The Pixar Story

  "The Pixar Story"

These two clips totaling 20 minutes of a 90 minute film. You can rent the entire movie instantly on Netflix or Amazon. 

 

 

Lee Unkrich on Win, Lose or Draw

To mark the milestone of reaching 100k followers on Twitter, longtime Pixar creative and Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich posted this “embarrassing” video of his 20-year-old self appearing as a contestant on the popular 80s game show Win, Lose or Draw.  Unkrich steps up to the board at 7:00. 

via the daily what

How Walt Disney Cartoons are made

Chuck Jones, "I Dare You..."

Writing to a class of students in January of 1992 in an effort to promote the art of reading, legendary animator Chuck Jones recalls the books which helped inspire the creation of Wile E. Coyote and Pepé Le Pew, just two of the many cartoon characters he had a hand in bringing to the screen.

Transcript follows. Image courtesy of Davey, however the letter does also seem to be up for sale on eBay at the moment.


Transcript

January 24, 1992

[Redacted]

Knowing how to read and not reading books is like owning skiis and not skiing, owning a board and never riding a wave, or, well, having your favorite sandwich in your hand and not eating it. If you owned a telescope that would open up the entire universe for you would you try to find reason for not looking through it? Because that is exactly what reading is all about; it opens up the universe of humour, of adventure, of romance, of climbing the highest mountain, of diving in the deepest sea.

I found my first experience with Wile E. Coyote in a whole hilarious chapter about coyotes in a book called Roughing It by Mark Twain. I found the entire romantic personality of Pepe Le Pew in a book written by Kenneth Roberts, Captain Hook. I found bits and pieces of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and all the others in wonderful, exciting books.

I dare you all, test your strength: Open a book.

Sincerely,

(Signed)

Chuck Jones

via Letters of Note

Living Lines Library

 Lines by James Baxter




Lines by Andreas Deja



Rescuers Pencil Test from FantasticAdam on Vimeo.

Lines by Milt Kahl

The Living Lines website is an amazing library of animated pencil tests!

Kaj Pindal : Laugh Lines

 Kaj Pindal: Laugh Lines from Amir Avni on Vimeo. Laugh Lines is a film portrait of animator Kaj Pindal.  

The Cal Arts Story

The CalArts Story from Christine Ziemba (CalArts) on Vimeo.

Opening Text for Empire Strikes Back

Behind the scenes look at the opening text 

crawl shoot for Empire Strikes Back.

just because...

Computer and Warhol

Funny...

How to Draw Mickey Mouse

Micheal Sporn has posted a How to Draw Mickey Mouse Series here.

Tron

I must officially be a geek because this gets me excited about CG again.

Tissa David

I am flooded with emails from ambitious female animators entering the field and asking me for advice and mentoring. Sooooo, I wanted to give props to one female animator I have always admired and wished could have been MY mentor - Tissa David.

There is a sensual flow to her work that I just love. the lines of action drip with fluidity. I would love to animate like this woman one day.






The animated short above is an Ani-jam with over 30 NYC animators working to the theme of "eat or get eaten." Tissa David's section of the jam is at about 3:30 minutes into the short. She animated a dog eats pasta and you can see the gorgeous lines there as the pasta forms from a tornado whirlwind to the plate.

Micheal Sporn (one of my favorite animation bloggers)
posted the movie above on his Splog.
It's a great cycle Tissa David created for the animated short "Eggs."

Below is the Eggs short in it's entireity.

Thanatos & eros as a feudin' couple, love it. It gets off to a slow start but hang in there. From The Great American Dream Machine, a very cool 60s style (read free spirit) series on PBS in 1971. In the sub-plots the medical futurism seems very prescient.

