Devin Crane, Paris and paintings in the spring...

...who could ask for anything more?

My colleague and friend, Dreamworks visdev artist Devin Crane is having a show of his luscious personal paintings opening in Paris at the Galerie Arludik on May 26th. Lucky are those who will be able to drop in and see his work up close on the Ile Saint Louis. A small sampling of the paintings he's done for this show are below(click to enlarge):

"Waiting for Klimt"





"High tea in Hell"

"Heaven"
Galerie Arludik is a perfect venue for Devin's first European solo show, as a visit to their website will show. They have an impressive listing of artists from the worlds of animation and bande dessinée. If like me you can't get away to France have a look at the work online. If you are able to be there, it's going to be a lovely evening, no doubt about that.

A Fred Moore for you

Click to enlarge-it's worth it.

...via the Animation Guild's blog and an anonymous collector with an enviable collection of artwork he likes to share.

One wonders just how many of these Fred did for people over the years. This looks as if it's the same format as the ones I own-approximately 11x17, mounted on board.

Much imitated in his day, surrounded by other expert good girl artists and brilliant cartoonists...but none captured the particular elegance and spirit of these studies by Moore. 60 years later he remains inimitable.

Sanjay Patel's Ramayana

There was a lucky bonus from dropping into Shane Prigmore's office today. Displayed among the many other visual goodies on his shelves was a volume with an arresting cover-the kind you're compelled to pick up. At Shane's behest I did, and found it was a brand new book from Sanjay Patel.

I've never met Sanjay but his wonderfully appealing designs of figures from Hindu lore are instantly recognizable, posted and reposted on the blogs of his many admirers. This new book (full title "Ramayana: Divine Loophole")is really stunning in its tackling of the Ramayana, the same story of love and war between gods and mortalsthat inspired Nina Paley's "Sita Sings the Blues".

Leafing through page after page of his lush, beautifully composed, dynamic illustrations was inspiring. Fascinating material, brilliantly executed. The color styling alone would be worth studying-as it is, it's merely as choice as every other element. My copy is on it's way.

"How To Train Your Dragon" Final Theatrical Trailer

This has been out for a couple of days now and I haven't seen it linked on the other blogs I frequent, so here it is.

Bid on a box of Blackwing Pencils-and more-and help the Hodges

David Nethery provided this fantastic coup to the Hodge auction-yours if you're the lucky bidder

Want to buy a perfect and unused box of 12 Blackwing #602s? You'll have a shot at scoring them this week.

I don't know Tim Hodge personally. I know he's worked as an animator and story artist at Disney, and I know his icon well from comments he's left on blogs I've visited...and I also know him from hearing about the auction organized by friends to help defray some of the costs of medical care for his son, Matthew.
Matthew had a horrible accident last August that has left him in a deep coma. The Hodge family is doing everything they can to care for Matthew and bring him back to full consciousness. Obviously the expense involved is tremendous.

The Hodge's story is detailed on the site Help The Hodges. The site and the auction was conceived by their friends and colleagues in the artistic community who wanted to help the family, and it's quite a list. A lot of great stuff donated by many, many of animation's best-not only as regards skill but most importantly, heart.

For just two examples-apart from the eponymous pencils mentioned above-how about a drawing by Pete Docter of Carl and Kevin the bird from "Up"-signed by Pete--and Ed Asner?








Another beauty: Vicky Jenson donated not one but three items-among them, two of her own gouache paintings, visdev art done for "Road to El Dorado". I still have old color copies of some of her remarkable paintings for that film(sadly much crumpled from frequent pinning and repinning on my various office walls). These are really rare.
And there's much, much more. It's all detailed at the auction website.

So have a go at bidding on fantastic, one of a kind art and collectible goodness while helping the Hodges.

The auction is going to go live on Ebay starting this coming Thursday, January 21st .

Gainsbourgia, and French Roasted Animation

Serge Gainsbourg - animation des graffitis sur 5 ans du mur rue de Verneuil from Arnaud Jourdain on Vimeo.

I saw this posted on animator Matt Jones' Facebook page and felt compelled to share it.

The backstory-all of it that I think I know-is that since the death in 1991 of the legendary French singer-songwriter and world class roué, Serge Gainsbourg, the walls of his home on rue de Verneuil in Paris have been used by fans as an ever-changing palette to express their love and regard for this epic character. Seeing the various scrawlings, pictures and messages, put to Gainsbourg's music and literally parsed as they are in the clever film process used is not only hypnotic but for me quite moving.

Apparently (difficult for me to make out as I don't read french) there's a film in production that is making some use of this graffiti via animation done by a studio named Zebulle. And at the end of the piece appear some great drawings by an artist named Joann Sfar, who's making a film on Gainsbourg which is incorporating the Zebulle animation...I think.
I've seen his book "The Rabbi's Cat", but unfortunately don't own a copy of any of his work-which makes me think I'd better place an order at Stuart Ng's when my piggy bank is replenished. I think a post about bande dessinée and french animation is called for at any rate.



