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What's All This Then?
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fresh signals categorical archives
Comics and Animation
Ojingogo, sweet comic series from Coming Up For Air.
Grab our blended RSS feed here.
So you know. "Traditionally, in comic book lettering, the 'I' with crossbars is reserved for the personal pronoun" and other super interesting Comic Lettering Tips.
Mr. Heller on Mr. Zip.
Helpful Size Venn Diagram from xkcd.
10 Things You Probably Shouldn't Do to Your Friends' Bikes with Markers.
"When editing text, in the back of my mind I always worry that I'm adding invisible formatting that will somehow cause a problem in the distant future." Same.
In 1989 Jean Giraud, or Moebius as he is universally known in the comix world, accepted an assignment from the Paris office of Young & Rubicam."
Kate Beaton has officially ended Hark, a Vagrant to focus on her other work that actually generates money, but fear not, hundreds of educational Tycho Brahe d**k jokes are safe in her archives.
Matthew Kramer's Instagram.
Day 41 of Lubalin 100, features PBS animations, recreated based on the historical keyframe drawings. So nice.
Other Birds as the Orioles Logo. Thanks Andrew.
Herb Lubalin animations designed for PBS, reanimated.
Pour une poignée de girolles.
Japan in Retro-Style GIFs.
Tons of great and helpful hand-drawn notes from Insta-Chaz, including this perfect map of every city.
Perfect and perfecter.
"If the sight of an exasperated Colombian shouting "Señor Wilbur, you have to move too!" (…) floods your brain with the kind of dopamine rush most people associate with the deepest kind of love, or maybe cocaine, then you and I are on the same wavelength, my friend."
"They say trying to make it as an artist is like being in a waiting room."
Follow along with Lynda Barry's "Making Comics" Class at UW-Wisconsin.
Related to the last, all the X-Men.
Email Reply.
Wavegrower, sweet mathematical animations.
Bees & Bombs, gifs by Dave.
"Take a trip to Vlieland with Rotterdam-based design duo Jurjen Versteeg and Ashley Govers, otherwise known as From Form." Check their title sequence for The Great Wide Open, a Dutch music festival.
Writer/Illustrator Jillian Tamaki is on a spring tour promoting her new book Boundless. (She stops at Quimbys in Chicago on June 23.)
So you know, how to get pandas in the mood.
Survivorship Bias.
"What working as a waterfowl taught me about gender"
The graphic novel No Small Plans aims to empower Chicago's youth through stories about their neighborhoods.
Subnormality's great new animated series: People Watching.
100 Years of Japanese Animation.
Let's design a book cover!
Golden-age DC comics meet the "dad joke:" Super Antics by Kerry Callen.
T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" as a comic book.
"...it is a portrait of America, a self-portrait of Herriman, and, I believe, the first attempt to paint the full range of human consciousness in the language of the comic strip."
To Walk in Beauty, Chris Ware on Krazy Kat for the NYRB.
The New Yorker Cartoons at Random.
The Age of Female Dominance, Brought to You by Robots.
Craft Barrel-Aged Smoked Authentic Homemade Sun-Dried Whole Extra Sharp.
It's Worthies time! Vote for your favorite Mary Worth moments of 2016.
The Oatmeal on trust.
So you know, Grant Snider's helpful Proofreader's Marks, including one for "Horribly Wrong Font."
The View from Trump Tower. Great cartoon by Ruben Bolling. See "The Boss."
"How To Save The Princess in 8 Programming Languages"
Political cartoons from American history.
A Dickensian Alphabet, by Tom Gauld.
Our pal and occasional co-conspirator Brendan Dawes' work for FITC Tokyo 2016. "The design for both the identity and titles centred around the idea of computer as possibility machine." Fantastic.
Related to the last, Las Onomatopeyas. From Aieee! to Zzzwap!
Batman Return Of The Caped Crusaders trailer. Pow!
When Kelli Anderson has some time to play "with new-toys-and-techniques-of-interest" it's time to pay attention. Experiments, Alive! includes a wicked smart and very fun animation technique.
Mazok Pixels' animated fleet of Fury Road vehicles in spectacular pixelated-gifiosity. Via Quipsologies.
All the Wolf covers by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz and Tom Muller, together in one post.
Let's Not Play Frisbee with that Poet Anymore, by Stephen Collins.
Behind-the-scenes images from Jodie Mack's Curses, an animated short made with cut paper and rotoscoped scenes from Singin' in the Rain.
2016 AICP Sponsor Reel, by Method Design. Crazy great.
"Just Let Me Like The Thing." Yes, this is our office.
Writer/illustrator October Jones gets bored on the train.
In 1972, the founder of Pixar, Ed Catmull created the first 3D rendered movie, an animated version of his left hand. This is the film that they produced. Via The Pixar Touch.
A small, animated tribute to iconic vehicles of the Soviet era, by Nickola Nickolov and Nikolay Ivanov. Via Quipsologies.
Bradley Munkowitz and projection mapping and experiments with light. Nice profile by Rachel Steven featuring excellent examples of GMUNK's work.
RIP cartoonist William Hamilton.
Nerdland trailer.
Know the feeling. Wonder-Land, when NYer cartoonist Roz Chast fell down a rabbit-hole looking at vintage matchbox labels.
"I'm glad you find it hard to tell what is CG. That's a great compliment." Motionographer on Blending the Physical and the Digital in Building a Rocket
1250 paintings on paper = one beautiful music video. Ralf Hildenbeutel's "Disco", directed by Boris Seewald.
Forms in Nature. 5 stars for this animated film from Kevin Dart, Stephane Coedel, David Kamp & Nelson Boles.
Illustrator Roman Papsuev draws traditional Russian folk heroes in a modern fantasy style, and they're just fantastic.
Peter Quinn's favorite motionographic showreels from last year.
"I want to die in my sleep peacefully like my grandfather, not screaming in terror like his passengers." From How Wile E. Coyote Explains The World, by Albert Burneko. Via TMN.
Dan Shepelavy is "just hanging this small bit of ephemera here on the Internet in case anybody needs it." Illustrations from the game "Escape from Death Star."
A must-watch animated film illustrating the scale of human life lost during WWII.
For the month of November, James Curran created a New York City-inspired GIF every day while he was visiting the city from London.
Moebius draws.
Trailer for Very Semi-Serious, the NYer Cartoon documentary. Via Susannah Breslin.
The Oatmeal, It's Going To Be OK. Wow.
GQ chats with Troy Little about his graphic-novelization of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Injun Summer, by John T, McCutcheon. Another yearly post, but this one is a politically incorrect and discontinued Chicago newspaper tradition, but worthy on a look back in the fall.
"I propose we name this planet 'Pluto', both to celebrate the great work by the New Horizons team, and to make the stupid 'is Pluto a planet" debate a little more confusing."
Terrific pixel super heroes by James Boorman. Via Quipsologies.
"Nord Collective's quirky titles for the DEmark 2015 feature a literal interpretation of the event's theme, 'Touch of Design.'" —Motionographer.
Please dig this righteous Blackhawks Flipbook. Many more at The Flippist.
An excerpt from Troy Little's graphic novel adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
We don't often post GIFs in Fresh Signals, but we've been talking about making this tribute to the Eames' Powers of Ten for years, and finally got around to it:
49 students rotoscope 2767 frames of "Shake it Off." Much better than the original. Via Jamie.
Tons of Jack Kirby double-page spreads like this beauty.
In case you haven't checked in a while, Ed Piskor's Hip Hop Family Tree comic series is still dope. This week, DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Nice ident for the BBC by Blue Zoo, The Boat Races.
The Alchemist's Letter.
"Gizmosis: An obsession with any advanced technological device, usually pointless and/or confusing. A condition or abnormal process characterized by an obsession with anything small and electronic."
We posted this a while back but Dan Grzeca just brought it up again: Terry Gilliam explains his Monty Python animation technique.
A critical research tool, heretofore unavailable. The complete list of Bart Simpson's Blackboards.
The 12 Principles of Animation by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson, animated by Alan Becker.
Operating Systems running in xkcd's house.
"What if there was an Empire-focused short Star Wars animation, drawn with the crazy detail and shading of classic 80s anime that's all but vanished from Japan nowadays? Well, I tried my best." —Paul Johnson. Via Mefi.
"...adopted a stripped-back, almost cave-drawn style to the characters, which ended up befitting their god-like nature." Chronemics, an enigmatic animated film by Animade, who were interviewed by Motionographer.
UI Baka, a Japanese Tumblr devoted to futuristic computer interfaces in film and especially in anime. I. II. III. Via Sci-Fi-o-Rama.
Normal-sized Superheroes, Catwoman looks better that way, not so sure about Iron Man though. Via Quipsologies.
On of our favorites, illustrator Tom Gauld, has some of his recent literary cartoons collected in this gallery from The Guardian, A Life in Letters.
As-phyx-i-a is Maria Takeuchi's experimental film which captures motion using the Xbox One Kinect. But more important than that, is that it is positively beautiful in a way digitalized motion rarely is. Here's how it was done and here's the official site, "Wired throughout the body, trapped in a dancing mind."
Via Colossal.
Saul Steinberg drawing. Fab.
Splendid FITC Tokyo 2015 Titles. Directed by Ash Thorp. Check the process reel too.
California Inspires Me, sweet animated film by Brian Rea and Pablo Delcan, narrated by Mike Mills, for Google Play.
"It's not what I used to was, it's what I'm gonner be."
Lovely and heartbreaking, Home Sweet Home.
Submarine Sandwich, witty, fun, stop-motion animation by PES. Via Waxy.
Start the fire. Yule Log 2.014. Fab.
Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, the creators of Tom and Jerry, talk about the process of animation in a 1961 CBC profile.
Matt's email is a monster.
The Art of Richard Thompson, a lovely short film on the cartoonist, by Andy Hemmendinger.
Witty, happy, sketches from Shanghai Tango. Can't. Stop. Scrolling.
A sweet series of animated icons for the What's Next Conference.
John Martz would "buy a book that consisted only of George Price's drawings of television sets." Me too.
Language Nerd.
Kelli Anderson's splendid animated-from-paper film, showing Where Records Come From. Instant classic.
"'It's no good trying to think of a funny face and believe that's cartooning, because it isn't.' ...there's more to a cartoon face than just getting a funny nose. In fact, it's almost impossible to teach it. What he got me to do was draw in pubs — which of course started me drinking." Gary Groth's long, great, 1989 interview with Ralph Steadman.
Two trailers for Tant de Forets, an new animated short from Burcu Sakur and Geoffrey Godet. Wow.
First Bite.
Video essay by Tony Zhou on famed animator Satoshi Kon and his editing of space and time. Thanks Andrew.
The Bus, by Paul Kirchner. Terrific comics.
Behind the scenes tech from the production of Disney's Big Hero 6.
Homer's Last Theorem. Chapter 3, excerpted from The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh. Brilliant.
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not going to the gym today." Movie quotes according to iOS keyboard predictions.
Butter Fingers, a charming. animated short by Jordan Scott.
"Music styles collide" in William Garratt's fun animated film Slaves of the Rave.
Cartoon Bombing from Troqman. Is the drawing bombing the photo or is it the other way around?
FILM FX_L3.0.
Only brilliant, the entire Harry Potter saga in one comic.
The Last Saturday, by Chris Ware. "A brand new graphic novella, tracing the lives of six individuals from Sandy Port, Michigan, published in weekly episodes."
From Jiwook Kim, Blackwood Manor
Happy 97th birthday to Jack Kirby. Enjoy a load of his double-page spreads. Via John Hodgman.
Pascal Girard.
John (Drawn!) Martz is blogging again at Dept. of Research and Development. Great news. Bookmarked.
This Way Up.
Adorable, Jinxy Jenkins, Lucky Lou.
A Comic-Con cosplay round-up.
Meet the new Thor and Captain America.
The Worst Comic Book Heroes That Never Existed.
A swell series of vehicles animations by Guillaume Kurkdjian.
A fun animation, a la SimCity or the Silicon Valley intro: this ident for Quest from studiokamp.
Happy Canada Day! The Sweater by Sheldon Cohen.
A Short History of America by R. Crumb. Via The Fox Is Black.
"16. there are times when we are headed to failure knowingly, we choose a theme, an existence, a technique that does not suit (convene) us. you must not complain afterwards." Rules for cartoonists (and life) by Moebius.
Ease into Monday with two and a half minutes of retro production company motion logos.
Related to the last, Sam Gross drawings from The NYer. Thanks Marshall.
"Do you think all animals are equally funny? Sam Gross: No, of course not. I don't think horses are funny at all. Possums are funny. Anteaters are funny. Cats. Dogs. Chickens are funny. Guys in chicken outfits, they're funny. If a guy's in a chicken outfit handing out something, I always take it because I figure anyone that's reduced to being in a chicken outfit deserves my patronage."
NYer cartoon editor Bob Mankoff picks his favorite drawings. All great choices. Thanks Marshall.
Jack Kirby's vision of the NFL's future, from 1973. (Bonus: 1964 NFL logos and helmets.)
A portrait of the artist with art directors, and lots of other good stuff from Dustin Harbin. Via This Isn't Happiness.
On the 100th anniversary of her birth, check some films by legendary British animator Joy Batchelor. Local note to London, a raft of screenings.
Kirb Your Enthusiasm. Individual panels from Jack Kirby-drawn comic books are analyzed. A great series, check this one by Terese Svoboda.
"It's like you really have to get into it and break down the shape of a squirrel hop."
Hypnotizing behind the scenes look at the making of Paper to Plant, an intricate stop-motion film by Kelli Anderson and Daniel Dunnam. So great.
Boom Shakalakahh, mindless fun from Coke. Cool url too.
Animated trailers for Penny Dreadful by London animation studio Beakus.
The Simpsons' couch gag, recreated.
Getting linked up everywhere and there is a reason for it, it's just fantastic, JohnnyExpress.
Open Culture on two very strange Russian animated adaptations of Ray Bradbury stories and how they got that way.
Ultimate 75th, a cool interactive retrospective from Marvel.
From Chris Ware, Heads or Tails.
NYC Basic Tips and Etiquette from Nathan W. Pyle's new book.
"...dodgy jokes, lots of trips to the pub and a comic-book like narrative created through captions..." Maisie Skidmore on Tim King's "A Drawing a Day" project. Follow along on the artist's Tumblr.
Bears on Stairs, an experiment using 3D printing and stop-motion animation. Via Waxy.
Batman: Strange Days, short in celebration of his 75th Anniversary.
