Moving Forward

How could you possibly make the holiday season any more hectic?

Move!

The Crap I Lived on at CalArts

I went to CalArts in the fall of 1981 as an 18 year-old just out of high school.  I had never lived on my own, and found myself suddenly having to think about little details such as my next meal.  I had very limited knowledge of food and how to cook it, and an equally limited budget - $40 a week from my work/study job.

I can remember quite clearly that first excursion to the supermarket without Mom.  I wasn't completely on my own.  I had my roommate, Dan Jeup, and classmates Tim Hauser, and an Australian named Harry Weinmann.  They didn't know how to cook either.

A Lazy Elf for Christmas

Thomas Bo Huusmann is a graduate of the excellent Animation Workshop in Denmark, surely one of the very best places to study animation in Europe. The school encourages its students not just to find work as employees in animation companies, but to be entrepreneurs, starting up small businesses and media enterprises. Since graduating in 2011, Thomas has founded his own independent company Huusmann Media. He has just published a new eBook - Lazy Elf - just in time to solve FLIP readers' last minute Christmas gift crises. Phew!

Going Postal for the Holidays

If you shop on the internet, or have friends or family who live far away, the holiday season includes some sort of postal service.  Fed-Ex, UPS, DHL (they still exist!), or the good ol' USPS all play a role in just how stressful the holidays will be for you.  When the system works, as it generally does, it's great.  Hooray, your stuff arrived intact.  But when it doesn't, oh man.  Sometimes, there is no time for plan B.  

Walt Disney Crossing Buena Vista Street Barefoot.

As a CalArts student in the early '80's, I had the opportunity to meet many people who worked for Walt Disney himself.  Today being the anniversary of Walt's death in 1966, I thought I would share a story that Elmer Plummer, my life drawing instructor, told me, recalling the last time he saw Walt.... 

We all knew Walt was in the hospital, but we didn't know how bad it was. Well, I was coming down the hallway and saw him standing there - barefoot.

He said, ‘How are you, Elmer?’

‘Oh, I’m all right.’ I said. “Where are your shoes?”

The Thief and The Cobbler - A Moment in Time - by Andreas Wessel-Therhorn

The Golden City - part of the newly restored Director's Cut of The Thief

Last night on Tuesday December 10th Richard Williams introduced - for the first time ever - a newly-restored director's cut of his lost masterpiece The Thief and The Cobbler.  Titled The Thief and the Cobbler – A Moment in Time, the long-awaited screening took place at The Academy's Los Angeles home, the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills. Animator, director and Academy member Andreas Wessel-Therhorn was there to tell us what we missed.

CTNX 5 - After the Show with Tina Price

Tina Price started the Creative Talent Network (CTN) as a website for animation artists to showcase their work after Disney laid off a very large part of it's animation department back in the '00's.  It proved to be a very popular site, inspiring her to host an expo of animation talent which other animation talent could meet, hob nob, and gain inspiration.  With the fifth CTN-X just completed last month, Tina gave FLIP the post-mortem.

The aftermath.

FLIP:  How would you compare this years event to the past ones?
Tina:  Each year has it's moments, with Moebius in 2010 and Glen Keane in 2012, but honestly, this years event, CTNX 5, was great. The weather really helped too being sunny all weekend.

Kirk Hendry's Very Impressive "Junk"

Kirk Hendry is a London based director of the critically acclaimed short Junk, the story of a boy with a voracious appetite for awful things.  He took some time out to talk to FLIP....

FLIP:  Why did you chose to tell the story in silhouettes?
Kirk: I had previously made a film called Round that was made entirely with hand shadows, so was a big fan of the drama of silhouettes. I had made the animatic for 'Junk' without tying it to a particular style. Then I saw The Adventures Of Prince Achmed by Lotte Reiniger. After seeing Achmed, I got excited about doing that cutout/lightbox style with computers. It became an exercise in lighting that has been very useful ever since.

John Ramirez on Animation, Parades and Theme Park Design

John Ramirez has forged an exceptionally successful career not just as an animation artist but as a designer of parades and theme parks. His designs are clear, accessible and appealing, and for decades he has done design work for leading parks all over the world, especially in Asia. FLIP asked him to reveal the secret of his success.

Support Fellow Artists - Give their Work as Gifts

It's that time again, when media whips people into a shopping frenzy, then sits back and laughs as gift buying turns into a bloodsport.  Ha ha, suckers!  Once again, FLIP offers our readers a creative alternative.  Over the course of the past year, there have been many artists featured whose work is available for sale.  We present those items here for your convenient shopping.

Support animation artists, and get something unique for your loved ones!

First up, Richard Williams' classic book The Animator's Survival Kit is now available for the iPad.  FLIP wrote about it back in February.  Get yours here!