The Secret of Kells - Special Screening

For Your Consideration: 2009 Academy Award Nominee for Best Animated Feature -- "THE SECRET OF KELLS".

If you live near Burbank, CA "The Secret of Kells" will be playing it's qualifying theatrical run for the Oscar nomination at the AMC Burbank 8 from Dec. 4 - Dec. 10, 2009.

Tickets and other information here: http://www.gkids.tv/kells/

(click image to view it larger)

A Day For Hand Drawn Animation - 2009

"A Day For Hand-Drawn Animation -2009"

(click on image to view it larger)

 

I posted about this last year , here:

http://hand-drawn-animation.blogspot.com/2008/11/day-for-hand-drawn-animation.html

 

with a follow-up post , here:

http://hand-drawn-animation.blogspot.com/2008/11/forum-for-classical-hand-drawn.html

 

This annual "Day for Hand Drawn Animation" is sponsored by Tahsin and Lâle Özgür at Maltepe University in Istanbul .

 

All devotees of hand drawn animation are invited to mark the day , regardless of their geographical location. (the internet creates such a small world).

 

This year Tash and Lâle write:

November 18th, a Day for Hand-Drawn Animation A universe of dreams and fantasy that opened up with Steamboat Willie on November 18th, 1928, or even earlier, with Little Nemo in 1911. A universe wonderful for the spectator, and even more so for the artists and craftsmen. The tradition is alive and well in 2009. May we all celebrate, those of us who insist on keeping it alive, and those of us who never tire of watching! -Tash & Lâle Özgür

I thought the point that Tash made last year about the distinction of "hand drawn animation" is important to repeat:

"We call it, in our quaint Oriental tongue, Çizgi Film Bayrami, which clumsily translates as "Line-Film Holiday" or something ... "Line-Film" being what we call this kind of film. English lacks a direct equivalent, and the more generic term "animation" might have even facilitated the CG takeover ("it's all animation, isn't it?")

Think of our concept of "line film" as closer to the French "dessin animé" ("animated drawing") - it's French, language of culture, so it probably has more weight in the argument. Which argument? Why, that hand drawn animation is a distinct art form, and not simply a step on the way towards something else. "

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Recently the veteran animator/designer/director Gene Deitch made a similar point in a speech prepared for the Xiamen International Animation Festival (Oct. 30th-Nov. 3rd) in China. Gene's speech is titled "Quo Vadis Animation?" The entire text of his speech is on Cartoon Brew:

 

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/gene-deitch-quo-vadis-animation.html

 

Here is the summary:

“The core of my speech is a pitch for the survival and eventual return to primary favor of “drawn animation.” (Don’t provoke me by mentioning the term “2D” in my presence!)"

Here is a video Gene made since his travel visa was not approved by the Com munist Chinese government , so he was not able to present the speech at the Xiamen International Animation Festival :

On the survival of Drawn Animation

My friend , animator Tahsin Özgür has often made the point that the term "2D animation" is inadequate to use when referring to what we know as classical or traditional hand drawn animation. Writing of the annual "Day for Hand Drawn Animation" celebration that he and his wife Lale sponsor at Maltepe University in Istanbul , Tash says:

"We call it, in our quaint Oriental tongue, Çizgi Film Bayrami, which clumsily translates as "Line-Film Holiday" or something ... "Line-Film" being what we call this kind of film. English lacks a direct equivalent, and the more generic term "animation" might have even facilitated the CG takeover ("it's all animation, isn't it?")

Think of our concept of "line film" as closer to the French "dessin animé" ("animated drawing") - it's French, the language of culture, so it probably has more weight in the argument. Which argument? Why, that hand drawn animation is a distinct art form, and not simply a step on the way towards something else. "

Recently the veteran animator/designer/director Gene Deitch made a similar point in a speech prepared for the Xiamen International Animation Festival (Oct. 30th-Nov. 3rd) in China. Gene's speech is titled "Quo Vadis Animation?" The entire text of his speech is on Cartoon Brew:

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/gene-deitch-quo-vadis-animation-18033.html

Here is the summary:

“The core of my speech is a pitch for the survival and eventual return to primary favor of “drawn animation.” (Don’t provoke me by mentioning the term “2D” in my presence!)"

Here is a video Gene made since his travel visa was not approved by the Chinese government , so he was not able to present the speech at the Xiamen International Animation Festival :

Pups of Liberty - a new animated film by Bert & Jennifer Klein

Directed by Bert and Jennifer Klein, copyright Picnic Productions 2009.

This new animated film looks absolutely charming. "Pups of Liberty" is a 15 min. animated film directed by Bert and Jennifer Klein. The story of the 'Boston Teabone Party' told with cats and dogs. Beautiful 2D hand drawn animation.