Maria Popova on How About Never? Is Never Good For You? New Yorker Cartoon Editor Bob Mankoff's memoir. See also this funny Ted talk from Mankoff, on the anatomy of a New Yorker Cartoon.
This July, Archie dies.
Device in Barcelona created the opening titles for Europe In 8 Bits, a doc on the growing trend of "chip music." Fab.
So you know, how to draw comics, part one and part two. A fantastic find with an interesting backstory, courtesy of Mark Kennedy.
4CP Four Color Process, "adventures deep inside the comic book." Fantastic site from John Hilgart. For example, "one of the most glorious and ludicrous covers in comic book history" by Harvey Kurtzman, 1955. Via Jason Santa Maria.
Girls from the Wasteland 1, pre-production sketches for a game, by Sergi Brosa.
Art of the Title on the over-the-top stop-motion end title sequence of The Lego Movie. Tons of great behind-the-scenes detail here.
Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, genius from Roz Chast.
Content analysis of the memoir, by Tom Gauld. Perfect. Via Dan Wagstaff.
Frequency from xkcd. Mesmerizing.
Dumb Ways to Valentine.
"...it was painfully frustrating that, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't learn to draw in noir style. It only took me sixty additional years to figure out how." A peek into Jules Feiffer's graphic novel, Kill My Mother, which is to be published in the summer.
The 8 Bit Lebowski totally rules.
Empire magazine created 25 different covers featuring characters from X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Selections from Hip Hop Family Tree Comics.
"Arrargh Wamp Blamp Oof Yug," a lady and The Hulk making love. The comprehensive Don Martin Dictionary of sounds from Mad Magazine panels. Fwap!
"If you've ever felt lost and worthless, step aside, because someone else feels even more so, and his name is Chief O'Brien of the Starship Enterprise."
20th Century headlines, written to get more clicks.
2014 has the same days and dates as 1975. Why does that matter? This is why. The 2014/1975 Marvel Desktop Wallpaper Calendar, posted by Mark Anderson. Fab.
Related to the last, Blank on Blank's great animated interview series.
"Consider the recursion of Coyote, who never eats, but only considers eating, ad infinitum..." Switched On Road Runner and Coyote Cartoon, re-scored with a portable eurorack synthesizer. Via Aaron Meyers
The neighborhood hasn't been the same since Magritte moved in.
About that one NYer cover. Francoise Mouly and the One-Image Narrative.
I know the feeling. Via This Isn't Happiness.
Robin Davey's animated illustrations are the bomb. Via Ant.
Patricio Oliver's illustrated tribute to Marvel superheroes.
"Because our industry is so broken, that regardless of how good an artist you are, if you don't get down on your knees and worship at the altar of geek consumerism, you can't get noticed." Interesting take from Ulises Farinas on fan art and Yale Stewart's JL8.
A Panel a Day, by Miguel Maiquez. I can't stop clicking.
Australian sketch show The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting produced these Monty Python-like Animations of Famous Paintings. Via Sploid.
Ain't no Halloween Party like a Kate Beaton Halloween Party.
Zack Snyder and Bruce Timm's Superman 75th Anniversary Short, annotated.
Jeff Le Bars' animated graduation film from L'ecole Emile Cohl de Lyon, Carn. A beautifully told story, via Motionographer.
"He discovered the New World much like a meteorite discovered the dinosaurs." The Oatmeal on Columbus Day.
Just because, 1975 Marvel Superhero Stickers.
Moz Gets a Job by Brian Brooks. Via This Isn't Happiness.
"This place can't be for real, can it?"
Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus," brought to life by Rob and Nick Carter.
You know you're way too into Mary Worth when you start skipping right over The Comics Curmudgeon to read the comments at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Sweet animated promo for German studio Weglowinthedark.
An illustrated field guide to procrastinators.
The Robbery, a simple, lovely animated short by Jan Saska.
Rob Clouth and Henning M. Lederers' Tunnelblick. I'm dizzy. Very dizzy.
Robin Davey is an illustrator and a gifmaker. So nice.
The evolution of a cover: The original version of Classic X-Men #1 by Art Adams.
Trailer for Ghost Stories, an anthology of animated shorts from Late Night Work Club.
Noted without comment.
A very quick look into Life On Mars as imagined by Lukas Vojir.
Learn to make cut-out paper animations from Terry Gilliam. Via swissmiss.
The Bouletcorp's wandering, ever-scrolling edition of its web comic: "The Long Journey."
Bob Mankoff, the Cartoon Editor of The New Yorker, gives a smart and funny talk for TED.
"The Lexicon of Comicana's principal charm is that it lays out a series of cartooning phenomena that you've probably never thought too hard about, gives them funny, onomatopoeic names, and then lays out examples of how your favorite comic strip might use them."
Mo graf firm Breeder's opening titles for the Analogue/Digital conference.
Happy Canada Day, I'll use this as an excuse to link up the internet's #1 source of information about Canada, Hark! a Vagrant
The Pace of Modern Life. Yep.
A big round-up of fantasy art sketchbooks, from Muddy Colors.
Screw Fast and Furious. Now these are car chases. It just goes to show that you can't beat stop-motion. Thanks Marshall.
Nerd Alert! Via The Cartoonist.
Short animated video series explaining "the best bits" of Bauhaus, Modernism & other design movements. Produced for the UK's Open University.
Design Like Nobody's Watching, sound advice from Grant Snider.
Tom Gauld doesn't care anymore. Me neither.
Civilized London, Portugal Walking Tours and Verdant England. Fantastic "Travel Posters" promoting Delilah Dirk and The Turkish Lieutenant, a graphic novel by Tony Cliff.
"Through 20 years of effort, we've successfully trained everyone to use passwords that are hard for humans to remember, but easy for computers to guess."
Rest in peace Ray Harryhausen.
Time to push Lucy and the Anvil by Adam Kline and Brian Taylor over the finish line.
"Impudent young animators dare to touch Bulgakov." The Master and Margarita, animated in two minutes flat.
modHero by Rogan Josh.
Nice kinetic text animation in this FX UK promo for The Wire.
Swords and spaceships, the portfolio and blog of Jaime Jones.
So you know, The Giant Omnibus of Superpowers.
The story of a cartoon character and his struggles to get by in the real world due to an ever-present rain cloud above his head. A graduation film directed and animated by James Lancett and Sean Weston, with music by Thomas E. Brown. Adobe Design Achievment Awards 2011 finalist, CartoonBrew Student Awards shortlist, Onedotzero- Adventures in Motion, new british talent selection.
Super funky animated promo for the new Moog Sub Phatty synthesizer, by Flying Lotus and Adam Fuchs. Here's the Sub Phatty. Check the demo.
"I used a photocopier to generate frames of animation. Each frame of the film is a photocopy of the previous frame. Both black & white and color photocopies were used to make this film, approximately 4,600 copies total." "Errata, A Compendium of Errors, by Alexander Stewart. Via Craig Mod.
Electronic animation produced using Scanimate computers, Image West Demo 15B, 1978.
Bart Simpson looks like Mississippi.
A teaser from the proposed comics documentary Stripped, by Dave Kellett and Frederick Schroeder. If you dig it, kick it. Via Drawn.
The design of Tintin, specifically the cars.
Bam! Gmunk created the main titles for FITC Amsterdam. Plus, be sure to check the process video and related materials. Via Motionographer.
An episode from the Hip Hop Family Tree comics series. The first volume is available from Fantagraphics for pre-order.
Cow Puncher Comics.
A sweet 3D side-scroll motion graphic created for a fictional animation company in a design class at the university of applied science Dusseldorf. Via DMiG.
Hey, Chochachos! Here are nineteen seconds of Achewood, the TV show. Please let this be a thing.
The reality of Google Glasses.
Looking for something else entirely and somehow ran into learning about the work of Pierre Bellocq, one of the world's premiere equine cartoonists.
"Peellaert's comic strips were the literature of intelligence, imagination and romanticism." -Federico Fellini. Wow this book looks great.
"Jack... the Internet is working again. Netflix is back up."
Snatched spreads from the sketchbook of Mattias Adolfsson. Yowza. Via Drawn.
Artist William Cardini's wild new space-sorcery comics.
Wesley Willis lives... as Wonder Woman's half-brother.
An introduction to the comic, Scenegapore by its author, Miel.
Follow along with Lynda Barry's University of Wisconsin-Madison class "The Unthinkable Mind" for a daily dose of neuroscience and cartooning.
SotW on Paperman, the Oscar nominated short by Disney.
Have fun browsing this big collection of original Walt Kelly artwork for the incomparable Pogo. Here's Fantagraphic's sweet Complete Syndicated Comic Strips Box Set, which I just ordered. Cha-ching.
Daredevil #172, Frank Miller's pencils and Klaus Jansen's inks. Via Matt Fraction.
A sweet find from WFMU, "Disc Jockey" by Bob Powell, the comic book tale of Sam Webb, on the night-shift at WOW and visitors from outer space.
Nina Paley's This Land Is Mine, complete with a helpful "Who's Killing Who?" guide.
Man by Steve Cutts.
The ACME Corporation Product Poster! Kickstarted by Rob Loukotka. Beep-beep.
Evolution of Batman Logo 1940 - 2012. Via Cool Material.
Trippy, inexplicable animated 1982 sci-fi short film by Plotr Kamler, Chronopolis. Via John Coulthart.
"Even though, the faces look hand-drawn, they are entirely expressed by algorithmic rules. Each face is random, each face is unique. Still, they look similar to my actual hand drawn faces." —Mattias Dörfelt. VIa Boing.
"...as if seven minutes weren't enough to cast a spell, fall in love, or make history." Ebert on Pixar's Moonrakers.
The rise and fall of the great British football comic, by Seb Patrick. Via Casual Optimist.
Dave McKean's advice to aspiring cartoonists and illustrators.
Indie animation king Bill Plympton has a Kickstarter for his new film, Cheatin, and there are a bunch of cool incentives.
Betcha didn't know you needed this Calvin & Hobbes Search Engine.
Editor of the Sandman, creator of the Vertigo imprint, and comics legend, Karen Berger, is stepping down after 33 years.
House tour of the Dutch design team behind Ontwerpduo.
Jack Kirby double-page spreads. Boom. Via Jason Barry.
Just in time for the holidays, the Acme Catalog.
"That lightness, that quickness, that unembarrassed, unencumbered willingness to be goofy..." Former Simpsons producer Josh Weinstein on how Yellow Submarine gave rise to modern animation.
Havana Heat, the latest steamy animation by Mcbess and Simon of The Mill for Goodbooks. Via It's Nice That.
An extensive preview of Lilli Carré's new collection of comics and illustration work, Heads or Tails.
Whether you love or hate Gotye's music, you've got to admit - he produces some truly memorable music videos. Seven Hours With a Backseat Driver.
A nice appreciation by Sean Witzke of editing and composition in Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight Returns.
Tragedies.
If you plan on going to the Eyeworks Experimental Animation Fest this weekend, check out their posters. They are designed by Sonnenzimmer, and each one was used as a single frame in their animated promotional trailer.
The Creators Project, a video profile of Matt Pyke and Universal Everything. Highly recommended. See also Made by Humans.
Michael Cho has some great basic tips on inking comics and approaching lighting.
Comedy Central has just posted a preview of their upcoming animated sitcom based on the Koch Brothers: Gajillionaires.
Illustrator Jamie Hewlett talks about his inspirations and creative process. Via Gordon McAlpin.
Save the Date is a new film starring Lizzy Caplan and Alison Brie, and was co-written by graphic novelist, Jeffrey Brown. Here's the trailer.
"Brodown," a quick piece of MTV branding, animated by James Jarvis. Via Doobybrain.
The cult anime series, Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad, has been posted in its entirety to YouTube by its American distributor. It's a great coming-of-age story about a painfully shy teenager who joins a band, and discovers himself. It also features one of my favorite title sequences on television.
Local note: The 2012 Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation starts on Oct. 27th. The line-up has been announced, and it's a good one. This film by Piotr Kamler will kick off the festivities.
The National Hero Registration Form.
Dissimilated Vision by Katayama Takuto. Everything starts with a line. Via Andrew Sullivan.
Behind the scenes with illustrator Antony Hare.
Pixar's Lee Unkrich on his obsessive love of The Shining, and the various nods to it found in Toy Story 3.
Study Group Comics is an independent comics publisher with a roster of very talented writers and artists. While they do release printed anthologies, all of the work is made freely available as web comics. Via Lost at E Minor.
The new film, Jack and Diane, features sequences animated by the Quay Brothers. Here's the trailer.
As part of the upcoming Future of Storytelling conference this weekend, neuroeconomics pioneer Paul Zak created this beautiful short about how storytelling alters our brain chemistry. Via @thebyranchamp
The Cartoon Network's 20th Anniversary Video is a joy. Animation by I Love Dust.
The King of Indie Animation, Bill Plympton, has been posting process videos of his in-production feature film, Cheatin'. They include lots of insight into his inspirations and methods. The most recent episodes have discussed how he designs his characters.
Ori Toor's exceedingly psychedelic music vid for Kingdom Crumbs' Evoking Spirits.
"I learned very early on in life that not everyone wants to hear every fact in the world, even if you want to tell them everything you've ever read." Megan Garber chats with Randall Munroe, the Creator of XKCD for The Atlantic.
Smithsonian tackles an important issue that no one else seems to be talking about. The Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters.
Click and Drag the final panel of today's XKCD. More about this awesomeness from Jason Kottke.
A nice piece of hand-drawn animation, framed inside a series of hardbound books: Samare.
Fun with X-actos! The making of the Peugeot Paperwork spot, by Joshua Hine and Jake Hopewell. Via Veerle.
The Superheroes by Allan Sanders.
Mesmerizing animated short film by Zbigniew Rybczynski: Tango. Via Url.
One more. Fourteen sketches of Major League ballparks by Gene Mack for The Sporting News, 1946-47. What ever happened to this sort of editorial cartooning? So great.
Dancer a Day, by Jesse Lonergran.
Repost of an all-time favorite blog post: The Mystery of the Face on the Cake.
Pretty lame that DC Comics is looking to prosecute folks with DC character tattoos but I can think ofat least one person who might be a lucrative target.
Steven Heller reminds us to not forget the other Mars landing.
Patton Oswalt, animated.
MK12 presents Follow the Sun! Think of it as The Shining of animated drive-in movie refreshment promotions. The "Making Of" is great too.
