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Titmouse artist Mike McCraw animated on Disney’s Motorcity and is currently working as cleanup artist and animator on Black Dynamite for Adult Swim. He had a vision for a really cool animated Power Rangers cartoon and instead of waiting for someone to make it, he just started making it himself. “Not to mention it gives me the opportunity to practice my animating skills,” he told me. “As a longtime fan of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, I began a series of animated pieces featuring a single Ranger in each one. Fully animated/hand drawn in flash, my latest is the Blue Ranger (below) which was preceded by the Black and Pink Rangers.” Great action stuff, says I.
Today, in Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival, we’re pleased to present Troubleshooting by Eric Ko, of the Rhode Island School of Design. Produced as minimalist as any film could be; Ko uses only simple line figures in black and white to take us on a journey, from a routine morning bus ride to a spectacular sci-fi apocalypse, with one surprise after another. Like his slacker protagonist, Ko is a self-assured filmmaker with a sly sense of humor and a fine sense of visual storytelling Troubleshooting has an imaginative premise, superb execution and proves, in this case, that less is more, as long as someone hits the “reset” button.
Today, in Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival, we’re pleased to present Troubleshooting by Eric Ko, of the Rhode Island School of Design. Produced as minimalist as any film could be; Ko uses only simple line figures in black and white to take us on a journey, from a routine morning bus ride to a spectacular sci-fi apocalypse, with one surprise after another. Like his slacker protagonist, Ko is a self-assured filmmaker with a sly sense of humor and a fine sense of visual storytelling Troubleshooting has an imaginative premise, superb execution and proves, in this case, that less is more, as long as someone hits the “reset” button.
Continue reading for comments from the filmmaker Eric Ko:
THE IDEA
What if the end of the world wasn’t such a big deal, and some guy fixed it every now and then?
TOOLBOX
I worked in Flash with a tablet. I’m not sure if the limitation of black, white, and grey was a conscious decision at first, but it just seemed right after a while. It definitely helped me with directing, and it also gave me the time I needed to animate the scenes needed for a proper climax, and some extra details here and there. I always found it to be the little things in cartoons that made me laugh the most.
LESSONS LEARNED
The idea I started with is so different from the finished product that it could be its own thing. I had a basic storyboard laid out, but I always kept the ideas for the scenes kind of vague. I was making up the scenes as I animated — which is a creative process that I find natural, but it became kind of scary at times. As always, it helps to have friends or just somebody to help you keep going, or keep you from veering off-course.
INSPIRATIONS
I was reading a lot of comics by younger cartoonists during the time I started thinking of ideas, going through every MOME publication I was able to find. Because this was my first try at animating human-style characters with human-style faces, I figured comics were a good place to start for inspiration. I watched Cowboy Bebop before I started, and Akira during production.
My violent-video-game-filled childhood helped cement the theme, and I looked to my little brothers for inspiration as well. I was also heavily influenced by a RISD grad named Tom Deslongchamp, throughout the ages.
Today, as part of Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival, we’re delighted to present Ballpit by Kyle Mowat of Canada’s Sheridan College. What begins in pure abstraction slowly reveals itself to be an evolutionary tale—albeit an unconventional evolution that blends organic materials with the mechanical. The film could be dissected, but the total effect is what makes it memorable. Ballpit delights the eyes and yields visual suprises at every turn. The riot of color, the patterns of colors, the rhythms of movement—it is the joyous possibilities of animation distilled into 90 seconds.
Mack Williams animated this piece for Pitchfork featuring sludge metal pioneers Melvins recounting their disastrous first tour in 1986. It’s simple Flash, but the designs work and embellish the story in all the right ways.
Welcome to a special mid-week edition of Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival. Today, we’re excited to present the online debut of Pest by Nooree Kim of Oakville, Canada’s Sheridan College. This is either genius—or the stuff of nightmares. Inspired and subversive, Pest is our kind of cartoon fun. Outrageous character, silly pranks, beautifully staged and fully realized. Oh yeah, and leaving you wanting more: the true mark of a successful project. Kim can draw, has a point of view and is funny.
Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival proudly presents Otzi by Evan Red Borja (School of Visual Arts). Borja’s film is highly imaginative, laugh out loud, and thought-provoking—and did we mention super entertaining. Borja uses an efficient line style, but doesn’t skimp on the animation, which is creative and perfectly suited to the style. The vocal track enhances the fun with Fleischer-like verbal mutterings.
Funny well-timed animation and a cute concept in D. A. D. Digital Amusement Device by Brisbane, Australia-based Mark Osberg. He created the film in Flash and After Effects over 3 months.
Welcome to the third annual Cartoon Brew Student Animation Festival. Over the course of the next ten weeks, we’ll be debuting ten remarkable student animated shorts.
We’re launching the festival today with 21 Years in 7 Minutes by Caroline Torres (Rhode Island School of Design). Autobiographical stories are a staple of student filmmakers, but rarely have we seen one as confident and original as this one. Torres’ fast-paced accounting of her life uses superb visual storytelling filled with comedy and heart, and pairs it with a distinctively quirky animation style that complements the simple line artwork. The film is a pleasant reminder that life is most often about friendship in all its many forms, from boy-next door crushes to BFFs who share in everything to animation school friendships in which people often connect through their characters.
