Oscars - Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short for 2018

The nominees for 2018 are -

Animated Feature
“Incredibles 2,” Brad Bird
“Isle of Dogs,” Wes Anderson
“Mirai,” Mamoru Hosoda
“Ralph Breaks the Internet,” Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman

Animated Short
“Animal Behaviour,” Alison Snowden, David Fine
“Bao,” Domee Shi
“Late Afternoon,” Louise Bagnall
“One Small Step,” Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas
“Weekends,” Trevor Jimenez

With some bad news...

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/awards/academy-voters-dont-watch-the-animated-features-they-vote-on-and-the-academy-is-fine-with-that-170670.html?fbclid=IwAR0fyGO6Nzkyhppfr7V_L1xmc3Nd13TKa1q1X-sMX-BGt1SRpyf-0ktH_yo

And the winners are...
 Best Animated Feature
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
and
Best Animated Short
Bao

https://www.sonypictures-guilds.com/spiderman-into-the-spiderverse

 (copyright A.M.P.A.S, Marvel, Sony and Time-Warner. Sorta)

Visual EFX Awards for 2018

Hello, other issues made me late to the party again, here's the results for this year's winners in visual effects. Who will get the Oscar for best Animated Feature?

https://www.visualeffectssociety.com/ayear/17th-annual-ves-awards

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/vfx/the-best-breakdowns-in-vfx-right-now-170276.html

https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/2019-academy-vfx-bake-celebrating-year-excellence-visual-effects

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/awards/ves-awards-2019-winners-spider-verse-sweeps-animation-categories-169877.html

https://www.visualeffectssociety.com/

UPA studios in Burbank

Photos of the old UPA studios, next to the Smokehouse restaurant in Burbank. I wish I could have been there to have seen some of my childhood favorites in production.

 

(original copyright UPA productions)

https://midcenturymomanddad.wordpress.com/tag/upa/?fbclid=IwAR3Wqpna25Dc7EHlgyCxYabpAQlTRjMQ0MSVCmXE7yiFI-rGOBRCQzirH_M

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/books/inside-upa-a-cartoon-brew-book-4073.html?fbclid=IwAR0-oJjXwdoVKv0BHg__rtOrWtbo6zkkMkbFtqdrb5K5ZDc9NAbZki12Cl4

https://mrmagooschristmascarol.blogspot.com/2010/10/?fbclid=IwAR02Y9KURsV8vudYoSZMq3BFrNhVc_GyMx12iA3EQDJOIPHv1jUHgG4HvhA

 http://floydnormancom.squarespace.com/blog/2014/6/13/remembering-upa?fbclid=IwAR09MyJVjscoRzTeBAURZ6Yg1oJxKXEao8EKAvltXDdynEXxA9z02noibyk

Animateducated Live Stream: The Gary K Wolf interview

Animateducated Live Stream: The Gary K Wolf interview

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

'Nuff said!

https://www.sonypictures-guilds.com/

https://www.awn.com/news/spider-man-spider-verse-wins-best-animated-feature-46th-annie-awards

Bud Light x Game of Thrones Super Bowl Commercial - Joust

Marvel Studios' Avengers: Endgame - Big Game TV Spot

Super Bowl 2019 ads

Extra Christmas or New Year's Day celebration?

As we chow down, and root for our team, let's not forget the artists and technicians that bring us these mini movies that may be more entertaining than the game!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/Ad-Meter/2019/02/02/super-bowl-commercials-ad-meter/2753528002/

 https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2019-super-bowl-ads-your-guide-to-the-leaked-tv-commercials-to-know-in-the-big-game/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/superbowl-commercials-hub?ocid=mailsignout

46th Annual Annie Awards

https://annieawards.org/watch-it-live

How to Fix the Future by Andrew Keen

Managed to catch this on KPFK; Ralph Nader interviews author Andrew Keen.

https://ralphnaderradiohour.com/how-to-fix-the-future/

 (from Technological Threat, directed by Bill Kroyer 1988)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096238/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32508662-how-to-fix-the-future

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/TechnologicalThreat

The Little Bummer Droid

Just getting a quick sketch down.

The Holiday rush has begun, at least for me.

My concern is "Digital Dickensian-ism":

We are at a point where not having the latest phone or gadget not only means a loss of status, but a threat to health and safety as well. If a cell tower goes down, can the public still get vital information on wildfires or hurricanes threatening their town? There's still battery powered radios, but who really keeps one? My upbringing has helped me try to tread as lightly on the Earth as I can. (And I still hang to a lot of old tech to pinch a penny.) But it is tech that media manufacturers and telecom companies don't want to deal with anymore. My point is that we should be able live with whatever level of technology we want, and actually need. I'm still impressed by the Amish back East!

I hope the world can heal, and get past its rage and madness in 2019.

Best,

Ken R.

RIP SpongeBob SquarePants Creator Stephen Hillenburg

 I'm reading more and more about middle age people in showbiz passing away, and it's scary. Whereas Stan Lee lived to nearly a century at 95, it's saddening to hear about SpongeBob SquarePants Creator Stephen Hillenburg. Granted he was suffering from ALS, once known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease with no known cure.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stephen-hillenburg-dead-spongebob-squarepants-creator-dies-at-57-1164132

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/rip/stephen-hillenburg-creator-of-spongebob-squarepants-dies-at-57-167113.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2018/11/27/spongebob-squarepants-creator-stephen-hillenburg-has-died/?utm_term=.6d613d30b1bf

I must begrudgingly admit, I did get a few laughs from the folks down in Bikini Bottom. And it's a reminder to keep going on my projects, no matter what. Spongebob will be like the Simpsons, just one of those shows that will always seem to be around. The amount of work, and adventures Stephen Hillenburg had as a marine biology teacher is still impressive. Here's a sketch of SpongeBob I did back in 2006.