Instasham. Via Laughing Squid
Euro 2012 soccer animated, only with string. By Richard Swarbrick.
Fun bit of bicycle-themed motion graphics in Velo.
The sex scene.
FotA Dan Henrick and Kate O'Leary have launched a new animated series for the A.V. Club: Stand Down, wherein standup comedians share stories of their worst gigs. First up, Patton Oswalt.
Super Golden Friends: when four Super Friends retire and move to Miami.
Joshua Catalano's hypnotic animation Lamento, inspired by the John Talabot song it follows along to.
An animated Ninja Turtles tribute, by Malcolm Sutherland.
Pixar-ish BBC Olympics title sequences.
Tiny Story by Sebas & Clim. Just lovely, especially the sound design. Via swissmiss.
Fun, hand drawn short film from Michael J. Ruocco: Nest.
Great less-is-more animated spot for Sparkle Telecom. Via Doobybrain.
Much Better Now, a film by Salon Alpin that combines live-action, stop-motion and 3D animation. Great art direction. Check the "making of" too. Via Motionographer.
Tom Gauld's Ray Bradbury tribute. Perfect.
Related to an earlier post: Phineas' interest in Batgirl is of a strictly academic nature. Mine too.
"I like to think they all sort of exist in the same dreamlike alternate universe." CR chats with artist Matthew DiVito. His medium? The Animated Gif.
The eight Cycles of Life.
A nifty animation and experiment in matte painting named Horizon. The making of, which is seven times longer than the :27-long finished product, is even better.
Selected comics from Tom Gauld at the brand new You're All Just Jealous of My Jetpack.
Notes, story boards, telegrams, letters, etc. Animator Gene Deitch recounts his collaboration with Maurice Sendak on WtWTA. Fascinating, via Drawn.
A documentary that goes inside Industrial Light and Magic in the 1980s. Via Things Mag.
Sci-Fi-O-Rama takes a trip through Creative Computer Graphics by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, from 1984.
Animated miniatures promoting the Oslo Airport expansion by Marc Reisberg. Beautiful, via Motionographer.
Tangentially related to the last. The trailer for Ryan Woodward's animated graphic novel Bottom of the Ninth looks amazing. More about this ambitious project here.
Abbey Road Walkcycles.
xkcd: Ten Thousand. Right on.
Sketches by Sergey Aleksandrovich Alimov from a proposed but unmade black and white animated film of The Master and Margarita.
Chicago, I love this f**kin' place. Via Gapers.
The State of the Web - Spring 2012.
Clever Twitter ascii animation for Smart Argentina.
"I do a quick little doodle every morning as a warm up for a day of drawing." Draw NYC.
Group Hug, an MTV ident by Sehsucht. Awwww. Check the making of too.
"When I was growing up, I thought everyone had an Uncle Chuck who did drawings." Thanks Henry.
"He had a clever little schtick, but, again, highly overrated, as far as I'm concerned." What Robert Crumb thinks about other people. Via TMN.
Gorgeously animated short film (and a nice jolt of adrenaline for a Friday afternoon): Ruin.
"As children we couldn't wait see what situations our favorite super heros would be written into. As adults we can't wait see how those situations will be drawn. Our aim is to pay tribute to the talented artists of the comic industry." Two Page Spread.
Brilliant. My Life in Shirts, by Lunchbreath. Via Core77.
Tim Maughan on Moebius, The Visionary's Visionary. Anyone with even a passing interest in science-fiction must read this piece covering Dune, Alien, Blade Runner, Star Wars and pretty much everything else that matters. Via Dan Wagstaff.
So you know. How to draw Bugs Bunny. Via Jamie at 37.
In Search of Moebius, a BBC documentary on the life and work of extraordinary illustrator and cartoonist Jean Giraud, who recently passed away. See also this post at Open Culture and this one from John Coulthart.
These are always fun. A video of Glenn Jones' illustration process on his new tee "Low Force." 43 minutes compressed into three.
The Simpsons' Ralph Wiggum now has his own comic book. With some illustrations by Sergio Aragones, no less.
"Some dates and facts have been changed to make them more awesome." Works of Fiction, by Grant Snyder.
The Story of Sushi, beautiful film work by Vincent Peone with miniatures by Lori Niox and Kathleen Gerber.
Three alternative cleanses.
He may not be very good at many things, but at least he's putting in the effort. Hugh Murphy's daily illustrations of T-Rex Trying...
Fun series of animated ads for Altoids, offering up alternate histories.
"The Kebab of Untold Horrors" is part of the very worst of British cuisine, by Gemma Correll. Check the rest of her site, it's full of fun and funny cartoons.
The Old Man and The Sea, animated by paintings on glass by Aleksandr Petrov.
Science Valentine from xkcd.
A long, funny monologue recapping The Death and Return of Superman.
On January 31, five up-and-coming animators were given the chance to have their work run on the digital display at the top of the BT Tower in London.
Relink, just because. A great resource to solve a design problem by coming at it from another perspective, and not just if you're a comic book artist, although I'm thinking this is practically holy scripture, if you are. A big beautiful scan of Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work, courtesy of Joel Johnson.
Teaser for the animated Le Meurtre by Cube Creative. Fascinating style. Via Yewknee.
Nice animation explaining the benefits of Turbine Free Wind Power. Via Doobybrain.
The Dot and the Line, a romance in lower mathematics. Classic. Via Mefi.
"One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star," says Billy to his father, while dressed like a cowboy. The Nietzsche Family Circus.
Every time it snows in a big city everyone is having the exact same conversation.
Some gorgeous animation in this French short film about the Old West: Little Tombstone.
Can't wait for Goliath, a new book from Tom Gauld which is told from the big guy's point of view.
Launching today in sixty London Tube stations, and running during rush hours, screens will be playing a variety of poetry-meets-motion graphics pieces as part of the Word In Motion project. More info here.
Very nice stop motion film shot at the Type bookstore in Toronto: The Joy of Books.
A speech by Leo Burnett in 1967 turned into an animation: When to Take My Name Off the Door.
Related to the last. Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings from 1978.
Long-lost animated version of The Hobbit by Gene Deitch. So great.
"Greetings everyone. Welcome to the official production blog of the upcoming animated short, Still I Breathe." Sang Lee and Zack Lydon are seniors at the School of Visual Arts and this is their thesis project. I think it's a pretty safe bet we'll be hearing more from these two. Splendid.
"The Beast" by Laura Marling. A mesmerizing animated poem by Studio Juice with illustrations by Shynola. Via CR.
Riding a bike and making faces: Trail-a-Bike.
Have seven seconds to spare? Spend it with this Reindeer. Via Laughing Squid.
Two Page Spread. See you in twenty minutes.
"My graduation film from the Bezalel Academy of Arts & Design. My first attempt at 3d animation." Or Bar-El's Beat. Can't wait until he gets good at it. Thanks Ant.
Lisa Hanawalt's Visions of Thanksgiving.
"OMG Cher HATE read book! Eat moar babies to look young instead." I Drew Some Tweets.
Santa vs Dracula.
"Responding to Client's request to be served by 'Top Agency People', the C-suiters are sent out to 'blow their minds old-school' with a formal creative presentation, drinks, hookers."
Origins of American Animation, 1900-1921, at the Library of Congress.
Flip between various methods for Depixelizing Pixel Art by Johannes Kopf and Dani Lischinski. Yoshi!
Relink. Each month DC and Marvel release teases of upcoming comics along with cover images. Kelly Thompson ignores the text and has at the images in her Drunk Cover Solicits In Three Sentences Or Less. Great images and quick wit in bite sized portions.
Real Life Disney Characters. Via @migreyes.
Because they've taken something mundane and turned it into something magical, you gotta love the AICP Southwest 2011 Sponsor Reel, created by Element X in Dallas.
Related to the last. More on Wood's life and work including his infamous Disneyland Memorial Orgy Poster from 1967 and how it came to be, by publisher Paul Krassner.
Stop-motion animator Max Winston's deliriously disturbing (and fun) short film, I Live in the Woods!
Melissa Tan Bio chats with one of our favorite cartoonists, Tom Gauld, in a nicely illustrated post for The Rumpus.
Try not to smile. Thirty ways to kill a cowboy.
Them Birds.
Push It Backwards, a series of vintage-feeling illustrations and page layouts by Matthew Lyons. They appeared in Nobrow - A Graphic Cosmogony.
The Acme Catalog. Glorious. Thanks Marshall.
Homer with Loinfruits and other John Kricfalusi drawings that inspired Sunday's Ren & Stimpy-style take-over of The Simpsons opening credits.
Geoff McFetridge's huge, beautiful Fictional Map of LA. Geoff was profiled in the Western State video series we presented for Slowtron.
Motion graphics for Respublika, a Moscow bookstore chain. Beautiful and precise. Also, see the individual pieces as animated gifs.
The Oatmeal on why Netflix is splitting itself in two.
Shel Silverstein narrates The Giving Tree.
A series of zoetropes made out of food. Via Doobybrain.
"Cubism," a fun animated short by students at Stuttgart Media University.
The Push-Button School of Tomorrow.
Cartoon Color Wheel.
Yay. The opening sequence of Rustboy from Brian Taylor in its entirety. I've been missing my little oxidized nephew lately, it's good to see him again.
In the Fall, an animation by Steve Cutts, with a nice choice of music by Guided by Voices.
The Foo Fighters' Tour Rider or the "Field Guide to Food Coloring Book and Activity Pages."
"Oh the flowers, the rain... the wetness of our bodies pressed together like this... it makes me feel so close to you." "That's because we are so close...so close that our souls are touching!" In honor of this week's 42nd anniversary, enjoy this comic book, It Happened in Woodstock.
Jaws + Charlie Brown = Good Grief!.
Love these fabulous vintage illustrations.
xkcd on password strength.
An interesting animated argument between Stephen Fry and Ann Widdecombe.
Terry Gilliam's DIY Animation Show from 1974. Solid gold. Via Daily Mubi.
Nice conversation with the Mad genius: A Few Minutes with Al Jaffee.
Related to the last. McBess, Douglas Lassance and Jonathan Vuillemin made "a 3D urban tale with men and magic" (and cool sneakers) called Sigg Jones.
A collection of animator Adam Gault's motion work in the form of a fun montage. Via Doobybrain.
Mission Bartenders in Their Own Words. A great episode of Wendy McNaughton's ongoing sketchbook series, Meanwhile, for The Rumpus.
Three New Yorker cartoonists chat and draw cartoons based on audience suggestions at the Gel Conference. Via Open Culture, which is on fire lately.
Dustin Grella wants you to call and leave him a voicemail message and he'll make an animation about it.
How standards proliferate, from xkcd.
Superhero Dinosaurs. Fab.
Beautiful, Disney-esque spot for the French children's television network TiJi: Colour. Previously, they'd also made the wonderful, Cannes-winning Balloon.
Harry Potter spells gone wrong.
"GIF is the most popular animation and short film format that's ever existed." Animated GIFs Triumphant, by Anil Dash. Amen.
"Much randomness ahead..." Hey Oscar Wilde!
Being an American living in Canada, and missing the July 4th fireworks, Sean Ohlenkamp decided to make his own with some stop motion pinhole animation. Via Peachfuzz.
Fundamentals of Animation Drawing from Preston Blair, courtesy of John K. Via Drawn.
A four and a half minute compilation of every Ray Harryhausen animated creature, presented in chronological order.
A scan of The Madballs Handbook from 1986. Via Doobybrain.
An animated homage to The Rocketeer.
Superheroes as flags.
Yay. More Yuki 7 from artist (and former Layer Tennis player) Kevin Dart and animator Stephane Coëdel, "Looks That Kill," promoting a new book and DVD set that's available for pre-order.
Mister Victorian Novel, by Tom Gauld.
Why Man Creates, animations from 1968, by Saul Bass.
Walt Disney explains the multiplane camera, from 1957. Totally awesome, including a nice description of parallax motion. Via Open Culture.
The question cartoonist Richard Thompson is most often asked is "Where do you get your ideas?"
"But it's all somehow familiar. Stay close, Shorty." Indiana Jones meets Han Solo, from Star Wars Tales #19, from Dark Horse. Via Mefi.
GMUNK.
Some Grey Bloke discusses The Rapture.
Colorful, fun burst of motion graphics in Encyclopedia Pictura's The Internet.
"...maybe I'll spend the afternoon drawing Tim Pawlenty, just for myself." NYer News Desk: Trumpspotting.
In an apparent effort to make stop motion animation even more maddeningly difficult, this promo for MTV Brazil uses illustrations drawn on balloons. "10 balloons had to be popped per second, or 600 balloons per minute. It took nearly 24 straight hours to shoot the multiple takes needed." Via Creativity.
Related to the last, our pal Nick Campbell did a quick "how to" interview with the creator of "Flux."
Full screen, volume up. "Flux" a short animation inspired by the works of sculptor Ilhan Koman. Video and sound design by Candas Sisman. Sometimes I just say "mandatory viewing" and sometimes I really mean it. Like now.
Frank Stockton's "Hamburgers for One." Very cinematic, beautifully drawn and written. Via Waxy.
The Line by Saul Steinberg. Perfect. Via swissmiss.
Josh Nimoy's big illustrated post on custom software and interfaces for Tron Legacy. As Michelle Higa at Motionographer says, "Bonus nerd points for hacker sequence verisimilitude."
Welcome to Fontevraud, dance and mograf by Francis Cutter & Vincent Nguyen.
Romeo and Juliet abridged, by Tom Gauld.
Thursday, "an everyday love story set in the not so distant future." Charming. Motionographer chats with the creator Matthias Hoegg.
"If you only read one Royal wedding related comic..." Forbidden Planet reviews The Official Kate Middleton Story, by David O'Connell.
"Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb."
MTV Switzerland's Sex is no Accident ads.
Charles Schulz's Peanuts comics often conceal the existential despair of their world with a closing joke at the characters' expense. With the last panel omitted, despair pervades all.
One Minute Puberty, written and animated by Alexander Gellner. Via Motionographer.
You've seen parkour. You've seen flip-books. But you've never seen anything like this inventive painstakingly hand-made film by Singapore-based Serene Teh. Via Brad Goodspeed.
"Go on- say it!" Sci-fi v Literary Fiction, by Tom Gauld.
Boy Scouts in Action, from "Scanning Around With Gene."
Ed Roth or Don Monteverde? The controversy over who really created Rat Fink, the iconic hot-rod character.
Dan Shepelavy on the "Call me Ishmael" of comics, the first page of Watchmen, featuring two nice scans, the line art and an annotated color guide.
