Looking for holiday gifts for that special animation someone…or maybe just for yourself. Look no further than Cartoon Brew’s 2010 Holiday Gift Guide compiled by Jerry and Amid.
LEONARDO – THE COMPLETE CODEX
Animator Jim Capobianco (Pixar) first created a beautiful hand drawn short, Leonardo, then packaged it for sale so attractively, it’s a model for what we’d like to see all animators do. Included in the beautiful DVD boxed set is the complete preliminary storyreel, deleted scenes, audio commentary – as well as a flipbook, a notebook and a pencil. And much much more. A perfect gift to all animators and those aspiring to be.
23 More Animated Gift Ideas after the jump!
JAPANESE INDIE ANIMATORS DVDS
CALF is the most exciting new indie animation label of 2010. The Japan-based company aims to make the work of Japan’s young indie animators accessible to everybody. Their first three releases are dedicated to the works of three important artists: Atsushi Wada, Mirai Mizue and Tochka. Each DVD comes with a booklet in both English and Japanese, and they ship to anywhere in the world.
PVT. SNAFU GOLDEN CLASSICS DVD COLLECTION
This is the classic cartoon DVD event of the year – and it hasn’t been released yet. Producer Steve Stanchfield tells me the DVD will be finally available to order next Monday, December 13th, on Amazon, and the first orders will ship December 16 & 17th. What is it? It’s the Ultimate Snafu – 30 rare World War II era cartoons made by Warner Bros. for the U.S. Armed Forces, starring Private Snafu (directed by Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Frank Tashlin and Friz Freleng). These are newly restored from 35mm elements – Even if you’ve seen these before, you haven’t seen them like this before. Plus bonus features and audio commentaries by Eric Goldberg (who also drew the cover, above), John K., Mike Kazaleh, Mark Mayerson and Jerry Beck. It’s not just a must-have, it’s an absolute requirement!
Bill Plympton’s “Greaser” masterpiece, Hair High, with voices by Sarah Silverman, David Carradine, Don Hertzfeldt and Matt Groening, on DVD with directors commentary track.
Forty-five DreamWorks Studio art directors, character designers, production designers and visual development artists contributed to this beautiful oversized softcover book showcasing the work these artists create for the sake of creation. It’s called Moonshine. Incredible stuff.
ABSOLUTELY BEASTLY CHILDREN
Absolutely Beastly Children is the latest children’s book by Dan Krall (Chowder, Coraline). Straightforward ABCs with delightfully nasty children and a macabre Edward Gorey-ish sensibility. The inclusion of ethnic children throughout is a nice touch–D is represented by Deon, H is Hameed, and Y is Yoshi.
FRAMED INK BY MARCOS MATEU-MESTRE
Marcos Mateu-Mestre is a artist/designer for Sony and Dreamworks and his new book, Framed Art, on drawing and composing shots for films and graphic novels is both detailed and incredibly gorgeous.
EPIC MICKEY FOR WII
Even the reviews that criticize the gameplay admit that the story and animation are top-notch. If you have a Wii, don’t miss Epic Mickey.
SHAZAM BY CHIP KIDD AND GEOFF SPEAR
This book has nothing to do with Filmation cartoons or the animated Justice League — it’s simply a celebration of all things Captain Marvel of the 1940s. I loved writer/designer Chip Kidd and photographer Geoff Spear’s Batman Collected (1996) and this is a companion volume based around “The Big Red Cheese”. 246 pages of pure full-color joy.
Animation legend Jimmy Murakami is selling a DVD of his shorts on his website for £18. Includes Breath (1967) which won the Grand Prix at Annecy, the Oscar-nominated Magic Pear Tree (1968) and the BAFTA-nominated Insects (1963), among other shorts.
ELEMENTAL ANIMATION: THE ART OF SPECIAL EFFECTS ANIMATION
It’s rare to see any documentaries on the history of animation, but Disney recently released three (Count ’em! Three!) and they’ve just hit the video stores: the incredible true story of the song writing Sherman Brothers, The Boys; behind the scenes of Disney animation’s rebound in the 1990s, Don Hahn’s Waking Sleeping Beauty; and the fascinating real-life tour of South America by Walt Disney, Mary Blair, Frank Thomas and others, in Walt & El Groupo.
TWO GUYS NAMED JOE: MASTER ANIMATION STORYTELLERS JOE GRANT & JOE RANFT
And don’t forget the spectacular feature length documentary directed by Raymond Scott’s son Stan Warnow, just out now on DVD, which examines the “the music, the machines and the mystery” behind this mad musical genius. Goes great with the doll (above).
Steve Stanchfield and his company Thunderbean Animation does it again with Stop Motion Marvels, a DVD of super-rare vintage stop motion films. A MUST for any stop motion fan. Read Jerry Beck’s review of the DVD.
For the anime fan who has everything. Kimstim and Zeitgeist’s DVD release of Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor and Other Fantastic Films by Yoji Kamamura collects the works of Japan’s greatest independent animator. The set includes his Oscar nominated Mt. Head (2002) and thirteen other film previously unreleased in North America. Good stuff.
CELESTIAL NAVIGATIONS: SHORT FILMS OF AL JARNOW DVD
by George Chieffet and Stephen DeStefano (Venture Bros., Sym-Bionic Titan). Read 
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by Jules Feiffer. He even talks about working at Terrytoons in the 1950s. Read 
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by Joseph Gilland. Read Pat Smith’s 
by John Canemaker. See our 
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, a DVD of super-rare vintage stop motion films. A MUST for any stop motion fan. Read 
by Chris Robinson. Read 
