To my ever vigilant, always-au courant readers:
I've accidentally stumbled on a couple of recent Calarts students' blogs...which makes me wonder what I'm missing out on that I could otherwise be engaged by and perhaps banging a gong for.
So, if any of you have a line on a particular favorite I don't have on my links page yet, please drop a comment and let me--and the rest of us--know about it. I think my own particular taste is evident from the long list I have at right, but I'm open to anything. Fire away!
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16 comments:
I've mentioned mine before here. In my blog I am chronicalling my film I'm working on. It's a 2D film being done totally digitally on the train as I ride to and from work. Everything from inspiration to how I do what I do to some of my other work.
http://the-plausible-impossilbe.blogspot.com
Now I need to get my links up and running on the blog ;)
...uh, I'm not exactly Calarts but I do read your blog all the time and have benefited from it greatly! Come see me, Jen!
http://sketchy01.blogspot.com
here are a few, i dont know if you have them or not, sorry, dont have the time to check your list right now,
http://www.clockroom.blogspot.com/
http://ianworrel.blogspot.com/
http://nickbutera.blogspot.com/
http://www.animatedbuzz.com/
http://www.edwardjuan.blogspot.com/
http://adrianmolina.blogspot.com/
http://jenhager.blogspot.com/
and this one which has glen keane art work, worth the look
http://theartofglenkeane.blogspot.com/
-Sketchy--I don't mean to sound like a Calarts-exclusive sort, not at all! ; ) That's very kind of you to make with the props, and I'll hop on over and visit your blog, thanks!
-Anonymous--thanks! Great list--I definitely have a link to at least one of your picks, Jen Hager(one of the great Jens!--we work together, in fact. She's a swell girl. : ) I don't blame you not able to0 go through that list--I am shocked how it's grown myself. I'm always thinking I'll add someone on there twice, eh, couldn't hurt! I appreciate the leads!
Rusty-I'm way past due putting a link up to your blog. It's very neat and I mean to mention it in more detail. I'm remiss--forgive me!
BTW--go to that blog on my links called "Something Old, Nothing New"; the writer there is a great purveyor of pop culture stuff of all kinds, and loves a certain project you(and I) worked on--in fact, I think they'd be staggered to get a comment from you--they should be--they've referenced your cartoons often enough! Go see or email me if you wonder what the heck I'm talking about. : )
no problem Jen, you've shared so many great and inspiring stuff with us that giving back a few links is actualy nothing!
on the same note, i dont know if youve seen this but this site has some of the films from this years producers show:
http://www.nethatco.com/Pages/Staff.html
michael
I am predominantly a conceptual artist (but then there's this) from that highly-ridiculed-by-designy-people, university-made mold myself, but I do have great appreciation for animation and design so I frequent a great majority of animation blogs and suchlike. I am always kinda unnerved by what I see as insular and incestuous gang mentality in in many Calarts people. There is this silly underlying belief that, having formed yourself in that environment, you somehow don't need to know what is going on outside of your enclave. It is not some sort of organized dissing of the outsider, it is just a few stray words that come of very Calarts-supremacist in the same way the famous Marie Antoinette quip, "Let them eat cake," is callous and clueless.
Now granted, maybe you want to narrow down your links to the people that might be in your general surroundings, you want to network some, but it is annoying. Maybe simply because I am not inside that magical circle of artist who, by and large, will work on big projects and are a few steps ahead of me to getting other people's money to fund their windmill runs.
The last thing I want to do is beat my breast, scream, "You think you're better than me?!" and engage in other playa-hatin' pastimes to no end. However, I would be overjoyed to see, for once, a Calart person do something revolutionary, like look outside their immediate creative current for something fresh, naive, different---for a little bit of creative marriage outside of the family.
I dunno, Kingsley. I'll admit to feeling the occassional twinge of jealousy over the amount of attention (and major studio internships/jobs) Calarts folks get, but have you seen the work in those blogs listed above? It's pretty damn impressive work for a bunch of kids. (And I say 'kids' respectfully, as an ancient 27 year old student) If anything the work I see coming out of Calarts and Sheridan is *more* ambitious/adventurous than a lot of extremely well done but basically job-application-oriented CG work elsewhere on these here internets.
MC, I appreciate the comment!
I think, given both yours and the other comment containing the proviso about their links being "not exactly Calarts" that I've been misunderstood, thanks to my own mention of having "stumbled on a couple of recent Calarts' students blogs". I simply wrote that because it was what I'd just then done--run across a couple of people's blogs who are up in Valencia. I was not putting out a call for Calarts students, ex-students, friends of calarts students or even students of any place, particularly. Those are mch easier to find than what I wanted, the unsung, local-to-other-places blogs that more people like myself should get a look at. If I have a personal criteria or bias, it's that I go gaga over good drawing, but even that's a pretty wide classification.
