The winter 2012 semester ended well. There were a lot of motivated and interested students in the classes, and it's a pleasure to teach when this is the case. Sheridan has a tough selection process and that's good preparation for our courses, and for real life.

I'm teaching my 'acting for animators' workshop again, beginning this Monday. It was fun last year and I'm looking forward to seeing the scenarios the students come up with.
We're also doing some retraining, ourselves. This should be quite useful and interesting.

now, unfortunately there is some bad news about the book. Its publication is delayed again since Focal Press was purchased by another publisher. I'm told they are excellent, but it nevertheless does make me a little unhappy that I cannot use the new edition for the fall classes. It really is quite an improvement over the original. But that's the way it is. The  publisher will 'push' sales in the spring, but I don't know how many schools actually would buy the books at that late date.

So, the second edition of PREPARE TO BOARD will have to be used in the fall, 2013 classes at this rate. The original is still useful, but I have supplemented it with so many handouts over the years. I'd like to not have to do this any more. One more year should do it.

I had to take a short visit to see my parents due to illness in the family, and it's almost over now.

The move to the new apartment will take up all the remaining time not spent in retraining and teaching the workshops.

At least Gizmo is healthy. I hope she stays that way.

Gizmo the Survivor Kitty

I had no idea, when I got this unwanted little cat in November of 2005, that she would prove to be (a) a wonderful animation model and inspiration for many illustrations in two books; (b) as friendly and loyal as any dog; (c) so sickly that her grievous illnesses would cost me much more than mere money. Gizmo is not just a cat; she is a friend. And when friends get sick, you help them.

Fortunately Gizmo is also a survivor. Her nicknames "Tenacious G", "Iron Kitty" and "The Fighter" (this last one, admiringly, awarded from her vet) were awarded after she survived large cell malignant lymphoma that entailed the removal of most of her large intestine in March of 2010. This is a picture of her recovering just after she came home from hospital on March 20, 2010.

Her operation took place on the 18th. Does this look like a sick cat to you?

Since then Gizmo has had another close scare in December of 2011...this one, (a nasal polyp) nonfatal, though just as pricey and difficult and painful to remove.

But she seems to have beaten both of them.

And this is quite an achievement, because the vet did confirm that all of the other cats with large cell malignant lymphoma have died within two years of diagnosis.

Gizmo even beat this cancer without chemo. I wouldn't get it for her and it wouldn't have helped anyway. But she is still here. The anniversary of her surgery: March 18th, 2012. It's been two years. She is possibly the longest lived survivor of this condition.

She is indeed a Fighter. And I say this with great admiration.

Publication date for PREPARE TO BOARD second edition

Well, since I got the text and illustrations for PTB's second edition done early, the tentative publication date has been moved up a month to August 2012 (formerly September.) This seems like a good idea, since it is, after all, a textbook; and September is when most of the books would seem to be needed.

There will be a website for the new edition and I've sent in several videos to go on it; none of them can be presented here for obvious reasons. Sheridan students Mincheul Park and Bram Cayne very generously allowed me to use two projects completed in my class using exercises from the book; and podcaster Raul Aguirre, Jr. allowed me to excerpt some of the fine interview he got with me in December 2010.

I had to film myself pitching, and while it was a distressing experience seeing myself in front of a camera (especially after a week of viewing over 500 portfolios--) I did manage to complete the pitch successfully, albeit a bit tiredly.

Term is winding down now and the group Leica projects turned out quite well this year. I wonder if it is possible to post them?

Let's find out.

More anon.

Happy Year of the Dragon!

Oh yeah, then there's this.

The second edition of PREPARE TO BOARD will be published this year. There's a lot of new artwork in it...and I've revised or rewritten about a third of the book. So anyone who wants to buy it will not feel that it has merely received a cosmetic makeover. I think that it is very much improved, not that the original is junk, you understand; but I write better now, and have fixed some parts that I found needed fixing. Here's the new cover, once again featuring cover girl Gizmo.

The Moon Never Sets on the British Empire

A friend of mine is doing some writing for this new version of Sherlock Holmes...and since I was curious, but still don't have a television, we watched an episode or two in a coffee shop in an undisclosed location. The infamous "Scandal in Belgravia" episode had aired the night before, and when I saw the 'sheets to the wind' scene I had the idea that it could have been staged more like this. I guess I'll never get my Canadian citizenship now.

I have Been a Naughty Person

Well, it's that time of year when we make new year's resolutions, and mine is: to start keeping this blog in some kind of shape again. You just never know who is going to read it.

Here's what has been sort of going on here: thanks to this blog (yes), two of my caricatures are going to appear in the NATIONAL POST on Saturday, January 7. The first one is the "Potato Head Ford" cartoon that appeared here in 2010. The other one is...this.

