Steve Gadlin Wants to Draw a Cat for You

File this under 'brilliantly bad'.

Steve Gadlin is, according to his own website, " a web developer, writer and comedian living in Chicago, Illinois".  He has created a website where, for a small fee, he will draw a cat for you. His promotional video plays like an SNL skit, but send your request with $9.95, and he will indeed create a primitive, but personalized drawing of a cat in whatever situational gag you request.  You know those guys at amusement parks who do the "big-head" caricatures as a take-home souvenir?  This is a poorly drawn version of that.  

BAFTA nominees - full list

And the BAFTA nominees are....

BEST FILM
Argo
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

The animation artist who became a politician

Roy Iddan - your local Libertarian candidate

Roy Iddan is an Israeli animation artist who is running for Parliament in Israel's forthcoming elections on 22nd January 2013. FLIP caught up with Roy during a brief break in the campaign trail and asked him a few questions about what made him want to abandon his pencil and set the world to rights.

The Sneeze That Changed the World

118 years ago today, in West Orange, New Jersey, a man named Fred Ott took a pinch of snuff and sneezed a sneeze unlike all other sneezes, for Fred Ott sneezed in the presence of a man named Thomas Edison, who was trying out his newfangled invention, the motion picture camera.  This was one of the world's first motion film tests, which must have been mind blowing in its day.

Just a bit of historical perspective as you go about your day, making motion pictures from your phones and uploading them instantly to a world-wide audience.  

Gesundheit, Fred!

-Steve

Richard Bazley gives an exclusive interview about his new feature film - The Chimeran

Richard Bazley is an animator and director who has worked on many Hollywood films including Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Hercules, The Iron Giant, Tarzan and The Illusionist. FLIP asked him some questions about his newest project, a live action feature film with CG creatures - The Chimeran.

Art of Schulz at Laguna College of Art & Design

Friend of FLIP Dave Pruiksma has announced the worldwide debut of The Minerd Collection - and exhibition of original Peanuts artwork by Charles Schulz as well as rare artwork from the TV specials.  The show runs from January 23rd through February 14th, with a reception on February 7th, from 5 to 8 as part of the First Thursdays Art Walk in Laguna Beach.

Dave told FLIP, "This exhibit is free and open to the public. It is one of the largest collection of Peanuts and Schultz artwork in private ownership. The collection encapsulates Schulz's original strip art from every major area in the development of the Peanuts strip and even back to the earlier Lil' Folks panel cartoons. There is original artwork from numerous Animated television specials and features and original illustrations for magazines, such as TV guide and more. A rare exhibition, the owner's first, of one of the richest and most diverse collections of Charles Schultz and Peanuts artwork."

Writer’s Block - the birth, life and death of a newspaper cartoon strip

A Literary Odyssey

Back in 2005 I briefly had two cartoon strips running in The Times. As well as Queen’s Counsel (published in the law pages since 1993) I successfully pitched one for the Saturday books section. It was titled Writer’s Block, and was a gentle satire on the literary world which I dreamed up with a writer friend in Los Angeles, the very talented Erica Rothschild.

Foghorn Leghorn - Porn Star

Write your own caption.

For New Years, I was in Ocean City, Maryland, and had to take a photo of this gem, a local bar and grill  on the main drag. It has been there at least since 1990, when I first visited Ocean City, greeting one and all to come eat and drink at Big Pecker's. Over the years,  I have driven past in the company of my parents as well as my kids, and have always cringed, hoping no one would comment.     But now I have this blog to flog, so I made sure to pull over our Honda Pilot with wife, kids, and two dogs aboard, to take this picture for you all.

Big Pecker's - Foghorn Leghorn.  Get it?  Huh-huh.  It's a vulgarism, see, but the cartoon makes it okay!  Heh heh,  I'm gonna name my family friendly bar and grill that.  Heh heh....folks'll LOVE it!

So, you wanna hear the specials?

The Future of Education - the Digital Aristotle

CPG Grey is an educator with a vision for the future on online education. He has a YouTube channel with a ton of tightly-edited videos and 36 million views. In the video above Grey peers into the future to reveal the "Digital Aristotle", in which the web becomes our personal tutor, just as Alexander the Great was tutored by his very own flesh-and-blood Aristotle.

Animators with Shotguns

In 1992, I was in San Francisco doing storyboards for The Nightmare Before Christmas.  My friend and colleague James Baker called to see if I'd be into going skeet shooting.  Dave Gordon had shotguns and wanted to go to a shooting range in Oakland.  My experience with rifles was strictly of the arcade variety, but I had a car, which made me an ideal person to let tag along.

We headed over the Bay Bridge to a grassy firing range I swear I have seen on Mythbusters.  The first thing I learned about shotguns is that their recoil hurts.  On my first try, the gun kicked back so violently, it whacked me in the mouth.  I saw cartoon stars for a few seconds as I rolled my tongue along my teeth, taking inventory.  James didn't do much better, and Dave had to give us a lesson on how to hold on to the beastly thing.

After a few rounds, the range pro (or whatever he's called) came over and not only fine-tuned my rifle holding, but also adjusted my stance.  By simply pointing my toes in a certain direction, I became a clay pigeon killing machine.

Pull!   BLAM!   Pull!  BLAM!

Film Review - The Life of Pi

The Life of Pi

The Life of Pi is a remarkably good film, well written, beautifully directed, and an incredible achievement given that the subject matter feels essentially un-filmable. But what is especially notable is the visual effects work. I don't think I have ever seen a film in which, from start to finish, I simply could not tell where the real animals ended and the CG ones began.

