Channel Frederator Blog

There are a whole bunch of interesting events coming up in New York City this week and next:

Kim Deitch interviewed by Bill Kartalopoulos at MOCCA tonight at 7 PM. Free! 594 Broadway, Suite 401. More info.

Also tonight: Launch party for All the Art That’s Fit to Print (And Some That Wasn’t): Inside The New York Times Op-Ed Page (by Jerelle Kraus) at 7 PM at the Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway. Jerelle Kraus website.

Saturday, November 15: Opening party for the MF Gallery Toy Show from 7 to 11 PM at Live Fast NYC, 57 Clinton St. (Rivington & Stanton). Free beer! Handmade toys start as low as $20! Watch video!

Tuesday, November 18: Art Directing and Illustrating panel with Nicolas Blechman (New York Times Book Review) and Max Bode (The New Yorker). 6:30 PM at The Society of Illustrators, 128 East 63rd St. $10 members, $15 non-members. To RSVP.

Wednesday, November 19: David Mazzucchelli interviews European comic book artists at The School of Visual Arts at 6:30 PM. Free! Artists: David B., Nicolas de Crecy, Isabel Kreitz, Igort, Max, Jaroslav Rudis, Jaromir 99. This event is part of a celebration of the publication of the book Graphic Novels From Europe. Info on all related events here.

Also November 19: New York Stereoscopic Society 3D Comics Night. 7 PM at Haft Auditorium, Fashion Institute of Technology (Enter C Building Lobby on 27th street between 7th and 8th Avenues). Featuring Michael Kupperman, Kim Deitch, R. Sikoryak, Jason Little, Mick Andreano, Jerry Marks, and Joe Pedoto. Sponsored by Nickelodeon Magazine. Free! More here.

Thursday, November 20: ASIFA EAST Used Animation Auction (please note: no dealers!) at 7 PM. Hosted, as usual, by the always entertaining Tom Warburton. Tisch School of the Arts, 721 Broadway.

Thursday, November 20 (6 PM) and Saturday, November 22 (3 PM): Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley, screenings at MOMA.

INSANITY! LET’S CLONE OURSELVES!!! [Read more…]

The stage version of Monkey: Journey to the West is currently being performed in London at the O2 Arena—actually, in a custom tent, featuring a restaurant, bar, and Chinese foot massage parlor. (Last spring, the show had a less extravagant run in the U.S. at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.)

This Chinese Opera adaptation of a 16th century novel is chock full of acrobatics, circus acts, and animated sequences by Jamie Hewlett (of Gorillaz fame).

Reviewer Adam Sweeting of The Telegraph says it’s “a kind of Cirque du Soleil with added layers of Buddhist karma and philosophical self-improvement.”

The music is by Damon Albarn (the other half of Gorillaz.) Jamie Hewlett is credited with design and animation.

Check out the official Monkey site for deep dish on various incarnations: performances, CDs, videos, etc.

Tix are on sale here. Interview with Albarn here. And there’s a MySpace page, of course!

You can a view a beautiful trailer for the show here.

After the jump, the opening sequence for a Monkey-inspired pop culture product of the past: the cult 1970s TV show Monkey Magic. And after that, the theme song from the 1990s animated series. [Read more…]

There’s an interesting lecture coming up at The Society of Illustrators (128 East 63rd Street) on Wednesday, November 5th from 6:30-8:30 PM. It’s called “Character Design, Animation and Toy Design”. The speakers are Paul Budnitz from Kidrobot and Mark Graham from ilovedust.

Kidrobot is famous for manufacturing and distributing high-end collectible toys and other consumer goods. They ‘re also in the animation business; Wild Brain studio in San Francisco now owns a major chunk of the company. Nickelodeon recently announced that they plan to turn Kidrobot properties into a series of feature films that blend animation and live action.

ilovedust is an English “design boutique” that has developed toys for Kidrobot–keeping it all in the family! This Zulu Dunny would fit in among his fellow premium plastic pals in any designer toy collection:

On the jump…how to order tickets…

[Read more…]

Today is the last day to catch Brad Benedict’s Side Show exhibit at Wal Art (1639 South La Cienega Blvd in Los Angeles). Includes animation peeps like Chris Reccardi, Dave Wasson, Ric Heitzman, and Everett Peck. La La Landers have about an hour to run over. Otherwise, see the artwork online. (Artwork above by Wasson.)

“Game Over” (Art of the Gamer Generation) is a group show that runs through October 29th at Giant Robot in San Francisco (622 Shrader Street). (Artwork above by Justin “Scrappers” Morrison.)