Yes, Mr. Ford's cuts are being implemented as we speak. Subway/streetcar fare is going up. Garbage pickup has been 'privatized' (and surprise: there were no bids on it; it was awarded to a company that is doubtless in someone's good graces.) Libraries, the arts, everything that makes Toronto pleasant, is being cut back. As I said to the journalist who spoke with me last week...the only thing not being cut back in Toronto is...the mayor.

He's certainly good copy, and very easy to caricature.

I drew this thing while waiting to hear whether Gizmo had survived her latest bout with surgery. Unfortunately this charming cat has been prey to some alarming illnesses for the past two years, and is probably down to her last one or two lives. I get the biopsy result tomorrow. The article will be in the TORONTO section of the paper in an article called "Ford as Muse."

High School Confidential

Well I just wrote a lovely post about my visit to the Etobicoke School of Art, but right now I am as mad as Gizmo (who spent the entire day locked in the animation studio, having slipped in under the desk and hidden when I closed the door.) She came out MRAWRING loudly and then deliberately, angrily flushed the toilet!
I feel about the same way, since the entire post was deleted by blogger. (Wordpress is calling, y'all.)

Here's my second try. Today I was at the Etobicoke School of Art. It's a fine little 'magnet' school in a town about 25 miles to the east of Oakville. My hostess described it as the "New Jersey of Canada" and it did indeed resemble my childhood home of West New York, except that it was a lot cleaner.

The school is bright, cheery, covered with student artwork of great sensitivity, and filled with motivated students. Many of them piled into the library to see me lecture. I showed representative samples of Sheridan films in CGI, hand drawn, and stop motion; one group project; a lot of last semester's Leica reels; two rare Disney films I storyboarded; and some examples of the exercises done by the Taiwanese students last summer.
I think it was a success.

I just have to explain it to the cat.

Gizmo is in the Movies

I bought a Flip Camera this weekend and shot this movie of Gizmo. Animators should all have pets (when they have money to take care of them, that is). Gizzy is quite inspirational...she has appeared in two of my books, modeled for most of my holiday cards since 2005, and she wakes me up every morning, meowing loudly for me to get up and play this game with her. We did this shoot at 3:45 AM recently. Seriously, I don't mind it...since Gizzy is nearly ten years old and is a loyal and extremely loving friend. I don't take her for granted since she very nearly didn't live to this year. Giz was diagnosed with malignant lymphoma last year and lost most of her large intestine in a very complicated operation...which saved her life. It's hard to believe she was even sick when you watch this footage.

Gizmo was given away by her previous owners; I got her when she was four, and she was very sick then too. I've pulled her out of the grave on two occasions. She was worth the expense.

Gizmo is a little clown (harlequin cats are all known as extroverted 'clown cats'). She is extremely fond of people, loves being photographed, enjoys watching this video, and is a huge fan of Nora the Piano Playing Cat. And she has a gravelly, deep voice, which sounds very funny coming out of such a tiny cat.

Who could deny such a charming creature the simple pleasures of a mink tail on a shoelace?

I never tire of watching her.

Cat toys are mostly dangerous and badly made, so I made this Minky for Gizmo; the tail was purchased from a furrier, and the shoelace is a leather, industrial model attached to a wooden dowel. She loves it...as you can see.

Indie Animation and The Future

First the good news: It's now possible to make an animated feature film by yourself without losing your shirt. In fact it has been for some time now, as Bill Plympton could tell you.
Bill has been joined by Nina Paley and Paul and Sandra Fierlinger. Each artist works in a different medium; Plympton draws on paper, the Fierlingers draw on the computer, and Paley is a master of Flash animation.
The films are doing well. Bill Plympton's IDIOTS AND ANGELS, which I feel is the best of his features, is playing in roadshow engagements. Nina Paley's SITA SINGS THE BLUES is getting rave reviews and is doing well in theatrical and digital distribution. The Fierlinger's MY DOG TULIP, though only in 'platform' release, is also getting good press.
The big-budget-by-European-standards THE ILLUSIONIST by Sylvain Chomet is nearly certain to have an Oscar nomination this year, as Tomm Moore's THE SECRET OF KELLS did last year.
All in all, this is a good thing, and I hope that more artists join the ranks of independent feature/featurette producers in the coming year.
Of the big budget films out this year, I rate DreamWorks' HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON highest. I enjoyed it immensely, it was beautifully directed and designed, the dragons were fantastic, and if the world was just, it would be nominated for best cinematography along with the live action pictures. I haven't seen chiaroscuro like that since PINOCCHIO. It's also the only 3D film I've seen that really used that medium well.
Will the modestly budgeted indie features indicate a new direction to the big producers? A film's quality doesn't necessarily correspond to its cost. Animated features with overblown budgets fail at the boxoffice not because they aren't popular, but because they don't make enough to cover their negative cost (which if you don't know, is double the production cost.) Some are grotesquely overproduced. Lower budgeted productions with good stories and interesting design would entertain audiences and make a good profit--IF the right people were in charge. The example of the independent animators can help the lions of animation as well as the mice.

