Today I’m headed off to California, with my sights set on Cal Arts on monday for move-in! I’m soooo excited and can NOT wait to start! The first weeks is going to be awesome; Meeting everyone and having a good time! Gotta get a ton of stuff this weekend for school! Gonna be one hell of an experience and I doubt I’ll have time to blog about it being that my schedule is soooo freaking busy! From the time that I began commenting like a robot on the Frederator Blog when I was only 15, I never knew what would have become of my, almost spam-like-but-real-commenting.

Frederator is probably one of the greatest companies I have become close with. Fred has been extremely generous to me, taking my pitches when I was 15 regardless of an agent, unlike any other company. I have kept improving my pitches and I still do. Learning to grow a thick skin from rejection from a very young age has absolutely been a blessing. I’ve learned alot about animation, the industry,  business, and this blog is where I discovered this thing called Cal Arts.When the 39 cartoon blogs started to pile up, I was nervous that I didn’t have anything to pitch and the slots would be filled up. They did regardless, but it was fun trying to squeeze my idea in! As the blogs and posts started, Frederator Blogs grew to a large community that I became a family with. It seems as though some of these creators had attended Cal Arts. I saw the blog post for it and looked into what it was all about. That blog post changed my life.

Fast forward a couple years. I had a meeting with Fred just to catch up. I was discussing my plans of how I was going to get into Cal Arts and live happily ever after. Fred said to me, “What happens when you don’t get in?” I wasn’t sure what to make of it at the time, mainly due to my ignorance, and assured him I was going to get in. Got the rejection letter in the mail a few months later. When I first applied I had absolutely no idea what the criteria for accepted students was. I had no starting point, just submitted a bunch of black and white life drawings. The rejection didn’t discourage me one bit. I decided to take the year off, since spending a year anywhere would have just wasted my money since I knew I was going to Cal Arts.I attended the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in the fall of last year (wow, I can’t believe that was already a year ago!) more motivated and determined than ever before. I was going to be in California, what could be better? I took several classes and improved my life drawing tremendously. I had a couple meetings with Libby Hux and found out EXACTLY what they were looking for in perspective students. I returned home from Gnomon in November and began putting my all that I had learned at Gnomon to work. While there I grew as a better artist, person and gained a lot more confidence. I re-applied to Cal Arts the following January, 2010.

My family and I recalled around the time I was rejected last year, which was in March. That was last year. March 7th 2010 approached and for some reason the mail was extremely late that day. We kept searching our mail box, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, still nothing. Then around 3pm the mail finally came. I had gotten something from Cal Arts with the back envelope reading “Congratulations.” My mom yelled down, “I THINK YOU GOT IN!”. I ripped open the letter and read “Dear Stephen, I am delighted to inform you of your acceptance to the California Institute Of The Arts.” I was soo happy! We were all jumping up and down and for some reason I started crying. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I was headed to California, to the Walt Disney animation school that I had been dreaming about for over 3 years. Me. In Cal Arts. They actually want me there! WOW!

I’ve met a ton of awesome people from the school already and on Facebook and I can’t wait for the amazing experiences I will have at Cal Arts.

Thank you Fred Seibert, and everyone else who’s helped and motivated me to push and reach my goals. This blog and company has been and continues to be one of my greatest outlets. I don’t know where I would be had I not discovered this blog and left my first comment on the website. Regardless, I’m moving ahead and will visit Frederator whenever I can!

Best wishes,

Stephen M. Levinson

stephenlevinson@alum.calarts.edu

DRAFT Book ORIGINAL Cartoon Title Cards Aug 2010

We’ve been showing off the title cards from our cartoons for quite a while now. And Eric and I have been chomping at the bit for years to collect a bunch of them in a book to include in the Frederator library. Why? Because, as Susan Miller says, “There’s something about a book.”

At the rate we’re going, it should be on Amazon sometime in October, but in the meantime I thought I’d share the current draft.

I’ve taken to calling cartoon title cards an “unconsidered art” for a bit now because, funny enough, as I’ve been trolling the internet I cannot find more than a few words written about this very rich art form. There’s hundreds of cards posted, primarily from the golden age of the theatricals, but not a lot of critical consideration. Not from Jerry Beck, not from Leonard Maltin, or Mark Mayerson or Michael Barrier either. Maybe it’s because their so basically functional that no one’s given them a second thought (except for the confusions related to replacing them on early television prints). Or maybe because they’ve almost completely disappeared from cartoons over the last 30 years (I can tell you for a fact that every network executive looks askance at us when we tell them we use them).

I mean, every movie poster book seems to have pages devoted to artistic analysis. Do you have any idea why no one’s written about animation title cards? They’re so cool.

Back to the book. We’ve selected about 200 title card images from all the cartoons we’ve produced over the years, starting back in the 90s with What A Cartoon! at Hanna-Barbera, and continuing until today with Oh Yeah! Cartoons, The Fairly OddParents, ChalkZone, My Life as a Teenage Robot… well, you get the idea.

So, take an advance read now. We’re girding ourselves for your complaints about what we’ve left out.

By the way, the cover in the draft above is just a slug I put in there for positioning. The always amazing Carlos Ramos has actually designed an alternative, and as usual with CR’s work, it’s algebraic. (And, we’ve snuck in a thumbnail of one of Carlos’ Oh Yeah! cartoons.)

Title card art credit goes to Phil Rynda for designing the rough version, Paul Linsley for painting, and art director Nick Jennings giving the card his final pass. “Rainy Day Daydream” premieres on Cartoon Network on Monday, September 6, 2010.

– Eric

“Rainy Day Daydream’s” background designers were Ghostshrimp and Santino Lascano. The painters were Martin Ansolabehere and Sandra Calleros. Nick Jennings is the show’s art director, Pat McHale is the creative director.

– Eric

You know how a few weeks ago fans posted all those Adventure Time album covers on the show’s Tumblr page? Well, here are 100 of them strung together in a new video. Thanks, donk6000.

– Eric

PS How old am I that I recognize maybe 10% of these? How many do you know?

“Rainy Day Daydream’s” character designers were Phil Rynda, Natasha Allegri, and Tom Herpich. Character clean-up artists were Mike Collins and Alex Campos. Ron Russell and Simon Simmonds were the colorists. Nick Jennings is the show’s art director, and Pat McHale is the creative director.

– Eric

“Rainy Day Daydream’s” background designers were Ghostshrimp and Santino Lascano. The painters were Martin Ansolabehere and Sandra Calleros. Nick Jennings is the show’s art director, Pat McHale is the creative director.

– Eric

Natasha Allegri’s Fiona & Cake with Prince Blowpop’s Lord Monochromicorn.

More of Natasha’s Adventure Time gender switch art:

PMS Time with Fiona & Cake
Introducing Prince Blowpop and Marshall Lee
Meet the Ice Queen

Thanks, Natasha!

– Eric

I was as distressed as any American when tragedy struck New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. And let’s not even mention the double whammy they faced in the BP oil spill disaster. And, on the fifth anniversary of this manmade disaster, as a country we’re still stuck in the middle of the rebuilding of one of our greatest cities. I know it’s been a hard few years for many Americans, there seem to be disasters every time you turn around, and many of you are short of cash. But, if there’s any small donation you can make, now would be a good time. Even if you’ve already given, this city that’s given us all so much still needs your help.

Many of you know I’m a music fan, and I suppose that’s the filter through which I view New Orleans, so that’s where I make my personal donations. Whether it’s jazz, blues, or popular music, NOLA has been one of the critical seeds of all American musical culture.

Tipitina’s Foundation has made it their mission to build the city back up through the cultural heritage that helped create the city to begin with. They’re helping musicians return to the city (yes, there’s still a substantial population yearning to return) and recreate a semblance of a working life there.

Please donate now. $5 or $5000, or anything in between. It doesn’t matter. Please try and stand up for ourselves. If not you, who else?

Marceline’s Slave Story

Okay, I really thought yesterday’s Dimple Plant post was the end of the “Henchman”-related stuff, but it turns out we never posted the original story outline. As you can see, the writing team - who, I think, then consisted of Pen Ward, Pat McHale, Merriwether Williams, Tim McKeon, and Steve Little - churned out “Marceline’s Slave Story” last May, pre-Lady Gaga. Now that the episode has aired, you can compare and contrast the two for your weekend pleasure.

– Eric