David Cairns on Richard Williams' forgotten ambitious animated feature The Thief and the Cobbler. Here's the opening sequence and titles.
This new website has been authorized by Mr. Daniel Clowes.
The Cameraman, a lovely animated story from Chris Ware, Jeff Potter, John Kuramoto and TAL.
Presidential Portraits by Patrick Moberg. Still perfect.
Jillian Tamaki's SuperMutant Magic Academy: Critique. Amen.
Zombocom gets The Social Network treatment. Thanks Fuzzy.
Twelfth Night in one panel, by Milwaukee-based illustrator Dwellephant. Via bblinks.
Thukral & Tagra call on Superman, Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman to promote safe sex in India. Beautiful. More from Comics Alliance.
Korean students rewrite Kate Beaton comics.
London Intrusion, a daily, beautiful series of panels by China Mieville. Make sure to click for larger scans. VIa Dan Wagstaff.
Kevin Melrose's 50 best comic book covers of 2010. Love this Spidey moment.
Lovely, Sky High.
"This shirt features a picture of a man in a robot suit hugging a girl that is a robot."
Literal New Yorker captions, The Monkeys You Ordered.
A dark animated short by Paul Rayment, Piano.
Dan Meth's forgotten 80's Nintendo games.
1500 covers of UK sci-fi weekly "2000AD" in three and a half minutes. Found among other things.
A playful spot for V Water. I'm a sucker for animations that include the artist's hand and pencil. Created by Jenn + Sara.
A clip of the Amiga-based Disney Animation Studio in action.
Kama Balloons by Anton Lobachev. Fun, funny and NSFW. (Unless balloons experimenting with sexual positions is OK at your job.) Check the videos too.
Paths of Hate, directed by Damian Nenow. Incredible animation, watch full-screen. Via Jason Koxvold.
Dr. Seuss does Star Wars.
Nowhere Near Here, animation via light stencil by Pahnl Whatnow.
"LaGuardia, and hurry --I've got a flight in six hours." Timely. A collection of New Yorker airport security cartoons. Via @maudnewton.
"And so Hip Hop turkey got to live another year."
"Basically, there doesn't seem to be many places online that give a comprehensive collection of his work. So here is one." Selected illustrations from Moebius. Via @tomgauld.
Kyle T. Webster's The Daily Figure takes on Star Wars. Via Drawn.
"As children we couldn't wait see what situations our favorite super heros would be written into. As adults we can't wait see how those situations will be drawn. Our aim is to pay tribute to the talented artists of the comic industry." Two Page Spread. Magnificent. Via Rands.
Katie Shelly, Picture Cook. Via Drawn.
Six artists on Kurt Vonnegut on his 91st birthday, at the best named site on the web, Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobberin' Time.
"The thing to avoid, of course, would be the 'Legion of Substitute X-Men' stigma." The original Kitty Pryde drawing.
What your phone says about you.
"Landeplage" video by Racecar from Oslo. Totally fab. Also, don't miss their title sequence for Koht På Jobben.
"I just try to stay alert to the world, to read widely. That actually constitutes about 80 percent of what I do, simply front-loading." Chip Kidd chats with Garry Trudeau.
Rotating Molecules via CSS 3D Transform, developed for the iPhone IPad by Adam Grossman. Cool, via @meyerweb.
"Hopefully we've done the writing some justice." I'd say so. Adam Gault and Stefanie Augustine's beautiful Gettysburg Address revisited. Via Motionographer.
Lunchbreath's Design Fantasy Camp.
7 things you really don't need to take a photo of.
"Redu" by HunterGatherer. It must have been very complicated to make it this simple.
Get your recipes in an artful form over at They Draw and Cook.
If you do this in an email, I hate you.
Just in time for his live Layer Tennis match against Davin Risk tomorrow, Brian Taylor has updated his main site, Candykiller. Flip through the gallery for deliciousness.
"Can you find any differences between a regular Dick Tracy strip and a random collection of panels? Via The Comics Curmudgeon
Great Showdowns by Scott C., via Kate B.
A Moebius strip comic by Jim Woodring. Brilliant.
What if super heroes were hipsters.
Stuff no one told me, (but I learned anyway).
Psyop's colorful animated spot for Spring Valley. Via Denver Egotist.
The Hobbit in under two minutes.
Winston Rowntree's Monstrous Descrepancies. Amen.
There are gig posters, then there are vintage B-movie posters.
ASIFA on Karl Hubenthal Master Sports Cartoonist. Not sure anyone will ever be called that again. More here.
Dez Skinn on the early days of British fanzines, love the "Space 1999" illo. Via Mefi.
"He's the Sidekick, I'm the Batman." Superhero Remix (Hip Hop Classics Edition).
For all the cat owners in the studio, which just about everyone sans moi, Simon's cat investigates a box.
Marcel the Shell with Shoes on.
Utterly heartbreaking. Story Corps animates a love story for eternity, Danny and Annie.
Telephoneme from MK12, so you know it's awesome. The custom font from the film is available free too. Via Dan Wagstaff.
Lilli Carré's Raising Chicago, an illustrated account of the rising of Chicago's street level in the 1850s.
Sometimes inches too close to 1980s stand-up material, but alternates with some great illustrations and familiar situations: Christoph Niemann's visual diary documenting a flight from New York to Berlin (with a layover in London).
Kanye's tweets as captions for New Yorker cartoons.
Tack's Cartoon Tips for the aspiring cartoonist. Wonderful. Via Drawn!. Any excuse will do to relink Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work, courtesy of Joel Johnson.
Loving Tom Gauld's daily cartoons. Especially today's, Evolution of the Chess Computer. Via Peter Nidzgorski.
Process and developmental work from the Scott Pilgrim comic series.
"When in doubt... lower the horizon!" Storyboarding The Simpsons Way (pdf). Via Ryan Singer. Makes for a nice compliment to Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work, courtesy of Joel Johnson.
So great, Zelda on Paper.
For KG: who voiced which characters on The Simpsons.
Related to below: need to re-read Macedonia, the wonderful book Harvey Pekar wrote with FotA Heather Roberson.
R.I.P. Harvey Pekar at 70.
Too cute, Pixar Star Wars.
Related to the last, two animations that play on a LCD at Piranha Bar's studio reception desk in Dublin.
"While my letters page cartoons for the Guardian take a summer break I hope to make a weekly comic and put it here. This is the first." Tom Gauld's Mission to Jupiter!
Related to the last: Kate Beaton's comics based on Edward Gorey book covers (and
more here).
The art of cause and effect in a solitary comic panel. Splendid, via Boing Boing.
"2. They had to be panels of Batman himself, which meant that this wasn't just a list of Marshall Rogers and Neal Adams' amazing shots of the Joker." So you know, the best Batman panels ever. Via Casual Optimist.
"Porn movies and Disney are responsible for the most frustrated human beings I know."
A Finnish collection of ribald Beetle Bailey comics, actually drawn by Mort Walker. NSFW, and totally unsettling. Thanks (?) Comics Curmudgeon.
Groovy, trippy, watercolor-y vid for Breakbot's Baby I'm Yours. Via Creative Review.
New trailer for the lovely animated film The Illusionist.
"Almost all comics presented are from the paleocomicologist's own collections unless otherwise stated." Comically Vintage.
Like comics? Then you will love Cover Browser. Over 450,000 covers of comics, book and more.
Still frames from the 1982 French animated film Les Maitres du Temps. Just lovely.
Bit and Run.
One of our archive categories is titled Comics & Animation. Jacques Khouri's lovely short film, Time & Again fits there like nothing before, combining simple motion with the sequential nature of conventional panels. Fab.
Meet the Creative Department Douchebag.
The Minister on a series of new idents for Australia's One HD. Here are the videos.
Lovely, Piece of Cake.
Dreamworks storyboard artist and character designer Ben Balistreri draws his 30 favorite Star Wars characters.
Storyboard Central, fascinating site on boards, comps and process. from the prolific Leif Peng.
Bob Richards collects Animation Backgrounds. A fun browse, check these from Tarzan, Fantasia 2000 and Atlantis.
The Elements of a Super-Hero.
Winners of Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film.
"Has Glenn seen this? Trust me, he would not be impressed."
Damn, didn't notice at the time but The Superest is done. We'll, always have the archives. Thanks Marsh.
Soviet sci-fi cartoons from the 80's. Via Mefi.
Chris Ware's rejected Fortune cover.
So you know. Comic Book Grammar and Tradition. So great. Via Khoi.
"A one year art challenge to connect with 52 influential geeks from different disciplines (art, movies, TV, computing, science). A trading card portrait complete with stats will be created each week of the featured geek." Geek a Week. Via MeFi.
About cartooning but applicable to any design project. "When a drawing isn't working it's always tempting to clean it up in an attempt to 'fix it' when, really, you know that the drawing is flawed and you should just start over." 7 Golden Camels' A Kick in the Head, Part Three.
"Recently artist Liam Stevens used pencil, paper, exacto knives and much time to craft a lovely retro stop-action music video." KK* on "Waiting." More of Stevens' work here.
Pivot The Movie, a fresh new animated short film by the team behind Tryrants from Afar.
So you know, if real life were more like the internet.
Meet Meline.
The Realist, by Asaf Hanuka. A comicumentary about a one family's serach for a home. Brilliant, via Lines and Colors.
"One of the most popular pictures in my photostream, by far, is a mosaic that I created from 'S-Shields' from my collection of Superman action figures." Via the mighty DDC.
Simple and simply perfect, The Exchange a short by Baptiste Sola. Via Aqua-Velvet.
"The moment it is successfull, kill it." A rare interview with the great Ronald Searle for his 90th birthday.
To the vector belong the spoils. Marilyn Ferdinand on The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble's 1965 animated classic.
Lunchbreath visits the Chicago Auto Show.
A Goofy Movie remixed by Cody Richeson in the style of David Lynch. Only brilliant.
Quick and affordable 3D printing technology applied to classic stop-motion. The Art of the Title Sequence interviews Johnny Kelly of Nexus about a project for the Dutch science program "Het Klokhuis" (The Apple Core)."
Now online, the fab Oscar nominated-animated short, Logorama. Via Slashfilm.
Mark Trail plagiarizes itself. Via the daily must-read Comics Curmudgeon.
A short, illustrated history of jumpers from Pringle of Scotland.
Sweet, animated BBC Sport Spot for their Winter Olympics coverage by Studio AKA. Via Motionographer.
It would be funny if it wasn't true.
Reworked Twitter avatars in the shape of the whale, by Adam Koford. Via Made In England.
Feels like it's related to the last somehow: One Million Giraffes, chronicling the quest to collect a huge quantity of giraffe drawings in just one year.
Kate Beaton's really at the top of her game today.
So you know, 10 weird super heroes you might not have heard about
So you know. The 180 Rule and Ways Around it.
Related to Today's Eye: Wally Wood's infamous Disneyland Memorial Orgy Poster from 1967 and how it came to be, by publisher Paul Krassner.
Cliff Chiang's 12 Inch Remix, putting comic book characters into LP covers.
Nick Campbell on The Third & The Seventh, an amazing photorealistic 3D rendered film by Alex Roman. Includes a "making of" and a compositing breakdown. Yowza.
Alma.
From The Atlantic, A Decade in Cartoons.
You might not know composer Hoyt Curtin's name but you likely know his work. More from I'm Learning To Share and from If I Only Had...
Anime run amuck in Sugimoto Kousuke and Manabe Takayuki's The TV Show. Need to watch it about 10 times to make sure you've caught everything.
So you know: The X-Men listen to This American Life.
The Indie Rock Coloring Book, where you can do things like "Color in the Whimsy of Andrew Bird's Whistling!" or "Find All the Birds in Devendra's Beard!" Via bblinks.
Info on Craig Yoe's book Secret Identity: The Fetish Art of Superman's Co-Creator, Joe Shuster. Via Peachfuzz.
Mo graf pros, take the 2009 Motion Graphic Design Census and be counted.
Tintin in stamps. Via Grow a Brain.
"Map of the Area Surrounding Our Holiday Home, by Tom Gauld.
"Six drawings per movie, in sequence, no movie stars." Guess the movie based on Paul Roger's illustrations. Via Mental Floss.
Leigh Walton invited a bunch of people to fill up his Tintin Sketchbook. I. II. III. Via Drawn.
Motionographer asks, "Where do your initial ideas come from for a film?" Jeff Scher replies, "From looking at everyday things with a sense of mischief and awe." His animated life, an interview and video montage.
Corneas Diadem, animated short by Brandon Blommaert. I tend to agree with the comment, "unmitigated fabulosity." Via Booooooom.
Lovely, The Lighthouse Keeper.
The November 2nd cover of The New Yorker illustrated by Chris Ware, shows us what Halloween looks like these days. See the rest of the story here.
As One by Makoto Yabuki.
Star Wars done in ascii. Via Mental Floss.
Bave Circus.
Yarn City, stop-motion for MusicID.
A collection of somewhat more realistic cartoon characters.
Modern Types as depicted by Ronald Searle.
Put a smile on your face, That's how a pumpkin grows. Via NotCot.
"A blueprint of a piece of equipment designed to make cartoons more realistic and enjoyable."
So you know. The 180 rule and when to break it.
"It is a robust self-correcting legal OS. But it was written in an arcane code long ago." KK* on that thing you've always meant to read.
Amazing collaborative animation from artists Blu and David Ellis, Combo. Via Change the Thought.
Utterly enchanting, Skhizein. Via NotCot.
What I Wore Today (Drawings Only!) Via I Like.
"Excuse me, sir, aren't you Benjamin Frankin?" "Yes, I am. I'm also hot and thirsty!" Stupid Comics looks at Marvel's The Adventures of Kool-Aid Man.
An indecisive monster.
"Please print this flowchart and tape it near your screen. Congratulations: you're now the local computer expert!"
Halifax Coast writeup about CP fave Kate Beaton of Hark, a Vagrant.
It's okay (probably preferable) to mute this music video, but the animation is too good to miss. Via CHF.
As a former production designer and color scripter for Pixar, Lou Romano visited the tepuis of Venezuela and animated this lighting and color reel to define the mood of the movie Up.
New symbols for the discerning hobo and other assorted infotoons. Thanks Jeff.
Hey Oscar Wilde! It's Clobbering Time!!! Page after page of authors or literary characters drawn by illustrators and comic artists. I especially love the latest additions by Scott Campbell.
Did you know that Daniel Clowes started out at Cracked Magazine?
