Channel Frederator Blog

On the heels of yesterday’s post about Henry Selick and Coraline, I recently came across a two-part interview on Ward Jenkin’s blog (from last year) about the obscure animated feature Twice Upon a Time, directed by John Korty and Charles Swenson. (Click here for Part One and Part Two.) Selick worked on this way back in 1983 as a “sequence director”. Ward interviews Taylor Jessen, who wrote an article on the subject for Animation Blast #9. (An online version can be found here.)

Twice Upon a Time was created with an animation technique called “lumage”: stop-motion using translucent 2D objects photographed against a backlit background.

Some other interesting people who worked on this: Marshall Efron and Lorenzo Music did voices; director David Fincher (Fight Club) was responsible for “special photographic effects”. Oh yeah, and George Lucas was the producer!

Additional info is available at this site devoted to “the most unusual animated film of the 1980’s”.

Since there are no [Read more…]

Tonight’s airing of “The Simpsons” will mark the start of it’s 20th season on the air. This ties the record held by “Gunsmoke”. The series is still going strong in the eyes of Emmy voters, picking up it’s 10th Emmy for Outstanding Animated Series.

To put the longetivity into perspective, I was in 8th grade when the series started after a run of hilarious short segments on “The Tracey Ullman Show”. I’ll be 33 this year. That’s an impressive run.

Watch America’s favorite yellow family when they start their new season tonight on Fox, 8 ET/PT.

-Floyd Bishop

John Canemaker interviewed Richard Williams Monday night at MOMA. The event was sold out and the place was packed with students, as Willliam’s book The Animator’s Survival Kit is an essential read for animation majors around the world.
Williams is always an entertaining speaker, fond of leaping out of his chair to act out anecdotes. He presented clips from:

• The Little Island (his first short)
• A Christmas Carol (his first Oscar win)
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (more Oscars)
• The Charge of the Light Brigade
• Return of the Pink Panther titles
• Amazing “The Greedy” sequence from Raggedy Ann and Andy (animated by Emery Hawkins)
• Trailer for The Thief and The Cobbler (never released in its proper form)
• Commercial Reel

The night was very much a chance to promote the release of a 16 DVD version of his well-regarded Animation Masterclass. The Animation Survival Kit Animated consists of Williams “performing” the class live at Blue Sky Studios (about ten years ago) intercut with animated examples that illustrate his ideas. Okay, so the set costs over $900, but at least most art schools will buy one.

After the jump, some choice quotes from the evening. Also, the Return of the Pink Panther titles in teeny tiny form on the ubiquitous YouTube… [Read more…]

click on image for full photo

Seven years ago, this was the view from Blue Sky Studios in White Plains, NY. From our office on the 17th floor of 44 South Broadway, we could see the Twin Towers on fire. We were 30 miles to the north of Manhattan, looking down the length of the island. In the photo, you can make out both towers smoking in the distance. The building that looks like it is next to them is the Empire State Building, but it’s actually several blocks away, on 5th Ave and 34th street.

It was a chaotic day, with the radio stations being the first way I learned of the disaster in progress on my way to work. At first, DJs seemed to think it was some kind of joke, or perhaps just a small plane. The second plane hit as I was getting in to the parking garage [Read more…]

[Read more…]

The Comics Journal (#292) is a Deitch Family Extravaganza. The intro claims that the issue contains 120,000 words about this brilliant and complex family…and I wouldn’t be surprised! The Gene Deitch section is of interest to animation fans as he discusses his time at UPA, Jam Handy, Terrytoons, and his later years producing animation in Prague. There is also an exhaustive interview with undie/indie comcs genius Kim where he covers the far-flung experiences that feed his extensive body of work (a stint as a merchant seaman, underground comics days in San Francisco, interviewing silent film stars and death row inmates for background—not to mention a good story involving Robert Crumb and a pie!) Also featured are chats with lesser-known-but-brilliant-in-their-own-way brothers Simon and Seth. I devoured this issue!

(TCJ has posted some additional material that was cut from the Kim Deitch interview here. About 20,000 more words or so, along with lots of sketches and preliminary artwork. If you just can’t get enough!)

Also, don’t miss the Kim Deitch retrospective that opens this month at MOCCA in NYC.

After the jump, a Gaston LeCrayon cartoon from Gene Deitch days at Terrytoons. (Color shift alert!)

[Read more…]

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

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…]

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.)

For more on Jorge, see the Super-Macho site, the Super-Macho blog, the El Tigre blog (new!), and Nick’s El Tigre page.

You can also watch episodes of Jorge’s earlier web series El Macho here.

—Anne D. Bernstein

PictureBox has announced that they are working on a John Kricfalusi book, to be published in 2009. It will be “the definitive book of John’s work – from childhood through Ren and Stimpy to today.” I can’t wait for this to come out!

PictureBox puts out high quality art books, including the recent comprehensive and massively tasty Gary Panter tome. Click here to see the $95 version. And, if you can bear it, click here to see the $1000 “Hot Burrito Deluxe” version!

They also have a store in Brooklyn near the banks of the scenic Gowanus.

If you go to the PictureBox news page and scroll down (no direct link–look for June 13th) you will see photos from Dan Nadel’s recent visit to Los Angeles. There are some pix of John K’s studio (but none of the man himself).

Also, there’s a photo of some guys. Very cool guys. Who apparently had a very cool party at the Chateau Marmont. Which we can only dream about.

Can you identify them? Answer after the jump. [Read more…]