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I recently interviewed Oregonian illustrator, animator, and director Ward Jenkins. Ward has worked on both coasts, from Primal Screen to LAIKA House.
In the interview, Ward talks about his approach to character design, explains a bit about his directing process, and teases us with a few details from a top secret short film project he’s working on. We also go off on a bit of a tangent, as we talk about one of our favorite animated sequences from a Brad Bird film.
“Super Ani” for Animania, an all-HD cartoon channel
Ward has a great feel to his work. I have been following his blogging, on both his own Ward-O-Matic blog as well as Drawn!, which he contributes to.
Fred Seibert, left, Ward Jenkins, right
Ward is a great artist, a supporter and lover of animation, and an all around good guy. On a side note, when I do these types of interviews, I call the person I’m interviewing and then record the call for the blog. The call is usually me calling to ask if they are ready, and then the interview starts. I talked to Ward about all kinds of stuff for about a half an hour before we ever started the interview. We finally decided to hit record and start it for real. I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I enjoyed doing it.
You’ve all seen the famous Obey poster from last spring supporting Barak Obama’s candidacy. Maybe you’ve even caught some of the other great graphics his historic role has inspired.
Obey, Manifest Hope, and MoveOn.org are sponsoringa new art contest for fresh, sharp, Obama graphics. 2D and 3D art, from painting to photography to sculpture, no matter what you’re talent there’s room for you.
This animation, from College Humor, is a great piece that shows what happened to Megatron and Optimus Prime after their movie came out. If you were a fan of the film, or the tv series, or of those other transforming robots, you’ll most likely enjoy this piece.
Okay, I know I usually post three or four board pages, but I like this seven-page sequence with Boog and the boys. The board is by Mr Eddie Trigueros, his third. The episode was written by Mr Eric Horsted. Also, this is episode #13, putting us 25% of the way through Nick’s initial order of 52 shorts. — Eric (Homan)
Whoops. For a little more than a year, I’ve been thinking off and on how I needed to remember to blog on July 19, 2008, the tenth anniversary of the debut of Oh Yeah! Cartoons on Nickelodeon (although something tells me there may’ve been a sneak preview earlier). Typically, I forgot. For the record, the first three shorts to premiere that Saturday in 1998 were Larry Huber and Bill Burnett’s “ChalkZone”, Vincent Waller and Bill’s “What is Funny?”, and Greg Emison and Bill’s “Jelly’s Day”. A veritable Burnettapalooza. So, happy belated anniversary, OY!. I owe you something tin.
Andrew Farago (a curator at San Francisco’s fabulous Cartoon Art Museum) interviews Jorge R. Gutierrez at the Animation World Magazine website. Jorge is an exuberant artist and Flash maverick with a unique style that brings Mexican culture (especially folk art) into the digital age. He created the Nickelodeon show El Tigre with his wife, Sandra Equihua.
(One of my favorite parts of the interview is where he recalls telling his wife that they were going to become “…the Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo of animation” but “without the, y’know, cheating and the trains hitting you” part.)
Jon Kane and I have worked together for a way long time, and I’m honored whenever I’m lucky enough to get his attention for one of our, ahem, efficiently priced jobs. So it was in 1998 when we were launching Oh Yeah! Cartoons and I thought it would be great to package it with a different vibe than other cartoon show. Calling Kane!
Jon’s company Optic Nerve was one of the leading commercial production shops in New York. Jon conceived the spots, [Read more…]
There’s a worthy charity/animation event coming up this fall: The Totoro Forest Project. Over 200 pieces of artwork (many by folks from the cartoon community) will be exhibited and auctioned to raise funds to support the Totoro Forest Foundation. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki was one of the original contributors to the foundation, which seeks to protect an urban forest, called Sayama Hills, located just outside of Tokyo. The area is known to be the inspiration for his feature film Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro).
This is the official Totoro Forest Foundation website. And go here to learn more about the charity event and view an online gallery of Totoro-inspired images. The project will also publish a tie-in book and selected artwork will be exhibited at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco from September 20-December 7.
The auction is set for September 6 at the Pixar Animation Studio Campus from 5-9 PM. Tickets will go on sale soon. Naturally, this promises to be a swanky time for a good cause.
(The sample show image below is by concept artist Erwin Madrid. See the work-in-progress on his blog.)