Cubeecraft. Free, downloadable papercraft toys. Via Transbuddha.
I thought I'd start off my guest editing with one of my favorite illustrators, Jon Klassen. That's just the tip of the iceberg. I know I'll have a lot more artists/animators throughout the month.
Sweet isometric pixel illustrations by Lee Hasler. He looks at things from his own perspective and has a fab sense for color too. Via Netdiver.
Hard to resist a post entitled Merging a trippy SpongeBob Squarepants with data visualization.
FotA and Field-Tested Books contributor David Rees asks that we all boycott Jamba Juice for blatantly ripping off his beloved Get Your War On comic.
The author of the Windows file copy dialog visits some friends.
"Peripetics" by Zeitguised. A CG film in six acts. Hard to describe but totally mesmerizing. More about the film from Motionograoher. Via Cartoon Brew.
The top 10 comic book cities.
WWED.
Ward writes, "Being a big fan of midcentury illustrator & designer Abner Graboff, I was getting frustrated by the lack of information about the artist out there in the internets, so I decided to find out just who this guy was on my own." Who Was Abner Graboff?
Retired Superheroes.
So you know. Why chicks cry.
Star Wars in a notebook!
Markus Hofko's Cartoon Particles, Disney characters deconstructed in 3D. Fab.
Markus Hofko's Cartoon Particles, Disney characters deconstructed in 3D. Fab.
A famous person has died.
"...and the tiger creates for the groovy girl animal who's just about to evolve." Kane on 1967's Mod Love.
Art of the Title interviews Jim Capobianco and Alex Woo about the end credits of Wall-E. Via Michael Tsai.
This is the guy I admired most pre-Kubrick. The Jonny Quest Documentary in 27 parts. Lots to love here. Part 7: The Process of Animation is lovely. Part 16 give props to fab composer Hoyt Curtin. On and on.
More from Up: the Color Script. Gorgeous, and completely full of spoilers. Via Wil Shipley.
Which art student are/were you?
The illustrated diary of Milwaukee-based artist Milan Zori.
Bang-yao Liu's senior project at Savannah College of Art and Design. Post-it note stop motion. Deadline.
Covered. Vintage comic book covers redrawn by modern artists. Check out Ryan Dunlavey covering G.I. Joe and Robert Goodin's revised Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.
Video interview with the team from OOOii about designing and implementing the look of technology for the recent Star Trek film.
Via Infosthetics.
And speaking of yetis, Bigfoot, of Graham Roumieu's In Me Own Words, etc., is now on Twitter for your occasional dose of crude protohuman humor.
An incredible collection of development and production art from an incredible film: The Art of Up.
For your reference, 42 Essential 3rd Act Twists.
Pixar vs. Dreamworks.
Dive right into the deep end of a swimming pool of pixels by Ubik. Via Good.
"A cute way of thinking about caricature is like an inside-out sushi." Steven Heller chats with Steve Brodner.
Music by Andrew Bird, here is Chris Ware's Quimby the Mouse.
Wonderful. Simple caricatures by Jose Cruz. Love this one. Via Heller.
Not really related to the last, except for the final few seconds which are Scanimate-ish.
1970s Demo Reel from Image West, electronic animation made with the Scanimate Analog computers. More here from Dave Sieg who "owns and maintains the last working Scanimate system." Via davehayden.
Sebastian's Voodoo.
Ojofrito's 3D characters. Via cpluv.
Tom Gauld's sketchbook is fab. Tom is also is the man behind an all-time fave, Characters For an Epic Tale. Via the Miss who is Swiss.
For KG, the Simpsons get the stamp of approval.
Words fail. Trailer for Cat Shit One, the animated series. Via Cabel.
Garfield: Lost in Translation, "quite existential when translated into Japanese and then back into English."
Superstudio's delightful on and off-air branding for the AXN Film Festival from Buenos Aires. Great track too. Via Reform and Revolution.
CR interviews Adrian Tomine about his new book Summer Blonde. Also, check these New Yorker covers and other Illustrations.
History fans, comic fans, and Canadians rejoice! Kate Beaton finally has a handsome and permanent web address.
In honor of KG's visit to the studio today, the Simpsons guest star quiz.
So you know, reasons why people who work with computers seem to have a lot of spare time.
"That's right thumbsucker, I see you." Frank Miller's Charlie Brown. Via William Gibson.
Teaser for the stop-motion, animated Panique au Village. I have no idea what's going on here and a quick machine translation isn't much help, "We must rebuild! What a birthday! Especially thieves that steal walls once they are built!" But whatever it is, it's totally awesome.
Wikipedia's List of misquotations. Those should keep Kate Beaton busy for a while.
Related to the last: I think Tom Ammiano reads Achewood.
"I'll order the nachos. You'll order the bacon cheeseburger. You'll briefly notice a trace of unease flicker across my face. I'll look as though I'm about to say something. I will not say anything." The Bacon Story, which explains why Rosie Dee doesn't eat bacon. Via Beer or Kid.
Imaginary Force's opening credit sequence for The Pink Panther 2, which is about as much of this movie as I will ever see.
Valentine's Day at everyone's favorite History Comics site.
Clutch Cargo and the "Syncho-Vox" process from TV Guide in 1960 and via Cartoon Brew. Am I the only one who immediately got the theme song stuck in my head? Wanna join me?
Graphic designers in love.
A brilliant little stop-action animated film from the USSR in 1928, The Adventures of the Little Chinese, directed by Maria Benderskaya. Thank to Andrew of gmt+9 (-15).
This Is Where We Live, a sweet, stop-motion film by Apt and Asylum Films celebrating the books from 25 years of 4th Estate publishing. Via Design You Trust.
Artist Andy Helm's Dude-A-Day. Via P&P.
Lovely, Le Ballon. Via DRB.
Achewood's Holiday Shopping Tips.
Speaking of ruining your childhood memories. A Charlie Brown Ad Agency Xmas. Very well done. Thanks Andrew.
"Fascists! I knew it!" George Orwell Writes a Novel, from Kate Beaton's always terrific History Project comics.
Create your own Mangatar with Face Your Manga. Via Pop Wuping.
Michele D'Auria's animated film for Honda. A bit much on the v/o but beautifully drawn.
A nice collection of brilliant comic book cover art.
"To the vector belong the spoils." Marilyn Ferdinand on The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics, a 1965 animated film by Chuck Jones and Maurice Noble. Via GCD.
Chris Harding's Make Mine Shoebox which, among other things, defines the creativite process by using the "intake/outcrap" model.
Pixar's Burn-E.
Ensuring the Future of Food. Stylish animation tells the story from Japan. Via Waxy.
So Much Pileup on two totally fab TF1 network idents from France in the mid-70s.
Pretty sure just about everyone has had a day like this.
Brilliant, from storyboard to the final film, The Moment. Via Fubiz.
Agence Eureka's scan of Parlons de Marine, a 1939 French comic style textbook on the sea and ships.
A Cartoon I.Q. Test from The New Yorker.
The 700 Mole-Men Project. Via Drawn.
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management has a fab web site to help you survive an earthquake. Via Design Milk.
MTV Blows Me. Idents by W+K Tokyo. Via TypeNEU.
Related to the last. The ACME Product Catalog.
Farley Katz of The New Yorker challenges Randall Munroe of XKCD to a "cartoon-off."
Johnny Green's sweet, stop-action spot by for Royal Mail, "Grow."
The melancholy deaths of Edward Gorey's children.
"Consider the drama of the scene. Save something for the big moments." and other wise instruction from Light and Shadow by Rowland B. Wilson at Temple of the Seven Golden Camels. Color too.
A preview of Presidential Material, comic-book biographies of the candidates.
"I know that each and every one of you is licking your lips in anticipation as one of life's more succulent mysteries is about to disrobe and reveal its undergarments for you." John Kricfalusi on The Flintstones animators. Swell.
Listen to yourself.
Superbrothers' Dot Matrix Revolution. "Bow before the cloud!" Via Laughing Squid.
In case you missed it, Animation Backgrounds.
A peek at some illustrations from Marvel's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz #1 out in December.
Perfect promo for TiJi Tv, a kids' network.
"Me and Sander have put together a small reel showcasing a few experiments with motion effects and Sanders skills at producing audio."
"The animated story of one man's epic journey, created entirely from public domain symbols. In other words, an airport story told in the language of airport infographics." Airport.
Gone. Touching 3D animation by Bard Edlund. Via The Cartoonist.
David O'Reilly's iPhone animation uses the iPhone's gyroscope to create the illusion of 3-D.
Fabulous student graduation project, Al Dente.
"D'Oh! They're vinyl!" For KG, Kidrobot's Simpsons mini figures.
Meet Emily. Emily is not real.
New to iPhone apps, the lovely Shadows Never Sleep.
A stop motion short, A Short Love Story.
X-E on bootleg action figures: "I shouldn't complain, as there are so few avenues to satisfy anyone's morbid curiosity over what Hulk's ass actually looks like.
Watchmen Character Posters: Then and Now, a comparison between 1986 and 2008.
Preorder The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: A Graphic Novel featuring illustration god Kevin Cornell. Kevins Peoplemals prints are available in our shop.
A collection of all ten lessons from Doug Savage's How To Be The Next Barry White.
Oddly hypnotic, animation set to a tune by The Real Tuesday Weld, Bathtime in Clerkenwell.
Stylish animated sequence for the World Science Festival by Trollbäck. Via swissmiss.
Guess the cartoon character based on the silhouette. Answers can be found in the comments here. Via Grow a Brain
Leif Peng on Cartoonists vs. illustrators and ads for correspondence schools that can make you an artist "even if you can't draw a straight line."
"In 1947 Life Magazine asked some famous comic strip artists to to draw their famous characters while wearing a blindfold." Here are the results.
Retronomatopeya. Zonk! Via Nack.
What does one call the use of random non-alphabet characters to indicate cursing? It's a universally understood device, and is applied in both graphic and textual settings. It is such a commonly accepted staple that I assumed it must already be defined and described - but apparently it's not. See an initial query into this subject here.
Xkcdedia.
Kreepsville presents Cereal Killers, a "coffin table book." Via Khoi.
Milt Gross's Cartoon Tour of New York was published as a program guide for tourists visiting the 1939 World's Fair.
Sexy robots making tires. Via Feed.
Just in case you didn't know, Hark! A Vagrant is awesome. Katie is the Lynda Barry of obcscure history references.
Star Wars Manga.
Lovely animated video for Fixkes Lievelingsdier.
"This is my pill. It is round. It is pink. It makes me not care. Watch me take my round, pink pill... and not care." The Executive Coloring Book.
Warner Bros. classic 1955 animated short Hyde and Hare, without either.
Creepy live-action Simpsons on Spanish TV.
Animator Gary Leib's history of Manhattan's Meatpacking District.
"Poorly lived and poorly died, poorly buried and no one cried."
The Whitest Boy! Golden Cage!, a sweet hand-drawn animation by Geoff McFetridge. So you know, the artist was profiled in the third episode of the Western State video series.
Great, copiously illustrated ASIFA post, Writing Cartoons Part Four, The Rough Board.
Lovely animation for Estoria do Gato e da Lua .
Nick Uff's deliciously lo-fi animated videos for Portishead's The Rip and We Carry On.
Eboy's Einstein in the Swiss Patent Office. Found among a celebration of pixel art at Smashing Mag.
What's love for?
The words of philosopher Alan Watts animated by the South Park guys.
Fantastic animation for the French band Sna-Fu, might want to turn your sound down a bit.
The Journal of Cartoon Over-Analyzations. Like it sounds. Via Cartoon Brew.
Comic book fans, find out where your favorite ranks on Wizard's list of the 200 greatest comics.
"Having dirty terminal is like kissin' y'r gal thru a plate o' glass." BibliOdyssey on the US Army's Preventative Maintenance Magazine from 1951-72 featuring the work of legendary illustrator Will Eisner. Great fun. Here's the whole amazing archive from the VCU Libraries Digital Collection.
Telstar Logistics on vintage comic book cutaways and sci-fi models from Modern Fred. Groovy.
Sweet animated spot for V Water. Via E-sushi.
"Why Superman Will Always Suck"
Robot Johnny, "Last year I redrew my mother's entire high school yearbook from 1968 -over a thousand heads." Via Mefi.
Steampunk figurines. Gotta love the take on Star Wars and the Justice League.
Zurich Chamber Orchestra animated spot. Just watch.
The complete collection of Steve Purcell's Sam & Max: Surfin' the Highway, both in paperback and special hardcover. Wow. Also, some behind the scenes of putting the book together.
"The lurid content led to congressional hearings, widespread comic book burnings, and ultimately the censorship of the industry." Enjoy.
3650, an animated short for MTV from ubik. Via Cpluv.
Lovely animated title sequence for Ça Se Soigne? by Deubal. Via Cartoon Brew.
UNDO from Impactist. Solve the anagrammatic book titles presented in this beautiful animation. A "Cryptology Key" is provided and I certainly needed it. A whip-smart melding of idea and design.
Buck 2008 Showreel.
A new weblog on Blake and Mortimer, the comic adventure series by Edgar Jacobs that initially appeared in Tintin Magazine. The site's in French but there's plenty to see even if you don't translate it. Via Ralf.
UPA's Man On The Land from 1951. The film has been posted at ASIFA along with some nice screengrabs. Sweet.
I've always had a love/hate thing with editorial cartoons, and while the Bad Cartoonist seems pretty hateful, he clearly has a love for the format. Nothing about my hometown hero Jim Borgman yet, but it's surely just a matter of time.
Nomint motion design from Athens Greece. Sweet reel.
Animator vs. Animation by Alan Becker. Via Right Brain Terrain.
Related to the last, if it's meta cartoon experiments you're looking for, forget the cat and give in to the genius of Marmaduke Explained.
It's hard to believe that something could be more wonderful than How to Make Garfield Funny, but Garfield Minus Garfield has done just that.
My Paper Mind. Javan Ivey's "stratastencil" animation technique in which each frame is one piece of 4x6 inch card stock. Via Ze Frank.
Today's xkcd, via DF.
Sneak peek at the highly anticipated animated Star Wars; The Clone Wars.
CR on a new minimalist animated tv campaign created for Fair & Square, a British mortgage company. Fab.
"My hobby: Insisting that real-life objects are Photoshopped." Via Nack.
So you know, The H-Bomb and You.
Follow the presidential race with illustrator Steven Brodner's sketch videos in The Naked Campaign.
