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.
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…]
Minuscule is a series of buzzworthy animated shorts from France that explore the itty bitty world of insects. The creators describe it as “a cross between Tex Avery and Microcosmos.” Created by Thomas Szabo and Hélène Giraud, Minuscule shorts have aired erratically on Toon Disney in the United States.
Their techinique is a seamless combination of 3-D animation and live action footage. You can view a large selection of Minuscule videos on this YouTube page. Here’s the official website.
Tease yourself with this trailer for the DVD release. (Don’t bug out, but so far, it is only available as a set of Region-2 DVDs, so unless you have a fancy dancy Euro DVD player, you’re out of luck!)
Ever since the release of “Toy Story” back in 1995, movie audiences seem to have been in love with all things Pixar. This goes for many animation fans as well, sometimes to the point of fanaticism. Is this a healthy thing? In this post, I’ll be asking some questions that challenge that fanaticism, and I hope that Pixar fans will try to provide some answers in the comments section.
When Dreamworks released “Shark Tale”, many people implied that Dreamworks was trying to follow in the footsteps of Pixar’s “Finding Nemo”. They are both films that are primarily based underwater. The similarities end there for me. When Pixar released “WALL-E” this year, no one seemed to remember either Blue Sky’s “Robots” from 2005, nor the design of Johnny 5 from “Short Circuit” (another robot who becomes self aware and gains a personality). Granted, the Pixar films were stronger films in both cases, but the similarities are there [Read more…]
The San Diego Comic Con has come and gone. It was pretty busy, with the entire show selling out. Preview Night was just as busy (if not more so) than any other day. I would love to see some sort of expansion of the Con to cut back on crowd size. Maybe a professionals only night, or perhaps making the Con a full week?
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.
This is a great find, which I was turned on to via the Disney History blog.
In this five part series, we hear about what goes into making Disney animation, from the artists and creatives themselves.
[Read more…]
The Pixar Touch by David A. Price is an exhaustive look into the rise of the famously innovative and super successful animation studio. This podcast interview with the author, from The Sound of Young America, will give you a taste for what’s inside the covers.
One fascinating aspect of Pixar history is the company’s roots at The New York Institute of Technology in the 70’s and 80’s. Alexandre Schure, a forward-thinking and mysterious millionaire—and founder of the school—bankrolled a Computer Graphics Lab and hired computer programmer Edmund Catmull to run it. Shure was interested in using computers to help finish up his animated feature adaptation of Tubby the Tuba. [Read more…]
In 1953, Disney released “Ben and Me”. This Oscar winning short was adapted from the children’s book of the same title, by Robert Lawson. While the book was based on more historical fact, the film aims for entertainment. The film serves both as a sort of biography of Ben Franklin, and an overview of the American revolution.
Have a great Fourth of July weekend, and don’t throw fire crackers with your animating hand!
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