Channel Frederator Blog

“The Mystery of Pig City” is a film fest favorite created by Garth Jones and Johnny Luu. We caught up with Garth to shoot the breeze about the film and various mystery meats.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Garth Jones: Johnny and I both studied at the International Film School of Wales, in Newport.

CF: Who or what has influenced your style the most?

GJ: At the time I had just seen UPA’s “Gerald McBoing Boing” which was a massive influence - it also showed me a world of amazing animation designers like Mary Blair and more recent artists like Tim Biskup. All the backgrounds in “Pig City” were ‘cut-out’ in Photoshop which was a fun limitation to keep everything in the same style.

CF: What gave you the idea for “Pig City”?

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Recent animation graduate Bianca Beneduci’s film “Popped” features some slick traditional animation and cool, retro inspired backgrounds. Here she tells us about the artists she’s bonkers about, and the inspiration for her film.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Bianca Beneduci: I took the classical animation program at Vancouver Film School - graduated at the end of last month.

CF: Is there a particular teacher who really helped you with your work?

BB: Well, all of them helped a lot, they’re all really great. But I guess I have to point out one of them, Moose Pagan. He played a really big part during the whole process. Excellent mentor, I feel like I’m a very lucky student.

CF: What has influenced your style the most?

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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…]