Talk to the Snail

So this afternoon I had the good fortune to hang out with two of the principles of the (mainly) Flash cartoon studio One Red Room, creative director Chris Hamilton and business development EVP Andrew Bishop. They were kind enough to give me a tour of their Toluca Lake studio, as well as show me some clips of projects they’re working on, like Safety Patrol for Playhouse Disney and MTV2’s The Adventures of Chico and Gaupo. They’re two very, VERY different shows, but both looked like a ton of fun. Thanks for the time, guys. (While there, I also ran into two cartoonists that I’m a big fan of - Robert Ramirez and Mike Hollingsworth, so links to them, too.)

I, for one, have been taking Doug TenNapel for granted. He’s currently making “Solomon Fix”, a CG short based on an earlier original comic, for Random Cartoons. I really haven’t been paying close attention to how the production’s going only because, now that I think of it, I have the utmost faith in Doug’s vision and his ability to realize said vision (What? I’m going to tell Doug what works creatively and what doesn’t?). In other words, if Doug’s happy with his film, then I know I’ll be happy with it. I’m really glad that Doug TenNapel’s creating a cartoon for RC.

And I’m also really glad that his Nickelodeon show, Catscratch, has been nominated for an Annecy award in the TV series category. (Fact: The Annecy Awards are the most prestigious animation awards in the world.) Further, out of more than two dozen TV nominations, Catscratch is the only US production to make the [Read more…]

This Sunday night, March 26th, if you’re lucky enough to be around Los Angeles, you really need to attend the big UPA-fest that’ll be going on at Hollywood’s Egyptian Theatre. Lots of great, classic UPA cartoons along with two - two! - panels of veteran studio cartoonists, present-day animators, and cartoon historians moderated by Mr Jerry Beck. For more information, got to the Egyptian’s Website and ASIFA-Hollywood’s events page. See you there.

This afternoon at Nickelodeon I ran into my old, dear, dear friend Greg Miller. He created Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? for Cartoon Network. I always thought that WHTRJ? was under-appreciated. Anyhoo, he and his cartoon partner-in-crime, Mike Stern, are slaving away on something-or-other for Nick. I have no doubt that whatever these guys are cooking up, you’ll one day say, “Man, I wish we had more guys like Greg and Mike making cartoons.” Too bad it’s not for Frederator. Good luck, guys.

Hero Heights background, design by Serge Michaels, paint by David Eppen.

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So rummaging around this morning in the Frederator warehouse, I stumbled across a box of very valuable Frank Olinsky-designed Frederator New Year’s 2006 posters.

Want one?

Just send us an email at Hey@frederator.kz with the subject “I Want a Free Poster”. Give us your name and address (no P.O. boxes). We’ll drop one in the mail to the first fifty fans who contact us. We’ll even pay for the shipping.

Warning: These posters are about 13″ x 20″, and since none of us feels like going to buy poster tubes, we’re folding these suckers. The folds go away, though, when you shell out the dough to preserve your art with archival linen backing before framing.

This morning, I unearthed a couple of boxes of original Oh Yeah! artwork, including stacks of old backgrounds. Mind you, a lot of what I found had already been picked through so the coolest are now who knows where, but I reckoned I’d post a couple of the more interesting ones.

First, above, is a bg from the Fairly OddParents short, “Magic Awards”. Remember, Butch Hartman produced ten seven-minute FOP shorts for OY! before it became a Nickelodeon series. This short premiered November 20, 1999.

Next we have a background from Alex Kirwan’s “Magic Trixie” short. Premiere date: September 18, 1999.

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Teapot! backgrounds, designed by Bill Flores, painted by Rae McCarson.

Bathroom

Living Room
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From Niki Yang’s “The Two Witch Sisters”, a ginormous amount of mouth reference for overseas animators.

Happy:

And angry:
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Hey, art fans. Tonight, Friday, March 3, La Luz de Jesus Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard (sorry, all you non-Angelinos) holds its 9th Annual Group Show opening. More than 100 artists will represented, including some favorites of mine - Tom Neely (”In the Back Yard”, above), Miles Thompson (”Her” and “Him”, below), and Amanda Visell (”Lingerie”, beneath below). Just like the last time I braved leaving my home for an art show, it’s raining here in LA. But if we don’t make it tonight, we’ll have until the show ends on April 2 to see the pretty pictures.

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