Congrats to ADDTF for one solid year of reading comics naked.

Also, welcome back ADD and In Sequence.

Did I miss anyone?

 
All-Animation Spectacular!

Note : Since posting this entry, the image hosting service I use has shut down, either temporarily or for good. This is not the first time that this has happened, so I'm going to give it a day or two before I get rid of the images entirely. Sorry about the eyesore.

As I've mentioned before, though my main love is comics, I am currently a student of animation. My interest in the art and history of the artform is increasing all the time, especially since I received so many wonderful birthday presents that were related to animation. I thought I would take an entry out to introduce a few animation sites that I frequent regularly and examples of services that they provide.



Animation Blast is the web site for the best animation magazine on the market, and is a great site all on its own. Most magazines just regurgitate press releases and have no sense of history, while Animation Blast is the best (semi-)regular source for all your animation needs. The site is a great mix of opinion and news, and is practically a blog. It was through Animation Blast that I discovered the creation of a new site for one of my favourite artists, World of Mary Blair. I love her flat, colourful, cute as all get out illustrations. If you'd like to see more, please check out this site.



The animation community has been all abuzz over the impending release of Ren and Stimpy on Thursday, June 26th on TNN, along with some cartoons with Kelsey "Corn Cobbler" Grammer in a big acting stretch as a rat, and Pamela Anderson as a heroic stripper as envisioned by Stan Lee. Yeesh. You can also view a small clip of an interview with John K., creator of Ren and Stimpy. I'm looking forward to it, if only because the timing and the character driven humour on the show still amuses me to no end, even if I can do without the emphasis on gross-out gags.

If you just cannot wait, the flash cartoon BooBoo and the Man is now available for your viewing pleasure. I saw it at the Ottawa Animation Festival, and wasn't all that impressed, especially when it was compared to so many of John K's other fine works, including his previous Yogi Bear short. Though, I must say that I love Mannie the bear with the pointy shoes. BooBoo and the Man has prompted no small amount of controversy over on Shane Glines and Animation Nation. That Animation Nation thread was closed down, and has since continued on to a second thread.



Everything old is new again. You can relive the abandoned Spumco site via the wonders of the Way Back Machine. Up until now, I thought it was text only. Using Dec. 06, 1998 as an example, you can access one of John K.'s essays from Animation Magazine, entitled Funny Goddamn Drawings. Don't forget to check out the nifty Illustration notes for the essay. There's so much to choose from, but I especially liked the Sody Pop comic and it's crazy, kooky, kinetic energy.

Last John K. related piece, I promise. Ralph Bakshi is back in business after taking a hiatus from animation. He's the director behind such films as Fritz the Cat, Street Fight, Lord of the Rings, Cool World, etc. He and John K. will be teaming up to produce a very inexpensive, R-rated feature film. Once again, another heated message board thread devoted to this can be found at Animation Nation. It's worth scrolling through just to read the anecdotes by Stephen "Bigshot" Worth.



Ever since I found out students are allowed an incredible amount of free printouts at the computer centre, I have been taking advantage and printing off model sheets and animation tutorials. Sue's Rock has an amazing amount of character designs, style guides and notes. One-stop shopping, for sure. To access the animation art archives, you have to sign up for her message board. Hoo boy, is it worth the minute and a half in signing up. Another great place is Animation Meat, which has many tutorials, all available in pdf form, making them so much easier to print. And here's yet more model sheets, as well as complete scans of the drawing books of Andrew Loomis, which are invaluable. For more Loomis, make sure you check out the Save Loomis site.



Just finished watching the second dvd in the incomprehensible anime FLCL. There are many fansites for this series that should be easy to find via google, with the above link being one of the best of the bunch. You can check out nifty-o character and mechanical designs, as well as scans from the gorgeous manga. Just about the one thing you won't find is anyone who can actually explain what it all means. I have my theories, which I'm sure I'll swing back to later. The official site (primarily in Japanese) can be found at Gainax, the creators of the show.

Brad Bird, director of Iron Giant, has found a home at Pixar, and I can't hink of a better match. Once again, Animation Nation has a thread about his next film, The Incredibles, which won't be out until late next year. Hope it doesn't get caught in a superhero glut, though I'm willing to bet it's quality, which is practically a sure bet so far as I'm concerned, will see it through.

Jay Stephens has yet another animation project in the works, this one near and dear to a member of my family, called The Cryptids. My brother is the foremost authority on cyrptozoology in the North Bay region. Cryptozoology is the search for and study of animals that have not been proven to exist, like Sasquatch or Ogopogo. The Wintle household is all abuzz over the potential wide spread acceptance and understanding this cartoon may bring to zoology's dark cousin.

On a purely practical level, Animation World Network is great in that it has a huge list of companies and job opportunities, among other things. I prefer the other sites I've already mentioned, as they seem to attract posters and writers with a deeper knowledge and respect for animation. Still, AWN does have the good sense to have a book by Gene Deitch available online.

The opposite of the headache inducing link above is the mighty Cartoon Research, a site run by Jeff Beck, co-author of the Looney Tunes book I received for my birthday. Between this and Animation Blast, you need very little else. On a side note, Beck linked to an interview he had taken part in, one in which he let slip that he was helping out on the dvd release of Looney Tunes, possibly the most-anticipated of animation products.



And so I leave you with this charming image of Fred and Barney relaxing with the smooth flavour of a Winston cigarette. To view the ad this was taken from, click here.

Yabba Dabba Doo!



posted by Steven at 6:59 PM