"There is this silly underlying belief that, having formed yourself in that environment, you somehow don't need to know what is going on outside of your enclave."
I know--or I think--you weren't directing that at me personally, but I'll still say that this is absolutely antithetical to my tastes and ideals, and I really hope that that comes across in my writing. I worked for years before going to Calarts, was interested as much in NFB and independent and European animation as I was in Disney stuff. I realize that there might be some students at every school, particularly in film schools, who give off an annoying whiff of entitlement, but believe me those people are no more popular among the majority of their peers than they are in the wide world. ; )
I REALLY wanted to solicit ANY links of interest from anyone, anywhere, any age, no strings attached.
My current sidebar list reflects people from all over, many working in vastly different styles. I hope to god it's not a reflection of some elitist or cloistered view...I just like fun, well-produced and creative art, that's all. ; )
Yeah some of the Calarts stuff is really amazing, that is why I visit these blogs, but so much of it is really interchangeable and so much of it really lacks a hook. How many Stephen Silvers do we need? How many overly polished Mary Blairs? How many John Kricfalusis? There is a very identifiable California art, it is happy and crisp and fluffy. It goes from music (The Beach Boys, The Ramones) to movies (Hollywood) to fine arts (Ed Ruscha). It is inevitable. And it is highly insular. And you (as in Calarts people) should be aware of it and try to refresh your staleness from time to time.
And no, I am not singling you out, Jenny, you just happened to be in the line of fire when the rant blew up. :(
...wow! All I meant when I said that "I wasn't exactly Calarts" was that I wasn't a Calarts student. Nothing more, nothing less. Keep up the good work here, Jen! I love your blog!
Sincerely,
Your pal Sketchy!
Hee, don't mind me, Sketchy! I had to drop the C word in my post, after all--it's a flag, I guess. ; D
No, seriously--thanks for the props and btw I really enjoyed your blog! I'll comment on it later over there. Please keep visiting!
MC Kingsley, hey--it takes all kinds and while I often feel enveloped in a virtual lovefest here on the blog, it's important I think to get other views and takes on the animation scene too. I always enjoy reading thoughtful comments, which yours are, so again, thanks for that.
Yours isn't the first time I've heard those feelings re: calarts---some calarts grads, and as a graduate myself I admit I have warm and grateful feelings(not to say defensive) for my alma mater. It's also true, styles come and go--not so sure they begin at one or another school in particular, but they do spread rapidly, and one sees many people showing the same influences. Still, I have faith that the current median age in our industry is pretty young, and I'm seeing around me at work and online new things coming forth all the time--really. : )
Hey Jen-
Great set of psots lately. I was a Tintin o phile myself as a kid. Maybe because I grew up in the Bay Area. My neighbor introduced me to Tintin and Lucky Luke at a young age. All the bookstores around our house carried Tintin books. They were easy to find.
Anyway, on the subject of links I recently got an e-mail from Jim, who has just started his journey into animation and has started a blog to chronicle his efforts. He's trying out the Famous Artists Course too. Check it out:
http://brokenlead.blogspot.com/
Great blog! I have my own weblog, Conversations on Ghibli, which covers the careers of Miyazaki and Takahata, and all the people who've contributed to their work. I'm aiming to make it an important resource for all fans of Ghibli and animation in general.
Feel free to take a visit or two. I've included a link to your blog on my blogroll, so head on over sometime.
http://www.conversations-on-ghibli dot blogspot.com
Hey Jenny!
I'm a big fan of this and your sketchbook blog, its's always an inspiring place to go.
There's a few blogs on my regular rss list that may be of interest to you... I don't think these are on your current list :)
http://duanekeiser.blogspot.com/
http://enricocasarosa.com/wordpress.1/
http://robdthompson.blogspot.com/
http://heidschoetter.blogspot.com/
http://willyharber.blogspot.com/
And if I may shamefully plug an art blog I have just started ;)
http://andywakeley.com/blog/
Mc Kingsley, you wanna see a CalArts student do something revolutionary? Google JJ Villard.
Or maybe John Lassetter, Tim Burton, or Henry Selick while you're at it.
Being a CalArts student certainly doesnt automatically make someone a fantastic artist, but there sure have been an awful lot of fantastic artists who've gone there, so dont knock 'em.
Thanks for your comment, anonymous; I couldn't put it better.
Calarts as an institution certainly comes in for a lot of love/hate, but one thing that always bugs me profoundly is painting all "Calarts kids"(ugh-horrible phrase)with the same brush--nothing could be more ridiculous. It's a place to learn from teachers, history and from each other--nothing more.
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