Nothing motivates me more then the work of Oscar nominated and recent Sundance Grand Jury winner, Don Hertzfedt. Don is brilliant with his simple drawings, traditional animation, and dark sense of humor. Here is Billy’s Balloon, one of his lesser-known films, that is one of my favorites.
-Hadley
Tip #2 Avoid sleep, people, and your job. There can be nothing more distracting than life and all its little annoyances. Cut yourself off from the world and get to work. 
Working on that film of yours trying to make the deadline of June 1st? Relax a bit and enjoy these short films to help recharge and motivate you!
Lets start off with one of the granddaddys of all short animated films, Frog Baseball. Frog Baseball goes to show the power of great characters, a limited knowledge of animation, and some rock’n theme music.
-Hadley
The clock is ticking, folks. Only 23 days left to get your films in! Like most of us animators we have about a hundred unfinished films lying around. Whether it is some actual test animation, a story board, or just a scribble of an idea in a sketchbook, here are some helpful tips to get that film finished quick, easy, and guaranteed to achieve success.
Tip #1 Avoid straight smooth lines. There is nothing more authentically independent then shaky lines. It also tells the audience,” Hey this is animated, look at all them drawings I did!”
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Time is running out, filmmakers. You’ve got four weeks to submit your cartoon to this year’s Nicktoons Network Animation Festival. You could win $10,000. Did you know, with this year’s batch of films, we will have presented more than 200 short cartoons as part the NNAF? Me, neither. Go here for submission details.
– Eric
