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Cartoon Brew | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Zambezia

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I’m selling the original “Old Pro” model sheet artwork on eBay right now. It’s a prime example of Cartoon Modern styling by one of the most prolific studios of the decade Playhouse Pictures. The character, which was created for Falstaff Beer, was among the most ubiquitous characters of the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in literally dozens of commercials (many of them directed by Bill Melendez). This is the final model of the character—it’s a large piece that contains 13 delightfully rendered drawings of the character pasted onto posterboard. (There’s a detailed description of the piece and its physical flaws on the auction listing.) I’ve always enjoyed the piece but haven’t had the space to give it the proper framed treatment. It’s time to set it free from my storage and get it into the hands of somebody who can really enjoy it. The auction on eBay ends on December 5th.

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Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Falstaff Beer, Old Pro, Playhouse Pictures

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If only the new mo-cap Tintin movie had half the charm of this film, the first Tintin animated feature – a stop-mo adaptation of the The Crab With Golden Claws. Animated by Claude Misonne in 1947 with puppets, the film (embed below, in French no subtitles) closely follows the original story by Hergé.

(Thanks Johane Matte via Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page)

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Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Claude Misonne, Tintin

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Are you following Cartoon Brew on Twitter and Facebook? We’re active on both!

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Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags:

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(Thanks, Ed Himmel)

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On Thursday October 28th I’ll be doing a book signing (at 6pm) and screening (at 7pm) to celebrate The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons at the Wexner Center For the Arts at Ohio State University in Columbus. Join me, I’ll be screening several 35mm prints of classic cartoons on the big screen. Check the WexArts website for more information.

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Two prominent events this weekend in NYC… Tom Stathes’ Cartoon Carnival Halloweenie on Saturday, and the MoMA screening of rare Disney Laugh o Grams and Ub Iwereks cartoons on Sunday. Tom’s screening is a marathon of rare 16mm prints from his personal collection. It starts Saturday, October 30th at 2:00pm in Vaudeville Park (26 Bushwick at Devoe – L train to Graham St / G to Lorimer) in beautiful Brooklyn, New York. And don’t dare miss Serge Bromberg at MoMA on Sunday October 31st, hosting rare prints and providing piano accompaniment. Go! More info here.

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Bill Plympton is in L.A. to open is new feature, Idiots and Angels. Bill has a special screening/autograph signing event planned for next Monday, November 1st at the Cinefamily/Silent Movie Theatre. I’ll be there moderating a Q & A, and Bill will present a program While I think Fleischer’s “My Old Kentucky Home” is the real first cartoon with synchronized sound, still, of his classic shorts, new films, works-in-progress and a selection of vintage cartoons that inspired him! Bill’s session with us includes: Shuteye Hotel, a film noir murder mystery; Santa: The Fascist Years, which uncovers Santa’s un-jolly past (featuring Mathew Modine); clips from his forthcoming animated feature Cheatin’ and much much more. Click here to reserve your ticket.

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Testing the site. Sorry for the inconvenience.

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Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon got a little unintended publicity this weekend in Hollywood. A man alleged to have put up a large, “supergraphic” billboard in violation of Los Angeles city law was arrested and held on $1 million bail over the weekend.

The massive movie ad was draped over a 1927 building on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, property co-owned by Kayvan Setereh, the man arrested. The ad was strategically positioned to be seen by the throngs attending next week’s Academy Awards ceremony, both in person and on television. According to the L.A. Times, “the city outlawed such signs in August, arguing they are unsafe for pedestrians below and that they could prevent firefighters from entering buildings in an emergency. Critics also decry them as visual blight.”

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Patricia Zohn writes about Disney’s ink-and-paint girls in this month’s Vanity Fair. She started researching the topic after speaking to her aunt, Rae Medby McSpadden, a former ink-and-paint artist. Most of the facts will be familiar to animation history buffs, but it’s a well-written slice-of-life piece that adds color to the bygone days:

During Snow White, it was not at all unusual to see the “girls”—as Walt paternalistically referred to them—thin and exhausted, collapsed on the lawn, in the ladies’ lounge, or even under their desks. “I’ll be so thankful when Snow White is finished and I can live like a human once again,” Rae wrote after she recorded 85 hours in a week. “We would work like little slaves and everybody would go to sleep wherever they were,” said inker Jeanne Lee Keil, one of two left-handers in the department who had to learn everything backward. “I saw the moon rise, sun rise, moon rise, sun rise.” Painter Grace Godino, who would go on to become Rita Hayworth’s studio double, also remembered the long days merging into nights: “When I’d take my clothes off, I’d be in the closet, and I couldn’t figure it out: am I going to sleep or am I getting up?”

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First a few quick snaps:

Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells) and Donachala Daly

Lou Romano (center) gives a young artist some advice.

Craig McCracken (right) and his wife Lauren Faust (left) look over some of their notes.

For a Friday afternoon of an inaugural event it was pretty spectacular. This was supposed to be the “slow day”, but the first day of the CTN-Expo in Burbank was a overwhelming success due to the large amount of attendees and the incredible array of artist exhibitors. In addition to the large exhibitor room, there are two rooms of informative panels and which are seemingly filled at all times. An interview with Mike Mignola (Hellboy) and a seminar on Crafting the Pitch were particularly popular. The day concluded with a VIP Party which ran from 6pm to midnight.

Day two starts today at 10am. If you want to be in the industry, want to be inspired by other artists, or simply want to hang out with a who’s who of current cartoon making, check out the CTN-Expo today or tomorrow. If you were there yesterday (or today) let us know what you think of the Expo in the Comments section below.

