Sketchy Fridays: Party at Craig's

Special Friday, two posts! Craig's got my ass covered for Sketchy Fridays, plus, he's throwin' a shindig this weekend. Wine and Bocce were mentioned. Schwag. Anyhoo, have a groovy ka-nucklehead day, and I'll talk to ya on Toosday.

La Linea comparo: Four generations of hands

Sorry for not posting yesterday. Between the TAIS Showcase (freakin' success, packed house, more on Monday) and getting ready for a martial arts demo this weekend (yes, I am a ninja, just not that ninja), I was completely shagged out. To make up for it, a super-deluxe ending to our La Linea week. Today, a side-by-side comparison of 'Animator as God' toons. The classic example, the Fleishcer's Out of the Inkwell series...check out the detail on the ink spots! The Fleischers were masters of compositing real-world and animated elements, and I believe only Gertie the Dinosaur predates them in the category of animators interacting with their characters.

Next, the Golden Age example, Chuck Jones' immortal Duck Amuck. Still remains one of the best examples, and really gives the depth and breadth of not only Jones' talent as a director, but the scope of personality he gave Daffy.

On to 1970, and Maestro Cavendoli. Here we see the concept broken down to it's bare essentials, a simple line on paper that changes color to suit the character's mood. Mr. Linea is voiced by Carlo Bonomi, by the way...his Milanese accent coming through despite the gibberish.

Finally, the contemporary example, Cellar Door's excellent DooDlez series. Each one is two minutes long, simple black and white, although the characters and interactions are quite detailed. Note that this episode has a particularly canuck flavour, which is good...Cellar Door Productions is in Charlottetown, PEI.

Well, that's that! Damn, 10 minutes over lunch. I'll report big on the TAIS showcase on Tuesday. Happy Canucklehead Day, and Happy 4th to our Yankified readers. Cheers!

La Linea day 3: La Sexilinea

He's Italian, he's an animator, it's the '70's, the topic of sexy shenanigans was bound to come up. Enjoy a racy slice of La Linea...not sure if this one ever aired on broadcast t.v., and I can guarantee you it never showed up on Nick, not even by accident. Enjoy! Meanwhile, I'm off to the TAIS showcase, and you should be too, dammit! Come out to the show, and enjoy this for afters. Later!

La Linea week: Ep.5...featuring the Allen Show!

Our hero finds himself in a bit of a rut in ep. 5. For those of you who wanna grab the whole collection of films, over 100 in total, they released a 3 dvd boxed set. In Germany. Three years ago. Happy hunting.

Meanwhile, Ol' TAIS homey Allen Swerling has checked in from the deep, steamy jungles of deepest, darkest Hamilton, Ontario. Seems he's got an upcoming art exhibit, and he'd like people ta come out and see his freaky-groovy 'sky art'. It's got Tikis and Duckies in it, so it gets my vote. His blog is at:

allenswerling.blogspot.com

and has been added to the Links of Doom! More La Linea tomorrow...meanwhile, get over to Allen's blog and find out more about the show. Good luck dood! Hey, get yer ass down to the TAIS showcase tomorrow, I'll be there!

La Linea week: Ep. 1

Back after what hopefully will be a final weekend of wrestling with Plasma and Premiere, rendering out all my scenes and then editing in Premiere to account for frame drift. It's lookin' good, but 5 hours to render 6 minutes...man, I need some new hardware.

Let's deflate from the complex by celebrating the elegantly simple. Aaron over at Cold Hard Flash mentions in a recent post a film inspired by this classic series, La Linea, which I used to watch on CHAU-TV in Northern N.B. These were started in 1969 by Osvaldo Cavandoli as a promo for Lagostini kitchenware, but became so popular he just kept 'em going. This series was a big fave with broadcasters lookin' for an interstitial series that wouldn't require translation...Mr. Linea speaks totally in Italian-flavoured gibberish. The 'animator as God' schtick is still a good one...just ask the Cellar Door Productions guys about their Doodlez series (another fave)

Anyhoo, here's Ep. 1. Enjoy! Oh, and don't ferget...TAIS showcase on Wednesday night! WOOT!

Sketchy Fridays: Bunneez Rawk!

Had a total fuck of a weekend rendering out every scene of my short, only to have Premiere choke at the last second. It's no biggie, though...shot a rough off to Ottawa, and they know it is a rough, so, finger's crossed kiddies. Speaking of roughs, all it took to improve my mood was listening to the first mix of foley and music for my short. The foley is shit-hot. The music was very cool too, but still preliminary (so the Pirate crew tells me.) Gotta come up with revisions this weekend without sounding too much like a demanding asshole. Meanwhile, Bunneez Rawk.

Summer Showcase and the Joys of Post

1 weekend and three all-nighters later, and the damn thing STILL ain't done. Man, sometimes animation sucks.

O.k., I take it all back. Here's Craig's poster for the upcomin' summer showcase...no sucky animation here! Get yer tickets now, this is gonna be good. Meanwhile, I gotta finish my Ottawa submission...wish me the luck. Later!

