Currently enjoying......................

No matter how hard I try to keep looking for new discoveries I keep getting pulled back to the classics!

Currently enjoying............

A drawing of me by "The Smook"!

2010

May you see the beauty in everyday things all around us...
May you find your own path however difficult it is to walk...
May you find peace....
May time be your friend.....
May your 2010 be filled with Discovery!

Happy New Year!
J;)

ANIMATION RELEVANCE..............

IN 1939 IF AN ANIMATOR WAS MAKING A CARTOON ABOUT A HUNTER IN THE WOODS HE WOULD TAKE INSPIRATION FROM MANY THINGS RELEVANT TO HIS OWN LIFE.
HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY A CHAPLIN FILM HE SAW THE NIGHT BEFORE TO GIVE THE HUNTER FUNNY MOVEMENT FILLED WITH GREAT TIMING AND SLAPSTICK.
THE HUNTERS HEROIC MOVEMENTS MIGHT HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY ERROL FLYNN FILMS HE HAD SEEN AND THE HUNTERS FAITHFUL DOG MIGHT HAVE BEEN A STUDIED CHARICATURE OF HIS OWN FAMILY PET.
THE BACKGROUNDS MIGHT HAVE BEEN DRAWN AND PAINTED THINKING OF THE UNTAMED LANDSCAPES OF A CALIFORNIA REDWOOD FOREST FROM A VACATION OR THE PAINTINGS OF MAXFIELD PARISH.
A HUGE MENACING BEAR MIGHT HAVE BEEN ANIMATED THINKING OF AN ACTUAL ZOO ANIMAL HE HAD SEEN OR A HILARIOUSLY FUNNY SENDUP OF A MENACING AND UNKNOWING BOSS .

IN 2009 AN ANIMATOR WOULD GO ON THE INTERNET AND LOOK AT THE FIRST 5 YOUTUBE CARTOONS HE COULD FIND OF MICKEY MOUSE HUNTING WITH PLUTO AND COPY THAT.

THE END;)

A GAME TO PLAY..................

HERE IS A GAME YOU CAN PLAY OVER THE HOLIDAYS THAT TAKES ONLY A MINUTE TO ENJOY AND SHEDS LIGHT ON YOU AS AN ANIMATION ARTIST.

GO TO YOUR IMAGE FOLDER AND TRY AND PICK 5 IMAGES /WORKS OF ART IN ANY MEDIUM THAT ARE UNRELATED TO AN ANIMATED PRODUCTION,ARE NOT CARTOONS AND DO NOT STAND AS ARTIFACTS OF POP CULTURE.THEY CAN BE ANY MEDIUM....PHOTOGRAPHY,LINOBLOCK PRINT,WOODCUT,OIL,COLLAGE ETC.

IF YOU ARE AN ANIMATOR (AS MANY BLOG VISITORS ARE WHO FREQUENT THIS SITE)YOU WILL BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND FIVE.

I TRIED THIS EXERCISE WITH SOME FRIENDS FROM THE ANIMATION INDUSTRY AND WAS QUICKLY SURPRISED TO FIND THAT MANY OF THEM HAD NOTHING UNRELATED TO ANIMATION TO BE INSPIRED BY.IF YOU DON'T HAVE 5 OF THESE IN THE IMAGE BANKS YOU HAVE LOVINGLY SAVED IT MIGHT BE A GOOD TIME TO TAKE A FRESH LOOK AT WHY YOU FEEL UNINSPIRED AND PROJECT AFTER PROJECT LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME OR WORSE...THE SAME BUT WATERED DOWN.

THIS GAME MIGHT BE VIEWED BY SOME AS A NEGATIVE EXERCISE OR TAWDRY CRITICISM.IT'S NOT.

EACH DAY AUDIENCES FLOCK TO HOUR AFTER HOUR OF LIVE ACTION TWEEN SHOWS THAT ARE OFTEN POORLY WRITTEN AND SLOPILY EXECUTED.TO AN AUDIENCE THEY NEED ONLY HAVE ONE CRITICAL ELEMENT WORKING....THEY SEEM NEW AND FRESH.AFTERALL,THE ALTERNATIVE IN ANIMATION IS A THIRD GENERATION ANIMATED SHOW THAT IS VOID OF NEW IDEAS AND TAKES ANY VISUAL ,ARTISTIC OR OR ACTING CUE FROM EVERYTHING THAT CAME BEFORE IT DECADE AFTER DECADE WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING , MOTIVATION,OR RELEVANCE TO THE STORY.

ANIMATION CAN BE AN INCESTUOUS, INBRED POOL THAT NEVER LOOKS OUTSIDE ITSELF TO MOVE FORWARD.ANIMATION SHOULD BE THE HIGHEST ART .

AFTERALL, IT IS AN AMAZING COMBINATION OF ALL THE ARTS LAYERED OR MASHED TOGETHER!

WRITING/SCULPTURE/FILM GRAMMAR/POETRY/MUSIC/PAINTING/COMEDIC TIMING/DRAMATIC PACING/ACTING AND PHOTOGRAPHY MAKE UP THE MECHANICS OF ANIMATION.

