ASIFA Hollywood has posted a blog page with some great drawings of Ralph Bakshi!
His work marked a near diametric departure from the animated films being produced by the major studios such as Disney. Grating, gritty and often quite “adult,” Bakshi created interesting and memorable movies, such as “Fritz the Cat” and a couple of my childhood favorites, “Fire and Ice” and “Wizards.”
Thanks for all your interest and patience while waiting for the cart to get completed. As of LATE last night we are taking orders for the DVD-ROMs!
“Rigging for Feature Animation” is in the can and going to begin printing & duplication any day now. These DVDs will begin shipping out at the very end of March. The other two titles in the “Feature Animation” series will ship this time next month, at the end of April. Then other titles will follow.
Once again, thanks for your interest, all the good feedback (keep it coming!) and the patience you afforded us while we worked to finish everything.
-Aaron
Famed animator Joseph Barbera celebrated his 95th birthday today! We all know his work and have all loved Hanna-Barbera shows since we were kids. Tom & Jerry. Scooby Doo, Where are You? The Flintstones. The Jetsons. And one of my personal favorites as a kid, Johnny Quest.
On April 6th, 1906 the first animated piece was created by James Stuart Blackton titled “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces.” The artform of animation was invented and the rest, as we say, is history!
The Animation Archive is hosting an event celebrate this historical achievement and how far our industry has come in the past 100 years. This celebration is open to anyone and everyone who loves the art of animation!
Thursday April 6th, 2006 from 6PM to 9PM
ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive
2114 Burbank Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91506
Please rsvp at: animation100@animationarchive.org
More information about James Stuart Blackton
Today at Disney I attended a panel discussion of the artist still working there who studied under the “9 Old Men” of animation legend. It was great hearing the insights, jokes and lessons learned by animators like Glen Keane, Ruben Aquino, Mark Henn and others. And it was awe-inspiring to see the drawings and pencil tests of the great legends.
At the end of the discussion each artist spoke about what they learned from their mentors. Every last one of them proclaimed that first and foremost, good animation must come from inside. Unless you can sincerely feel or think what the character is feeling or thinking in a particular scene, it is impossible to bring that forward to the audience.
The panel also spoke about “not cheating your audience,” which refers back not only to the beauty of the movies they made but also the clarity and sincerity of their stories. I personally believe this is why we can all watch the Disney classics today and they will still have the same, strong impact upon us.
When asked about how each artist approaches a shot they ALL said “thumbnails” as one of the key tools to planning their shots. Without a roadmap they would find themselves wandering without direction. There was also mention of acting out their scenes. Often when they looked at what they were doing when acting it was different than their thumbnails, so they draw on both resources. And of course there is “people watching.” They continually observe the world around them and store it all away to draw upon one day in the future to add “life” to a character.
And there was so many more interesting tidbits and pearls of wisdom from this panel. It was an exciting time for them and we are looking forward to a new, exciting era at Disney into the future!
On Saturday, March 25th the Visual Effects Society and LA Chapter of ACM Siggraph will be hosting a panel discussion entitled “Experential Narrative in Games and Film.”
With some of the top names in the entertainment industry, this panel will discuss the future potential and convergence of the storytelling power in both the Interactive and Feature Film industries. This convergence will combine the emotion and drama of film with the interactivity of video games to create stories in which we can participate as well as watch.
The panel includes:
The program starts with a reception at 10AM, the panel discussion begins at 11AM and admission will cost $15 (free to VES and LA Siggraph members). This event will take place at:
Digital Cinema Laboratory at the Pacific Hollywood Theatre
6433 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028
After a lot of hard work and late nights we are pleased to announce that Rigging for Feature Animation will be available for sale by the end of March, as originally planned. We have been working hard to get the web site up, running and tested as well as going over our first product to make sure it is the kind of content we want to deliver to you.
Rigging for Feature Animation is the first of a three-part series focused on sharing the tools & techniques used to give Animators the controls they need to bring characters to life. Special attention is paid to flexibility and speed, two essential aspects to insure that the creative “flow” of an Animator is not impeded.
Although there are close to 9 hours of video lessons in Rigging for Feature Animation, the information is clear and concise and accessible to everyone. And most chapters are divided into shorter “lessons” relating to that one topic, making it easier to digest the information once it has been broken into logical steps rather than covering the entire chapter at one time. The final rig, which is the foundation onto which the character is built, is kept as simple and solid as possible. Every tool and step is thoroughly explained and when we can we show you more than one way to tackle a given problem.
We believe the simplicity and clarity of these lessons will serve as a great tool for new Character TDs learning their craft and also offer a few new tricks to more experienced TDs.
As with all of our upcoming products, the lessons will be available as both a physical DVD-ROM and as video streaming from our web site. The content will be identical. One difference is that the streaming video will be available in two resolutions; the full 1024 x 768 and a smaller resolution. This smaller size was created to allow you to view the lessons within a Browser panel within Maya while following along in an interactive 3D panel. You can pause where you need or rewind if you want to see something one more time, all the while following along & staying focused on what you are doing.
So, we’d like to thank for your patience and your interest. And we look forward to getting as much feedback as possible to not only continue to improve the content but also improve how we deliver it to you. Please tell us what you think and what you would like to see in the future. Our whole goal is to bring you the kind of information YOU want in ways that make it easiest to learn.
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