Awesome: A 60-year old mystery about a father's strange doodle is finally solved thanks to the magic of the internet. Via Drawn!
Achewood's tribute/parody to Chris Ware. If you're not into Achewood, click "random comic" and start reading.
"...please consider the following images my small contribution to the digital remembrance of all things Bass." The Nonist on mostly unknown Saul Bass television title sequences. Splendid.
Start with a white screen, end with a black screen. Everything else is up to the artists. Advanced Beauty fom Universal Everything. Via Flight 404.
The original Clutch Cargo Comix from 1961.
If you are a serial enterer of the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest, FotA Daniel has posted five previous contest cartoons with the winning captions, as well as, for the first time, the original captions penned by the cartoonists. Of course he's included the winning entries from his weekly (and much more fun), parallel "anti-caption" contest as well.
Magic Highway USA. Disney's animated view of the future of transportation, circa 1958. Via PartIV.
Speaking of Mare Winningham, X-Entertainment's Advent Calendar is back for 2007.
Meet the Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots, Miga, Quatchi, and Sumi.
The long history of Punch Magazine and an archive of its cartoons.
Tamara Connolly's SVA MFA motion graphics project, Nina Simone's Feeling Good.
The Whitest Boy Alive's, Golden Cage animated by Geoff McFetridge. Get to know Geoff a little better over at Western State.
Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited. Oh yeah. Here's the news.
John Updike reviews a melancholy biography about much-loved Charles Schulz and his autobiographical Peanuts gang.
Motherland.
Wow, this is great, "Part comic strip and part science experiment, Howtoons shows children how to find imaginative new uses for common household items like soda bottles, duct tape, mop buckets, and more." I. II. III.
Who's the superest hero of them all? Mr. Matthew Sutter and occasional co-conspirator and Layer Tennis vanquisher Kevin Cornell offer up some ideas. Via TMN.
Veggie characters straight from the aisles of Japanese supermarkets.
Vintage poster inspired Stella Artois animation. Only perfect. Via 30gms.
Brilliant. Sony Bravia showers us with bunnies.
Happy sixth anniversary, Achewood!
Little clip from Pixar's next fim, Wall-E. Could he be any cuter? Via AICN.
Lovely animated music video, JCB. Via Drawn.
Captain Marvel works his way up the food chain. Via SoldierAnt.
How to Build a Better Graveyard, tips for the aspiring macabre illustrator.
Delicacy stop-motion animation, set to Verdi's Traviata.
Big, gorgeous scans of a series of pages from Fred Ludekens' Famous Artists Course. Found at Temple of the Seven Golden Camels.
Studio aka for Guinness. Via Monoscope.
Cartoon Modern has posted a series of recently discovered photos from a 1955 MoMA exhibition called "UPA: Form in the Animated Cartoon."
You Were Born and So You're Free. Anders Nilsen draws his way out of grief.
Beautiful 3D typography, in black and white, for IDN Magazine, created by Nylon. Via Stash.
Zombies vs. Robots, a new comic so conceptually sound it is self-evidently perfect. Via Mr. Future.
Speaking of Jason, visit an otherworldly comic realm created by his frequent collaborator, Joe Infurnari: the Process.
Walt Kelly and Pogo, all the book covers and news of a comprehensive Fantagraphics volume.
Animated Homage by Jacques Khouri.
Superman's Identity Revealed, again and again and again. Via Transbuddha.
Samantha's Rave Doll Dressing Book from 1967. Sort of like The Bourne Ultimatum, only not so grim. Via Mr. Dante Fontana.
Charles and Ray Eames' 1957 cartoon, The Information Machine.
A BusinessWeek narrated slideshow of a tour to Lucasville on The Presidio in SF. Via Unbeige.
Hans Bacher's Animation Treasures is a mandatory bookmark, and not just for his painstaking recreations of painted backgrounds. I love when he carefully assembles a set of screengrabs to make a point, as in this post on Peter Webber's Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Finalists for The Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest. Via One Good Move.
Cartoon Brew on Hans Bacher's fab new blog, where he is "painstakingly recreating pan backgrounds from classic animated films currently on dvd (mostly Disney ones) to offer a sense of what the original backgrounds looked like before the characters were composited on top." Bookmark Animation Treasures.
The Simpsons Go To Paris with Linda Evangelista, a spread in Harpers Bazaar. Via Zulkey.
Monstrous Craws & Character Flaws, masterpieces of cartoon and caricature at the Library of Congress. Via Bibliodyssey.
"Kookie." Via Bibi.
MTV Brazil interstitial, Happiness Sadness.
The American Petroleum Institute presents John Sutherland's Destination Earth, 1966.
Preston Blair's 1950s Air Force Recruitment Spot was reportedly accomplished directly under the camera with cut papers and gels. Sweet. Cartoon Brew.
RIP New Yorker cartoonist J B Handelman. You can see some of his work here.
Joe Mathlete explains today's Marmaduke. You'd think this would be funny once or twice and that's it. You'd be wrong. Via The Aesthetic.
"When I was a kid I ate whatever cereal had the best cartoon character on the box..." Copiously illustrated with videos, John Kricfalusi's Guide to Surviving the End of Television.
Pyrats.
Power For Progress, a 1971 comic book extolling the virtues of the nuclear power industry. Lots more vintage propcomix can be enjoyed at Ethan Persoff's site. "If you're a troubled or perverted person I've got a piece of pop culture or comic book just for you." Via Boing.
Famous Artists Course #24, 1960, Chad Grothkopf's "Design For Television." Great scans, smartly annotated at ASIFA. Of particular note: The abstract commercial and the drawing board.
An appropriately silent movie about Collin Ord's forthcoming book on animated optical illusions. Via Cartoon Brew.
We could be heroes.
For a few months now I've been checking out Matthew Woodson's illustration portfolio and how he documents the process on his blog -- and I'm always impressed.
Trailer for Genius Party, a compendium of short features by seven leading anime artists. Site. Via Jeansnow.
A pretty exciting cup o' joe to start your week.
Vintage weather report animations from Bedazzled.
GCD, from Cannes, on Persepolis, an animated "first-person tale of congenitally rebellious Marjane Satrapi, who was 8 years old when the Islamic Revolution transformed her native Teheran." Site.
An online comic book is telling the story of New Orleans After the Deluge. Via Influx Insights.
Fletcher Hanks, the Ed Wood of Comics. Via 1+1=3.
Magnetic Sphere video made with Processing. Audio from a mix by Karri O. (Maximum Minimum). Via Bruce Sterling's Beyond the Beyond.
Photos from Attack of the 19 In. Zliks show that ran at Myplasticheart Gallery in NYC.
Checking in on an old oxidized friend, Rustboy, we followed a link and found that there is a ton of terrific new stuff up at Brian Taylor's Candykiller site.
Stuck in the meeting from hell? With a little bit of planning you can save yourself.
Sweet vintage cover gallery from Mosaik, Germany's longest running comic book. Via Drawn.
So you know. How to color a tiger.
Bomb-Da-Bass for Toyota by Tokyoplastic. Via Feed.
Intern Architects in Hell. Best yet: "On Gargoyles."
Loving the cartoons of Mr. Fish at Harpers.
Mike Fontanelli on Walt Kelly and Pogo at ASIFA.
Netdiver debuts a new section, Reel Shorts, including Mathieu Badimon's sweet Play Lab and a great set of idents for S4/C by Universal Everything.
The coursebook for Chad's Design For Television, 1960, at the ASIFA site. Great tutorials like The Abstract Commercial.
"VII: Certain bodies can pass through solid walls painted to resemble tunnel entrances; others cannot." Old but still funny. The Cartoon Laws of Physics. Thanks Coop.
Enroute, a short animated journey through "Aerotropolis." Via City of Sound.
"This process is the whole idea behind PSST! - a technique derived from the Dadaist game of Exquisite Corpse and the
children's game Telephone and applied to the arts of motion graphics, animation and film-making." Former CP crew member Ant did the first section of this beauty.
Airport, starring Helvetica Man.
Why call it Grovel? "Well, we took the words 'graphic' and 'novel' and played about with them a bit. We thought it sounded better than Hicnov."
The Magic Animator. "...cut out the pieces, fasten them together, and start posing your figure as it guides you into a career in the animation industry!" Via Eyebeam.
So you know. John Kricfalusi's Functional Drawings 1. Make your characters do something.
Pingmag interview with CG star Takeo Haitai of Le Pivot. Don't miss the Honda Zoomer spot.
Bibi has posted a big list of shorts from graduate animation classes at the Gobelins in Paris. Digging Gnap Gnap especially.
Dance of the Flight Attendant. Via Kottke.
Tasty layout and illustrations for the Rules of the Nautical Road from an ASIFA post on Walt Disney at war.
Julien Tromeur's ".blue." Via Drawn.
Cartoon Brew links up a number of tributes to maestro Joseph Barbera, who died yesterday.
Check these Italian sci-fi photo comics. [translate] Download Controllo Computer for a real treat. Via The Cartoonist.
A PDF of the first 15 pages of Matt Coyle's Worry Doll, "A gothic-noir, murder-mystery, disguised as a children's book. Via Pixelsurgeon.
Long Day from Pascal. Know the feeling.
Cartoon Brew has collected ten spectacular, highly graphic, animated spots from France in the 50's. Awesome. Via Green Cine Daily.
"Gentlemen, the Cartoon." The history of the cartoon as told through the lens of the late, great Punch Magazine.
Whiteboard stop-motion for Minilogue's Hitchikers Choice. Via Cpluv.
Lots of new stuff at Brian Taylor's Candykiller including a new book. Details and more at the weblog.
"It just sucks." "Can you be more specific?" "No." Tom Fishburne's Brand Camp. Via Adland.
Seven Camels on Robert Fawcett of "The Famous Artists Course" illustrating how to create a rhythm within a composition. Lots more like this at the fab ASIFA blog too.
"Sea-gherkins!" Captain Haddock (from Tintin) Insult Generator v0.9. Via The Cartoonist.
I have no idea what's going on here, but it's worth a gape. Heiwa Alpha.
Tastefully Done, the first nude web comic pinup calendar. Via Drawn!
"OK my interest in the film 300 is bordering on obsession. I thought it might be interesting to see how closely Zack Snyder is sticking to the original comic books. Pretty damn closely it appears."
A Norman McLaren film experiment (1955) in the use of intermittent animation and spasmodic imagery.
Rowland Wilson on composition on light and shadow and on painting. Might be a opportune time to relink Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work.
Our friends at the Chicago Reader are soliciting proposals for their annual year-end comics supplement, a lush, Sunday-funnies-style full-color pullout. Write comics at chicagoreader dot com for details.
The cars from Hergé's Tintin comics and their real-life counterparts. Great. Via an afternoon update to The Morning News.
Komaneko is a stop-action cat who wants to make stop-action films. Potential cuteness overload warning. Via Cartoon Brew.
As one of the most avant garde and high brow comic strips of our day, sometimes you need a little help deciphering just what exactly is going on. Luckily, Joe Mathlete Explains Today's Marmaduke.
A very in-depth look at Making of Lynn Johnston's For Better or For Worse comic strip. Via Drawn!
Eyeball NYC posts a fab new showreel. SD interviewed the firm as part of our Jewelboxing Case Study series last summer.
So you know. How to color your Mad Magazine illustrations. Via BearSkinRug.
Re: the 'cut paper' post below, here's the Japanese trailer for The Adventures of Prince Achmed. From Ted T.
Great post by Matt at 37s on classic cut paper animation and how restraint can be liberating.
Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich. "Like Norman Rockwell meets Shel Silverstein and makes a book about the Universal Horror monsters." David at Ironic Sans interviews the author.
John Kricfalusi's tribute to Ed Benedict, the legendary animator who just recently passed away.
Walt Disney's commercial work during the 1950s. Via Firewheel.
I saw this on a tv across a room a few weeks ago and have been looking for it ever since. Studio Smack's Kapitaal, a brilliant vision of the world stripped bare of everything except corporate identities and signage. Produced for Museum de Beyerd Breda.
Solid. Some nice weekend reading via Senses Working Overtime.
Top Cel was the newsletter of the New York animator's union in the 50s and 60s. Here's a nice set of covers, uploaded by Amid Amidi, author of Cartoon Modern and the weblog of the same name.
"Here you can study various experiments and variations and the gradual change from bands to balloons. Even the later examples sometimes have tiny leftovers of the 'bands' on the other side of the balloon." Evolution of Speechballoons. Via Things.
Cartoon series on Justice by Hans Arnold. Via Martin Klasch.
"Some indie comics artists point out great mainstream comics art, to make up for the usual 'how we would do it if we were there' stuff we generally pull." Via Ample Sanity.
So you know. "Costumed athlete: An adventurer in sartorial splendor who has no enhanced abilities or superpowers." Comic World Lingo.
Design, illustration and animation by Arthur Jones. Plus, make him look funny. Via The DDC.
David Foster Wallace's Up, Simba! made into a comic. Via Screenhead.
Burning Safari. Fab animated short. Thanks Ant.
Dan Goodsell on The New Bazooka Joe. Via Drawn!
Tom Gauld's characters for an epic tale and lots of other fun stuff at Cabanon Press. Via Blanketfort.
Scanned Alvin Show Storyboard from "The Whistler" episode at the ASIFA blog. Also there, Willard Mullin on 'How to Draw Animals.'. Must see.
A 32-page scan of Outcault's Buster Brown comics from the early 1900s.
Stash is legal now, just turned 21.
Adding captions to old illustrations is surprisingly, more fun than a barrel of Monkey Fluids. In the spirit of Glen Baxter.
d'Holbachie's Cosmos.
"In 2002 Gez Fry decided, that he wants to make a living out of Japanese style illustration - without being experienced in drawing." Illustrated interview at PingMag. Via IBC.
The Blackheart Gang's amazing Tale of How. Thanks Ant.
"What mere mortal countenance could inspire this paragon of virtue and manliness?" Flubber Soul the Holy Book of Fred McMurray, number three in the most excellent Zine Week Series at Omega Channel. Via Eye of the Goof.
Back to shop class. Cartoon Brew on The ABCs of Handtools.
"A well-placed BRAKKA-BA-DOOM! Really livens up the page, I tell you." Via The Nonist.
The best online comic ever, Achewood, rants on corporate logos today.
Atomic Energy In Comic Books.
Crass, absurd, and hurtful. In short: fantastic. Pete Johnson's comics.
The new look of Nancy Drew. Via Brand Noise.