NO OTHER ART USES AS MANY INGREDIENTS........

ALL THIS AND YET STILL YOU WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO FIND AN ANIMATOR INSPIRED BY ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT WAS COPIED 3 GENERATIONS AGO FROM THOSE WHO HAD TO INVENT IT FROM INSPIRATIONS THEY TOOK FROM OUTSIDE ANIMATION;)

Roy E. Disney, 1930-2009

Roy E. Disney, 1930-2009

Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney who led a shareholder revolt resulting in the unseating of studio executives and the revival of the studio's feature animation unit, died this morning at the age of seventy-nine after battling cancer.
Details from the Los Angeles Times website.
More to come.

CURRENTLY ENJOYING..............

CURRENTLY ENJOYING............

HUBLEY,HEITZMAN,ROBERTS,PINDAL,AND PECK.

CURRENTLY ENJOYING.....................

PROHIAS,ROMITA,WOODRING,FRANK,,HEMPEL

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE...the more they change;)..............

ANIMATOR CIRCA 2009 AD (after drawing)

ANIMATOR CIRCA 1992 BC(before cintiq)

IT STRUCK ME A FEW WEEKS AGO HOW MUCH HAS CHANGED .

EVERYONE IS SO MEDIA SAVVY NOW.....IS THIS GOOD OR BAD?

SOMETIMES IT SEEMS LIKE WE ARE MORE CAUGHT UP WITH THE "ABUSE" OF TECHNOLOGY THAN WE ARE WITH UNDERSTANDING WHY WE NEED TO USE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

J;)

SOME FUN STUFF FOR A RAINY THURSDAY..................

ENJOY;)

VASQUEZ

ENJOY!

J.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

TIM BURTON"TRICK OR TREAT"

CONCERTO FOR SUBMACHINE GUN......

BOB KOLAR DESIGN FOR A ZAGREB SHORT WITH THE COOLEST NAME EVER!

ENJOY;)

For Joe Murray............

JUST LINE......................DARN FINE LINE;)

CURRENTLY ENJOYING.........

CURRENTLY ENJOYING.......................

J;)

Great Design is everywhere!

On my Blog I take the approach of Positive Example.

Ranting about the state of the Industry and Design Bankruptcy does nothing for anybody.

Showing Positive examples of Quality work(Subjective of course) is the way to change attitudes about what is good.

My two cents;)

Jason

CURRENTLY ENJOYING...................

ERLBRUCH

STEINBERG

MENDEZ

STEIG

ENJOY!;)

FLAVOURS......influences that were flav "OURS"

When I was in College many moons ago ,I had a pal we will call Hobo Divine.

We spent countless hours in Restaurants,Bookstores or just sitting around at home talking about Art,Cartoons,Music,Painters,Illustrators and Books.

We always took great joy in conversations about what we called "Flavours"

These were the Influences you were digging at the moment in any area as long as it was creative.Nobody ever judged or laughed at something somebody put forward as one of their "Flavours"

As Animation students there was also great power in looking at things that had little or no relation to animation as influences for animation.That way the inspiration or "Flavours "were more unique and felt fresher when they influenced your style.

The great thing was that as we developed as artists we could see the flavours had saturated the work and subtly influenced the style of our friends too.People outside the conversation never had a clue;)

Only we knew for sure that the work had been influenced by something or someone.

It was great fun and a really cool way to find out about Artists you might never have found alone.Here are a couple of Flavours I am currently enjoying that are not unknown to Animation fans.

J;)

SEARLE

MENDEZ

WILSON

WILSON

VIP

MY FRIEND RABBIT chosen for competition at OIAF!

MY FRIEND RABBIT has been chosen for competition in Ottawa for the OIAF 2009 Festival!
The MFR episode "Snowed under" was picked for competition in the TV for kids category.
Nice news from a truly great Festival.
Congrats go out to the entire MY FRIEND RABBIT team!
This series was an great experience and directing it took me on an amazing journey.

The competion is stiff and it's a great honour to be considered amongst the other films in the category! Wish us luck.

Jason;)

HAPPY WARD KIMBALL FOR A CLOUDY WEDNESDAY

SOME "MELODY TIME" KIMBALL TO BRIGHTEN A CLOUDY WEDNESDAY!

ENJOY;)

STEINBERG AND SEMPE FOR FUN.

4 PICS FROM 2 MASTERS OF THE LINE.

ENJOY;)

J.

VANCE GERRY

ANOTHER LITTLE WATERCOLOR OF RATIGAN FROM VANCE GERRY.
ENJOY.

Vance Gerry Memorial Blog.............

Glad to see Ed Gombert has created a blog for Disney Story Great Vance Gerry!

I have long been a fan of this quiet giant of Story at Disney.

IMAGES FOR THE DAY.........................

HUBLEY

BURTON

BARKER

PEET

DEMPSTER

Images for the day...................

Some fun images that sum up a moment in a story.

No real link here other than the pleasing qualityof each;0

Images are Copyright of owners.

J.

ROGER BRADFIELD......I think?