Sketchy Fridays: My Anijam video

Not exactly a sketch, but then agin' the anijam didn't exactly go to plan, which is typcial. It's my fault, really, for announcing it so damn close to the TAIS showcase...I guess it's a really busy time of year out there for everyone as well. So, actual submissions for the anijam were a lil' thin on the ground...all told, we've got about six.

What we've got is really great, though, so we're gonna get inventive. Rather than run 'em all as a sequence, Madi's gonna splice 'em in as 10 second interstitials between the bigger films. Clever, no? My submission appears above. I had planned on takin' the full two weeks to do this, but in the final days of finishing 'First Time Out', I could only spare a Tuesday evening. Plus, Madi's gotta have the film edited and done and in the NFB projectionist's hot lil' hands by early next week. So, I took a pre-exisiting 3d character I did for the guys over at GamerCast networks (www.gamercast.com) and made this lil' ode to accuracy.

Meanwhile, I've got to do the final edits to 'First Time Out' this weekend and shoot the guys at Pirate a final Quicktime. The Ottawa selection board's Jerret Zaroski tossed me a bone and is allowing me to submit my film by end of next week, so the Pirate's are rushin' to finish up the sound so I can shoot off a DVD late next week. My main concern is getting the film done and done right...if that means missing my chance to submit to OIAF, I'm cool with that. But, if we can hit the deadline...fingers crossed, people.

The dude's name is Pierre Coffin...gooooooaaaall!

Ah, the joy of YouTube. I sent a quick note to Tuber BestOfLive, who shot me a note back sayin' the individual responsible for our dog and hippo hyjinks is 3d Max maestro Pierre Coffin. From what I can glean off of teh interwebs, he's not well enough known in general circles to have his own Wikipedia page, which is freakin' odd, cuz he's all over YouTube like a bad rug. He was born in '67, which makes him 3 years my senior (yes, I'm freakin' old...sue me.) He did a year-long stint at Amblimation (Spielberg's now-defunct 2d animation house), and now does his thang at Ex Machina, one of France's premiere commercial houses. I'll shoot him an e-mail or two, see if we can't get the good word from the man hisself. Meanwhile, here's some more Pat and Stanley, and a groovy lil' commercial he directed for UK client Vizzaviz.

Pat & Stanley: Toilet troubles

O.k., the hippo and dog duo have a name, and a host site presenting 'em. Still dunno who produces this goodness. I think a quick e-mail to the homies over at Cartoon Brew is in order, eh? Quick note, check out how wide spread the Pat and Stanley phenom is on YouTube...wait 'til the short is over, and scroll through the swatches for more dog n' hippo. Brilliant!

Chris MacGovern

Another quick post for another YouTube discovery! Chris MacGovern's grad film is a lovely lil' piece of character animation. Plus, it's got a bunny. Add a bunny, and you're golden in my book. He's worked on one of my fave games, Psychonauts, and hails from LA. Noice! I'll check out more Youtubey goodness and get back to y'all with what I find.

Hippo and Dog (Hippopotame et Chien)

And now, for no real reason at all, a hippo and a doggie playin' on da beach. Seriously nice work here, but who's responsible? I'll e-mail the dude what posted it and finds out.

TAIS showcase sneak peek- Felix Heeb

The TAIS board met to review film submissions for the upcoming TAIS showcase, and man, what a collection. Get yer ass down to the NFB headquarters on June 27th, cuz you will have yer collective socks rocked off. Seriously, the quality and diversity of the work surprised me. Among these is a fresh entry from TAIS member Felix Heeb. He's posted a copy up on Youtube for y'all to take a gander at. 'Le Bonheur - Happiness' will be part of the screening...here's the lowdown:

When: June 27th, 2007
Where: NFB Cinema, 150 John Street, Toronto.
Time : 6:30pm
Admission : Free for members / General $5

Trust me, yer gonna want to be there. Meanwhile, enjoy Felix's film!

Dog eat Dog: original series vs. liveaction trailer

O.k., those of you who know Jerry Beck know he can be an old-fashioned sorta gent, so when I here him casting dispersions at a certain live-action remake of a certain classic animated character, I gotta think it's his luddite tendencies acting up agin'. 'Til I witnessed this tragedy.

What I can't understand is the need to use the UnderDog name at all...the character doesn't sound or look or act like the original toon(in as much as I can tell from the brief bit of Spidey-esque dialogue...hell, they even grifted the font, fer corn's sake) No contemporary kid knows UnderDog, and only afficianados like the aforementioned Mr. Beck even remember him, 'cept for fond fuzzy memories of Saturday morns past. So, why?

People will continue to fight for no good reason, eat and drink stuff they know is bad for 'em, watch NASCAR, and fund/produce bad films. You'll go crazy tryin' to figger out why, so it's best to just look away. Go see Surf's Up.

