One more plug for Craig Yoe’s Milt Gross book (it deserves it) now that you can order it on Amazon (for $29.19). Craig searched high and low for unseen Gross art to illustrate his 40-page introduction. I told him I had an unpublished Gross sketch given to me by Bob Clampett, but unfortunately I could not find it in time for inclusion in the book. I just found it yesterday. So here it is – Gross caricatures Clampett (and himself?),... 

This week on Stu’s Show , the one and only Stan Freberg will be live and in-studio, along with comedy writer/producer Mark Evanier, who will co-host. They’ll cover as much of Stan’s illustrious career as they can, including his years doing cartoon voiceover work at Warner Brothers in the 1940s and 50s, partnering with Daws Butler to write and perform Bob Clampett’s Time For Beany , recording some of the greatest comedy... 

Beginning this Friday, a restored print of Joseph Losey’s film noir The Prowler plays for one week at the Film Forum in Manhattan. The film was co-scripted by blacklisted Hollywood Ten member Dalton Trumbo, photographed by three-time Oscar winner Arthur Miller, produced by Sam Spiegel ( Lawrence of Arabia ), and production designed by (get ready for this) John Hubley. I asked a couple of the Hubley kids about this project recently and... 

Cartoon Brew launched six years ago today. We’re not doing a whole lot to celebrate—unless eating raisins counts as a celebration—but we didn’t want to let the day pass without some sort of acknowledgment. It would be an understatement to say that the online animation scene is different today than when we launched in March 2004. Back then there was no YouTube or Vimeo, no animation podcasts, only a handful of animation blogs... 

This week: Crankshaft (3/9/10) by Tom Batiuk and Chuck Ayers; Wulffmorganthaler (3/13/10) by Martin Mostrom Nielson; The Argyle Sweater (3/10/10) by Scott Hilburn. (Thanks to Jim Lahue, David Ian White)  Read More →

Wei Te – Mu di , or The Cowherd’s Flute , is a beautiful short animated film by Te Wei (Sheng Tewei) a master Chinese animator who died this month at the age of 95. Te Wei was a print cartoonist who was asked by the Chinese Ministry of Culture to establish an animation studio in 1949. He is best known for his 1950’s film The Conceited General . In the 1960’s he began to create the equivalent of animated ink paintings,... 

This afternoon, Secret of Kells director Tomm Moore will do a Q&A following the 5pm screening of his film at the Village East Cinema in NY. Also, the distributor of the film, GKID, is launching a limited release of Secret of Kells around the US. When I saw Tomm in LA last week, he mentioned to me that he’ll be doing Q&As after…  Read More →

Filmmaker David Fincher ( Fight Club, Se7en, Benjamin Button , etc.), who began his career working for Lucasfilm in special effects (Return of the Jedi) and on the animated film Twice Upon A Time , is setting up a new eight-or-nine part Heavy Metal animated feature. Besides himself, he’s enlisted James Cameron (Avatar) , Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Carribean) and Zack Snyder (300) each to direct a segment – with other big-name... 

Animation legend Kaj Pindal has his own blog at KajPindal.blogspot.com . The blog is edited by Sheridan student Amir Avni and Chris Walsh , who teaches the animation history class with Pindal at Sheridan. The blog has stories from Pindal, rare examples of his animation, and artwork and video of his illustrious friends like Ward Kimball and Zach Schwartz. There’s only five posts so far but every one of them is a winner. I especially enjoyed... 

When In The Country is a stylish British public safety film from 1963. Please share if you know the studio or director responsible for this. I found out about the short thanks to Lost Continent which is a commendable blog dedicated to exploring the artwork and history of British animation.  Read More →

Sorry for the last minute notice, but our friend Joseph Games (Chogrin) says a full-length preview episode of Adventure Time will air TONIGHT (Thursday, March 11th) at 8:30pm Eastern (5:30pm Pacific) on Cartoon Network. With so little originality in TV animation these days, I’m really rooting for this series to catch on. It’s not “Spumco” or the cookie cutter standard we’ve come to expect from …  Read More →

The artists behind Tim Burton’s new Alice In Wonderland film will make a one-time appearance for a panel, Q&A and book signing this Saturday afternoon at Alhambra’s Gallery Nucleus . The event will begin at 2pm and run all afternoon, Saturday March 13th. Nucleus will also be the first and only location for you to purchase a copy of the ‘Art of’ book, Alice in Wonderland: A Visual Companion , before its release date... 

Michael Sporn has posted an amazing article about Harvey Kurtzman’s animated work for Sesame Street . There’s a lot of rare artwork in the piece alongside info on how he collaborated with Phil Kimmelman and Associates to make the cartoons. In particular what stood out to me is this unbelievable page of animation drawings by Dante Barbetta . Loose, free and funny animation—it’s what shows like Chowder can only dream of being.... 

How do I love thee, let me count the ways: this isn’t so much a book review, but a book RAVE . Craig Yoe’s massive new tome reprinting the comic book art of Milt Gross (IDW/Yoe Books, 354 color pages, $39.99 or cheaper on Amazon ) is an absolute must-have by everyone reading this blog. Buy it now…  Read More →

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the title Tangled isn’t the only thing being changed about Disney’s production of Rapunzel – it’s repositioning the film to attract a male audience. From the article : The makeover of “Rapunzel” is more than cosmetic. Disney can ill afford a moniker that alienates half the potential audience, young boys, who are needed to make an expensive family film a success. Concluding...