on Saturday, May 21st, so it's still a few weeks away. Basically the way it'll work is we'll be showing different examples of Fred's work from throughout his career, and inbetween the films there'll be a discussion/Q&A about his distinctive approach to animating and filmmaking.

Fred is certainly one of the most unique animators in the biz. During the 1950s, while he was working at the legendary UPA Studios, he animated seventeen films entirely by himself (4 Columbia theatricals and 13 shorts for THE BOING BOING SHOW). No assistants, nothing. As experimental as UPA was, I'm fairly certain that no other person at the studio in the 50s animated a film entirely by themselves; there were typically multiple animators on each film and those animators each had assistants. And here's Crippen animating film after film, all by himself, in the short span of two years.

In later years, he created ROGER RAMJET, made over 100 SESAME STREET and ELECTRIC COMPANY spots and worked on numerous Saul Bass film projects. He continues animating and directing today.

One of the great things about living in LA is that we can learn from the cartoon masters who live amongst us. Fred is one of those living legends who has over fifty years of experience in the animation biz, and yet unlike most, has managed to retain a highly independent and personal approach to the art form. I hope everybody takes advantage of the opportunity on May 21st to pick up a few animation tips from Fred. There's more details on the event at the ASIFA-Hollywood website (bottom of the page).

OSWALD - AT YOUR SERVICE

Two weeks ago we posted the early 30s Oswald business card of Steve Bosustow. Brew reader (and fellow Mindrot contributor) Tom Bertino sent in this similiar rarity (above) from a year or so earlier.

One wonders: Was Walter Lantz the only animation producer to give business cards to his animators?

FANZINES

Anne D. Bernstein sent me notice of a current Fanzine Exhibition at Phildelphia University. Now that websites have all but taken the place of personal 'zines, it's nice that this original form of self-expression is being recognized.

Of course the exhibit I want to see is already online - Toonhub's magazine page devoted to all animation publications. There have been so few zines devoted to the history, industry and art of animation that they can easily compiled onto this humble page.

I got my start writing a regular column for MINDROT back in 1976. At that time it seemed as if EVERYONE who loved classic cartoons either wrote for or subscribed to this fanzine. There was nothing else - at the time - for us who appreciated animation history (FUNNYWORLD preceeded Mindrot, but had practically dissapeared by 1980).

I would hope Mindrot, Animato, Get Animated, fps and Animation Blast are preserved and displayed in some Fanzine Hall of Fame someday - and accessible in an archive/library for reference. I value my hard copies of these zines. They still contain valuable research and opinions unavailable anywhere online, and were pioneers in creating a community of enthusiasts, historians and animation artists.

P.S. Amid reminds me that a new ANIMATION BLAST (#9) will be available later this year.

Remembering Gene Hazelton

Cartoonist pal Scott Shaw! has written a lovely remembrance of his friend and mentor, Gene Hazelton. It's posted HERE and well worth a read.

Gene Hazelton's Angel Face

I thought it'd be nice to remember Gene Hazelton with a few examples of his short-lived syndicated panel ANGEL FACE from 1957.

TODAY'S OPUS

I don't know if anyone else noticed today's OPUS strip by Berkeley Breathed - but it certainly caught my eye. (If anyone can lead me to an online link for it, I'd appreciate it). Breathed has his characters pondering the male dominance of cartoon characters. Spongebob, Mighty Mouse, Mickey, Bugs, Daffy, Porky, Yogi, Huck and Felix (nice to see Felix back in the Sunday pages, but I digress) - 22 in all - appear without copyright notice in the color section today. (Outside of Snoopy, Garfield, Pogo and Hobbes all the rest pictured are of animated origin)

Of course the question posed - has there been a single female animal character? (not counting adjunct girlfriends) - is an interesting one. I think Breathed forgets Krazy Kat and Molly Moo-Cow (not to mention the fact that Betty Boop started out as a dog). And, as Brew reader Wayne Daigrepont points out, "the grandmammy of all toondom was female: Gertie the Dinosaur!"

And there are plenty of star "human" female cartoon characters - from Tex Avery's Red and Little Lulu to Angelica - but we won't go there... for now.

Gene Hazelton, R.I.P.

Animation designer/comic strip artist Gene Hazelton passed away last Wednesday at age 85. For a thoughtful account of Gene's work, see Mark Evanier's blog. The only major part of Gene's career which isn't mentioned in Mark's obit is his work as art director at Grantray-Lawrence Productions, where he designed hundreds of animated TV commercials between the mid-'50s and early-'60s. I mention this because back in 1999, when I interviewed Gene for ANIMATION BLAST #4, one of the nicest treats of our meetings was when he showed me the designs he'd created for the Grantray commercials. Seeing Gene's incredible drawings certainly played a large role in sparking my fascination with 50s animation design and inspiring my journey to discover other great designers of that era. I'm saddened to hear that Gene won't be around to see the results of what he started when my book on 50s animation design comes out next year, but I'm certain his work will continue to inspire many others in the future just as it inspired me.

(Gene Hazelton photo by John Province)