(and check out the full crew list : http://www.pupsofliberty.com/FullCrewCredits.html . Quite the impressive pedigree this film has !)

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*UPDATE: There is now an interview about the making-of "Pups of Liberty" with the directors Jennifer & Bert Klein on Michael Sporn's blog. Check it out :

http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?p=2018

Many nice stills from the film are posted and Michael mentioned that in his next blog post tomorrow he will be posting some pre-production artwork from the film that the Klein's sent to him for the interview.

Tom pencil test (Tom & Jerry)

I haven't posted a classic pencil test in a while.  Here for your inspiration is a scene from Hanna Barbera's  MGM Tom & Jerry cartoons. Not sure which of the regular T & J animators did this scene :  Irv Spence, Ed Barge, Ken Muse, Ray Patterson. (or another ?)   Enjoy.

Behind the Scenes at Disney's Talent Development Program

“You learn something from every production that you’re on, even if it’s, you know, a commercial that lasts three weeks. You learn something from it.”

All of our AAU Online animation students should be interested to hear this podcast interview with young animation artists who have recently gone through the Disney Animation Talent Development Program and are now working on production at Disney:

Listen to an exclusive interview as Clay Kaytis, Disney animator and creator of the Animation Podcast, talks to five young artists from Walt Disney Animation Studios. 


These animators share their educational experience, what it's like to be mentored, and their journey toward becoming members of the crew with a voice in the process of creating animated films.


To hear the podcast, go to:


Disney Talent Development Program alumni on the Animation Podcast

Check out the other great animation podcasts on the site with great animators such as Dale Baer, Eric Goldberg, Nik Ranieri,  Glen Keane, etc.

"The Apple and The Worm" , new hand-drawn feature film

The Apple & the Worm is a new hand-drawn feature film from director Anders Morgenthaler.

The film was hand-drawn, but was animated paperlessly on Wacom Cintiq tablets using TVP Animation software.

I don't understand a word of the Danish dialogue in the trailer , but it looks funny.

THE APPLE AND THE WORM TRAILER 01 VO
by Mister3ZE

Another article about "The Apple & the Worm" --Click Here --

Pencil Test Depot - great resource

Add this one to your bookmarks and check it frequently:


The Pencil Test Depot

This collection (which is ever-growing) of pencil tests was put together by animator Jamaal Bradley who writes:

"The Pencil Test Depot blog is for the people who love pencil tests. It can also be used as a resource for animators who are looking to study another animators work."

Thoughts from Brad Bird

I came across this quote from Brad Bird on CartoonBrew recently:

"It’s also worth noting that (Wall Street) analysts are always bullish about any studios whose production slates are loaded with sequels, remakes, and “re-boots”.

This particular poverty of imagination is absolutely mainstream thinking when it comes to businessmen, who are all about recognizing patterns of success that they assume are repeatable… no matter how often that very approach fails.

They always try to copy the original THING rather than the CONDITIONS that allowed the original thing to come into being."

– Brad Bird

He totally nails it. They try to copy the original thing rather than the conditions that allowed the original thing to come into being. Exactly.

"Hey, make me something like Bugs Bunny... yeah, that's it , give me the New Bugs Bunny" , they say , instead of considering "What were the conditions operating at the time of the Leon Schlesinger Studio that caused the artists working there to create characters like Bugs Bunny?" Why not try to replicate those creative conditions that gave rise to those classic cartoons and then see what happens ?

Also for more thoughts along those lines from Brad Bird, read this article from the McKinsey Quarterly on Fostering Innovation , which has been around for a couple of years, but is worth reading again if you've seen it before, or if you missed it the first time around take a look:

Pixar’s Brad Bird on Fostering Innovation

This link is to an excerpt from the full article. To read the full article you'll need to subscribe to The McKinsey Quarterly.

Among the gems from this interview with Brad Bird are :

Lesson Five: High Morale Makes Creativity Cheap

The Quarterly: It sounds like you spend a fair amount of time thinking about the morale of your teams.

Brad Bird: In my experience, the thing that has the most significant impact on a movie’s budget—but never shows up in a budget—is morale.

If you have low morale, for every $1 you spend, you get about 25 cents of value. If you have high morale, for every $1 you spend, you get about $3 of value. Companies should pay much more attention to morale.

Again, he's talking about creating the conditions under which creativity can flourish.

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In a similar vein these thoughts from Frank Zappa about the demise of the music industry which can be applied directly to most of the animation industry today (in the first 2:10 of this interview) :

Frank Zappa Explains Why Cartoons Today Suck

(from CartoonBrew.com)

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Sylvain Chomet's "The Illusionist"

"The Illusionist" from a script by Jacques Tati , directed by Sylvain Chomet ("The Triplettes of Belleville")

The film is near completion (post-production) . Pathe is releasing in Europe, but no word on a U.S. release yet.

