Monday, April 9, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Lee Ho Ryon..
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Cortoons Festival
As much as I've traveled, I'd never visited Rome the Eternal City. I've been to Italy 10 times but never seen the sights of the home of the Roman Empire. So when I got the invitation to do a master class there, I began packing my bags.
I was met at the Rome airport by Alessandro, the head of the 9 year old festival. He's a great guy, and was justly proud of the fact that the festival takes no government money -- it's truly an independent, like me.
They held the festival in a wonderful old cinema from the Mussolini era. The large deco theater was packed with 600 adoring fans for my show. It seems it's very difficult to be an animator in Italy -- apparently Berlusconi is not so hot for animation. Consequently, a lot of young artists move to France, or the States.
On my day off, Alessandro and Noemi took me for a grand tour of Circus Maximus and the Colosseum. The ruins were truly magnificent.
The closing ceremonies were a lot of fun. All the films were excellent. But Alessandro stated that there was a problem with the submissions -- too many dark, depressing films. So come on all you funny Americans, send all those hilarious shorts to Cortoons in Roma -- the Italians are waiting!
I give the Cortoons Festival a B+.
I was met at the Rome airport by Alessandro, the head of the 9 year old festival. He's a great guy, and was justly proud of the fact that the festival takes no government money -- it's truly an independent, like me.
They held the festival in a wonderful old cinema from the Mussolini era. The large deco theater was packed with 600 adoring fans for my show. It seems it's very difficult to be an animator in Italy -- apparently Berlusconi is not so hot for animation. Consequently, a lot of young artists move to France, or the States.
On my day off, Alessandro and Noemi took me for a grand tour of Circus Maximus and the Colosseum. The ruins were truly magnificent.
The closing ceremonies were a lot of fun. All the films were excellent. But Alessandro stated that there was a problem with the submissions -- too many dark, depressing films. So come on all you funny Americans, send all those hilarious shorts to Cortoons in Roma -- the Italians are waiting!
I give the Cortoons Festival a B+.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
John Carter
I've known Andrew Stanton since his early days at Pixar-- he and John Lasseter, the late Joe Ranft, and Pete Docter would show up at various festivals with their award winning shorts.
Obviously, I loved his feature work for Pixar. "Wall-E" and "Finding Nemo" are both fantastic films, so I was very excited when I heard he was tackling the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs story "John Carter of Mars".
However, I kept hearing nasty rumors that the production was having problems -- re-editing, rewriting and such. I decided to go out and see it for myself the opening weekend.
Well it's a beautiful film, with fun action scenes and great visuals. My only problem was that it was too much sword and sorcery. All these magical emblems and glowing amulets and glowing erector set body appendages. I like whimsy and fantasy in my films but I didn't really see the need for all the hocus pocus. The characters and story were interesting enough without all the abracadabra.
The unfortunate issue of the film is that it cost a quarter of a billion dollars (plus another 100 million for marketing) and the reviews have not been good. It looks like the film will be a box office disaster, which is not good for Andrew. My prayer is that he'll return to Pixar and continue making terrific animated films.
I myself also had a very rough time with live action -- "J. Lyle" and "Guns on the Clackamas" were box office disasters. So I'm happily back in my comfort zone creating animated shorts and features.
My review for John Carter is a C+.
Obviously, I loved his feature work for Pixar. "Wall-E" and "Finding Nemo" are both fantastic films, so I was very excited when I heard he was tackling the famous Edgar Rice Burroughs story "John Carter of Mars".
However, I kept hearing nasty rumors that the production was having problems -- re-editing, rewriting and such. I decided to go out and see it for myself the opening weekend.
Well it's a beautiful film, with fun action scenes and great visuals. My only problem was that it was too much sword and sorcery. All these magical emblems and glowing amulets and glowing erector set body appendages. I like whimsy and fantasy in my films but I didn't really see the need for all the hocus pocus. The characters and story were interesting enough without all the abracadabra.
The unfortunate issue of the film is that it cost a quarter of a billion dollars (plus another 100 million for marketing) and the reviews have not been good. It looks like the film will be a box office disaster, which is not good for Andrew. My prayer is that he'll return to Pixar and continue making terrific animated films.