Paul Harrison Talks about Getting a New TV Series off the Ground

Dolly

Paul Harrison and Evgenia Golubeva are two very talented animation artists who are developing a new animated TV series for kids. FLIP asked them some questions about how an independent artist gets a new TV series off the ground.

What was the best animated Feature of 2012?

First the BAFTAs, then the Oscars

Award season is almost upon us. Every year in December a swelling tide of BAFTA DVDs and screeners arrives by post, a satisfyingly large heap of swag that makes me very popular at my in-laws, and makes Santa himself look like Uncle Scrooge.

Ghosts of Christmas Cards Past

1987

Every Fall, the annual challenge of designing my Christmas card creeps up on me.  I really like doing it, and love getting cards from animation friends who do the same.  I thought I'd share some of my better ones from the past 28 years.

A Merry Christmas from the REAL Tiny Tim

Spot the Difference

Way back in 1971 my Dad's animation studio at no. 13 Soho Square in London took on their biggest project to date - a TV adaptation of Charles Dickens'  A Christmas Carol. The 22 minute TV special was produced by Chuck Jones and many scenes were animated by Ken Harris, one of Chuck's star animators from Road Runner days.

Bob Camp Visits Newtown

A shrine for the victims.  Photo couresty of Bob Camp.

Bob Camp, of Ren and Stimpy fame,  lives not far from Newtown, Connecticut; a place most people had never heard of until last Friday.  Like everyone, Bob, a father of two, was deeply disturbed by the senseless, cowardly act of violence inflicted upon helpless children and school teachers.  He posted this on his Facebook page today, and generously let me share with you:

"Last night Gwen and I went to Sandy Hook had dinner and went to see the things people left in a huge makeshift memorial for the shooting victims and the people of Newtown. 

The Snowman and the Snowdog

Christmas Eve in the UK will see the airing of The Snowman and The Snowdog - a new adaptation of Raymond Briggs' beloved children's book The Snowman. The original animated version of the Snowman was broadcast on 26th December 1982 and was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

Producer Claus Toksvig explains how to make an independent animated film

 
Claus Toksvig in an independent Producer based at The Animation Workshop in Viborg, Denmark, recently returned from the Creative Talent Network (CTN) Expo in Burbank, Los Angeles. Claus talked to FLIP about the challenges of making independent animated films outside of the studio system.

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How to Make an Animated Film

One of the biggest challenges for an animator is to tackle a short film project. Most working animators don't - they're usually too busy. But at the best animation schools, students usually tackle a group film project in their graduation year. Short films are a ton of work and they present a huge variety of film-making challenges.

Uli Meyer brings Ronald Searle's St Trinians to life.

Uli Meyer is one of the most talented 2D animators of his generation, and a huge admirer of the work of legendary British cartoonist Ronald Searle, creator of St Trinian's School and the Molesworth series.

Uli has been working for a while now on an animated adaptation of Searle's work, not an easy task given the complex, subtle drawing style and the challenge of bringing the eccentric characters to life in animation without losing their charm.

Francis Glebas and The Animator's Eye

Francis Glebas is a director, designer and story board artist with a long career in the animation industry. We asked him some questions about his work and his latest book "The Animator's Eye".

The Rocking Horse and the End of the World

As the Mayan doomsday approaches, I thought I would dust off this true story, one of my favorites from the old-format FLIP , from 2007. -Steve

by Nancy Beiman

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY. OCTOBER, 1962.

We were living in a 1900 house that had splendid quartersawn oak floors with the planks laid in a herringbone pattern whose texture I can still feel. I loved to run my hands along the colorful shadow cast on the living room floor by the small stained glass window in the sun room.

There wasn't much of anything else to play with since my father's salary as a music teacher in the local high school was just enough to get us into an apartment in this once-elegant neighbourhood (Dad told me later that "I knew it was going downhill since I could afford to live there.") The elegance did not extend to the heat - there wasn't any. The twisted radiators produced nothing but noise, vibrations, and the rumor of monsters in the basement. We had frost inside the windows. So, at age five, I was an expert at getting dressed under the heavy blankets in the bedroom I shared with my three year old sister, Paula.

Imagine, then, the sensation when Dad brought home a rocking horse - a magnificent creature, molded in finest plastic, mounted on springs that attached to a cruciform metal frame. It had a wild eye and a beautifully sculpted head. The springs made a crinking sound when you rode it. A glorious horse, and purchased amonth before Chanukah! But my sister and I were too small to question why.

Scott Petersen talks about founding Golden Street Animation

Golden Street Productions was founded by Scott Petersen in 2009

Scott Petersen, founder of Golden Street Animation, talks to FLIP about the perils and pitfalls of setting up his own independent animation company.

Phantom Harbor's "Hurry Home for Christmas"

I have to share my favorite Christmas video, created by friend of FLIP Shannon Shea.  I have known Shannon since our days at CalArts thirty years ago, when he was a frustrated student in the Film Graphics Department. He has had a long career as a frustrated make-up effects artist, with a resume as long as Santa's gift list.  He's worked on films such as Predator, Terminator 2, Dances with Wolves, and my favorite Drag Me to Hell, just to name a few.

PHANTOM HARBOR: Merry Christmas 2011 from Shannon Shea on Vimeo.