A collection of digital wonders and some other stuff
More of my favorite blogs to check out for inspiration and edification.
Here are my Favorite Animation and Art Blogs A-D and also my Favorite Animation and Art Blogs E-O
E-O of the art and animation related blogs that I like:
Here are my favorite animation and art blogs A-D and Favorite Art and Animation Blogs P-U.
The number of animation blogs that have sprung up in the last couple months is amazing. Here is a list of some of the animation and art related blogs I subscribe to on my RSS feed reader:
I don’t want my list becoming TOO huge in one post so I will add the rest over the next couple days.
Here are Favorites E-O and Favorites P-U.
I saw this last week but thinking about it again today, I just have to share it. Watch it here. Some information on the music and the creators behind the animation here at CG Society.
Also check out these other demos: smallreel_3.mov and smallreel_4.mov.
There are all really cool but that first one is amazing.
I’ve been engrossed in a myriad of new animation and art blogs that seem to have sprung up like mushrooms in the last month.
I found this little gem of an entry tonight that relates how Rob Clements & John Musker quit Walt Disney Feature Animation over what happened to Fraidy Cat.
(… Ron Clements & John Musker are the writers / directors of such Disney animated hits as “The Great Mouse Detective,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Hercules” and “Treasure Planet.” Over the past 20 years, these gifted filmmakers are personally responsible for billions of dollars pouring into Disney’s corporate coffers.)
So if a picture that these two guys (with their proven track record) have helped create is playing this well in story reel form, you have to assume that Walt Disney Feature Animation is naturally going to be putting that project in production, right?
Well, that’s where you’d be wrong, folks. “Fraidy Cat” (which was originally scheduled to be released in late 2009) isn’t going into production. In fact, this project was actually shelved last month. Which is the main reason that Musker & Clements — after 31 years of working for Walt Disney Feature Animation — are exiting the studio on September 11th and heading for … parts unknown.
“Wait a minute?,” you sputter, “If people inside WDFA are saying that ‘Fraidy Cat’ actually looked that good, then why isn’t Disney then putting this picture into production?” Ah, that’s where this cat’s tail … er … tale gets interesting.
It’s so disappointing that number one, we’ll never get to see Fraidy Cat, and number two, Walt Disney Feature Animation has lost two tremendously talented individuals.
After reading this Newsday.com (Updated link:) wdwmagic forum article about a scuba-diving dentist that claims Disney and Pixar Animation Studios stole the idea for the hit film “Finding Nemo” from him, I think he may have a case.
He claims he submitted an illustrated manuscript to Disney and talked on the phone about his story with a writer from Pixar. (The two companies have a distribution partnership.)
A Disney vice president told Sternberg in 1996 that although the story had “great potential,” it did not fit into the studio’s “development slate” at that time, according to the suit.
Seven years later, Sternberg was in a movie theater and saw a preview for the upcoming release of “Finding Nemo.”
“I thought, ‘Hey, I’m the scuba-diving dentist. Those are my characters, that’s my story,”‘ he told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Wednesday’s editions. “It made me sick to my stomach.”
One big similarity: Sternberg story has a character named “Nimo.”
The thing is, before he submitted his manuscript he signed a two-page waiver that said he would be entitled to only $500 if he were to claim that the company used his material without permission or authorization. His lawyer is asking the court to void that waiver.
I made a short video starring my cousin Don’s kids, Brendyn and Ty. I added some really cheesy laser effects and some background music from Star Wars. Check it out (8mb .mov). (Sorry the limited time is up).
The Mazda Transformer – Shows one of their cars transforming into an Autobot.
Hell Boy Test Animation – Quick animation of the upper torso of Hellboy done in Mike Mignola’s drawing style but in 3D.
Tetra Vaal Demo Spot – It’s a neat 3D Demo from theembassyvfx.com about a futuristic robot that could be used to police developing nations.
I made a screen saver advertisement for the Swim Meet coming up on the weekend. Here it is in all its shockwave flash glory — in other words you don’t have to save it and install it in order to view it. I may only leave it up for a month or two, so if you missed it… well that’s too bad! :)
Last month, South Park ran a humorous and informative episode titled “All About Mormons”.
From the South Park Studios Website:
“A Mormon kid moves to South Park and Stan has to kick his ass. But when Stan and his dad meet their new Mormon neighbors, they become fascinated with how genuinely nice they are. Meanwhile the other boys mock Stan relentlessly for wimping out.”
If you’re in the United States (or have an IP address in the United States) you can watch the episode here:
Or if you want, you can check out the “audio only” version in 4 parts:
I think pretty much the greatest thing about this episode is that is gives people who don’t know anything about the church a background into how the church started. As someone that knows from personal experience, they tell the Joseph Smith story pretty much just like they do if you were to have the Mormon Missionaries come into your house and tell you the story, except for the part where they call Martin Harris dumb. Mormon Missionaries would never call him dumb — unless they were calling him dumb because he gave his wife the unpublished transcript, then they might but other than that — no way. This episode also portrays what nice people Mormons are — based on some of the Mormon families I know it’s so accurate it’s scary.