I myself also had a very rough time with live action -- "J. Lyle" and "Guns on the Clackamas" were box office disasters. So I'm happily back in my comfort zone creating animated shorts and features.
My review for John Carter is a C+.
João Ruas.. a new inspiration..
Stumbled upon João Ruas's work today.. too many images to post! There's an overall tranquility that I love at work here.. it's like that silence when you're sleeping.. roaring silence.. too far? Enjoy.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Niels Kalk..
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Checking in with James Jean..
James Jean became one of my favorite artists this last year, and it's always great to stop by his site to see new stuff.. enjoy!
Friday, March 30, 2012
L.A. Animation Festival
If you've been reading my blog, you're aware of my special award at this California festival. Last year, the festival honoree was Will Vinton. This year I was selected.
The festival takes place in a charming old 30's Regent Showcase Cinema. The first night I was there was the special screening of "The Iron Giant" with Brad Bird and the crew in attendance. This is the 3rd time I've seen the film and it's still wonderful! Although I could complain about the character design, everything else was superb.
Brad told a wonderful story at his Q&A. When CalArts wanted to junk traditional 2D animation for computer animation, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter came in and forced them not to cancel old style animation. That says a lot about the guys at Pixar!
After that was a retrospective of Liquid Television. I got to say hello to my old friend Prudence Fenton, the producer of the show, and Peter Chung was there to talk about the early days of MTV.
They showed some clips from Aeon Flux -- that looked terrific as ever -- boy that guy can draw.
The next night was "Adventures in Plymptoons" and after I saw "A Monster in Paris", w wonderful French CG film full of great characters and terrific action. The next night was closing night -- I showed "The Tune" for its 20th Anniversary. It was introduced by Spongebob voice maestro Tom Kenny, and it got a good reaction. Although I see so many problems with the film now that I'd sure like to fix, there are also a lot of fun moments.
The next day I visited my old buddy Matt Groening at the Simpsons Bungalow on the Fox lot to talk about a couple of my projects, and then I hightailed it back to NYC to get back to drawing Cheatin'.
I believe that John Andrews is doing a terrific job with the L.A. Animation festival. Its an event that's sorely needed -- that the mecca of animation, L.A, hadn't had a major animation festival (except for the sporadic animation celebration) is criminal. Next year, every animator should send their animated shorts and features to the great L.A. Animation Festival.
I give the fest an A.
The festival takes place in a charming old 30's Regent Showcase Cinema. The first night I was there was the special screening of "The Iron Giant" with Brad Bird and the crew in attendance. This is the 3rd time I've seen the film and it's still wonderful! Although I could complain about the character design, everything else was superb.
Brad told a wonderful story at his Q&A. When CalArts wanted to junk traditional 2D animation for computer animation, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter came in and forced them not to cancel old style animation. That says a lot about the guys at Pixar!
After that was a retrospective of Liquid Television. I got to say hello to my old friend Prudence Fenton, the producer of the show, and Peter Chung was there to talk about the early days of MTV.
They showed some clips from Aeon Flux -- that looked terrific as ever -- boy that guy can draw.
The next night was "Adventures in Plymptoons" and after I saw "A Monster in Paris", w wonderful French CG film full of great characters and terrific action. The next night was closing night -- I showed "The Tune" for its 20th Anniversary. It was introduced by Spongebob voice maestro Tom Kenny, and it got a good reaction. Although I see so many problems with the film now that I'd sure like to fix, there are also a lot of fun moments.
The next day I visited my old buddy Matt Groening at the Simpsons Bungalow on the Fox lot to talk about a couple of my projects, and then I hightailed it back to NYC to get back to drawing Cheatin'.
I believe that John Andrews is doing a terrific job with the L.A. Animation festival. Its an event that's sorely needed -- that the mecca of animation, L.A, hadn't had a major animation festival (except for the sporadic animation celebration) is criminal. Next year, every animator should send their animated shorts and features to the great L.A. Animation Festival.
I give the fest an A.
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