Feature Film

Jorge Gutierrez Talks ‘Book of Life’ In Hour-Long Podcast

Jorge Gutierrez, the director of Fox's "The Book of Life," spoke at length about the film's background and production to the website Del Toro Con. At the very least, the film promises to be the most personal and distinctive-looking major studio CG feature of 2014.

Fine Art

Meet Joyce Pensato And Her Expressionist Remixes of Cartoon Icons

Joyce Pensato (b. 1941, Brooklyn NY) has been painting cartoon characters for years. She takes icons of cartoon art—Felix the Cat, Donald Duck, Batman—and renders them in smudgy charcoal and pastel or runny enamel paint. She works mostly in black and white, occasionally introducing silver and gold for contrast. Though her work seems grounded more in graffiti art, she actually draws from fine art history, from the likes of the Abstract Expressionists, and Philip Guston, who was also influenced by comics.

Cartoon Brew Pick

‘Yellow Sticky Notes: Canadian Anijam’ by Jeff Chiba Stearns

An ‘Anijam’ is a collaborative animation where various artists create individual short animated segments that are linked together to make one larger film. For the first time in Canadian history, 15 of Canada’s most acclaimed independent animators have come together to create a collaborative animated film. "Yellow Sticky Notes: Canadian Anijam" is an innovative and global approach to animation filmmaking and unites animators from coast to coast, from Vancouver to Halifax and all parts in between, to self reflect on one day of their lives using only 4x6 inch yellow sticky notes, a black pen and animation meditation.

Comics

How to Look At Ad Reinhardt, The Cartoonist Who Was A Fine Artist

Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967) was an artist’s artist, renowned among critics and curators, but hard for the general public to warm up to. His most famous fine art works are his Black Paintings, from the 1960s, which at first glance appear to be solid black, but on closer inspection turn out to be blocks of black and almost-black shades. Important, but challenging.

Cartoon Brew Pick

‘Chella Ride’ by Golden Wolf

Electronic music acts Skrillex and Boys Noize recently approached London-based animation studio Golden Wolf to create a music video for their collaborative, experimental music project ‘Dog Blood.’

Award Season Focus

‘Mr. Hublot’: The Art of the Oscar-Nominated Shorts

In this special Cartoon Brew series, we asked the five nominees of the 2013 Best Animated Short Academy Award to discuss the artwork of their films. Today we continue this exclusive look at the short contenders with "Mr. Hublot," a Luxembourg/France co-production directed by Laurent Witz and co-directed by Alexandre Espigares.

Disney

Two Indie Walt Disney Biopics Due in 2014

Did Tom Hanks’ performance as Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks wet your whistle for another depiction of Mr. Disney on the big screen? Then 2014 just might be your year, because two independent biopics are scheduled to be released later this year.

Fine Art

Animators: Plaster The New Museum’s White Walls with Your Art

When animators in Burbank get hungry, there's Moore’s Deli, which has a back room decorated by animation artists, many from the nearby studios of Cartoon Network, Nick, DreamWorks and Disney. Now say you went to New York City, and you wish for an opportunity to emulate, or at least echo, the doodles which caught hold at Moore’s Deli.

DVD

The Ultimate Guide to Animated Mockbusters

Disney's recent trademark lawsuit against Phase 4 Films and their movie "Frozen Land" has reignited discussion about 'mockbusters,' the portmanteau used to describe a genre of home video that is dedicated to tricking customers into mistakenly purchasing a low-budget imitation of a popular movie.

29 of 38