Sketchy Fridays: Steve Simpson

Nuts. No time for the sketchy goodness from yours truly this week, so's I thought I'd check out the goods on the Drawn.ca blog, and lo and behold, here's some seriously great sketchiness from veteran kid's book illustrator Steve Simpson. John Martz, the Drawn blog-meister, claims he likes Simpson's sketches more than the finished work. Personally, I love rough pencils, and will take 'em over cleans anyday. Just click on the wayward bunny to hop on over to Steve's blog for more artful goodness. Meanwhile, I'm off to the TAIS board meet...I'll fill y'all in on all the juicy after the weekend. Cheers!

Marc goes a Bloggin'...

Marc Beurteaux (once again, it's pronounce bee-yare-toe), Lego Ninja and master of the mystic art of grant application writing, has caught the bloggin' bug and started his own. Here's the URL:

www.wildsound-filmmaking-feedback-events.com/columnists.html

Several filmmaker blog links are listed, just look for the one with Marc's name, naturally. I'll pop a link in the Links of Doom. Happy Bloggin'!

TAIS board member meeting tomorrow!

Quick post to remind all board members that we'se got a meeting tomorrow night at 6 at the TAIS bunker. Topics of discussion:

-Showcase films, some of which we will screen. (whoop!)
-Anijam submissions, again some of which may be screened.
-Upcoming events and workshops.
-Incubator Scheduling.
-Pizza toppings.

Lookin' forward to seein' what we got in the way of Anijam submissions and Showcase films...plus the the pizza we gets from this one class joint is the best. Really.
See y'all there.

Andy Kehoe: "Thou Shalt Not Treat People Like Dirt"

A cool-ass belated birthday gift from Jen, our erstwhile sales slinger here at Splashworks.com. The print comes from Tiny ShowCase, a site that sells limited edition prints of works that are small in stature but big on beauty. Check out this print from Andy Kehoe...now I just gotta get me a frame. From the website:

"Each week we are going to pick a new piece of tiny artwork. The digital artwork reproduction braintrust at io labs, inc. in Providence, Rhode Island then takes that masterpiece and turns it into a limited-run print production. Each run is printed on 310gsm acid-free Hahnemühle German Etching Paper. It's UltraChrome ink is specially treated and sprayed, giving it an archival lifespan of over 60 years.

You sort of need to see the end product to get the full effect, but each piece really is a beautiful specimen.

Beginning on August 23, 2005 - the half year anniversary of Tiny Showcase, we introduced a new pricing structure where a percentage of the money from each print sold is donated to a charity chosen by the artist. This raises the print price slightly, but now the artist, as well as their favorite charity, benefit from each piece sold."

So support indy art, get yerself sumpin' unique (o.k., unique-ish...it IS a print after all. Quality is phenomenal, BTW) for the wall, and support a charity to boot. Sounds like win, win, freakin' win ta me! The url:

http://www.tinyshowcase.com/

Pes: Game Over

We end todays impromptu Pes-a-thon with my all-time fave. Spot-on renditions of arcade classics with toys, watches, food...damn, but this dude be clever. Hopin' he springs somethin' new on us this fall in Ottawa. Meanwhiles, enjoy.

Pes: Kaboom

Now that we've made some love, let's make some war. Dunno if ol' Pes was tryin' to say sumthin' in his use of clown toys and christmas decorations, either way the effect is funny and disturbing at the same time, revealing sinister potential in mundane objects. Plus, it's got big explosions n' stuff.

Pes: Roof Sex

All I'll say about this one is hide the chillins. Cuz they don't need to be introduced to them birds and bees via your barcalounger. Courtesy of the king of found object animation, Pes.

The Cat Piano

The People's Republic of Animation, a fairly new studio down in Australia, are workin' on a lil' bit of beat-poetry goodness. No clips for now, but here's the title card and model sheet for "The Poet, a tortured romantic in a city of singing cats." Now, I ask ya...here's The Poet.



Here's a pic from a Leonard Cohen CD. Whaddya think, resemblance? Anyone? Or am I on the crack?



Either way, it prompted me to download a bunch of their clips and convert 'em to the Play-Yan, so's I can check 'em out on the bus home tanight. Meanwhile, go check out the production blog. As I said before, no footage yet, but some lovely design work.

http://catpianofilm.blogspot.com/

Sketchy Fridays: Shattered Dream Pie

Decided to initiate a new thang here on the TAIS blog, Sketchy Fridays, where's by I'll upload some sketchy goodness from myself and other TAIS members on Friday of every week. Today, a lil' sumpin' I did for the GamerCast Network forums. Keith Paladino, a.k.a. the Mighty Oot, started a riff during one episode about filling a pie with 'all the shattered dreams' given him by constant dissapointment with game publishers. Hence, 'Shattered Dream Pie' is given to any and all publishers who put out mediocre sequels, nerf multiplayer online games, nickel-and-dime gamers with micropayments, etc. Originally, this one featured the GCN mascot, Emilio the Whooping LLama (more on him later) holding the plate, but I didn't like the way he came out, hence, it's pie. Only pie. More later!

Oh, quick reminder to TAIS members...board meeting next Friday!