Sarah Palin

I had a notion to draw the most notorious woman I know of.

Mr. Potato Head

As long as I'm at it, here's a caricature I did of Toronto's new mayor, Rob Ford, who spends his time answering telephones and worrying about five cent charges for plastic bags while putting the city 60 million dollars in the financial hole on his FIRST day in office. (This must be the world record, but I'm not sure whether Bush did anything like this as well.). I swear, he LOOKS like an angry potato.

Woman Vs. Art

Raul Aguirre, Jr. was kind enough to interview me and post the podcast on MAN VS. ART this past evening.

You can enjoy other interviews with animators here too.

http://manvsart.com/

Happy 2011 to you all!

Happy Holidays

As always, I've made a card for the New Year, since that applies to all men, women (and cats), and isn't restricted to one religious denomination. (Some time differences may apply.)

Here is this years' card; it features our late family dog Peaches, who died in 1982, and my current friend Gizmo, who nearly died this year of cancer but somehow beat the odds, and is still here.

I hope that all of us can make the same statement (at least the beating the odds bit and still being here) in the New Year.

The new Year celebration does not only mark the passing of chronological time. Several of my friends died this year (not all of them members of the animation community) and they will be remembered at this time, as they are on a daily basis.

Happy Holidays.

I've been a neglectful poster...

...and both of my remaining readers may be mildly upset at this. It's been a really fast semester, and a busy one, at Sheridan...and I do seem to be on Facebook a lot more than here. I like the interactivity, and the ability to learn about artists in all media that you might not have met otherwise.

The truly remarkable thing about Facebook is that it allows you to post your work, portfolio, and credentials online in a venue that 'overshoots' the usual studio watchdogs. In other words, it's a fulltime, permanent animation jobfest and you can show your work to just about anyone, anytime and anywhere. Small wonder that studios are starting to recruit on Facebook for talent. DreamWorks has just created a Facebook page for 'top animation students' (hope I got the name right.)

It would be really nice to have a Facebook page for the Sheridan animation program; I've even offered to administer it. There is plenty of student material on Youtube to link to; the page would simply serve as a focus and updates to the program (such as visiting lecturers, festival wins, etc.) could be posted there.

In the meantime we are coming down the wire to the end of fall semester. It seemed to go remarkably quickly this time. Possibly because I had an additional class to take care of (first year story lecture). Possibly because I am a bit more used to teaching the other class now, though you never really teach the class the same way twice. Student years appear to have their own 'cultures' and some vary dramatically from section to section.

So a quick update: The book may or may not be doing well; it at least has received good reviews. I did another podcast for "Sam" Heer on November 18, the day before I flew to L.A. to participate in the second Creative Talent Network Expo on the 19th and 20th. Sheridan may have a booth or table at this event next year. (That would be very good, since the event is an excellent networking opportunity and lots of potential students were talking to me at my half-table setup.) Due to the intricacies of California and Canadian tax laws, I wasn't able to sell any books! C'est la vie. I had a few on display, and gave copies to Glen Vilppu and the Walt Disney Studio, where I did a short presentation along with former student and current Disney animator Jamaal Bradley.

Gizmo is still alive.

I guess that covers most of it.

Again, my apologies for the absence of posts...it really has been that kind of year.
cheers!

Animated Performance is finally shipping in the USA.

Amazon.com actually is listing it as 'in stock'.
Amazon.ca still doesn't do this; and is asking people whether they want to cancel the order.
I am disappointed that this should be happening, but the book will, I hope stand or fall on its merits, and not be overly affected by distribution problems.

A disappointing 'festival'

Last year I waited for four hours in line for Toronto International Film Festival tickets to Don Hahn's WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY. The only reason I stuck it out that long was because of that film.
The festival booth was inconveniently located, poorly run, and very slow.
This year, the TIFF allegedly had online and telephone ordering.
Neither system works.

I couldn't have stood in line, not even for a few minutes, this past week even if I had wanted to; there were school meetings and preparation for the new school year to attend and attend to.

So now, it seems that the TIFF have taken the sales for ILLUSIONIST 'Off sale'. I don't know if that means it sold out, or if they can't make their Byzantine and very stupidly designed ordering system work. So the hell with it, and with them. I will see the ILLUSIONIST either on a studio screener, or in a theatrical release. And I'm really quite serious about never bothering with TIFF again.

