Chris Battle has sent out a reminder for tomorrow night’s charity auction at Cartoon Network. I’ll be on my way back from Platform, but I would be there (great art and a chance to support the city in which I live). I’ll cut and paste some of which Chris had to say:

“Just wanted to let you know about a very cool art event this weekend: Cartoon Network Studios will once again be host to a special art auction to benefit the Family Service Agency of Burbank on Saturday, June 30th at 6:00 pm. Much like last year’s show, up for auction will be a large selection of original art by animation artists, production-related art + promo items, and special goodies, all going towards an excellent cause.

You can also check out all the items up for auction HERE.”

Best of luck with the auction, everyone.

– Eric

Yeah it’s been a minute. But I’m still alive! Eric here and things have been pretty busy here in the world of animation since Fanboy. I’ve been helping the folks over at Nick with a new Pre School show called Ni Hao Kai Lan and it’s so cute it makes my teeth hurt. Ouch! I’ve also been busy with some development at Disney and Saban so my time for blogging for Fanboy has been limited. But check out these very first roughs of Fanboy and Chum Chum boyz and girlz. Do GirlZ even check this stuff out?

ToonZ to you all!
Robles

I would have to say that without a doubt Jacek Yerka is my current favorite painter. Hailing from Poland, Jacek’s abilities both technically and imagination-wise are outstanding. At one time I can feel the loneliness and hope of each painting, the consequences of war and isolation and yet the sheer joy of the day. He’s quite gifted.
You can see quite a bit more of Mr. Yerka’s work here and [link:]here[/link].

More from the amazing Wikipedia:

Jacek Yerka was born in a Toruń, city in Northern Poland in the early 1950s. He studied art for a short time at University, but then learnt from direct study of Northern European masters, the Van Eycks, Dierck Bouts, Robert Campin, Bosch, and surrealists such as Magritte.

Yerka’s work can be seen in Mind Fields, a book in which Harlan Ellison has provided narration for each of Yerka’s selected pieces.

-Mike Milo

When I started my attempts at being an animator, one of the most cherished books I owned was a book about Eadweard Muybridge book which has series after series of photographs on how people walked ran jumped twirled and danced. It was awesome. Of course these days, you don’t have to actually buy a book to see this wealth of knowledge. Just point your browser to this website and learn away!
It’s interesting to note that all these photographs came about because of a bet…

Read on…
via Wikipedia:

In 1872, soon-to-be Governor of California Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, had taken a position on a popularly-debated question of the day: whether during a horse’s trot, all four hooves were ever off the ground at the same time. Stanford sided with this assertion, called “unsupported transit”, and took it upon himself to prove it scientifically. (Though legend also includes a wager of up to $25,000, there is no evidence of this.) Stanford sought out Muybridge and hired him to settle the question.[1] Muybridge’s relationship with Stanford was long and torrid, and it would ultimately prove to be his entrance and exit from the history books.

This series of photos, taken at what is now Stanford University, is called The Horse in Motion, and shows that the hooves all leave the ground — although not with the legs fully extended forward and back, as contemporary illustrators tended to imagine, but rather at the moment when all the hooves are tucked under the horse, as it switches from “pulling” from the front legs to “pushing” from the back legs.
-Mike Milo

If you frequent the Frederator Blogs, you’ll notice we talk about The Muks a lot! WAAY back in April, The Muks sent out a distress call looking for Flashimators. I helped them out with a BatCall. This is a great Second Season Episode of Sparkle Friends and shows what happens when everyone wants Remote Control. One of my favorite episodes thus far. Great job Muks.

1. Can you tell us about the process that goes into creating an episode of Sparkle Friends?
We start with a basic concept eg, pirates, bigfoot, robots etc and then brainstorm until we have what we think is a unique spin on the subject. Then we script, storyboard and make an animatic, always trying to add more gags and tighten the story at every stage. The Sparkle Friends themselves are voiced by the What Now presenters in Christchurch NZ, but we handle the voices of most of the other characters at Mukpuddy in Auckland. Then it’s animating, editing and adding music/sfx: as we go.
Yeah, so all of that happens in a week…yikes!

2 Who are some of your influences?
Hanna-Barbera, Jim Henson, Genndy Tartakovsky, Craig McCracken, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Frank & Ollie, Glen Keane, Tim Burton, John K, The Simpsons + numerous bloggers out there who are are doing amazing stuff.