John Kricfalusi answers his own question 'Why do drawings from classic cartoons look so much better than all other cartoon drawings?" by annotating "the greatest thing ever," The Preston Blair Book.
Mary Ellen Bute, Seeing Sound. A bit more information can be found at Data is Nature. If anyone tracks down samples of any of her films online, please let us know. The stills look amazing.
Sentinel Louie, 1935 by Otto Soglow. Found at Coconino Classics found at Papel Continuo.
ReFrederator a vintage cartoon every day. Via IO.
Mutant Human Species Imminent. "I am now your master for better or worse."
Who knew? Max Fleischer of Popeye and Betty Boop fame animated Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Guess he'd have been able to figure out who owns the fish.
In other Mr. Walters-related news, don't miss Caveman Robot, the Musical this week at the Brick in NYC.
Belgium's loss is your gain! Make your own "Mr. Walters" paper model.
"Here is a real quick step-by-step look at how I color using Photoshop."
"Not a substitute for reading the text or for classroom discussion of the text." Classic Comix: Ulysses.
"St custard's hav a very interesting history if you are interested in hist which few boys are." Via Plep.
Vintage print ads with cartoon elements. Via PCL.
"The Little Fella", a new animation from the amazing minds at Tokyo Plastic.
Eleanor Davis' comics and illustrations, Doing Fine. Via Drawn.
How to Make Garfield Funny. Brilliant. Via Waxy.
"The Hall of Best Knowledge combines lush imagery with lucid prose - imagine the works of Chaucer projected on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - creating a weekly learning experience that is without equal in this or any age." A lot like Ruben Bolling's brilliant comics, but more type-based. Via Waxy.
Kazu Kibuishi takes you through a detailed step-by-step on the creation of one of his Copper comics. It's really thorough and clear, with photos for every frame of the way. "In fact, each time I sit down to work on a comic, especially Copper, I feel like I have to teach myself to draw all over again." Via Drawn.
Chris Ware's Jimmy Corrigan, the condensed edition.
A woman from the inside out. Via c77.
Kevin Broome writes, "Have you seen this new video by CG whiz Neill Blomkamp, Alive in
Joburg? It is a follow up to his other amazing South African based project Tetra Vaal."
Ethan Persoff hosts Trapped!. "This is Bill Jones, a high-school student... he thought he knew all the answers..."
Fab artist Ragnar (you'll know his work when you see it) has a weblog for tests and sketches and whatnot, it's called Symptomatica.
Joel Trussell's Scribble Dumpster, weblog home for the animator of this vid for Jason Forrest's War Photographer.
Black Ink Monday is "a non-violent protest by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists (AAEC), is a response to the Tribune Company's recent elimination of editorial cartooning positions at several of its newspapers."
It's Your Home, Wardomatic's scans of a 1956 Better Homes and Gardens project.
"In 1972, GAF produced 3 View Master reels featuring the adventures of the GI Joe Adventure Team. This fuelled my love for the Adventure Team more than anything I had. Here they were in color, in 3D, in lavish settings, setting wrong right using the gear I had in my own toy box." Via Screenhead.
Amid Amidi on The Appeal of Fifties Animation Design, it's "not that cartoons looked a particular way, but rather, that they didn't look a particular way."
A briefcase full of the one and only Glen Baxter. Via PCL.
A holiday and a month late but too good to ignore. Michel Gagné's interstitials for Nick Halloween programming.
Ojingogo, sweet comic series from Coming Up For Air.
Leif Peng's Today's Inspiration "A place for those with an interest in illustration from the 40's and 50's to share their knowledge..." Via Drawn.
Older but awesome still. The skeletal systems of 22 present and past cartoon characters, by Michael Paulus. Via Sparkplug.
Andrew Hickinbottom's illustration and 3D modeling gallery.
Russian Insider on the history and future of Russian animation, Via The Cartoonist.
"I see the comic book character Aquaman as the greatest example of reinvention gone wrong, and here's why: There was nothing wrong with him to begin with." The Aquaman Argument. Via PCL.
"When I was growing up they were promising us a great future where we all had jet packs to fly around with, and we're still waiting. So in the meantime, I'm making movies about that future." Brad Bird wins the Tex Avery Animation Award.
Tyson Ibele is 18. Check the animation gallery, especially the chopper and oil rig sequence. 18 I said. Sheesh. Via Chris Diclerico.
Following jc's post about the New Yorker cartoon caption contests, here's an old favorite from McSweeney's. Stupid and crass, certainly, but still gets a good, genuine couple of laughs.
Daniel's excellent New Yorker Cartoon Anti-Caption Contest. Somebody once said that you can tell where a cartoon is from by changing the caption to say simply f*** you. If it still works, it's from the N'Yorker. Via TMN.
A guess on a phrase of the day: "Totally dismal and excellent." From a scan of "She's Goth to Have It" from the Betty & Veronica series.
A guide to hidden Looney Tunes gags. Via Drawn.
Huge collection of cartoons by Sam Cobean, cartoonist for the New Yorker in the '40s and '50s. Via Comics Reporter.
"A chronological 2 hour video animation of sky photos. One photo of the sky was taken each day for one year from my 40th birtHDay to my 41st birtHDay." Via Spitting Image.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "What would that great Kurt Russell flick Big Trouble in Little China look like if it were a South Park episode?" Wonder no more.
Click Things I Have Worried About. Thanks Coop.
"Some interesting ways to get some variety into those boring panels where some dumb writer has a bunch of lame characters sitting around and talking for page after page!" I'm partial to 'open panel complete object.' Via TMN.
Tasty animation for Sky Cinema's Tempo di Coturra, from Delicatessen.
Love from Cube, Creative Computer Company. Thanks Carlos.
Penguin is publishing a new translation of "Candide" with cover art by Chris Ware. Via Drawn.
Antony Hare's Siteway Lit: Illuminated Canvases. "I thought it might be a cool idea to create illuminated signs of my portraits a few years ago and it's pretty satisfying to be 'actually doing it.'"
Ivan Brunetti's Doodle-a-Day.
NYC VFX and Animation studio, 1st Ave Machine "blur the line between what we perceive as real and impossible." Yes, they do.
tokyoplastic adds Opera Dude, a new animation, to their site.
1961, a film by Paul Yeh and Oksana Badrak is "an artistic interpretation of cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin's historic flight as first man in space." Spectacular. Via Make Ready.
Wow. Very cool interactive Flash story about a hit man. "The Killer". Via Screenhead.
"I suddenly realized this was how Superman would sit. He wouldn't puff out his chest or posture heroically, he would be totally chilled." All-Star Superman.
A large collection of portraits of famous cartoonists. Always wondered what Tom Tomorrow looked like. Now we know. Via Transbuddha.
Cartoon Books Photo Gallery.
Click on any cartoonist to see some of his or her volumes of cartoons and related ephemera. Via Paperholic.
A fantastic interview with Daniel Clowes in Ready Made about the origins of his career and his upcoming film, "Art School Confidential." Via Drawn.
"I don't know much of anything about A Trip Through the Des Moines Register and Tribune With Peanuts except that it's oddly transfixing."
PopBotWorld: A Plan B Science and Entertainment Transmission from Ashley Wood and Tom Muller. Via Drawn.
Nick's creamyorange is up and full of pixel on screen mograf action. He's also featured in the Jewelboxing blog currently.
A graphic interpretation by Robert Crumb of a series of events which happened to author Philip K. Dick in March of 1974. "He spent the remaining years of his life trying to figure out what happened in those fateful months."
Cool ninja plush at Ninja Town. Limited edition of 25 for each style.
Craig Yoe's Modern Arf, The Unholy Alliance of Art and Comics. Via Speak Up.
Nice Raster 7.0 interview with Shynola design studio. "We had no plan in the beginning. We just wanted to make work that we thought was cool, get paid for it and not do a 9-5 job. It just happened that the best fit for us was making music videos."
The hyperactive illustration style of Documentalista's sketchbook is irresistable. Via papelcontinuo.
Jon Hicks was sorting through some boxes when "a hidden treasure was discovered that had been forgotten for over 20 years. 'The Smash Hits Yearbook 1984' which includes a comic strip telling the Story of the Sex Pistols. "Is the Home Secretary aware of the threat this group poses to the morals of youth?!"
El Conejito Suicida.
Warner Art, a private collection of vintage Warner Brothers animation art.
A huge collection of unusual comic book covers. Make sure not to miss "Death Ship!!" and "Invasion of the Love Robots." Via Drawn.
A Collection of Weak Humor and Cheap Visual Gagery by Kevin Cornell. 100 Bearskinrug One-Offs. Via Z.
The Big Picture Film. Read. Look. But by all means, watch the video. Via Bearskinrug.
"Hooked!" 1966 comic book about herion abuse. Not funny. Intentionally anyway. Via !mark.
Make Mine Shoebox by the Chris Harding Animation Concern. Educational.
A booklet explaining to students why they should buy a Mac, illustrated by none other than The Simpson's Matt Groening.
Spent2000: Three Hearts. Plus, this Shining cover gallery is fab.
Tangentially related to the link below. "Within the atom is the promise of a new age in which we will have complete control over our environment. With new structural materials from which spotless, airy buildings will be spun." The 1957 Atomic Revolution Comic Book.
Snow-Bo is a wonderful and macabre animated short. Via D!
Classic comic book ads, don't miss the children on steroids and the 2 socko specials.
The Weird World of Jimmy Olsen. Favorite line from Jimmy Olsen #62: "Good grief, Jimmy, your nose stretched a foot when Lois tweaked it!" Via Drawn.
Wish you could fly? So does he. Lovely. Via Screenhead.
Subtle and clever: narrative added to The New Yorker's spot drawings. Via Drawn.
You know that feeling when you remember something that you haven't thought about for years and years and it makes you realize how much you've missed it? That's the way I feel about Steve Purcell's "Sam and Max."
Vintage Soviet Animation. Via the excellent Cartoon Brew.
A fantastic tribute to Al Eugster, an animator who began his career in silent cartoons and went on to work on such legendary projects as Felix the Cat, Betty Boop, Mickey Mouse, and all the rest. Via Drawn.
Looking at the written content of most spam, with subject lines like "The Mighty Cucumber Lives," it would be easy to conclude that they are being composed by French Surrealists. Finally, they have a visual outlet, in Spamusement: "Poorly-drawn cartoons inspired by actual spam subject lines." Via Drawn.
The Batman typeface and layout throughout the years. Via Waxy.
Chris Ware, behind-the-scenes, on the French channel "Arte TV." A large file, but well worth it. Via Waxy.
Ralf writes, "I'm lost for words" and then points to this. 'Over Time is a student film, a tribute of sorts to Muppet creator Jim Henson. It was directed by Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland and Damien Ferrie as a graduation project at the French animation/media school Supinfocom.'
Dudok de Wit Animation, sweet style. Via lifi.
Duke Univesity Libraries' exhibit Early Comic Strips 1898-1916. Beautifully annotated and curated. George Herrimanís Krazy Kat is represented as are The Kin-der-Kids.
A Polite Winter. Unfolding, enigmatic story, told through illustration. Via Life in the Present.
I’m a big fan of Robert Crumb. The last time I really saw him was in Terry Zwigoff’s documentary picture, so I was a bit surprised at how old he is looking these days. I guess time does that to a fella.
Political Comics. "Gianluca Costantini is a videoplay's generation son. He grows up eating comics and images." One-of-a-kind.
Thanks to Jason Santa Maria who cleared up the Chris Ware question this morning. Says Jason, "They are from the backs of the 'Acme Novelty Library' issues. That person just cut them out and assembled them for all to see."
There's lots to appreciate about Kev's new Bearskinrug including this little sketch book, 100 One-Offs, "a collection of weak humor and cheap visual cagery."
Arturo writes of Creature Comforts, available in October, 3032, "Strange little creatures indeed, and the animations are really
cool." A promotion for the novel Eve by Aurelio O'Brien.
Indescribable and hilarious selections from the 1978 DC Comics Super Dictionary. Via Daniel.
Rustboy Update!
Skeletal drawings of your favorite cartoon characters. Via Metafilter.
The artwork of Sam Brown, one Exploding Dog, it still at it. You couldn't have known that you need to whisper. You are making it happen.
De facto site for Tintinology and members of the Tintin Cult. Plus the splat files.
At last, the picture of everything. Via the Icelandic National Team.
Youth of Britain: Chill Out. I'm so easily amused...
"Highly sophisticated art technique for an educational anti-drug uptight comic book like this, and years before experimental comics of today." I'll say. Hooked 1966. From Ethan Persoff's site, where you'll also find the magnificent The 1957 Atomic Revolution Comic Book.
Discussions regarding the existence of trans-dimensional portals, parallel worlds, and pies...
In the spirit of American retail, I won't wait until after Thanksgiving to post this link: Way more than everything you wanted to know about the Rankin Bass classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Thanks to the Republic of Heaneyland.
Watermelon Love. From Mesh Year Four. Via Tween.
Graphic Novel Review. Great idea, it's about time. Includes a sneak of Gutsman by Erik Kriek. Via Waxy.
Seattle Weekly piece by Michaelangelo Matos on how that round-headed kid helped save Fantagraphics.
The Origins of American Animation at tLoC. "Fifteen years before creating his King Kong, former cartoonist Willis OíBrien animated these clay-modeled dinosaurs and giant ape. He produced eight such one-reelers for the Edison Company in 1917."
Take a stroll through this beauty. Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact: This Godless Communism. Published in 1961 by the Catholic Guild.
First they made excellent videos for Blur, The Rapture, and QOTSA. Now Shynola are working on the film adaptation of The Hitchiker's Guide!
Plus et Plus recently did the identity and a clean series of spots for the UltraHD Network launch. Enjoy.
Geweldenaren Van Ver. Do not miss this.
Trailer for Makoto Shinkai's The Place Promised in Our Early Days. Sweet. A translation here. Via GCD.
We're making plans for Q4 media, promotions and sponsorships for Jewelboxing. Got any ideas?
"'Poing Thuk' = Friar Tuck Shot In The Head By An Arrow. 'Shkalink Shkaloink' = Nurse Milking Blood from Man's Fingers." From The Don Martin Dictionary.
Highly treated 3D city at Elastic Space, inspired by the films of Polish animator Jerzy Kucia. Here'a an enlightening conversation with Kucia from Animation World.
The Look of Love: The Rise and Fall of the Photo-Realistic Newspaper Strip, 1946-1970. Fantastic illustrated article. Via The Cartoonist.