And…the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art in New York City just announced two upcoming Kim Deitch events:

Cartoon Movie Night (October 30, 7 pm)
Kim Deitch will host a Cartoon Movie Night featuring rarely seen animated cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s hand-picked for the occasion from Deitch’s own personal collection. MoCCA will also display for one night only selected specimens from Deitch and spouse Pam Butler’s extensive collection of antique toy cats.

Deitch Q & A (November 13, 7 pm)
Q & A session with Deitch and exhibit curator Bill Kartalopoulos. Deitch will present examples of recent work and will also preview images from his current works in progress.

Also at MOCCA, a one-day only preview of Heritage Auction Galleries’ November 2008 Vintage Comics & Comic Art Signature Auction, to be more specific…

MAD Contemporary Art Treasures: The Most Classic Original Art from MAD Magazine (October 29, 10-5)

More info after the jump… [Read more…]

You may not think of the Alliance Française as a place to go watch cartoons, but on November 1st, the New York branch will present Serge Bromberg’s 100 Years of Animation: Treasures from a Chest.

“A collector of more than 20,000 early movies and the artistic force behind Lobster Films, Bromberg has become one of the great champions of silent films and a master at recreating the initial rush audiences felt when first entering the cinema house.

Throughout this exceptional event, Bromberg will present animated shorts that he has discovered and restored, accompanying them with anecdotes and piano music…”

(Serge is also the Artistic Director of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.)

The program will include Fantasmagorie (Emil Cohl), Cartoon Factory (Fleischer Brothers), The Sinking of the Lusitania (Windsor McKay), Egged On (Charley Bower and H.L. Muller), and George Pal’s Tulips Shall Grow.

Tickets are $10 ($7 for students). Go to this page for ticket information.

By the way, 2008 is the 100th anniversary of Fantasmagorie, one of the earliest examples of a fully-animated film. If you’ve never seen it, do so immediately!

After the jump, a low-res recording of Serge Bromberg’s live performance with Windsor McKay’s Gertie the Dinosaur (at Annecy 2008)…with tuba score! [Read more…]

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…]

Last week, I posted about the (then upcoming) gaming-inspired art show “I Am 8-bit”. Well, the opening was last Thursday and reports of fun are pouring in from blogs all around. Destructoid and Kotaku, for example. (Crowd photo from Kotaku.)

A video of the festivities from the World of Wonder site is here.

There’s also a Flickr set where you can check out the mayhem that ensued—and peruse halfway decent photos of all the art. Many animation peeps participated. (Photos below by oldmanmusings, btw.)

“Zelda and the Great Deku Tree” by Carlos Ramos (Dexter’s Lab, Chalkzone, Robot Jones).

[Read more…]

Most of you know all about New Tee Vee, where the knowing go to know more about wassup in the online TV world. But, you probably don’t know about their summer Pier Screenings events in Los Angeles, where the knowing go to see even more, and meet even more.

Well, August 28 is there ‘Non-Human’ screening (”by which we mean anything that doesn’t include human actors on-screen“) and they’re welcoming “animation, puppets, animals, machinima, or whatever other interpretation you have.”

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS AUGUST 21.

“Animation…”! That means you! Have those in the know know about your films. Great opportunity, great venue, great event. Get your entries in now.

There’s a worthy charity/animation event coming up this fall: The Totoro Forest Project. Over 200 pieces of artwork (many by folks from the cartoon community) will be exhibited and auctioned to raise funds to support the Totoro Forest Foundation. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki was one of the original contributors to the foundation, which seeks to protect an urban forest, called Sayama Hills, located just outside of Tokyo. The area is known to be the inspiration for his feature film Tonari no Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro).

This is the official Totoro Forest Foundation website. And go here to learn more about the charity event and view an online gallery of Totoro-inspired images. The project will also publish a tie-in book and selected artwork will be exhibited at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco from September 20-December 7.

The auction is set for September 6 at the Pixar Animation Studio Campus from 5-9 PM. Tickets will go [Read more…]

As the hoards converge on Comicon this weekend (and I sit in sticky, hot Brooklyn, recalling the days when the Gaslamp District was still scuzzy and you didn’t have to book your hotel room two years in advance) let me tell you about an upcoming, far more intimate event that promises to be fascinating: Pictoplasma NYC: Conference on Contemporary Character Design and Art at New York University’s Skirball Center, from September 5-6.

Described as a “character design Mecca”, Pictoplasm will spotlight “the importance of character design in contemporary visual culture.” Today’s popular graphic personalities cross cultural and commercial borders and it’s becoming commonplace to see the same character on both museum walls and pencil sets. This is an opportunity to learn, talk, and schmooze with some of today’s most innovative icon creators.

Guests include Tim Biskup, Gangpol Und Mit, and Friends With You. Saturday has the bulk of the animation talk with Akinori Oishi (Japan) and Studio AKA (UK) appearing.

Registration info and more after the jump. [Read more…]