keyleedaud (REAL ESTATE)

 I wrote about Txesco Montalt's work before , and here is a short that he created with Mayte Sanchez Solis.  Both of them worked on Pocoyo , one of the few pre-school shows I can watch without falling asleep.  Like Txesco's earlier work, it synchs beautifully to the soundtrack and while done in Flash, has lots of subtle shape-changing that gives it wonderful flexibility. I'm also in love with the simplicity of the design. The two are partnered in a company called Alla Kinda , and even their logo exudes charm.  Their site is worth checking out.

Here's another Storycorps short animated by the Rauch Brothers. Storycorps is raising money through Kickstarter to do a half hour special.  The goal is only $25,000, so I don't know if the money is to simply top up a budget or if they're going to do a slight amount of new animation to wrap around the work they've already done. In any case, I'm a fan of their work and look forward to them doing more.

Readers of this blog will know how interested I am in creators' rights.  Some of the most famous characters of 20th century pop culture were created under dubious legal and financial conditions.  The copyright to Superman was transferred from Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the writer and artist, to their publisher for the sum of $130.  That was $10 per page for their first 13 page Superman story.  In order to get paid for their work, they lost control of their creation. The latest U.S. copyright law allows for creators who sold their copyrights to regain them during specific time periods.  If the creators are deceased, their heirs have the right to pursue the copyright. Jerry Seigel's heirs have filed to regain their half of the Superman copyright.  Joe Shuster's heirs are eligible to file in the near future.  Both are represented by attorney Marc Toberoff. On the face of it, it's a nice, clear story.  Two little guys were taken advantage of, lost ...

Here's an interview with Bill Plympton, where he gives advice to independent animators.  The piece includes video clips.  And there's a link at the bottom to "4 Lessons in Creativity from John Cleese" that's also worth reading.

I find that many of the most interesting animated films these days are being made in the genre of animated documentaries.  Paul and Sandra Fierlinger, The Rauch Brothers, and Marjane Satrapi ground their films in every day life, rather than fantasy.  This isn't to say that their films don't take advantage of animation's ability to use exaggeration, symbol and metaphor.  It's just that their films illuminate real life instead of providing the audience with an escape from it. I am late in getting to John Canemaker's The Moon and the Son .  I never saw it in its original release and have only now caught up to it on DVD .  The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2005 and it deals with the relationship between John Canemaker and his father. There's been no shortage of father-son relationship issues in recent animated features.  Finding Nemo , Chicken Little , Ratatouille , and How to Train Your Dragon come to mind.  In each of these films...

The clock is ticking on Michael Sporn's Kickstarter campaign to help finance his feature based on the life and work of Edgar Allan Poe. Donations as low as $5 are possible. If you are someone who supports drawn animation, independent films or just intelligent animated features, this is a worthy project. Michael has been nominated for an Oscar, won several Cable ACE awards and been making films for decades. He is not a newbie who thought it would be fun to make an animated film, but a veteran director who is bucking commercial constraints in order to tackle subject matter that is common for live action film but all too rare in animation. Below are art samples from the project's website . If the art suggests that this is a film you'd like to see, help it come into existence by making a donation.

TV Ontario ran two animated features, Perspepolis and Mary and Max , on Saturday Night at the Movies on March 17. As usual, between features, they ran interview footage relating to the films. This segment features Oscar winner Chris Landreth ( Ryan ), Director and animator Robin Budd ( Producing Parker , Ruby Gloom ) and me.

Michael Sporn has been developing an animated feature about author Edgar Allan Poe and has decided to use Kickstarter to finance the project . One of the most encouraging things about the increased number of animated features in the last several decades is the content that is not aimed at children or the family audience. Films like Persepolis , Mary and Max , Waltz with Bashir , etc. use animation to deal with adult themes. Michael Sporn is no stranger to those themes. Even his films that appear to be aimed at children, such as Abel's Island , are really about adult concerns. As the cost of mainstream animated features continues to go higher, the films take fewer risks. There are more sequels, more adaptations and just more of the same. Even Pixar seems to be falling into established patterns. Directors like Michael Sporn, working on a shoestring, take more chances than Hollywood. Their continued existence is essential for the health of the animated art form. The only way pop...

I'm writing this post for the benefit of Sheridan animation students and grads, but it may prove useful to others. If you are not on salary or working under a contract and somebody asks you to produce some art or animation, here are the things you need to know in writing before you start work. How much will you be paid and what is the payment schedule? Are there royalties or other compensation you are entitled to in the future? What are the specifics of the work you are providing? What format are you delivering the work in? When is the work due? Then there is the question of rights. What exactly are you selling in exchange for the money? Are you selling the work outright? Are you selling the work only for a specific use? Are you selling the work for a limited amount of time? Is the sale for exclusive or non-exclusive rights to use the work? Will the artist get screen credit or be allowed to sign the work? If the client provides this information in a written document, you have the ...