One of our fave Chicago companies is Candystations. Lots there to enjoy from " the blunt edge of technology."
Eat your peas.
How to make stereo anaglyphs, images that work with those red and blue 3D glasses that also come free with Brian Taylor's beautiful Rustboy Book for which JC wrote the introduction, but not while he was wearing 3D glasses.
We agree with Ralf when he says "fab, brilliant, great" about Duprez Dolores 'Two Down and One To Go.' (The portfolio acts wonky in Safari, but it's worth launching IE to see the work.)
Fleep was an ongoing comic strip in the Asian Times which took place entirely within a phone booth encased in concrete. Not surprisingly, Fleep was cancelled after forty-some strips but it's worth a look online. Via Heaneyland.
A Short History of America by R. Crumb. Found in a stack of other things.
Scott Musgrove's paintings are a cross between the artwork in children's literature and an artistically-minded mental patient. So is it any wonder that the guy has his own show on The Cartoon Network?
"Not many people can say that Spider-Man cost them their girlfriend and their drug dealer, but Ralph Bakshi is not an ordinary man." From Chris Lackner's profile at The Globe and Mail. Via Slatch.
Waferbaby fusion - comics where the creators only get to see the single panel before theirs. Completed fusions, car, orangehead and on the run. Now in the making, the 1000 panel fusion. I just made a panel - but we need more people to join and play, won't you?
"Master of Elusion, foe of tyranny, and champion of liberation ó The Escapist!" Sweet preview of the edition which contains the first two issues of the comic book and features an original story by Michael Chabon. Via TMN
Mark writes, "In case you hadn't already seen it, a somewhat interactive map of
Springfield."
Dave Bossert gets ten questions from DVD File. Bossert headed the release of Disney's Wartime Propaganda films as a DVD called On the Front Lines. This link was swiped from Matt at Scrubbles who said about a piece from the collection, "Disney's flair for memorable visuals is put to even better use in educational shorts like 'The Grain that Built a Hemisphere' - a history of corn told with gorgeous streamline moderne imagery lifted straight off a WPA mural." That's good enough for me. Going to purchase right now.
In case you missed it on our Jewelboxing weblog yesterday, check this snippet of animation from Santamaria in Hamburg. Beware, the tune is likely to get stuck in your head.
Strange Sisters. An archive of lesbian paperback artwork from the 50s and 60s.
Garbage Pail Kids meet Retail Packaging. Retail Packaging meet Garbage Pail Kids. The Top 10 reasons why people love(d) Wacky Packs. [Bonus: Lovely cover of 70s New York Magazine]
"Atoll, A forgotten military base somewhere in the Pacific... There, far away from civilization, laws and rules, they take care of their insanities." Fallen Art from Martin Kobylecki and Tomek Baginski, creators of The Cathedral.
We Come In Peace. "Some strange tales with some strange creatures. To watch an episode, eat a stoneball with this little monster." Via The Virtual Community of Ultra Awesomeness.
Portfolio of caricatures by Patrice Ricord. Via Netdiver.
I dunno if this guy really is Disney's #1 Fan but he's certainly their most tattooed fan.
Album covers by famous cartoonists. Via Kottke.
America in Caricture 1765-1865 from the lilly Library. "In times of social and political upheaval the caricaturist boldly portrays the world as he sees it, in vivid hues of satire and moral purpose." Great stuff via Plep.
A History of Picture Stories : Over 350 pages of comics, or comics-related illustration, dating from 300 A.D. to 1929, Andy's Early Comics Archive. Via Beautiful Stuff.
Michael Gagne's Prelude to Eden, a spectacular animated look at an alternate explanation for the origin of the universe. Via Newstoday.
Herblock's Gift. Selections from the Herb Block Foundation Collection at the Library of Congress. I. II. III.
"This collection of art and photos all came from the Ray Patin Studios. They produced hundreds of amazing black and white TV commericals all through the 50's and early 60's." There's sure some style here. Via I Like.
Rustboy update. Not to be missed.
Daring Planet posts storyboards! In the "Declassified" section under "Nuts and Bolts." The Planet could use a bit of interstellar help too. Vote for them as a SXSW "Peoples Choice".
Craig Thompson's graphic novel Blankets sure looks swell. I just hit the ol' add-to-cart button. Via DDC.
The History of Dutch Comics is filled with indiosyncratic characters and tons of design inspiration. Check the playing cards in the 1920's gallery. Via, as you may have already guessed, The Cartoonist.
If you like cavemen and robots, you'll love Caveman Robot. Check out CR's new Music Video.
Boy Scout with Strange Dreams - Tintin et Moi. Regarding Danish director Anders Ostergaard's documentary on Tintin creator Herge. Via NSoP.
Invasion of the Love-Robots. This and tons more at the Golden Age Comic Cover Gallery.
Frank Finds Out by Jim Woodring.
"Come friends, yon monster of the deep will shelter us." Marbleriver's Space Comics from the 40's. Via Irregular Orbit.
Marshall writes, "Graham Roumieu. Brilliant stuff, like this."
KShay says this is "too good to miss."
The NCPP's Red Tape from Red Square. "This collection is part of the rediscovery of a larger body of creative resources ranging over novels, poetry, films, drama, musicals, songs, sculpture and other such endeavors." The section on Cartoons from the Soviet Press 1920's-1970's is jammed with oddball humor and wonderful illustrations. Via, naturally, Plep.
Comics of varying degrees of style and mirth, courtesy of Flak.
Big Bunny films. Cute but deadly.
Do you know your monsters?
Comics without words.
Multimedia ingenuity at irritablecolon (too bad about the name). Art, music, writing, and most especially, short films.
Trivia, minutia and ephemera. Pretty much anything you'd ever want to know about Warner Brothers Cartoons can be found at Cartoon Research.
EMF writes, "I was trying to learn something about some of my father's favorite cartoons and I found this."†Pogo Covers. My father's too.
What happened to Tram 81? Find out at the Obscure Cities.
One of our favorite online animation series, Preschool Protocops by James Hutchinson, has a new home, The Timehead Institute of Entertainment Reseach." Make sure to check out Crashlander too. On a promotional tangent, James has used our Jewelboxing System to package the Protocops. Nice.
Wellvetted 15 is up and includes the delightful "From My Room" by Alex Olea.
Bolt City. Via the K.
Original series Wacky Packs. I had a dresser in my bedroom entirely covered with these. Via Scrubbles.
ASCII-art rock videos. Via uren. dagen. nachten.
Link of the week. It's a big download and shows bigger talent. Joost Korngold's Archetype at Renascent is nothing short of amazing. Track by diagram-of-suburban-chaos.
AnimWatch has a quick preview of the upcoming "Jo Jo in the Stars" from Studio AKA, makers of CP fave, Picas.
Interview with Brian Taylor at Animwatch about the soon to be published Rustboy book.
Science fiction meets the Taliban in this elegant, impeccably written Web comic.
In almost complete opposition to the vermeer link below, check the incredible illustrative powers of the mighty Potentate, The Reverend David "Cornelius" Johnson at Studio Devil Pig. Via K10k.
In this high-concept simulation, you get to set up some variables and push someone down the stairs.
Ruben Bolling's Flowers for Trinitron.
Giflings. A heavy page load of light little animations from Duudle.
Brian Taylor of Rustboy writes, "The first thing I thought of when I saw your link to The Codex Seraphiniaus was Glen Baxter. The man's a genius." Takes one to know one.
Ginger Meggs, the "Peanuts" of Australia. Or something like that. Via Plep.
The complete set of original Mars Attacks cards from the '60s.
The Cartoon Pop Music Page, examples of obscure old cartoons containing even more obscure Tin Pan Alley songs (via Cartoon Research).
The Illustrated Catalog of ACME Products. ACME is a worldwide leader of many manufactured goods. A Mr. W. E. Coyote is a big customer of theirs, although not always a satisfied one.
Laurenn McCubbin's Harvest Gypsy at Artbomb. A fine journey in panels. "There's a truck same as Big Wayne had. There's a big old Chevy, just like Ronnie's. I haven't gotten very far if they beat me here." Via Blurbism.
The hilarious Man Behind The Motion, a documentary by Michael White. Via K10k.
The Gooberstory is a tale about how and why the peanut came to see the light of day.
The charming Daring Planet launches the world premiere of its teaser trailer.
Have an IM chat with Rustboy and you're sure to get some serious linkage. Nocturna. Click "view teaser" then try to ignore the terrible voiceover and concentrate on the the animation. Splendid.
Sparth's Co:lab is the portfolio site of videogame designer Nicholas Bouvier. Great technology, sci-fi work with a natural, painterly style. Thanks Brian,
Red Ink like Blood offers Jordan Crane's excellent mini-comix for sale. Also, posted as a public service, is the PDF "Re: A Guide to Reproduction, A primer on Xerography, Silkscreening and Offset Printing." Great insight. Great design. Great read. Via YipYop.
The 25 All-Time Greatest Comic Book Covers, as well as the 12 Dumbest. On a tip from ktheory.
Visit The Holy Consumption, online home of Jeffrey Brown, author of the graphic novel Clumsy.
On Brian's recommendation we're keeping a close eye on Daring Planet, which is "chock full of thrills, spaceships, evil geniuses and more robots than you can shake a stick at."
T is for Titus who flew into bits.
Jimmy Maidens lives in Boring, Maryland, but his daily archive of bright, surprising 3D images is anything but. Plus, lots of other stuff at Boring 3D.
Sometimes I dream in pixels: FlyGuy. via Louie.
Max Headroom's Swedish cousins.
The witty and elegant work of Argentine cartoonist JoaquÌn Salvador Lavado. Via Open Brackets.
A dark comic book sensibility + flash + cinematic art direction + a really great story = The Killer, from Jacamon and Matz.
Limit: one per household. Oh, that that lucky household were mine...
Interesting "Fresh Air" interview with comic book artist and writer Frank Miller, creator of Batman: The Dark Knight.
The Comic Book Periodic Table of the Elements.
A really interesting interview with cartoonist Peter Bagge ("Hate") that evolves into an even more interesting argument about the Beatles. At Two-Handed Man.
A few snaps of the Rustboy Maquette.
Disco Rout, a stylish animated video for the band Legowelt. Beautiful art direction, flawless execution, cool train. Produced and directed by Lobo in Sao Paulo.
Rustboy has opened a chatroom. Check the interesting threads about our favorite little metal-headed one.
Brian Taylor writes, "Here are two of my favourite TV ads of late, by Aardman."
Dazzling animation, awesome depth-of-field and camera effects and a sparkling world inhabited by Lots of Robots. Via our squeaky pal, Rustboy.
Wearing homemade rubber masks and costumes, kigurumi enthusiasts have taken to reinventing themselves as both famous and made up anime characters. At Dolliseum one such artist creates photo-essays around the cooking and shopping adventures of their made up characters, while Build Up Studio showcases their costumes with pages and pages of surreal photo shoots.
Animator Gene Deitch is best known for his work at UPA in the fifties and as the creator of Tom Terrific. What is less well known (well, it was to me) is that he has been happily working out of Prague since 1959. His book, How To Succeed In Animation, published online, chronicles his entire career and is a great read.
This week's accidental theme has been "superheroes and comics" so here's an atlas of the DC Universe courtesy of the always excellent Parallax View.
The Planet Named Desire. "Enjoy It And You Will Find It Wonderful." Agreed.
The eagerly awaited new episode of Picas is up, from studioaka. Thnx to Brian, who's also updated Rustboy.
Greg Storey of Airbag writes, "Archeology, exploration, history, mythology, Edgar Allen Poe, World War II, B-Movie style monsters, demons and Nazis all make for one thing: Hellboy. one of the best fictional characters you'll love to read about. Created, drawn, and written by Mike Mignola, Hellboy is a paranormal investigator who goes after some pretty wicked beings that have either been summoned by old Nazis, still clinching to the dream of the Third Reich, or demon spirits that have tortured small eastern European villages for centuries. Mignola delivers grand settings, smart dialogue, and fantastic artwork to deliver excellent story telling that is worth every dollar and worth every minute you spend on Hellboy.
How low can the new iMac go? Find out at the iBeach, by Tan Jin Ho, featured at the CG Channel.
Lev Yilmaz draws and narrates funny and smart Tales of Mere Exisitence, like this one titled Hierarchy and a bunch of others. Terrific.
Levitated, a collection of organic flash experiments to enjoy and download. Very smart.
A very entertaining collection of classic ads from comic books, assembled by online comic artist Steve Conley. And here's another gallery of comic ads. Ah, the memories. (Side note: I don't know if you can "Make Money Selling Grit" these days, but it's apparently still around.)
Trailer for a new French anime, Molly Star-Racer. 17mg but worth the wait.
Underworld meets Gumby in Leisure Town.
The Greatest Lego Story Ever Told.
Check out the updated Studio AKA shockwave site to see some of the best animation going on in the UK. Be sure to look at the 'who we are' section and my favourite campaigns for Orange and NatWest in 'recent work'
Sam Brown of explodingdog.com has assembled some of his drawings and stories into a lovely volume called "Wish for Something Better." As an object the book is flawless in its simplicity. Perhaps the toughest reviewer in the country, my three-year-old daughter Gracie wholeheartedly endorses the book, going so far as to sleep with it the last two nights.
A map of Springfield. Eeeexxxcellent.
A bunch of very nice gif animations, sent to us by Massimo Nota in Rome.
Sex, Lies and Fairytales. Via gmt+9.
Pobody's Nerfect. My friend Britton's web page... fonts, icons, portfolio, silliness, etc.
James Hutchison, of timehead, who is currently working with cp on a hush-hush client project, has debuted the pilot of his animated series Preschool Protocops at Eyepoxy. Amazing and hilarious.
California tumbles into the sea and one community decides to defend their homes, the 30 brave people of sub:division. Plus make your own comic like the one to the left. All of it only great, from angry monkey.
The fabulous and unstoppable New Yorker Cartoon Bank.
Anyone who has never heard of Chicago artist Chris Ware -- or anyone who has heard of him and doubts he is a genius -- needs to check out "Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth." Not only is it one of the great graphic novels of all time, but it was also one of the most beautiful books published last year.
I have the feeling that I'm the last guy on the planet to find this site, but anyway, send Sam a title and he'll draw it in his own engaging way at exploding dog. I'm sending, "I didn't mean to burn down the garage."
Many from the office made it out to the Dave Eggers reading at the Harold Washington Library Monday night. A special treat was a rare appearance by brilliant Chicago cartoonist and illustrator Chris Ware.