Eggs Cast and Crew List:

* 1970
* Directed by: Faith Hubley, John Hubley
* Cast (in credits order): David Burns, Anita Ellis
* Produced by: Faith Hubley, John Hubley
* Original Music by: Quincy Jones
* Film Editing by: Faith Hubley
* Art Department: Nina Di Gangi, Nathan Garland, Susan Goldberger, Faith Hubley, John Hubley, Peter White
* Animation Department: Tissa David,
* Other crew: Jean Williams

Tissa David was born in Transylvania in 1921. She attended the Academy of Beaux Arts in Budapest, where she also co-owned an animation studio. She began her animation career in Budapest, Hungary in 1943, and escaped the Communist takeover of Hungary by moving to Paris in 1950 and directed the animated feature Bonjour Paris in 1953. She worked in Paris until 1955 when she moved to the United States. She has been working in the New York area since 1956 doing animation and direction for UPA, the Hubley's Storyboard Films, Inktank and Michael Sporn. She was a lead animator on Raggedy Ann in 1977.

Links:

Michael Sporn's Bio on Tissa David

Dave Nethery's Page about Tissa David

ASIFA Hall of Fame - Tissa David

Still hard at work - Tissa David IMDB

Animation Blog - Tissa David

Milt Kahl: The Animation Michelangelo

Dear Readers,
I apologize for being so absent. My new job has kept me quite busy, but I am coming up for air to tell you about this great event!!! I am HUGE Milt Kahl fan and the rest of the panel is definitely one you don't get to hear from every day!!! Hope to see you there!

As part of the Marc Davis Celebration of Animation,

the Academy presents a centennial celebration of

“Milt Kahl: The Animation Michelangelo”

Hosted by Andreas Deja.
Panel moderated by animation critic Charles Solomon.

Featuring Kathryn Beaumont, Brad Bird (F/V 76), Ron Clements, John Musker (F/V 77), and Floyd Norman.

Renowned for his unparalleled draftsmanship as well as his exacting nature, Milt Kahl (1909–1987), one of the “nine old men” Walt Disney relied upon to bring his creative vision to the screen, was the animator to whom the other eight turned when they had trouble with a character or scene.

Two of Kahl’s renowned colleagues, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, write in Disney Animation:The Illusion of Life, “Unlike many irascible temperaments who have filled the halls of history, Milt had a very sweet helpful side, when he chose. He gave unstintingly of his time and talent when it was to help the picture and almost as often to help a fellow artist who had a problem. However, he expected everyone coming for help to have worked hard and tried everything – to have done his best before coming.”

Throughout the ’50s and ’60s, when Kahl was responsible for the final design of many characters, he complained of being “saddled” with the animation of challenging, non-comic human characters such as Alice, Peter Pan, Wendy, and Sleeping Beauty’s Prince. But Kahl secretly relished the fact that it was his talent and drive that made these characters come alive.

This celebration of Milt Kahl will feature an insightful analysis of his animation drawings, rare film interviews with Kahl himself, and clips of his work from such Disney favorites as “Mickey’s Circus,” “Pinocchio,” “Bambi,” “Peter Pan,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Jungle Book” and “The Rescuers.” The clips will be interspersed with commentary from those who worked beside him and were inspired by him, revealing the rigorous process and fiery personality of a true animation legend.

Panelists

ANDREAS DEJA, one of the top animators of his generation, brought to life characters as diverse as Gaston in “Beauty and the Beast,” Scar in “The Lion King,” and Lilo in “Lilo & Stitch.”

KATHRYN BEAUMONT was the voice artist for Alice in “ Alice in Wonderland” and Wendy in “Peter Pan.”

BRAD BIRD has won the Animated Feature Film Oscar® twice, for his work on “The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille.”

RON CLEMENTS and JOHN MUSKER served as co-directors and writers on “The Great Mouse Detective,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Hercules” and “Treasure Planet.”

FLOYD NORMAN preceded his lengthy television animation career with experience as an apprentice/assistant to Milt Kahl on “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Sword in the Stone” and “The Jungle Book.”

All guests subject to availability.

Event Information

When

Monday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Where

Samuel Goldwyn Theater
8949 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills , CA 90211

Directions, Parking & Theater Policies

All seating is unreserved.

Evolution of the Batman Logo

Watch Batman Logo Evolution

More:
History of the Batman logo

from 1939 to present by Todd Klein

Something about the modern version for Nightfall 1993 is really interesting to me...

Which one is YOUR favorite!