ANIMAL LOCOMOTION: The Muybridge Works at University of Pensilvania..

Here's a nice book for those interested in animal locomotion. It's a study on Muybridge's method and result of his work with animals at the University of pensilvania. It has a deeper explanation of how animals move around with very clear diagrams.

Like these fellas here:

And the best of it... It's public domain.
Download it here as a PDF
(Right click...save link as...for downloading it)

FRIDAY BONUS: Blair, Dinos and truckers

Mary Blair's 100th birthday

8 bit: The amazing work of french animator Jeremy Perin sent by Joe.

and Dinosaurs from 16 bit

Have a nice weekend.

ROBIN HOOD: Roto + Paint + Comp.

For those who didn't watch the movie, here's the intro for Ridley Scott's Robin Hood.
It was produced by ACME FILMWORKS and directed by  Gianluigi Toccafondo.
Best part of the movie. Enjoy.



Gianluigi Toccafondo of LA PISTA fame. //Beyond Rotoscope//.

EVERY CHILD: A fun exercise with sound.

 Eugene Fedorenko, a russian animator nested in the NFB, produced a short film called EVERY CHILD for Unesco in 1979 (The international year of children). The whole piece is animated over the sound improvisations of LES MIMES ELECTRIQUES 



Fedorenko is also the author of THE VILLAGE OF IDIOTS. Based of a jewish folk tale of a village full of idiots. What more do you want!

Bonus:
Speaking of machines for making weird sounds. Les Luthiers is a crazy argentinian comedy group that invented crazy instruments for performing live. Their comedy is mostly based on puns in spanish, but the instruments by themselves are great.



If you're interested look for more of this

THE OLD MAN & THE PAINT

Alexander Petrov's most well known film using the technique of paint on glass.

Whether you like the film or not, the craft behind its construction is amazing.

THE OLD MAN & THE SEA (JAPAN,1999)

Inspired by an American author, a russian animator and a japanese production company bring to the screen a tale of a caribbean fisherman down on his luck. Global film making.

Using his fingers and brushes, Petrov painted and photographed over 29,000 still frames for this film.
You can see some of his process in the following russian documentary. There's no subtitles, but scrub through and catch him working on the images.

Part 1

Part 2

BONUS

THE STREET by CAROLINE LEAF (1976)
In great quality.

FRIDAY BONUS: Tensor Fasciae & other live drawing thingies.

For those who want to practice live drawing but don't have anyone who would get nude and pose for 1,5 or 10 minutes. This is a great resource to make due while you find anyone.

THE FIGURE DRAWING TRAINING TOOL

Try it! It's free.

And a Little bonus.

TOP 11 TAKES of animation history.

Here is a link to a blog with the top eleven cartoon takes of all time!

http://nicocartoons.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-11-greatest-cartoon-takes.html

Art Clokey's 90th Birthday: Google Doodle

So it's a coincidence, but the day we presented the Stopmotion assignment it's the same one as Art Clokey's birthday and google is celebrating it with a Doodle.

Check it while it's up at Google.com

ALTER EGOS. A documentary about Ryan Larkin.

ALTER EGOS BY LAURENCE GREEN (2004).



 In this award-winning animated documentary we meet two unusual artists. Ryan Larkin was a brilliant filmmaker who ends up panhandling on the streets of Montreal. Chris Landreth is a rising star in animation beginning to experience the kind of adulation Ryan saw decades earlier.
With excerpts of both men's Oscar®-nominated works, this film delves into the tale of Ryan’s descent and the fascinating relationship that developed between the two men. It is a poignant study of artists, addiction and creativity.
------------------
This was picked from the NFB Video Library.
They stream all (or most of) their videos for free. It's a great resource...You should check it

Related movies.
- Walking
- Street Musique

NO CORRAS TANTO. Sand Animation

Sand animation from spanish band EL COMBO LINGA
called NO CORRAS TANTO (Don't run so much)


Cool ideas here.

HAPPY UNBIRTHDAY. A Lipsync process.

The following is a clip featured on www.drawn.ca about the recording sessions Disney animators filmed for inspiration on acting and lip-sync.

  Alice in Wonderland was released on 1951, produced by Disney and directed by Clyde Geronimi Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske.

BABY, I'M YOURS. A handmade rotoscope.

A quote from the record label that paid for this video: "Ed Banger Records is happy to announce the release of BREAKBOT feat Irfane "Baby I'm Yours" video! It was (directed) handmade by IRINA DAKEVA @ WIZZ

It is composed of approx 2000 images watercolor painted one after another (we say Aquarelle in french, way more sexy)".