On November 4 at the NFB (150 John Street), the Toronto Student Animation Festival will screen. The doors open at 6:00 and the screening runs from 6:30 to 8:30. Admission is $10. John Bissylas, a local high school teacher, created a festival several years ago to showcase the animation of high school students. This screening, however, will feature work from older students from around the world. On November 10, there will be an industry event to raise funds and awareness for the Toronto Animated Arts Festival International . It's an animation festival that will take place next June at the Bell Lightbox downtown. Admission to the fundraiser is $15 in advance and $20 at the door and the event takes place at the Vogue Supperclub, 42 Mowat Avenue in Liberty Village.

Left to right: Mike and Tim Rauch. "The key is to try and be as honest and true to the story as possible." - Mike Rauch I admire the work of the Rauch brothers enormously as their work, based on documentary audio recordings done by Storycorps, is built on emotional truth. That's something too often lacking in modern animation. The brothers are interviewed by Jeremy Helton, talking about their history, their influences and their process. There are also photo comparisons between real people and settings and the designs that the brothers have created from them. You can see four video interviews with the brothers here and a selection of their work here .

Fresh from his appearance at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. (click to enlarge.)

Steve Bissette, a comics artist who also writes and publishes, has posted a great piece on issues surrounding collaborating on a graphic novel. The piece is relevant because the requests that Bissette is addressing are similar to those that I regularly address as the coordinator of Sheridan College's animation program. I am constantly fielding phone calls and emails requesting that students create films for individuals and organizations. As Bissette points out, like it or not, drawing takes longer than writing. And animating most certainly takes longer than writing. My first question when I get these requests is to ask if this is a paying project. Most times it isn't. In that case, my response is that we have a highly structured curriculum and we're not able to accommodate the request. If the job is paying, I try to connect a recent graduate with the project. I don't doubt that many animation artists get requests like this. I remember somebody who wanted an anim...

Salon has an interview with Bill Plympton .

Independent animator Bill Plympton is using Kickstarter to raise money to "resurrect" Winsor McCay's 1921 short The Flying House . Plympton is digitally cleaning the film, colorizing it, replacing word balloons with audio dialogue and adding music and sound effects. I am torn about this. On the one hand, the film is in the public domain. I personally think that copyright has become way too restrictive and that the public domain is a good thing for society at large, allowing past work to be re-issued and to inspire new work. What Plympton is attempting here is fully within the law and an example of how the public domain can feed contemporary creation. On the other hand, the historian in me believes that the past has value and to remake the past is to distort it. I was always against colorization when it was applied to black and white films. I also believe that there is great value in attempting to understand the past by immersing yourself in it. The world was a dif...

Author J.C. Herz gave the commencement address at the Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida. It's specifically aimed at people doing creative work and is the commencement address that creative people everywhere need to hear. "As a creative professional, you have to get over the idea that your employer or your client owes you a wide blue sky or a creative romper room. You are the one who’s responsible for your continued growth and development. Sometimes, you have to make your own fun, on your own time. The downside is, you don’t necessarily get paid for that. The upside is, you don’t need sponsorship or buy-in. Realize the leverage you have when no-one’s paying you to do something, and use that leverage to carve out new opportunities. Remember: you have talents and skills that are valuable, and there are a lot of ways to leverage that value. It might be the chance to contribute visually to a non-profit organization or shoe-string arts effort that appeals to y...

"My daughter Laura and I, as well as the Shuster estate, have done nothing more than exercise our rights under the Copyright Act. Yet, your company has chosen to sue us and our long-time attorney for protecting our rights." Nikki Finke has published a letter from the late Joanne Siegel to Jeffrey Bewkes, Chairman and CEO of Time Warner, Inc. The Siegel estate has been fighting to recapture their share of the copyright to Superman. Under U.S.copyright law, works sold to companies can be recovered by the creators at specified periods. There is no question that Superman was not a work for hire. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created it independently and tried selling it for years before it was bought by what was to become DC comics, now owned by Time Warner. I've spent a fair amount of time on this blog warning creators about losing their rights. Anyone who has an idea that they hope to bring to the public needs to read this letter. Paste a copy of it wherever you do...

Two comics, two creators, two different outcomes. A couple of things popped up this week which show, by contrast, the benefits of ownership. Jeff Smith is a former animator who is the creator of Bone and RASL . Bone began in the '90s as a self-published comic book distributed to comics shops. Since then, Smith has collected the comics in a series of graphic novels and a one volume edition. Scholastic Books reprinted the series in colour and later this year, there will be a one volume colour edition. Smith had a movie deal with Nickelodeon for Bone , but Nickelodeon dragged things out Smith and Nickelodeon parted company. Later, Smith made a deal for Bone with Warner Bros. The experience with Nickelodeon made Smith more demanding, and Warner Bros. agreed to his terms. Now, Smith's latest comics series RASL has also been sold to Hollywood . The week, the depositions in the copyright termination case brought by the Jack Kirby estate against Marvel were made public . The ...

As a 90th birthday gift, Børge Ring's children have created a website for him. You can watch his independent films there and leave him a message. Eventually, the site will include links to articles about Børge and information about his musical career.

February 17 is Børge Ring's 90th birthday. I want to wish him the warmest of birthday greetings and thank him once again for the films he has made, Oh My Darling , Anna and Bella and Run of the Mill . All the best to you, Børge!