Serious message, hilarious animation in Nacho Rodriguez’s short A Paedophile. I’m not sure the funny design fits the tone of the film, but the skill is undeniable.
British animation artist Edd Gould passed away on Sunday, March 25 from leukemia. He was the creator of the popular online animation series Eddsworld, which achieved a devoted following on numerous video platforms including Newgrounds and YouTube. On YouTube alone, his shorts have been viewed over 80 million times. The Eddsworld universe also included comics and Flash games. Gould animated all the shorts, co-wrote them, and provided some of the voices. It is not clear at this point whether the series will continue without his participation, but the rest of the Eddsworld crew has promised fans that they will finish the two-part episode that Gould was working on at the time of his death.
I’m very excited today to share a flash story by author Belinda Kroll. Please enjoy!
This was a specially written flash story that would have occurred between chapters 4 and 5 from Belinda Kroll’s book, Haunting Miss Trentwood.
~+~
It is 1887, the year of Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. A time when the British Empire is at its strongest. A time when Spiritualism has reached validity through formal organizations employing reputable mediums, who have evidence of contacting those souls which have departed this earthly realm.
It is a time when Mary Trentwood, heroine of Haunting Miss Trentwood, must decide what to do about her beloved father, Gideon Trentwood, haunting her.
- – -
Mary Trentwood woke a week after her father’s funeral, peeking out from under her coverlet. Yes, there was her father Gideon Trentwood sitting in the chair beside her bed, spinning his pocket watch by its chain. His ghost had risen from his grave moments after the casket had been laid there. His ghost had not left her side since that moment.
Mary shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut against the sight of his pale, ethereal skin, snappish eyes, and sandy hair sprinkled with gray.
“My dear,” Trentwood said, “you really must cease your pretending I am not here.”
Mary bit her lip. She had spent so much time preparing for his death. They had known for a month or more that it would be his last, and she had done her best to imagine a world without her remaining parent. She had pictured herself taking walks in the hedgerow, and having her aunt Mrs. Durham inventory the house for furniture and tapestries that were beyond repair. She had thought she would have her butler Pomeroy hire one of the local boys to patch the leaking roof, and tend to the overgrown gardens.
But today, today she had a plan. Her mother had been quite the Spiritualist, and surely the local medium would remember such.
“You can’t ignore me forever,” her father snapped.
Mary threw off the coverlet, her dark hair tumbling around her shoulders as she sat upright. Her hazel eyes flashed with her old energy. “No,” she said, “I suppose not.” She dressed in her usual black crepe and silk dress, taking care to brush the tangles from her hair and weave a black ribbon through her curls done up in a prim chignon.
“Excellent! I was beginning to wonder whether you would ever leave that bed of yours. It was getting rather boring, watching you sleep. What is your plan?”
Mary stalked from her bedroom. “I plan to perform a seance.”
Trentwood laughed. “Whatever for? You can already hear and see me.”
Why, to prove whether she was the only one who could hear him, of course. And if she were the only one who could hear him, well then, Mary decided she had an entirely different problem on her hands.
- – -
Mrs. Franklin, the medium, was a squat woman with so many necklaces that Mary couldn’t see her neck. She was dressed in shades of gray and lavender as was appropriate for someone in extended mourning. One might have thought she was just an eccentric, except for her eyes. Those bright blue eyes caught every movement in the room and pinned Mary in place as she explained the ceremony. When she finished explaining, she began to prepare by whispering to her spirit guide, as she called it.
“Madam,” Mary said, doing her best not to giggle nervously at Mrs. Franklin’s eerie whispering, “I will do whatever it is you ask as long as you are able to send my father to his rightful pea
Courtesy of Benny & Rafi Fine and the animators at TwoAnimators we finally get a glimpse to what will happen to Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang when they begin to grow up.
To be sure, there’s a cute voice track in this interstitial for British children’s channel CBeebies, but the piece as a whole is charming and delivers on all fronts, with sharp direction, design and animation (I love the run cycles of the brothers at the beginning). The piece, called “Sam,” was directed by Matthias Hoegg of Beakus, who also made a couple other shorts in the series earlier this year.
CREDITS
Directed, Designed by Matthias Hoegg
Animated by Amaël Isnard and Matthias Hoegg
3D Animation by Amaël Isnard
Additional Compositing by Leo Bridle
Produced by Beakus
We’re back from our Comic-Con hiatus with the fifth film in Cartoon Brew’s Student Animation Festival: The Impossible Moon by Meinardas Valkevičius. The film was made at the Vilniaus Academy of Arts in Lithuania. To comment on the film or read extensive behind-the-scenes notes from the filmaker, click HERE.