(copyright Nickelodeon)

 

Here's to ya mate!

Animate In Virtual Reality with Disney's PoseVR

Saw this article on Cartoon Brew; worth passing along. https://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/disneys-posevr-is-a-mind-blowing-tool-that-lets-you-animate-in-vr-166721.html

Augmented Reality with Animation

Here is my next step in creating basic AR using Unity with Vuforia. I'll see how much of the procedure I can list here.

These video links outline the process much more clearly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtiUx_szKbI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cmDK_O-1g

RIP Stan Lee

Here's to one of the greatest parts of my childhood, and development as a cartoonist, and as an artist.

Along with Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and John Buscema, along with an almost endless list of other editors, writers and artists most comics fans will know by heart, Stan Lee created the most beloved and enduring comic book characters to date. Granted, all the Marvel Bullpen artists did their share of the heavy lifting in creating the Marvel Universe, which finally led to a financial empire of toys, knick-knacks, action figures, books, animated TV shows, and finally feature films so prosperous that an unlikely rival media conglomerate, (Disney) could not pass it up.

(original copyright Simon and Schuster)

Stan also served in the U.S. Army.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/marvel-comics-legend-stan-lee-dies-at-95/ar-BBPCSj8?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/12/obituaries/stan-lee-dead.html 

 

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/stan-lee-marvel-comics-legend-721450

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stan_Lee

In a Joseph Campbell way, Stan was a modern shaman to me, weaving tales about the Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, and Spiderman, to name a few. Not to mention the X-Men, Thor, Dr. Strange and Iron Man. I plunked down many a quarter, then 35¢, and then well over a dollar to travel off to other worlds of mutants, monsters, madmen and gods. Stan Lee also helped me expand my vocabulary. Where else would a kid in grade school read about a "tumultuous exodus"? It helped drive my teachers crazy. Thank God for such pandemonious puffery! Spellcheckers be damned.

It's tempting to call Stan Lee a modern Shakespeare, with his stories of arrogant men falling, being humbled, and then rising again as heroes. But Lee's heroes also kept all of their quirks, faults and weaknesses, whereas most of the DC Comics universe had heroes who were almost always squeaky clean. How dull. No, in the Marvel Universe, Peter Parker struggled with paying the rent, looking after an aunt who always seemed to be at death's door, and an impossible boss who had a personal vendetta against Peter Parker's alter-ego Spiderman. Soap opera writers must have been jealous.

Tony Stark, Stephen Strange, Ben Grimm and an entire legion of characters were humbled, stumbled and still rose to the occasion when the Marvel villains, most of whom also had their own stories and issues, threatened New York City, the Earth, or even the entire universe. Victories were won, but often at a price, and revelations of the depth of the characters emerged on both sides of the conflict. I seem to be gushing with Stan's "purple prose" here. And maybe some Jules Feiffer.

Got to wrap this up now, but I still treasure these mementos from my childhood. Being able to learn storytelling, draftsmanship, graphic design and even literacy from the humble, much maligned comic book leaves many geeks in Stan Lee's debt. R.I.P Mr. Lee.

Excelsior!

CTN Expo 2018

 It's November, and the rock concert of all animation conferences will be here again at the Burbank Marriott Hotel. Various Schools, Lectures, Seminars, Book Sellers, Artists, Celebrities, and the Big Studios will be there to celebrate the Animation Industry. I hope you can enjoy it.

https://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/

 https://www.facebook.com/ctnanimationexpo/

(my photo from CTN 2015, characters copyright Disney)

More Inktober iterations...

More weirdness with pen and ink. I've been using Kuretake Bimoji Brush Pens for the last couple of years, they seem to do the trick. Although they're starting to dry out. I'm also using a yellow marker to get a midtone, and to help me work out the forms from my rough sketches. Not to mention a gallon of white-out where I'm not sure.

Herman Bear and Athena contemplate an alien necklace
while exploring further on the planet Solstice.

It may be more trouble than it's worth!

My first successful Augmented Reality test with Unity and Vuforia

After following the tutorial from Playful Technology, I finally was able to get my first success in AR with the Unity game engine, along with the Vuforia software.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtiUx_szKbI

 

Still have a long way to go.

https://unity3d.com/

 

https://www.vuforia.com/

Inktober 2018 Part One - Bear & Dragon

I'm off to a late start, but here's to Inktober!

Insert your own dialogue for your enjoyment, see what you come up with.

 I'll try to do more.

Animation loses Claymation king Will Vinton

I have to admit, I wasn't a huge Will Vinton fan, but I was struck by some of his work. "Closed Mondays" was the first Vinton film I ever saw that didn't revolve around singing raisins, or other commercial characters.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoBmlbQApJE

 There were some various TV specials, and the series I remember was the "PJ's" created by Eddie Murphy. Vinton was listed as Executive Producer on a few episodes.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182621/fullcredits/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm

 (original copyright Touchstone Television)

(Street Poster I found years ago in L.A. Haven't seen anything else like it.)

I was saddened to learn later that his studio was bought out by Phil Knight of Nike shoes, and Vinton was forced out. Vinton Studios eventually became Laika.

 https://priceonomics.com/how-the-father-of-claymation-lost-his-company/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/will-vinton-dead-oscar-winning-legend-claymation-was-70-1149596

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/rip/will-vinton-stop-motion-legend-and-claymation-creator-dead-at-70-164928.html

 http://dorkshelf.com/2015/12/19/from-coraline-to-kubo-laika-is-the-stop-motion-studio-that-never-stops/

 

Correction: Vinton Studios were taken over by Travis Knight after they continued to lose money after his initial investment.

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/how-will-vinton-lost-his-studio-to-a-rapper-named-chilly-tee-99327.html