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I’m still not a fan of Family Guy but I have to admit this is a terrific sequence from last night’s Season eight premiere.

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ASIFA-Hollywood has announced its Call for Entries for this year’s 37th Annual Annie Awards.

Annie Awards will be presented in 25 categories including best animated feature, home entertainment, television production, television commercial, short subject, video game, as well as individual achievements. Entries can be submitted for consideration from productions released in the United States between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. The deadline to receive entries is Friday, October 16, 2009.

Some big changes to the voting rules have been instituted this year, most significantly that ASIFA-Hollywood members will vote only on the Production categories, and that a final election committee of animation professionals will determine the award recipients for all of the Individual Achievement categories.

This year’s ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 6, 2010 at Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA. The updated ‘Rules and Categories’ list, entry forms and more information can be found online at www.annieawards.org.

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Anyone who has been to the Shine Gallery at L.A.’s Farmer’s Market or has seen Shine’s collection showcased on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD know that Bernie Shine is one of the world’s biggest collectors of original Disney memorabilia.

Former LA County District Attorney Gil Garcetti has recruited Shine to host a party in his home for a very worthwhile charity, Wells Bring Hope. That’s Willie Ito’s art on the poster (above). Rarely does Shine allow anyone but his closest friends into his home see his entire collection. Please click this link for full details of a unique evening of cartoon fun for a good cause - a must for Disney fans who think they’ve seen it all. It’s happening on Friday October 16th at 7:30pm. If you are in L.A. that evening, it will be well-worth attending.

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Is this anyway to rebuild a brand? Hmmmm…. Could be!

Warner Bros. Consumer Products has entered into a licensing agreement with urban clothing designer Johnny Cupcakes to produce a line of limited edition T-shirts featuring the Looney Tunes characters. The new t-shirts will be available ($40 each) beginning this month at Johnny Cupcakes stores in LA, Boston and Hull, Mass as well as online. More info to come via the Johnny Cupcakes blog.

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Nina Paley designed this year’s poster for Asifa-International’s annual International Animation Day. It communicates the idea beautifully, agreed?

For a larger download, or a textless version, click here.

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Devin Roth and Dave Creek of Scatter Brain Inc. just produced a short trailer for Richard Goldgewicht’s live action/animation documentary on Pablo Ferro. Ferro, a former animator and comic book artist who became a legendary designer behind dozens of renown movie main titles, graphic sequences and commercials, worked with the greatest names in film - everyone from Bill Tytla to Stanley Kubrick.

The forthcoming documentary about his life, which will be narrated by Jeff Bridges, should be quite illuminating. For more information on the progress of the doc, check the Pablo production blog. Meanwhile, below is a sample of some of Ferro’s work.

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Yesterday I posted about Miyazaki’s Ponyo and today we have some new clips - via the local ABC movie talk show Backlot Buzz - from the other exciting Disney 2D release of the year:

(Via Slashfilm, thanks Gibbs Rainock)

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It’s been a while since I’ve plugged an animator’s art blog — but Juanmanuel Urbina, an animation director in Columbia, has one that put a smile on my face. Check out his work on Juanmanimation.

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This is from Tom Brazelton, who posts a new movie-themed webcomic three times a week at Theatre Hopper.com

(Thanks, Jerrett Zaroski)

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Continuing our ongoing monitoring of classic cartoon characters on modern food products, animator Alex Kirwan sent in this image of the new Donald Duck Orange Juice carton. Says Kirwan, “They seem to be using the style-guide of a much earlier, circa 40’s Donald, complete with pie-cut eyes, white hat, and black tie. Perhaps they are conciously following the recent trend, lead by Warner Bros. and Popeye, using earlier versions of their characters on their consumer products.”

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Warner Bros. cartoon art collector Eric Calande recently acquired this item through an antique dealer - a Bosko doll. Click thumbnails above for larger images. Is this the first piece of licensed merchandise of a Looney Tunes character? Whether it is or isn’t - it’s damn cool!

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A few years ago we posted about a musician applying a rock guitar soundtrack to a Tom and Jerry cartoon. Now a band from San Antonio called Spastic Ink wrote music to match directly with several animated sequences from Disney’s Bambi. It’s a pretty interesting experiment.

To experience all six videos in this suite click here, go to the middle of the page under the heading “A Wild Hare from ‘Spastic Ink -Ink Complete” to play the Bambi tracks.

(Thanks, Emmett Hall)

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Comic art collector Eric Sack is an old friend who has perhaps the finest collection of original underground comix art in the United States - and he has recently post most of it online.

Of specific interest to Cartoon Brew readers is Sack’s original art to what I consider a Holy Grail item: a mid-30s illustrated book by two ace Fleischer Studio animators, Tom Johnson and Bern E. Wolf (aka Bernie Wolf): CARTOONS: How To Draw ‘Em and Make ‘em Move. The art is chockfull of examples of how to make funny drawings, Fleischer style. Was this thing ever published?

But that’s NOT all! Sack has accumulated all kinds of stuff on the periphery of 30s animation. Check out the material listed erroneously under Terrytoons, featuring pinback button art for super-obscure characters like Van Beuren’s Waffles and Al, and Boyd La Vero’s Marty Monk! Also click on this background from Lantz and art created by my buddy Leslie Cabarga. Great stuff all - Thanks, Eric!

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(Thanks, Thad K)

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Your moment of Zen: Fleischer historian Leslie Cabarga put this Shockwave Flash (SWF) file together awhile ago from ALL the drawings in this scene from Sock-A-Bye Baby (most of which have been sold). Click Here!

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