And speaking of the fair nation of France, yesterday I was at a screening of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's short listed animation nominees, among which was a really wonderful short written and directed by the veteran, ex-Dreamworks animator Fabrice Joubert, "French Roast".




This captivating film has fantastic atmosphere, staging and character animation-in its lead character in particular. While watching it I wondered, "Didn't Bibo have something to do with this?" and sure enough, he produced it. Another familiar name designed it: Nico Marlet. And yet another: one credit goes to the charming and wonderfully talented animator and illustrator Aurélie Blard-Quintard; a visit to her blog is a must.


Illustration by Aurélie Blard-Quintard, from her blog "tea-time, isn't it"?

I just love this short. Here's a link to watch it all.
And here's more good stuff about how Nico's designs were translated to the screen (one of the best 2D to CG translations I've seen) from the French Roast production blog.
Amusez-vous bien!

Michael Sporn

Michael Sporn's blog is like a Christmas gift every day with the beautiful things he posts. Here's part of today's entry-a collection of illustrations by Vernon Grant. Worth your while to take a look at that and everything else you'll find there.

Mary Christmas

A Videotaped Interview with Roy Disney

Roy Disney Has Died: 1930-2009

Roy Disney. courtesy of cresenteulit.com

Animation has lost a great friend who more than lived up to the legacy of his last name.

Roy E. Disney. "Roy Boy", yachtsman and master of the Shamrock and Pyewacket, father, husband, son and nephew passed away from cancer today at the age of 79.

I've just read about it here, at the blog of the Animation Union Local 839. They have nothing more at the moment but I hope they'll write a longer post about Roy (he was known to everyone on a first-name basis as were his father Roy and his uncle Walt).

There's a lot to be said about him. He was by all the accounts I've ever heard an accessible, friendly, direct and intelligent man whose belief in his family's legacy of entertainment-quality entertainment-was borne out by a hell of lot of hard work both in front of and behind the scenes of the Disney studio.

It can also be fairly argued that it's through his personal efforts that we have any kind of viable feature-length animation scene in place today, much less one that makes billions and has changed the face of entertainment, not incidentally furthering the development of an artform.


He will be terribly missed. I'll miss seeing him--he always made a point of attending animation get-togethers, ones other men of his stature might have found too humble to bother with. He loved artists and was loved by them in return. Vaya con Dios, Roy.


EDITED TO ADD: There's an obituary up at the Los Angeles Times blog, which must be seen not least for a great photograph of Roy circa 1985.

Award Seasoning

The Golden Globes nominations came out today. Of special interest here is the list of five nominees for the Best Animated Film of 2009. And those are:

"Coraline"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"Up"

All worthy films and while the entire concept of contests for artistic achievement can be problematic, it's exciting that there's been such a healthy and varied year of releases in our profession.

Looking at the list--also a likely indicator of which titles will receive the AMPAS nod in a couple of months--it's quite a varied one in both style and story content. Congratulations are due to not only the producers and directors of these films but to the hundreds of unsung people on their crews known only to their coworkers, who in all likelihood went without a lot of breakfasts, bedtime stories, weekends and overall sleep to see their projects through. They did, and they should be proud of the results.

A Dynamite Disney Item that got away...

Hal King seems to have redrawn "Bacchus" as Fred Moore in departing Disney employee Sally Holmes' book

Some readers of Blackwing Diaries have noticed that my entries weren't as frequent after 2007 got going. Those who read everything I've written and have an excellent memory and/or know me personally can figure out why that was, but I do feel a not unpleasant nagging urge to keep it more up to date than I have.

Life will keep happening though, and while a recent(and not quite uncompleted) move, a change of jobs, and the signing of a book contract mean time's even more elusive, there are so many interesting and exciting things going on in animation now that I expect the Blackwing posts will appear much more often.

And then there's the flip side of writing: reading. In tandem with less blogging there's been substantially less reading of other blogs. Truthfully, this has bothered me more than neglecting to post on my own blog, as once one falls out of the habit it's difficult to keep up. And it seems more talented and uniquely interesting artists are starting blogs everyday. Thank goodness they're doing them, and that some veterans have decided it might be worth it to maintain an online place to post their own work, too.

There are probably three blogs I've never stopped checking almost every day: the ubiquitous Cartoon Brew, and two others-one by a writer, historian and critic, the other written by an animator and longtime owner of his own Manhattan studio:: Michael Barrier and Michael Sporn, respectively. I can't exhort all of you who are serious about animation too strongly to visit them on a regular basis. I know many often disagree with the opinions expressed in them-I certainly have-but they continually post important and rare material, as well as views, news and serious discussion about our medium that you're missing out if you don't have a look.

