Channel Frederator Blog

Our very first episode, November 2005, featured Pendleton Ward’s wonderful “Barrista.”

The other day, Frederator producer Carrie Miller saw this live action adaption on someone’s tumblr.

It’s a wonderful world.

–Fred

Recently I had a sit down with one of my favorite people, multi-talented animator and director Sherie Pollack, whose body of work ranges from edgy primetime programming animating and timing on “The Simpsons” to directing “God, The Devil, & Bob” to the pre-K “Dora the Explorer” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” I took the opportunity to discuss her journey into animation success and her upcoming lecture “My Career in Cartoons”. Here, in the second half of her interview, Sherie goes in depth about her lecture.

BD: In your lecture, what kind of things do you cover for aspiring pro animators?

SP: I basically want to share everything I wish I knew when I started. You know, how to get a union job. What is a union all about. What do I do if I’m not doing well on a job - how do I get my groove back? Carpal tunnel. Everyone gets it. Eye strain. How to [Read more…]

Recently I had a sit down with one of my favorite people, multi-talented animator and director Sherie Pollack, whose body of work ranges from edgy primetime programming (like animating and timing on “The Simpsons” and directing “God, The Devil, & Bob”) to pre-K entertainment like“Dora the Explorer” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” I took the opportunity to discuss her journey into animation success and her upcoming lecture “My Career in Cartoons”.

Bailee DesRocher: What got you started in animation?:

Sherie Pollack: I was 17 when I first started thinking about colleges, I flipped a coin - it was either going to be theatre, or fine arts. That’s when my mother pulled me into the pantry and said,”Do ya have to do this? Isn’t there anything else?”

Going forward, I combined the two. I didn’t know I wanted to be an animator. As a kid I was always drawing and I was very lucky - my parents would [Read more…]

When you get a sec, you should definitely go check out - no, you know what?

Stop. Stop what you’re doing.

See this? Yeah, there’s more where that came from.

Joel Trussell’s revamped website is finally up, with paintings from his gallery shows, illustrations, and the cool intro to “The Animation Show 4“.

Stop reading this and visit www.joeltrussell.com to get your face rocked off. Then grab an icepack and an aspirin to soothe what’s left of your head. Totally worth it.

-Bailee DesRocher

We got such a boatload of submissions for Channel Frederator’s 2-Second Cartoon Contest and it really looks like everyone put a lot of work into their shorts. Thanks to everyone for submitting! I would love for everyone to to win, but we did promise a prize, and that prize goes to Jeff Gill for his short, “First Kiss”. Congratulations, Jeff!

I asked Jeff a few questions about himself and what inspired his 2-second short. Check out his answers below!

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I’m originally from Seminole, FL, but after attending school in Savannah I moved out here to Los Angeles and have worked at a number of really fun studios, including Jib Jab and South Park. Currently we’re hard at work on the 13th season, but during our mid-season breaks I enjoy working on my own side projects including music videos, experimental films, and updating my daily art blog, goodbyespacebar.blogspot.com

What inspired yoru [Read more…]

That’s right folks! Just over 24 hours to upload your 2-second cartoon for our St. Patrick’s day contest. We’ve already gotten quite a few awesome entries and are looking forward to yours!
You could be taking home a brand-spanking-new Nintendo DSi (yes, that’s the new, fancy-pants, improved version of the Nintendo handheld device that is being released in April).
Make sure you visit the contest page here, and submit your film at: www.channelfrederator.com/submit - Carrie

A pair of Quay Brothers events are approaching, so keep them in mind if you are fans of the identical twin animators of creepitude. For more on Stephen and Timothy, click here.

Thursday, April 2nd at 6:30 at The School of Visual Arts Theater, 333 West 23rd Street. FREE!: A discussion of the work of The Brothers Quay, moderated by faculty member Thyrza Goodeve.

And down in Philly…

February 27 – April 9: An exhibition of sets from Brothers Quay films at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, 333 South Broad Street. There will be a closing reception on Friday April 3, from 5 to 7:30 with The Quay brothers in attendance. Need a date? Bring your favorite decrepit, detached doll head.

—Anne D. Bernstein

Congrats to animator/director Joel Trussell on his contribution to the Flux Screening Series project PSST Pass it On - a collaborative series of 17 short films from around the globe that premiered last night at Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum.

Prior to PSST was a screening of Aaron Rose’s Become a Microscope - 90 Statements on Sister Corita a brief, reflective documentary about Corita Kent, an art teacher, Catholic nun, activist, and unusual pop-artist during the 1960’s and 70’s.

-Bailee DesRocher

Steve Kovalesky

Steve Kovalesky is a talented artist and self taught animator whose short, short film, “Nature”, is featured in this week’s epsiode of Channel Frederator. We did learn, though, there’s always room for further education in other areas. No, not that. What is with you guys?

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Steve Kovalesky: I took a computer animation class in 8th grade and learned on my own since then. One key resource for me has been The Animator’s Survival Kit. I already knew the software, but the book really helped me understand the principles of animation.

CF: What or who has influenced your work the most?

SK: One of my biggest influences is Bill Watterson. I love the sketchy look of his work and how there’s so much life in even his simplest drawings. I’m also a fan of Chuck Jones, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Ralph Bakshi.

CF: Do you have any cool projects coming up that [Read more…]

30 Days of shooting v.2 (the linear edit) from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

I was messing around this week’s featured filmmaker’s tumblr and found this great production vlog from Kirsten about her cupcake film.

–Fred