I want to dance with Irina Dakeva, don't you?

FOR INSPIRATION: VIDEOS ON BUSINESS and STYLE.

1. SAM REGISTER lecture on updating old properties of Warner Brothers for today's T.V audiences.



2. WALT DISNEY talks about the creative process of four designers of Disney Studios back in the day. Walt Peregoy, Eyving Earle, Marc Davis and Josh Meador. Wonderful documentary.

LOVE & THEFT (via Ryan)

Ryan sent LOVE & THEFT by Andreas Hykade

Hykade is one of the greatest contemporary animators. He's part of the German studio FILMBILDER which is producing very exciting films.



I came to know Hykade by a heartbreaking drama called THE RUNT. The designs are childish in a way, but the story is very adult. A contrast that I feel bolsters the message. I recommend it.



Filmbilder also produced the work of Gil Alkabetz... Another great german animator.

Their Channel on youtube is amazing...They stream most of their shorts on high quality http://www.youtube.com/user/filmbilder Check it.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS (via Reggie)

Reggie sent this link for a very funny cut-out short. For inspiration on the Cut-Out assignment.

BATTLE OF THE BANDS...


A battle between album covers.
Is not available for embedding so you'll have to check the link if you want to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6bUD9PJ6i8&feature=player_embedded

LEARNING TO WALK

There's a Buddhist quote that says "All know the Way, but few actually walk it" 

These guys walk it. A 1978 short from Zagreb Films by Bordo ( Borivij Dovnikovic.)

 

 Walking by Ryan Larkin, produced by the NFB in 1968

 

Enjoy!

THE ART OF LOTTE REINIGER by Jason Isaacs (1971)

The Art of Lotte Reiniger (1953-1971) by baraqueafritz Enjoy

FRIDAY BONUS: LIVE DRAWING

Fantasy by Breakbot Feat. Ruckazoid

Enjoy the weekend.

LOTTE'S LEGACY

1. SIX TALES OF PRINCES AND PRINCESSES
by Michel Ocelot, is an amazing homage to the work of Lotte Reiniger ; Both in technique and subject.



The whole movie is on youtube, split in 7 parts. The rest you can find in the
related links at the end.

Ocelot has also directed some of the most exciting features of recent times.
Azur et Asmar and Kirikou and the Sorceress. Both in surprising different styles.

2. KARA WALKER

Kara Walker’s Slavery! Slavery! (1997)


Kara Walker (born November 26, 1969) is a contemporary African American artist who explores race, gender, sexuality, violence and identity in her work. She is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes.


Her work is reminiscent to Lotte Reiniger's animation, even though the thematic is completely different.


A spotlight to the artist on ART21 on http://video.pbs.org/video/1237715781/
Go to Chapter 3 to watch the specific part about this artist.


3. PAPER-CUTTING
If you liked the paper cutting technique you definitely should check http://elsita.typepad.com/allaboutpapercutting/

SOME ART HISTORY READING (Via Ruthie)

Ruthie found some of the articles required for Animation History on the web. She kindly sent an e-mail with the links.

Very appreciated effort.

I found the first article for this week on google books. Couldn't find the Reiniger interview though. Bartosch's The Idea by WIlliam Moritz And I found a lot of the other reading free online. Here are some links to the ones I found for next week -Oskar Fischinger: Artist of the Century by William Moritz -Influence and Inspiration by William Moritz -Enlightenment by WIlliam Mortiz -Jordan Belson, the Last of the Great Masters by Moritz And a link to one for the week after -Eisenstein Shakes Mickey's Hand in Hollywood A lot of these are just chapters from books that are in the Cinema Television library as well.

SOMETHING LEFT, SOMETHING TAKEN (2010)

Something Left, Something Taken- Full Version from Tiny Inventions on Vimeo.

This fun short film about the zodiac killer is an amazing achievement in fusing hand made puppets with digital effects on After Effects. The nicest thing about it is that the people at Tiny Inventions, who developed it, explain the whole process. It's pretty advanced stuff but this shows what can be achieved with After Effects and some Ingenuity. 


RGTV Episode 47: Tiny Inventions from Red Giant on Vimeo.
Check the blog for some AWESOME tutorials and Process of the film!
http://tinyinventions.com/blog/?cat=8

A TRIBUTE TO THE FLEISCHER BROS.