These are two great images by ROGER BRADFIELD who I posted about earlier.

These minimal designs are playful and filled with pleasing color choices and great energy.

J.

SENDAK FOR MONDAY.............

Here is a dummy page illustration for "Where the wild things are"

I LOVE THIS IMAGE MORE THAN THE WILD RUMPUS IN THE FINAL BOOK.

J.

EARLY SENDAK..........

I really like the early work of Maurice sendak.

Enjoy;)

J.

Animators and their Toys.......

WILLIAM JOYCE

LANE SMITH

JOHN KRICFALUSI

DAN YACCARINO

BOB KOLAR


I love collecting these pics of animators/Illustrators workspaces.

Makes me feel better about all the stuff I have laying in my office to inspire.Pics above are property of their respective owners.

J;)

"Threepeet"

3Fun sketches from Bill Peet.

Power of the line....................

FIVE QUICK IMAGE POSTS THAT SHOW POWER ,MOVEMENT, SCALE,OR CHARACTER THROUGH THE LINE.

J;)

SERGE BLOCH IS COOL............

I like the work of Serge Bloch very much.

He is an illustrator, painter and television creator based in Paris.

His work is honest, simple,straight forward, fun and playful.

I like his work most of all because it is not afraid to strip things down to the basics and get to the point.That is something I am am working on with my own work.

I can't tell you how tiring it is to see people on blogs recommend the work of their favorite artists only to discover it is exactly the same in style and technique as the artist promoting it.

I guess I also love the simple approach to drawing pleasing characters.

Serge draws funny with a touch of sweetness.

His books (above) translated well to 3D animation and the monochromatic BG's are really cool!

Check out a facinating making of SAMSAM Series at the address below.......

http://web.samsam.fr/serie-samsam/making-of-serie-samsam/

Enjoy the work of Serge Bloch!

J.

www.mrbiggs.com

I love this guys stuff and his approach to drawing!

He has a chunky stilted quality to his drawings like Marv Newland.

Enjoy his work at www.mrbiggs.com

J.

SOME MORE IMAGES OF PURE LINE........

FUN DESIGNS THAT RELY ONLY ON THE SIMPLE POWER OF THE LINE.

ENJOY.

J

The Line....................

I have been thinking about drawings and the line.

If Ward Kimball's theory that "a drawing that is funny to begin with will be made funnier by animating it"then should we be spending more time with the line and less time with the overused tricks of Photoshop?

If we stripped away the artifice of todays Designs for Animation and looked at what is left would they hold up?

More importantly,How many would serve the story or Animation?

As I pour through blog after blog of designs for animation I am left thinking .....How many hold up as good drawings that stand on their own?

These unique designs above stand up without a drop of color.

Enjoy.

J

Joe Grant

Gotta love these Joe Grant sketches!

Apparently Joe was a mentor to many of the current wave of Animation Directors that includes Pete Docter and Mike Gabriel .

J.

Drawings of Milt Kahl.............................

The more I look at designy /gimmicky stuff that surrounds us in the Industry the more I appreciate these Drawings.

I could stare at these for hours and soak up the genius!

I once read an article where Duncan Marjoribanks the Disney Animator said he tried all the styles as an Animator but in the end he reverted back to the solid Disney style.

I think I finally understand what he meant.

There are Animation Artists out there who will try and sell you on "the blandness of the Disney style"etc,but they never seem to take a shot at Milt;)

Enjoy!

J.

Tim Burton

3 images from the Catalogue for the upcoming MOMA Tim Burton Retrospective!

Rolly Crump

Love these Rolly Crump Imagineering designs!

Rolly was Tim Burton before there was a Tim Burton!

He is alive and well!Check out his work on Google.

Enjoy.

J.

Cartoon Network and the 90's

I have high hopes for Cartoon Network and their Cartoonstitute program!

An incubator of shorts worked so well the first time around and gave CN some of the best shows they have ever produced.

I hope it will reinvigorate the Network now in 2009 and create some new Cartoons that entertain and inspire like the first wave did.

Dexters Lab, Powerpuff Girls and Cow and Chicken seem now like golden age classics!

J.

Cartoon Color.................

CHRIS RECCARDI

MICHAEL LAH

JOHN KRICFALUSI

WARD KIMBALL

UNKNOWN


As I take time away from the board I see all kinds of color approaches in the man made and natural world that inspire me.Then online at night I find things I have saved on my Computer inspiring all over again.Here are 5 I really like for their color use.

All images are property of their respective owners.

Enjoy.

J.

Gahan Wilson............

For years I avoided this master of of the Macabre.
I just didn't get it!
Now I know I was a fool.
His winding line explores more artistic territory per inch than most Cartoonists do in a lifetime.
Enjoy.
J.

Jazz for Sunday.

Just liked this one.

Yes I know the color palette is loud and uses almost every color you could ,but somehow it reminds me of The peir in Santa Monica or Venice beach.

Energetic,brash,bold,vibrant and free.

J.

NO CINTIQUE, NO MAYA, NO PROBLEM!

Currently enjoying this!

Massively appealing imagery with a charming story!

Pick up a copy.

J.