“All true artists, whether they know it or not, create from a place of no-mind, from inner stillness.” -Eckhart Tolle

Denny Furlong

Clinton Racine

Casey Lowe

The Militant Marker

Bruno Chekerdimian

gustavo arguello

Geoff Munn

-angie

As the park grew, and the public needed more and more in the park to keep them coming back, Walt Disney turned to the artists who he had trusted with his films to help create new experiences for the park. Marc Davis (pictured above) and John Hench are just two of the many artists who started in animation and then found themselves helping Walt with Disneyland. Park staples, such as Pirates of the Caribbean, the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the Haunted Mansion all feature work from former animators.

These artists weren’t just creating content for inside these attractions, but helping to design the entire thing, like in this concept piece by John Hench. Did you notice the external, boat like elevators in the drawing? They were most likely cut due to budget concerns.

There is a lot more to Disneyland than just rides. There are some great art pieces in the park, if you know where to look.

-Floyd Bishop

 No one has seen the upcoming “Fish Rights” episode of Nite Fite yet, but I wanted to share this story while it’s still timely. This past weekend, my friend Drew Nelson who provided the voice of guest Ethan Bruce (see above picture) saved a woman’s life! She was getting sucked down the Colorado River and Drew bravely jumped in and rescued her! Here’s a news article that describes the events. The irony of this story is that in his appearance of Nite Fite (recorded months before the rescue) Drew portrayed a strange aquatic mermain hippie activist. The fact that he somehow jumped in a treacherous river to save someone only proves that the character re-possesed his body at just the right moment!And that leads me to conclude that Nite Fite is also responsible for saving this woman’s life.Well maybe not, but it’s still very cool to have a hero on our show.-Dan

Today we salute Adam Rosette - animator extraordinaire! When I first started looking for animators to join the Nite Fite team, I put my feelers out. My first call was to Dave Levy - president of the New York chapter of ASIFA and all-around great guy. Dave was wrapping up his own production for Adult Swim’s Assy McGee literally the week before we were due to start. It all worked out swimmingly, as Dave sent us a list of people that he thought would be great to come over and work on Nite Fite. Adam Rosette was one of those people and first on Dave’s list. When I got Adam’s name, and started to ask around about him. Just about everyone I spoke to would say - “Adam Rosette? OH! He’s perfect for Nite Fite“. Sure enough… he was!

Adam graduated from SVA here in New York City in 2007. In the short time he’s been in the industry, I can’t believe how much Adam has achieved! He’s worked at all of the major studios - MTV, Nick Jr., World Leaders, Animation Collective - you know the guys, and now Frederator! I can really see why. Adam has, not only the skills to work at the best studios, but the creativity. Wait until you see some of the stuff this guy put together for some of the upcoming episodes.

Not only is Adam great at what he does for a living, but he’s a great guy to have around the office. We had the option of having our animators work off-site, but ended up deciding it was better to bring people in. Adam is one of the reasons I’m so glad that we did. He’s totally easy going and has a great sense of humor (which you’ll catch a glimpse of in the episodes). He’s one of those guys that doesn’t say much, but when he does it’s sure to be good. He is so enthusiastic and puts his all into his work.

When not animating, Adam likes to draw for fun and rock out on his guitar. He also likes going to see live comedy and has a really wild story about a fish tank and his landlord. While I will miss Adam after Nite Fite, I know he’s going to do something SO COOL after this and really wish him the best! - Carrie

In this intro from the Disneyland tv show spotlights a few of the lands in Disneyland. These included Frontierland, Tomorrowland, Adventureland, and Fantasyland. For some reason, Holidayland was never really promoted too often, and was closed in 1961. Other “lands”, such as New Orleans Square and Mickey’s Toon Town were added later.

In this intro, we see Tinker Bell act out a bit for each of the spotlighted lands. She zips in and out as the text introduces the next location. It is particularly interesting to see the level of the effects in this piece as well, from Tinker Bell’s pixie dust trail, to the take off of the Tomorrowland rocket ship.  Custom animated segments would be used often to promote the park, and eventually animators would begin designing parts of the park themselves…

-Floyd Bishop 

Via Parent Dish


Disney is creating their first African-American Princess, in The Princess and the Frog. And apparently, they had to rescrap the first version (formerly, The Frog Princess).
Make with the clickies and read the scoop at Parent Dish.
-Jeaux Janovsky

I’ll be away for about a week, so I won’t be posting. Wish me luck applying the sunscreen evenly. I’ll leave you with this shore-related music video, starring some Playmobil People. It’s “Like a Toy Lost In the Sand” by Graceful Storms, a project of the French singer Manu Servé.

—Anne D. Bernstein

If you’re in New York tomorrow (Thursday), you’re invited to our Nite Fite launch party. That’s right, YOU!

No admission, just your lovely self, come meet Dan Meth and the whole Nite Fite team to celebrate the launch of his new series.

Here’s all the details, straight from the Evite. Come say Hi. –Fred

>>>>>

Location: M1-5 Bar/Cocktails 52 Walker Street, Manhattan, New York (Map) 212-779-4005

When: Thursday, July 24, 2008

Time: 6-9pm

I will be at the San Diego Comic-con this week promoting “Thom Cat” for the San Diego International Children’s Film Festival and pitching “Thom Cat” as a series!  My schedule so far is Saturday July 26th from noon to 1pm at the Cartoon Art Museum booth (doing sketches for donations to the museum) and Sunday July 27th 12:30pm to 1:30pm in Room 10 for the San Diego International Children’s Film Festival screening of “Thom Cat” followed by a Q&A session with all the filmmakers, and then from 2pm to 3pm also on Sunday the 27th at the NCS (National Cartoonist’s Society) booth doing free sketches and talking about “Thom Cat!”  I will also be at the San Diego International Children’s Film Festival booth on the Mezzanine at least one time from Friday to Sunday doing sketches for donations to the festival, time TBD, please stop by the booth to find out when!  –Mike Gray

Being a Mac person from way back, I haven’t paid much attention to Microsoft’s entry into the digital media player pack, Zune. But I have taken an interest in Zune-Arts, a related experiment that commissions artists to create original content. Above, you will find an example: an animated very-short short with a great deal of heart (viewable on the Zune-Arts site as well as YouTube)…no Zune required!

Earlier this year, Yves Geleyn (of the animation production company Hornet) created “Mother Like No Other” using fabric, textured paper, and photographs. A beaver and his cardinal sidekick search for ingredients for an appropriate Mother’s Day bouquet.

Music is “Come as You Were” by The Bird and the Bee.

See a behind-the-scenes podcast after the jump. [Read more…]