3. What do you do when you get stuck creatively?
For visual inspiration we have a look around the net. If we are stuck for gags or are having story problems, we usually just sit around telling stupid stories and making jokes until something clicks. If it makes all 4 of us laugh, it goes in.

4. How’s the second season going, and do you have any special plans you can tell us about for season 3?
Second season is finished and it’s been hugely popular this year with the ‘What Now?’ audience. As for season 3….who knows! The producers of ‘What Now?’ are very happy with us right now, so we might try to sell them on a new idea.

5. When are you guys coming out with toys? If given the choice to produce some, what would be the ultimate cool? Stuffed or Collector Vinyl? (Either way I want both!!!)
New Zealand is a bit small to produce a line of toys for, but we’d kill for a vinyl Gun-gi!!!

Us too, y’all. Us too. Thanks for submitting Muks!

Channel Frederator. Yr #1 SOURCE for Cartoon News & Interviews!
Doctor Bammington.
<3,
-JX!

Who Do YOU want to see On Channel Frederator?
Click here to subscribe to Channel Frederator or go to iTunes. Please send your suggestions to promotecartoons@gmail.com.

Wanna know what else is cool about Channel Frederator?!?

Seriously. If yr film or short is featured on CH.Fred, what better way to promote yrself than embedding the Fred on yr very own website, blog or myspace page? For the extreme Fredheads, there’s the ultimate “Always Fresh” embedding code.
What are you waiting for? All the cool kids are doing it. I have mine up on my Myspace Page now.
Don’t believe me? Take a look, and add me while yr at it!
Cheers!

As “The Secret Life of Robots” cartoon continues to get applause at the Internet Competition screening here at the Platform Animation Festival in Portland, I wanted to give a shot out to all the directors who worked on it. Lee Rubenstein and I may have produced it, but it’s far from being “our” film. This cartoon is a collective work by all the following peeps:

Animax Entertainment

Steve Stark

Nylon Motion

Devin Clark

Bernard Derriman

Seed Animation

Joe Shakula

MukPuddy Animation

Lee Rubenstein

Jeaux Janovsky

Javan Ivey

Bishop Animation

Doogtoons

Michaek Fallik

Apart from Lee, Javan, and I, we’re not sure how many of those guys are in Portland for the fest. But they’re all here in spirit and on screen once a day. We might actually win the award on Saturday! I’ll be sure to blog it up if we do!

-DAN METH

That’s what Super Sam and Spot are doing after a long day of chasing Big City’s most notorious masterminds.
And that’s what I’ll be doing, taking a break that is. No posting from me for the next 10 days. Just enough time to clear out the cobwebs, dust off the sketch book, and refeul the jets. Have a great 4th of July!

Why is “The Sinking of the Lusitania [1918] Winsor McCay’s best film?

Graphically, the animation is outstanding- the smoke; the tilt of the ship as it turns in the water and then sinks in 3 dimensions; the character he gives to the story with the fish cameo and the sillouettes of the sailers atop their watercraft; the fact that McCay had to work from reference with respect to the victims’ families and survivors [he couldn’t make up a dinosaur’s momements and call them believable as in “Gertie”].

Finally, this is probably the first piece of animated propoganda ever, successfully insighting the public against Germany to begin the U.S.’s involvement in WWI.

-Jake

And it went great. Big congratulations to a ton of folks, including Lee, Carrie, and, especially, Dan, for a job well done.

The above shot shows the first group of about eighty animators for tonight’s jam. Clockwise from lower left: Jerry Beck, Dan Meth, Bill Plympton, Pat Smith, Dave Levy, and Lee Rubenstein. Thanks, guys.

A LOT of pictures and one funky film to follow.

– Eric

I recently got my grubby mitts on a copy of [non-Pixar] Disney’s “The Art of Meet the Robinsons”

I will say that there is a definite emphasis on digital art when I was searching the book for drawn art — however, the digital story art, mostly by lead designer Robh Ruppel, is pretty outstanding, and gives an idea of how lighting and framing played a significant role in the film.

Also, there are previously unpublished inspirational drawings by the author of the original book, Bill Joyce.

-Jake