Latest images of the film released by Pathe (via Victor Ens' blog)

(click on images to see them larger)





The film is about “a dying breed of stage entertainer whose thunder is being stolen by emerging rock stars. Forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theaters, garden parties and bars, he meets a young fan who changes his life forever.”

Milt Kahl pencil test - King Louis and Mowgli

Some Milt Kahl pencil test goodness :



(a drawing or two are missing, so a couple of bumps not there in the original , but this is pretty much complete)

"The Cat Piano" by Eddie White and Ari Gibson

Beautiful hand-drawn animation and design in the short film "The Cat Piano" by Eddie White and Ari Gibson of the People's Republic of Animation Studio .

(click through to the link on Vimeo to watch in HD.)

Model sheet of The Poet from "The Cat Piano"

© People's Republic of Animation

See the production blog: "The Cat Piano" Production Blog

Richard Purdum - Tate Gallery Liverpool , Modern Art

Amazing animated commercial for the Tate Gallery Liverpool, by Richard Purdum. (from 1988)

The image in the video (from VHS tape) is a bit soft and the colors not as vivid as the original, but this YouTube video is the only version of this I could find online.

If you want to see what it actually looked like go to Hans Bacher's blog to see frame grabs from a good print:

Tate Gallery Liverpool , Modern Art - by Richard Purdum

Eric Goldberg talk- AAU Fall Animation Festival 2008

Each Fall the Academy of Art University Animation Department has a Fall Animation Festival. In 2008 the special guest speaker was master animator Eric Goldberg who regaled the assembled students with a recounting of his brilliant career in animation (ongoing) with film clips accompanying his many charming anecdotes about his adventures in animation.

Click on the link to view Eric's presentation.

AAU Industry on Campus videos

(once you get to the "Industry on Campus" site , click on the link to "Industry on Campus: Eric Goldberg") .

I hope you enjoy watching this presentation as much as I did.

If you're an animation student at Academy of Art University (or anywhere else) and you don't yet own a copy of Eric's wonderful book "Character Animation Crash Course" then GET IT . (I mean it : go order it right now. Hop to it !)

"Second Wind" by Ian Worrel

Ian Worrel's student film, "Second Wind" (Cal Arts, 2008).



Click HD to watch in high-def. Or go to YouTube to watch it larger.

(via Alan Cook's blog)

Dr. Lasseter tells it like it is

John Lasseter Q&A Any advice for aspiring animation student?

Bill Tytla - Stromboli Pencil Test

Animation by Bill Tytla of the character Stromboli from "Pinocchio".

I found good quality scans of this scene on Michael Sporn's excellent blog: http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/

I wanted to try syncing it up with the sound, so am reposting it here. If you compare it to the final color version there are a few drawings missing. On the hold after he says "knock you silly" and is looking menacingly off-screen at Pinocchio the animator had a moving hold on drawing marked "D H-66" . The body is traced back from D H-66, but the beard continues to overlap and settle for 10 frames as Stromboli glowers . I covered this by adding a small interpolation within that 10 frame hold so D H-66 isn't completely held. Later drawing D-132 is missing , so I added another interpolation between D-130 and D- 134 so the timing would be accurate when adding the sound .

Then again from drawing D- 174 to D-178 the inbetween drawing D-176 is missing. This is covered by interpolating D-174 and D- 178. If you look closely you'll notice these little "dissolves" , but it's not too distracting and it keeps the flow of the timing .

Also at the very end when he says "my little wooden gold mine" on the end of the word "gold mine" there should be a blink , but those drawings are missing from the scans. I simply held the last drawing D-224 for the length of time that the blink would take place if it was there. (again, the body was traced-back as a moving hold , with the eye blink. )

Milt Kahl - Mr. Snoops Pencil Test

Mr. Snoops from "The Rescuers" , animated by Milt Kahl. I've seen a version of this recently that had some of the drawings missing . I don't have the Medusa level, but this one has all the Snoops drawings , except for during the long hold his nose level and his eye blinks are missing. (as Medusa says "You are TOO SOFT" she pokes his nose with her finger) . Lip sync is a little off , but this was as close as I could get it working with sound grabbed from a 30fps video, changing it to 24fps and trying to match to the 24fps pencil test. (for context I added the scene right after this one as he finishes his line "fuss about her teddy bear getting wet".)

Something else missing here is the dynamic way that Kahl moves the character within the layout . There is a subtle pan behind Snoops as he backs away from Medusa at the beginning, and again as he moves away from him after she says "You are TOO SOFT" ... You can't see it as much here with all the drawings centered, but if you watch the actual scene in the movie it has more of an illusion of space to it. Check it out on DVD or see a low-res clip on YouTube for comparison to the pencil test: