To the non-geeks out there who have not seen The Matrix, this 60 seconds animation will satisfy your curiosity.
Revolution ( Life Cycle of a Drop of Water)
Photographer Chris Turner, paper engineer Helen Friel and animator Jess Deacon explore the life cycle of a single drop of water through an animated stop motion pop-up book sequence.
Bambi Meets Godzilla: Short Animation Restored by Fan
Bambi Meets Godzilla. We cannot ever get tired of this. Who knew Bambi had a foot fetish. The less than two minute animation created by Marv Newland in 1969 is considered to be one the 50 greatest cartoons of all-time. Coda Shetterly restored the often too murky versions of the short animation.
The music languidly drones in innocence with Gioacchino Rossini’s William Tell and is extinguished by the Last Note Nightmare from The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”
The film was an early example of remix culture, having been made entirely without permission from either Disney or Toho. It was also notable for its humorous credits, which consume the majority of the film’s 1:32 running time.
The Happy Prince
To me Christmas was the Happy Prince animated short based on the 1888 Oscar Wilde fairy tale. It was a social commentary of Victorian London that breed inequality.
The ACME Corporation
The ACME Corporation poster is catching the attention of many on Kickstarter because of intellectual property legal tiptoeing. Will Warner Brothers allow individuals to profit from their ideas such as ACME? The studio does not hold a copyright on the name. Illustrator Rob Loukotka sold over 2000 posters already and growing. If not for the volume of posters sold, this would be a non-issue. Is this poster really fair use? Time will tell. Either way, it is a great poster. Well done Rob.
Loukotka is walking a legal tightrope. He is mass producing merchandise based on a corporation’s intellectual property. If this was just a collection of random items with the name Acme on them, no one would ever buy the poster. It’s only because of the role these invented Acme items have played within a series of animated shorts that they are recognizable and of interest to the general public. (source)
“I Say, I Say . . . Son!”: A Tribute to Legendary Animators Bob, Chuck, and Tom McKimson by Robert McKimson Jr.
Chuck Jones, Tex Avery and Friz Freleng are perceived as the animators who built the foundation of the Warner Brothers animation studio. The McKimson brothers, Bob, Chuck, and Tom McKimson all played significant roles in the success of the studio but are seldom mentioned in the same breathe. Bob McKimson the better known of the three brothers did not get the public accolades that his contemporaries of the time still enjoy today.
Bob McKimson created classic characters such as Foghorn Leghorn, the Tasmanian Devil, Sylvester Jr. and Speedy Gonzales. Tom and Chuck McKimson besides being animators were also illustrators for Dell Comics and Golden Books. “I Say, I Say . . . Son!”: A Tribute to Legendary Animators Bob, Chuck, and Tom McKimson is a new book that explores the sibling animator trio who not only animated for Warner Brothers, but also contributed to Pink Panther and Mr. Magoo. Robert McKimson Jr., the son of late Bob McKimson offers up a richly illustrated body of work from his family archives. The never before seen illustrations demonstrate that Bob McKimson was a workhorse among the other animators of the time. Finally the trio are getting the long overdue exposure.
John Kricfalusi of Ren and Stimpy fame writes a enthralling lengthy forward explaining why Bob, Chuck and Tom McKimson played a significant role in his own work. Some of the most elaborate exaggerated perspective animation sequences were created by Bob McKimson which are emulated by animators of today. Bob was trained by the early Disney studio system and if left there he would as famous as the other non entities that emerged out of that system. Warner Brothers gave him and the other animators the flexibility to explore their imagination to new heights. Those type of creative urges were stifled and frowned down upon in the Disney system.
Foghorn Leghorn, Bob’s lovable loud mouth southern rooster is perhaps a contradiction to the behind the scenes animator. Henery Hawk was not created by Bob, however he defined the character when paired with Foghorn Leghorn. If I may indulge and take a few words that I think Henery Hawk might say about this book, I think he would say, “buy this book, you schnook!”
Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Hand Lettering Experience
Leandro Senna brings some life into the iconic Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues song based on the original Bob Dylan flip card video from the sixties.
There are 66 cards done in one month during my spare time using only pencil, black tint pens and brushes. The challenge was not to use the computer, no retouching was allowed. Getting a letter wrong meant starting the page over.
I had a lot of fun doing this project, researching, practicing and getting deeper on typography.
There are some intentional misspellings and puns on the original song video, so I tried to keep that in a certain way.
Sam and Friends
56 years ago Sam and Friends debuted with no fanfare, it was the sandbox that would graduate into Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. Sam and Friends aired weekdays from May 9, 1955 to December 15, 1961. All the characters were voiced by Jim Henson.
Want to learn more about Sam and Friends? You can find some interesting literature from two books published about the works of Jim Henson. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street and Before You Leap: A Frog’s Eye View of Life’s Greatest Lessons.
No Robert Johnson, No Rock and Roll
Robert Johnson: Devilish Detail on Nowness.com.
Ever since Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil, music has never been the same. To celebrate the 100th birthday of Robert Johnson, illustrator Christopher Darling animates the myth of the short lived iconic blues musician to life. Poor Robert never made it big, everybody copied him and made millions from his music.
Naughty Design: The Free Art Magazine
Amazing art from Donut Communication in the digital magazine Naughty Design that features Swiss artists.
Read free online.
via-nevercrewblog
The Cameraman: Chris Ware Animation
Cartoonist Chris Ware and animator John Kuramoto bring you a short tale of how a camera can rob you of your humanity even if the camera’s not real.
via-hitrecordjoe
Stop Motion Digital Magazine Cover: Theory of Connectivity
Simon from the Land of Chalk Drawings has nothing on Adam Voorhes and Will Bryant.
via-designworklife
Angry Birds Rio
Here is one flock of birds you don’t want to take anger management classes. Anger is the key in having fun with these birds. Angry Birds Rio is the latest addition in the Angry Birds franchise. Blame it on Rio. The 20th Century Fox animated feature Rio is used to promote the latest Angry Birds app. A clever cross marketing gimmick.
“The Birds have been on a tear of late,” says Ina Fried at All Things D, with an imminent Valentine’s Day update and an animated TV series in the works. But while this movie tie-in will give “new hope to app builders everywhere,” says Lydia Leavitt at TG Daily, it’s also possible that “the franchise will simply over-saturate the market and implode by the time the movie is ready.”