And those are just three. There are dozens more with marvelous stuff every day. This post is the result seeing of something I missed because I hadn't dropped by a blog in too long: in Mayerson On Animation, Mark Mayerson's blog, he shared a (sadly ended) Ebay auction item's webpage...and what an item: a woman named Sally Holmes who worked at Disney through the early 1940s left to start a family. In lieu of a going-away card a mind-boggling array of animators signed and illustrated her copy of the large, lush "Fantasia" book that had been published concurrent with that film's release (this isn't the first time I've seen that book used as a yearbook by Disney employees-Bob Thomas "Art Of Animation" book of the late 50s would serve that purpose a decade later).

You've got to see these to believe them. How about Ward Kimball doing his thing-and Milt Kahl finding Ward an irresistible act worth following. So to speak:

Ward:


Milt:

And of course, Fred Moore:

John Sibley:


A beautiful little painting by Jesse Marsh


He signed it, too.

There are loads more where that came from, including a NSFW Donald and Goofy (actually they're safe for our line of work, but if you work at a more conservative establishment, well...). The original seller's page is here. As he notes, this was sold a few months ago, so that's that. I'm sure it has a good home.

Richard Williams' A Christmas Carol

This youtube posting is not of the very best quality to say the least, but I was reminded of this special yesterday and the impact it made upon me when I first saw it-old Magnavox, living room floor, Hancock Park, the 70s. One viewing cemented Richard Williams for me as someone working among animation's elite, although if I remember correctly he got a lot more press later for his "Return of the Pink Panther" titles.
But this TV special was just wild. It still is--even in these few clips, just the layout alone...amazing. And while I'd put the Ghost of Christmas Past in the Alastair Sim version a close second, the way it's done here is the most faithful to Dickens' description--a great marriage of film, drawing and concept realized together. And Marley still shocks me.

A Disney Dream realized: The Walt Disney Family Museum is about to open

Interior of one of the galleries of the Museum. Photographed by and used with the permission of David Lytle.




Last year out of the blue I received an email asking about one of the photographs I've featured on my blog. This happens fairly often, but this time the source knocked me for a loop: it was the people who were amassing exhibits for the long-awaited Walt Disney Museum underway up in San Francisco, in the stunningly beautiful Presidio. Would I be amenable to helping? Is Fred Moore my favorite good girl artist? Is the Blackwing a pencil?


The circa 1890 barracks at San Francisco's Presidio. They had to be very carefully modified and worked around by the Disney Museum's architect to meet the requirements of this historic site

Of course I was happy to be able to help out in any way however small. When dropping my original off I was privileged to be shown an elaborate virtual walkthrough, examples of exhibits, and an overall idea of what the museum would be and look like. I found it utterly exhilarating. Truly worthy of Disney's oft-expressed vision of educating coupled with appeal and fun, it's clearly been based on his own approaches to those goals.

The cover to a Museum book that will be available at its bookstore in October. In addition to the store, there's also a theater, a cafe and an education center as part of the campus.

I won't see it myself until tomorrow at a preview, but if it's anything like the plans it's going to be a standard for this sort of place. Walt Disney's life and career contained experiences so simultaneously relatable and visionary, combining spectacular success with equally numbing failures (from which he managed to recover despite sometimes terrible odds--a point the Museum intends to make clear as part of its presentation) that he easily deserves a permanent educational resource of this kind. It's one his family, in particular his daughter Diane Disney Miller, have worked tirelessly to make happen. It's a shame that it's not located in Los Angeles, but having lived in that city for most of my life I can't say I'm amazed that the project couldn't be realized here. And it does make an excellent excuse to make more trips to the Bay Area if anyone needed one.

Opening day is almost here: October 1st. The Museum has been sending me various materials from its holdings and (I'd imagine) displays, a few of which are illustrated here.

Walt and Diane in Los Feliz in the 30s, a stone's throw from the Hyperion studio

Regardless of Walt's telegram, you just know Roy worried.

Yet another rare piece of visual development from a woman Walt gave a unique opportunity to: Mary Blair


Funny--it doesn't say "Park" anywhere on this billboard

It wasn't all work and no play: Walt learned to ride as my own father did-on a midwestern farm. Years later he used this saddle where I've ridden today: the Santa Ynez Valley. Don't know why the color swatches are there.


I wish I knew who drew this board for "Mary Poppins" so I could attribute it-anyone? Note the aspect ratio

After Friday I'll post my impressions; in the meantime, I'd think that regular readers of this blog--assuming you're still around--will have to start planning that little jaunt to San Francisco now.


The Walt Disney Family Museum
104 Montgomery Street
The Presidio of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA 94129

T 415 345 6800

Animtip Tuesday: Tweeting Animation Tips

For people who use Twitter, this is of interest: today a lot of animation artists who use the keep-it-extra-short internet communication thing Twitter are tweeting tips--tagging them all with the hashtag #animtip. If you tweet have a peek.

I stumbled on this thanks to Clay Kaytis, owner/operator of The Animation Podcast and Animation Supervisor of Disney's eagerly awaited feature, "Rapunzel" in his day job.

EDITED TO ADDIf you work in or study animation, tweet and have a helpful tip please dive on in and contribute.