By: Jerry Beck,
on 9/30/2016
The biggest collection of material ever from the production of the seminal Disney film 'Pinocchio' is currently on display in San Francisco.
The post In Conversation: John Canemaker On The Disney Family Museum’s Massive ‘Pinocchio’ Exhibit appeared first on Cartoon Brew.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 11/26/2014
Though the work that animators create is often exhilarating, the actual process of animating, which involves sitting at a desk for hours at a time, is not particularly interesting to the general public. In the past, when studio publicity departments were tasked with creating publicity stills of animators, they often posed animators making an expression in front of their mirror while drawing a character with a similar expression. The mirror, it turns out, was not just useful to the animator’s own process but also to the photographer who wanted to compose a dynamic image of the animator at work. It never occurred to me what a common motif this was until I collected a few of them on Instagram a few days ago. Looking at more recent publicity shots of 2D animators, especially from the 1980s and ’90s, the animator-making-an-expression-in-a-mirror publicity shot was largely phased out in favor of a more generic pose of an animator drawing at a desk, looking at the camera while drawing and flipping, or the unnatural pose of holding a maquette while drawing. Enjoy this collection of legendary animators hard at work creating some classic characters:
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/24/2014
President Obama will honor DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg with the 2013 National Medal of Arts.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 7/4/2014
My wrestling match with Ken Anderson now over, I returned once more to Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman and Larry Clemmons, working on the story end of "The Fox and the Hound."
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 4/29/2013
What are the essential reference books that anyone with an interest in animation history should have on their bookshelf? It’s a question I’ve rarely seen discussed and would be curious to hear readers’ feedback. I’m not asking about the best written books about the art form, but rather the books that offer valuable information to those pursuing serious study of the history of 20th century animation.
I whittled down my ‘desert island’ list of animation reference books to just seven titles. There are, in fact, dozens of other excellent books, journals and articles related to specific filmmakers, studios, techniques and styles. I could have easily added another dozen titles to the list and still come up short. However, these are the seven books that I find myself returning to time and time again, and I think they provide a solid overview of 20th century animation for any intrepid researcher/historian/fan of the art form. Please share your favorite reference books in the comments.
1.) Before Mickey: The Animated Film 1898-1928
(1982, revised in 1993) by Donald Crafton — Walt Disney was an important figure in the development of animation, but so were Raoul Barré, James Stuart Blackton, John R. Bray, Emile Cohl, Winsor McCay, Otto Messmer, Lotte Reiniger, and Paul Terry. This book covers all of them, and is essential grounding in the early history of animation.
(1980, revised in 1987) by Leonard Maltin — Capsule histories of Golden Age theatrical animation studios, still unsurpassed as a primer on that era.
(1999, paperback in 2003) by Michael Barrier — The yang to Maltin’s yin. A highly opinionated and meticulously researched take on Golden Age American animation. The book will be best appreciated if you have some existing knowledge of classic animation.
(1981) by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston — Everything that could have already been said about this book has been said. Suffice to say, if you can own just one book about Disney animation, this is it. The development of the studio’s approach to character animation has never been more clearly documented.
(1994) by Giannalberto Bendazzi — From Argentina to Zaire, this is the most thorough survey of global animation. I refer to this book frequently, and more often than not, I’ll find the name I’m looking for. A long-awaited updated edition is due out later this year, which I plan to purchase the moment it’s released.
(1976, reprinted in 1988 as Experimental Animation: Origins of a New Art) by Robert Russett and Cecile Starr — Many of the innovative techniques we see in commercials and music videos nowadays were done decades ago by the likes of Walter Ruttmann, Viking Eggeling, Hans Richter, Oskar Fischinger, Len Lye, and Norman McLaren. This book is still the best source of information about these important abstract and experimental animators of the twentieth century.
(second edition released in 2011) by Graham Webb — Expensive but useful. This is a pure reference work and not something intended to be read, but with over 7,000 entries, it is the most complete listing of credits for Golden Age theatrical shorts, with plenty of credits not even found on IMDB.
Honorary mentions to the following three books: Design in Motion
(1962), Film & TV Graphics
(1967), and Film + TV Graphics 2
(1976) — These books are short on text, but filled with great images from animation produced between the late-1950s and mid-1970s. This vital, and poorly undocumented, period in animation history coincided with the growth and expansion of international and independent animation, which is fully flourishing today. Many important names and films are represented in these books, and I find myself often referencing them.
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 3/12/2012
Who needs the Disney Company! We’ve already got the movie poster for a biopic about Walt Disney so we may as well go ahead and cast the movie. That’s what Cartoon Brew reader Ron did in the comments section yesterday. Below are his novel casting choices for the likes of Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, Margaret Winkler, Fred Moore, Bill Tytla, Art Babbitt, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and others. Share your dream cast in the comments.
Roy O. Disney :: Joel David Moore
Ub Iwerks :: Tarran Killam
Charles Mintz :: Jeremy Piven
Margaret Winkler :: Samantha Morton
Fred Moore :: Sam Huntington
Ward Kimball :: Chris Diamantopoulos
Bill Tytla :: Kevin Dillon
Art Babbitt :: Don Swayze (Apparently, Swayze has already committed to this non-existent film. Ron wrote in the comments, “I’ve met him in person and he looks just like a young Art Babbitt. I told him that in fact and said he should try to play Art Babbitt in a biopic. He seemed open to the idea once I explained who Art Babbitt was and his contribution to history.”)
Marc Davis :: David Cross
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston :: Jason Bateman and Jon Cryer
Shamus Culhane :: Kevin Connolly
Bill Peet :: Topher Grace
Cartoon Brew | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Art Babbitt, Bill Peet, Bill Tytla, Charles Mintz, Frank Thomas, Fred Moore, Marc Davis, Margaret Winkler, Ollie Johnston, Roy O. Disney,
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By: Jerry Beck,
on 6/24/2011
Read THIS if you want to know more about Animated Fragments. Subscribe to our channel on Vimeo to see all the Fragments.
Supreme Believers (Nowness edit) by Universal Everything (UK)
Fancy One by Anthony VanArsdale (USA)
Tram (excerpt) by Rozi Békés (Hungary)
Gahhd Beckay, first dialogue animation by Karl Hadrika (US)
Vintage animation test by Ollie Johnston, one of Disney’s Nine Old Men (US)
Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation |
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Post tags: Anthony VanArsdale, Hungary, Karl Hadrika, Ollie Johnston, Rozi Békés, UK, Universal Everything
By: John,
on 1/11/2010
John Lasseter shares 30 tips from legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston. Some of my favourites:
- It is the thought and circumstances behind the action that will make the action interesting.
- Concentrate on drawing clear, not clean.
- Everything has a function. Don’t draw without knowing why.
(via Frank Chimero)
Posted by John Martz on Drawn! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog |
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Tags: Animation, disney, Ollie Johnston, pixar