Enjoy this little piece by the Squirrel Nut Zippers doing an amazingly detailed and faithful tribute to the Fleischer Studio cartoons. Animated by Raimond Persi and Matthew Natsuk (The Simpsons)



One from the Group Tally Hall for the song Hidden in the Sand, Directed by Steve Loter (Kim Possible, Ren & Stimpy).
A little less faithful, but still the same references.




And finally, the homage at the beginning of Les Triplettes of Belleville, directed by Sylvain Chomet.

Enjoy all the Fleischerness.

THE REALM OF REPRESENTATION

There's a comic book author, theorist and genius called SCOTT McCLOUD.
He has the definitive book on UNDERSTANDING COMICS. Whoever is interested in visual communication, be it comics, animation, design or film, should definitely check his books.

The conversation we had today about the scale between Abstraction and Realism, made me remember these pages of his first book. I share them with you.

Whoever wants to buy the book, it's here.

KINOCLAJE

Kinoclaje is a Colombian collective, led by the german artist Stephanie Ruckholdt, that recycles used footage film and then do interventions over it with drawing and scratching,for very interesting results.

That´s where the name come from. Kino = Film / Claje = Short for reciclaje (recycling in spanish)

Here's a bit of their work.



I'm not sure if here, but they also mess up with the soundtrack and it's pretty amazing There are some great ideas in their work.

FIGHT THE MAFIA

This is the music video painted directly on film for Fight da Faida.
A song against the italian Mafia by Frankie Hi-NRG
I think it is a great song. And also, yeah, we should fight the mafia!

MORE ON WINSOR McKAY

Here are two more pieces by Winsor McCay.

A very creepy piece called: How a Mosquito operates. (1912)


And the First animated documentary called The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)
An Ocean Liner that got destroyed by a torpedo from a German U-Boat in WWI



He has more stuff, by I thinks these are the ones that stand out.

Bonus: Here´s the trailer for Little Nemo that Miyazaki never got to make.

OTHER FACES FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY

Not to be an indie hipster type, but Georges Méliès (December 8, 1861 – January 21, 1938) Is sooooo commercial... Just kidding, I think there are two characters parallel to him that should also be recognized, but they always seem to be overlooked.

Segundo de Chomón ( October 1871 - May 1929)

 (say-goon-doh-day-show-mon)

He was a spanish pioneer of films. He copied many ideas from Méliès, but the greatest pieces he produced were original concepts like one of his most recognized works: The Electric Hotel (1906) which kind of reminds me of Chaplin´s modern times.




He also does some great stop motion in "Modern Sculpture" (1908)



I don´t know, but I see a lot of this guy´s work influencing Svankmajer.

Wladyslaw Starewicz ( August 1882 - February 1965)

(Many people spell it differently) 

An entomologist turned animator which worked a little later in the century but also a pioneer, mostly in the technique of stop-motion. Which marks a difference with Méliès and De Chomón because he didn't do any live action. The Cameraman´s revenge (1911) is his most recognized work. Is a very adult drama about infidelity.

All of these films are public domain, so you can download them from archive.org in pretty good quality.

El Hotel Electrico (The Electric Hotel) (1908)

http://www.archive.org/details/El_Hotel_Electrico_1908

Miest Kinooperatora ( Cameraman´s revenge) (1911)

http://www.archive.org/details/MiestKinooperatorawladyslawStarewicz1911

ON STORYBOARDING AND LAYOUT

Hi. I´m beginning with some great animation resources on storyboarding, composition and layout; I´ve found on the web. I think they will be very useful to have in mind for the boarding of Chekov´s scene.

(All this info can get pretty overwhelming, so take it easy).

First, some advice by Sherm Cohen. The guy who storyboarded Spongebob Squarepants.

Complete Source of examples

Some other tutorials by the same guy

-----------  o --------------

This is how the Simpsons do it 
by Chris Brown.










-----------  o --------------

Some things to have in mind, by SPUMCO (The people that did Ren and Stimpy)

There are many more resources at ANIMATION MEAT

And Finally STORYBOARDING TEMPLATES If you want to try them.

PS. The 22 Panel´s that always work by Wally Wood (Online High Quality)

Hope this is useful.

See you.

Simón.

WELCOME FRIENDS.

I´ve spent many hours on the Internet and have obsessively collected many information.
Some of it may be useful for the classes, but I don´t wanna be THAT GUY (even though I sort of am).

So I decided to post it here so we can share it without interrupting every five minutes.
I´ll be tagging it by subject of interest, by class and by professor.

If anyone else wants to contribute to the blog, let me know.

Hope this helps.

Simon