New book and so on

Hello all,
Well, I have been spending so much time on facebook that I really am not 'here' much any more...but I have had an interesting summer, and so here I am again. I apologize for the long absence. Maybe someone still reads this, maybe not.

At any rate, I spent two weeks in Taiwan at a university, helping judge a number of scholarship applications; and this was such a pleasant experience for both parties (other than the climate, which was hellaciously hot) that I will be invited back again next year, so they tell me.

And my new book is published. There are already copies being received in Britain and Asia; LaSalle University in Singapore is the first animation program to adopt it as a required textbook. Thank you!

My friend Elliot Cowan made a small commercial for me; we got the artwork and the film done in precisely 2 days or less and it perhaps shows, but it is something. Elliot updates his SANDWICHBAG blog far more often than I update mine; and his emailed 'discussion' with a monumentally rude and untalented 'artist' is well worth a read, particularly when you see how Elliot saves his denunciation for the last retort. I just hope he blocked the man after sending it.

Sheridan starts again on Tuesday and though my classes aren't beginning til Wednesday, I'll be there to hand out copies of ANIMATED PERFORMANCE to four Sheridan students who contritubed artwork to the book. Thank you all!

It's a handsome volume. Also a handfull; it weighs nearly two pounds.
But it will make an impression, especially if you drop it on your foot.

Facebook

I see now that many people are quitting Facebook at the end of this month because of the constant 'data mining' done on the site.

I find Facebook an excellent way to stay in contact with people whom I may have not seen for years, and I've made a lot of new friends there--but the accusations, which are not unfounded, have me very worried.

Of course I post nothing there that I would not want the whole world to see. The question is, are my friends at risk when the list is acquired by a bot or other party?

In addition I do not like the news that Facebook is owned by people with a political agenda.
So I haven't made up my mind whether to quit or not. Any thoughts?

Exit Through the Gift Shop: An Important Film for Artists

What is art? This question has been asked for millennia. Art is a profoundly subjective experience. It is real, yet unreal, speaking directly to the viewer's emotions. Historically it has been the expression of an idea. Art has been used for propaganda purposes by kings, religious leaders, and social movements. Human lives were shaped by images before humans were generally literate; they are being shaped by images again as literacy declines.
The Surrealists changed the meaning of images; Dali's lobster telephone and Duchamp's urinal in the art gallery took objects out of context and turned them into something else. Andy Warhol repeated images endlessly until they became meaningless.
Graffiti became street art in the 1980s, largely due to the efforts of Keith Haring whose crawling men appeared on street signs and subway stations near my New York apartment during that decade (I disliked his work then and dislike it now.)
Then there were other artists such as Shepard Fairey who stuck stickers with the face of Andre the Giant all over the world (he is allegedly still doing this.) The new generation of graffiti artists printed or screened their work, which was redubbed Street Art, and used it in ironic context. Warhol's influence seemed to be strong, since many of Fairey's icons lose all meaning by repetition. (It sort of makes me wonder about the real meaning of this poster that he made for an 'obscure Senator' two years ago.)
The greatest of the street artists, and the most subtle in my opinion, is the artist who goes by the name of Banksy. Originally working only in England, Banksy has placed his artwork in hotspots such as the Wall in Gaza; Disneyland; and in a Paris Hilton Album.
But no one has (allegedly) seen Banksy' face. EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP is a feature film that is being sold as a documentary about Banksy. At the risk of spoilers, it is no such thing. It is a prank on the audience that asks my first questions...what is art? Who is an artist? and then adds more.... Is art meant to be free to the public? Is art a commodity to be sold? Is an artist who uses a team to assemble art pieces fair when he/she receives all credit for the work? Can art that is created by another artist be used fairly to create a new composition? (Nina Paley, creator of SITA SINGS THE BLUES, maintains that all creative work is derivative.) All artists build on what has gone before. If so, when do you stop?
The tag line for this film "In a world without rules, he broke them all", is absolutely true.
There is speculation that Banksy and Shepard Fairey are pulling the wool over our eyes with this film, that it is too contrived and convoluted to be true. It has been my experience that some of the weirdest and most contrived situations in life are real.
So I was rather disturbed by the material included on this artist. I can't say more without revealing too much about this terrific film which I will certainly recommend to all, and which I will definitely see again.
I'm not sure whether Banksy is just one person, but the onscreen Banksy definitely can be identified, sans hoodie, if you pay attention to two important hints (one visual, one textual) that are provided in the film. Animators will find it very easy.
I also choose to regard the success of this artist as part of the show. Otherwise, I and all the rest of us went into the wrong business. See for yourself. Seeing is believing. Or is it?