Channel Frederator Blog

Art is the only way to run away without leaving home. ~Twyla Tharp

Dylan Holden

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In honor of Labor Day, enjoy this early Disney cartoon, “Alice’s Egg Plant”—from the Alice series, natch! The portrayal of Little Red Henski (a Communist Rooster set on unionizing the factory) is extra amusing, considering Walt’s later run-in with the Cartoonists Strike of 1941.

—Anne D. Bernstein

Pikapika is an animation technique that uses flashlights. It’s also referred to as “lightning doodle projects”. The YouTube video above gives a sampling of what you can do with the method. There’s a website here and this video explains it all in robotic English.

Check out a smattering of recent Pikapika videos on this YouTube page. Here’s one:

Not to be confused with what is after the jump: [Read more…]

Chris Prynoski (creator of MTV Downtown, among other things) has curated a show honoring gaming god and father of Dungeons and Dragons Gary Gygax. It opened last Saturday and will be up until September 27th at Titmouse Studio (6616 Lexington Avenue, Los Angeles). Lots of my old friends from MTV Animation have contributed artwork. Just a few of the participating gang of geeky alum (and I mean that in a loving way): Christy Karacas (Superjail), George “not a typo” Krstic and Jody Schaeffer (Megas XLR), Kaori Humara, Richard Mather, Cheese Hasselberger, and Antonio Cannobio. Plus, that guy who created The Tick. And Gabe Swarr, who is everywhere.

—Anne D. Bernstein

I’m going to try out something new here. Every so often, I’ll post an image of a mystery character. When someone guesses correctly, I’ll do a follow up post all about the character and where they came from.

Can any of the Fred Heads out there name this character, and tell where he/she/it is from? What was his/her/its significance?

-Floyd Bishop

This Thursday (August 28th) is the last day to see the exhibit “Golden Legacy: Original Art from 65 Years of Golden Books” at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. I was there last weekend I can confirm that there were adults attending sans kids. (Much of the artwork is hung close to the ground, so be prepared to get down on your knees to take in the details.)

As you may know, Golden Books illustrators included many Disney artists such as Gustav Tenggren and Mary Blair. I was particularly thrilled to see two original pieces by Mary Blair from I Can Fly.

(My one gripe is that the medium of the pieces is not indicated, and although advertised as a collection of “original art”, there seem to be some digital prints in the mix.)

Amazing fact: There have been two BILLION copies of Golden Books printed to date!

If you can’t make it speedily to the West Side, the exhibit (which originated at the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature in Abilene, Texas) will be touring in the future: The Eric Carle Museum and the Chicago Public Library are on the agenda. [Read more…]

I just discovered a blog chock full of interviews with animation artists. Fulle Circle Productions is hosted by student Jason E. Anders, who is particularly enamored of the Spumco/John K. crowd, including Katie Rice, Kristy Gordon, Eddie Fitzgerald, Fred Osmond, Kali Fontecchio, and Nick Cross. The interviews are in-depth and there’s a generous smattering of original artwork. Definitely worth adding to any blogroll.

(Artwork above by Katie Rice with original Spumco notes and splats.) [Read more…]

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” -Albert Einstein

Chris Kennett

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Don’t let the title fool you. This is no kid’s film. I was unaware that director David Lynch (”Twin Peaks”, “Lost Highway”) also did a few animated shorts. This piece features his first wife Peggy. David combines trange audio and bizarre visuals to make for a very creepy film.

 -Floyd Bishop

On  September 1st, “Life’s a Zoo” will premiere as part of TeleToon’s Detour (the Canadian version of Adult Swim on Cartoon Network). The show’s creators, Adam Shaheen and Andrew Horne, are heading up the production from their studio in downtown Toronto.

The show is about a group of animals living in a mansion as part of a huge reality show.  The animals must either work together or plot against one another, just like a live action reality show. The creators have mixed together aspects of just about every reality show there has ever been, and then went over the top with the material.

Perhaps the coolest part of the show is the music video section. Each episode will feature the music of a different Canadian indie band. This gives the show great music at less of a cost, and gets the band a wider exposure than they might get otherwise.

We’ll have to wait and [Read more…]