This just might be my personal favorite film of the festival. There are countless student films that tell stories set in space (with a large percentage of them revolving around the Russian dog Laika for some inexplicable reason), but this one stands out, mainly because it dares to challenge our perception of a famous historical event. The Impossible Moon convincingly presents an alternate history of an iconic moment through superb command of the animation medium, especially camera, staging and sound. Regardless of your feelings about the story (and for the record, I’m a space buff who doesn’t buy into any conspiracy theories), the film immediately grabs the viewer with its audacious, thought-provoking concept. My favorite part of the film is the relationship between astronaut Michael Collins and his two inflatable travel companions, which affirms that an emotional bond can exist even in a conspiratorial setting.
Cartoon Brew’s second annual Student Animation Festival is made possible through the generous support of Titmouse and JibJab.
Keymon Ache premiered earlier this week on Nickelodeon India. Watch the first episode on Nick India’s website. It’s about an ordinary Indian boy and his magical rapping monkey Keymon Ache.
The series, which is being touted as “India’s first non-mythological contemporary show,” is produced by DQ Entertainment. Why this is important: the show’s entire production, even the creative pre-production elements, were done entirely in India, and the results are almost on a par with Western animated series. There’s a handful of localized touches, such as the boy not wearing shoes in the home, but for the most part it looks and feels like a Western show. The fact that India can now produce an entire Westernized animated series from concept to completion is both an accomplishment and a game-changer for the animation industry.
Back in 2009, Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe in London created six 3-minute pilots under the creative direction of Timothy Björklund, who had previously directed American shows like Teacher’s Pet and Brandy & Mr. Whiskers. The studio finally posted them on-line yesterday. The nicest thing one can say is that there’s a lot of talent in that studio and the graphics are fun, but the uniformly obnoxious and aggressive tone of the shorts is an unpleasant reminder of the early-2000s US TV animation industry when nobody seemed able to shake off the combined Spumco/Spongebob influence.
The London studio recently produced its first original series The Amazing World of Gumball, and from the previews I’ve seen, it suffers from the same retrograde tone of these pilots. In a post-Adventure Time world that emphasizes individuality and personal style, generic wackiness doesn’t cut it anymore.
Judge the pilots for yourself:
Elliot’s Zoo by David Needham
The Furry Pals by Rikke Asbjorn
Verne on Vacation by Sylvain Marc
Pinky Malinky by Chris Garbutt
Mutant Moments by Alan Kerswell
Hamshanks and the Himalolly Mountain Railway by Tom Parkinson
I call this one "Cold Feet" because his feet are in the water. Get it? LOL I did this one as a wedding gift for a friend. She used it as her wedding invitations.
Two shows doesn’t make a trend, but with Pocoyo and now Saari, one could make a convincing argument that the most artistic and appealing preschool animation is currently coming out of Spain. Saari was created by Finnish-artist Veronica Lassenius and directed by Spanish-animator Pablo Jordi. Thirty-nine three-minute episodes were produced out of the animation studio they own together, Barcelona’s Stor Fisk. The show has aired on Disney Channel in Italy and Spain, Cartoon Network in Japan, and various other broadcasters in Norway, Finland, Sweden, Wales, and Catalonia in Spain. Here’s an episode:
Based on the artwork of Lassenius, Saari has a beautiful sense of color and design. The animation—done in Flash—really shines too. There’s plenty of symbol use and it’s quite limited in some parts, yet it’s also fun and creative when it needs to be, and every character has an individual style of movement uniquely suited to its design. It’s refreshing to see something this well done—more often than not, studios will take good designs and animate them lifelessly and formulaically. Looking at Saari’s credits, I’m going to assume that some of my praise for the animation belongs to the show’s animation director Txesco Montalt. Prior to working on this show, Montalt was also the animation director of Pocoyo.
When I bumped into Stephen Neary a couple nights ago, he told me about his new animated piece “Toxie” which debuted on NPR.org this morning and can be seen here. Produced for the show “Planet Money,” Toxie reenvisions a toxic asset as a cute but destructive pet creature. Stephen directed and animated, and Connie Li Chan provided assistant animation and backgrounds. The piece communicates a difficult concept quite effectively, and there’s some really nice character animation to boot—an impressive accomplishment especially considering their turnaround time was just three weeks.
Ascent Aspirations (BC) seeks poetry and flash fiction for the Fall print issue contest. First prize in each category: $100. Anthology published in February 2011. Theme: work and daily life. Entry fee: $5 for one poem or 3 poems for $10; $10 for each piece of flash fiction. Deadline: October 10, 2010. More
Jetset Studios in Los Angeles creates online campaigns and internet video for the major Hollywood studios. But between projects the studio has been quietly developing The Velvet Mouse Show. Created by studio co-founders Russell Scott and Patrick Young, The Velvet Mouse Show is anchored by a 2D cartoon that is a very deliberate love letter to Saturday Morning cartoons of the seventies.
So far, they’ve concocted a seven minute pilot and two teasers on their YouTube channel. Their main website and Facebook page features further background material, music, images, and “artifacts from the history of show”. Here’s a sample (with a nifty vintage Ice Bird commercial):
