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I have rarely—if ever—participated in any podcasts, which is why I have to point out that I recently put in an appearance on the Frenzer Foreman Animation Forum podcast. In the show, we talk about the time I attended an animation high school, how I got into blogging, where Cartoon Brew is headed, and, of course, what’s happening with the Ward Kimball biography.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival will take place this week. At the festival, I will be speaking about the life, art and animation of Disney legend Ward Kimball. The talk is packed with artwork and film clips, and I guarantee you’ll learn new things about Ward, and perhaps even discover some creative inspiration. You have two chances to check it out:

Friday, September 21, 9:15—10:45PM – Arts Court (Theater)
Saturday, September 22, 1—2:30PM – Arts Court (Theater)

I intended to do a giveaway of my latest book last November, but the first printing sold out before we could even consider that. Now with the second printing out, we can finally host a proper giveaway. So today we’re handing out FOUR copies of The Art of Pixar: The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation:

Over the past 25 years, Pixar’s team of artists, writers, and directors have shaped the world of contemporary animation with their feature films and shorts. From classics such as Toy Story and A Bug’s Life to recent masterpieces such as Up, Toy Story 3, and WALL·E, this comprehensive collection offers a behind-the-scenes tour of every Pixar film to date. Featuring a foreword by Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter, the complete color scripts for every film—published in full for the first time—as well as stunning visual development art, The Art of Pixar is a treasure trove of rare artwork and an essential addition to the library of animation fans and Pixar enthusiasts.

To enter, just post a comment below. Writing “I love Amid” in the body of the comment won’t improve your chances of winning, but it may enhance my sense of self-worth. Contest will close tonight at midnight (ET).

Rules: Contest is open only to residents of the United States. You must leave your correct email address in the e-mail field of the comment, otherwise you can’t be contacted if you win. (Your email address will not be publicly visible).

Cartoon Brew | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Amid Amidi, Color script, The Art of Pixar

Video hosting website Vimeo will be presenting their second-annual Vimeo Awards this June in New York City. The deadline to submit films is next Monday, February 20. The awards have an animation category, as well as other categories that may apply to readers of the Brew, like music video, experimental, advertising, remix and motion graphics. The winner in each category receives $5,000 and there’s also a $25,000 grand prize. Entry fees are $20 per film, or $5 for Vimeo Plus/Pro subscribers. Submission details and official rules are available on their website.

I’m a big fan of the service that Vimeo provides to the filmmaking community. They get everything right from their high-quality video player to elegant site design and respectful community standards. That’s why I’m delighted that they invited me to be one of the judges in their Animation category, along with DreamWorks’s Marcy Page and Eran Hilleli, whose short Between Bears won the animation prize at the first Vimeo Awards. Make our jobs hard and submit lots of great animated films!

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Amid Amidi, Eran Hilleli, Marcy Page, Vimeo, Vimeo Awards

I occasionally receive emails asking something along the lines of, “Whatever happened to that John Kricfalusi/Spumco coffeetable book you were working on?” Recently, however, I’ve noticed that there have been some unflattering rumors about my involvement. That’s why I feel it’s time to set the record straight about what happened to the project. I should point out that this is a personal story written from my perspective, and you may get different versions from the other key players involved. My story, however, comes from first-hand involvement in the project and direct conversations with all the main players. To the best of my knowledge, it’s an accurate account of what happened.

I was asked in 2008 by PictureBox to work with John Kricfalusi and serve as the editor for a book celebrating his work and that of the studio he co-founded, Spumco. The publisher Dan Nadel assured me that, “You and John will have complete control over how the book is marketed, packaged, and presented. You know the audience and I know you, so that’s good enough for me.”

I worked closely with John throughout 2009 on the manuscript. I didn’t write a single word of the book, but came up with the book structure and molded the manuscript into shape. For those who aren’t aware, John is a terrific writer. I didn’t have to do much other than nudge him in the right direction. We ended up with an entertaining, educational and fun manuscript that I look at with pride, filled with new information even for those who think they already know all there is to know about the history of Spumco and John Kricfalusi.

During the time I worked on the book, PictureBox ran into financial problems. The reason Dan told me was due to disappointing sales of a huge two-volume coffeetable book about Gary Panter. As a result, Dan sold the John Kricfalusi book to Abrams ComicArts, a fantastic imprint started by the able Charles Kochman, who is now the executive editor of Abrams. PictureBox remained the book packager, and fundamentally, nothing changed in the production process, except that we gained a bigger publisher with deeper resources.

I was heavily involved on the visual side as well, and sequenced some early versions of the book. Unfortunately, the book began to unravel once it was handed off to the designer Norman Hathaway. It was almost immediately clear that he was a poor match for the book and didn’t understand John’s artwork or the presentation it needed. Dan, however, insisted on keeping Norman onboard because they were personal friends.

I was happy to end my duties on the book because I could see the whole project going south. On February 27, 2010, I sent an email to Norman where I expressed concerns that he was harming the book. In it, I wrote:

After multiple meetings about design and your phone discussions with John, I was all but certain that we’d arrived at some sort of a consensus of what John wants the book to look like. John admittedly hasn’t been clear about certain aspects of the design, but he’s been adamant about one issue: the use of white space. Your layout seems to purposely defy him on this essential point which, regardless of its importance to you, is a make-or-break issue for him. There is tons of wasted white space and columns that are filled with nothing or with a tiny piece of art. This process will not go smoothly unless you build and improve upon John’s ideas. John is asking for excitement for the eyes, a “visual blowjob” in his terminology. This current approach is tame, respectful, and completely at odds with wha

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My favorite publisher Chronicle Books recently announced their fall publishing line-up and it includes three books that may be of interest to Brew readers:

A first of its kind book: Setting the Scene: The Art & Development of Animation Layout by Fraser MacLean. I haven’t seen anything from it, but I know Fraser has been working his tail off to finish the book. It promises to be a comprehensive examination of animation layout practices, both past and present.

Sasquatch’s Big Hair Drawing Book by Chris McDonnell. Chris has worked on animated series like Yo Gabba Gabba! and Tom Goes To The Mayor and also designed Bill Plympton’s new coffeetable art book. His drawing activity book should be something like this.

The Art of Pixar: The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art from 25 Years of Animation by Amid Amidi. Yes, that’s me. But even though my name is on the cover, there won’t be a whole lot of my writing in the book. The book is almost entirely artwork, which is exactly as it should be since it’s called The Art of Pixar. It’ll be all kinds of classy.

Cartoon Brew: Leading the Animation Conversation | Permalink | No comment | Post tags: Amid Amidi, Chris McDonnell, Fraser MacLean

I took only a handful of photos at the Ottawa International Animation Festival last week and most turned out not so well so I’ll share just a couple.

Above I’m sandwiched by the Czech contingent—Geri’s Game director Jan Pinkava and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Michaela Pavlátová (watch her film Repeat on YouTube). I hadn’t seen Jan since interviewing him for the The Art of Pixar Short Films book, during which I greatly enjoyed chatting art and animation with him, as well as touring his sculpture studio. He was attending Ottawa this year on behalf of his new studio home, Laika.

Below, I discovered my (slightly hairier) animation doppelgänger, the handsome Craig Kellman, who was responsible for designing the characters in Madagascar and designing and directing episodes of The Ricky Gervais Show.

Barry Sanders has Amid-less Ottawa photo coverage on his Flickr page. If you have your own photos from the festival, share them in the comments.