see that T shirt there >

See that T shirt there ~ click on it.
I have migrated to a new blog...
forty grins
I have been posting things up during the Summer that take my attention for a moment. they don't rhyme like poetry, they don't sing like a bird. they just chime for a moment like a clock in a parlour with no one in to hear it...

Johnny kelly

procrastination, the seed, and the making of the seed are well worth a watch. RCA 2007, now directing at Nexus. Reminded of Johnny as a winner at this year's D&AD winning animation film by Matthew Young of Leeds, about the city, is a similar genre. (As was Tom Ormondes film at UWE last year)... what am I saying? I'm saying that this is not plagiarism, but a form. A playful form of expanding on a theme such as city, or inconvenience, or procrastination. They are often platitudes, but often accompanied by good craft.

FMX talks online

++ Watch FMX 2010 presentations and speaker interviews on AWNtv +++
FMX is a large festival that happens annually in Stuttgart Germany.
Even though it’s been a few weeks since FMX 2010 has closed its doors, we still have a special treat for you. AWNtv has launched a large number of interviews with speakers and presentation recordings in the FMX channel. Some of them include top notch speakers like Ed Hooks, Simon Otto (DreamWorks Animation), Victoria Alonso (Marvel Studios) and Evan Hirsch (THQ).
You can also watch recordings of “Early Days in France”, a track from last year’s conference where French keys actors from the early 80s shared their memories. Among others Pierre Buffin (Founder and CEO, BUF Compagnie), Xavier Nicholas (Managing Director, Lucasfilm Animation) and George Lacroix (GL Consulting) testified how they started in the business and retraced how the more important studios evolved from heavy in-house software to simpler turnkey systems in under five years. Find out the trials and successes they had to face in the early days, when complete movies were made on hardware that was less powerful than today's cell phones. To watch the recorded sessions, please go here.

Esc competition for CG animators

here is an open call from Escape...
"We wanted to let you know about a fantastic new competition we're running at Escape Studios in collaboration with The Mill - the CG Graduate Design Awards.

We're inviting final year students and graduates to submit showreels of their best computer graphics work, which will be judged by us and fellow experts from The Mill. The top 20 show reels will be critiqued by a panel of judges and the top prize is a place on Escape Studios' soon to be launched Online Mentored VFX Course for both a UK and US winner.

The competition is quite simple - to enter, students need to upload their video to Escape Studios' YouTube Chanel. The closing date for all entries is August 2nd and more information on the competition will appear on the Escape Blog.

It's a great competition with some fantastic prizes up for grabs, so do encourage your students to enter."

2010 student Sample blog links

2010 student Sample blog links
the below are the links to the work the students have been logging in support of their developing and exploring work;

Sarah Little

Jack Norris
Daniel Keeble (Dan's WEB)
Livvy Brewer

Dane Winn(web)
Max Mavromichalis (blog)
Charles Miller (blog)
Daisy Hynes (blogspot)
Sophie Grimwood

Robert Meech

Andrzej Niedzialkowski
Jenny Adam

Rebecca Viale
Rebecca Farr


Lucy Guthrie
Ben Stanley
Craig Rudman



David Dymond Japan adventure!

Family portrait wins Stuttgart Grand Prix

Congratulations Joseph Pierce.
"The 17th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film ended on Sunday evening with the presentation of the "Trickstar" in seven competition categories. Several awards were presented for the International Competition: "A Family Portrait" by Joseph Pierce from Great Britain won the Grand Prix accompanied by 15,000 Euro, sponsored by the State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and the city of Stuttgart. The film is a detailed study of a typical small family. (Read an interview with Joseph here).The Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film (10,000 Euros), sponsored for the first time by the MFG Filmförderung Baden-Wuerttemberg went to "Sam’s Hot Dogs" by David López Retamero from the Royal College of Art, London. The special award Music for Animation presented by the GEMA Foundation (5,000 Euros) went to a film from this region. Heiko Maile‘s music for the hypnotic animated film "Love & Theft" by Andreas Hykade convinced the jury. The SWR-Audience Award won the film "Sinna Mann" ("Angry Man") by Anita Killi from Norway".

Drum circle by Graham Dolphin

Drum circle by Graham Dolphin

"Graham Dolphin's work appropriates objects and icons of the fashion and music industries, reforming them into assemblages that reveal the obsessions and formulas underwriting the temporal world of mass culture. Text works include: every lyric from the Beatles back catalogue hand written over the iconic cover of the White Album. In another text work, Dolphin takes every word from a single issue of Vogue and scripts them onto a single page, which has the same dimensions of the magazine. Dolphin's drawings compile every 'product' (shoes, cosmetics, etc.) traced over each other onto a single page. Film works include: gathering 1,500 images of Kate Moss merged into 60 seconds and footage of 100 Fashion Shows shown in a mere 100 seconds. These compulsive actions transform and disrupt the surface aspirations of popular culture and the glamour industry." Seventeen gallery

Rob Green Virus

WARNING - My computer's been infected by the Robert Green virus. Now I can't save anything.

* Earlier this season you wore gloves with "England's No 6" sewn into the side. Explain to us how that came about.

It was Portsmouth away when I saved a penalty in the last minute and we held on for a draw. The fans were chanting 'England's No 1' and I joked back by holding up six fingers, as if to say I was only sixth choice. The fans picked up on it straight away and it became a regular chant at games. When the club manufacturer heard what the supporters were singing, he asked if I'd mind having it sewn into my gloves as a laugh. If you can't laugh at yourself you can't laugh at anyone so I thought why not? It was just after Fabio Capello had announced his first England squad for the Switzerland game. Of course, I wore them the following Saturday in the 1-1 draw with Birmingham and Capello was in the crowd!

charlie brooker on NEWS

cyberjournalist.net is a good site that compiles and sorts allsorts. this video by Charlie Brooker about making a news article is very good. Charlie Brooker is very good

good political cartoonist - Mark Fiore

Mark Fiore,
who the Wall Street Journal recently called “the undisputed guru of the form,” creates animated political cartoons from an undisclosed location somewhere in San Francisco. His work appears regularly in a wide variety of online news web sites and is seen by millions, probably even scrillions.

After a short stint at the San Jose Mercury News as their staff cartoonist creating traditional political cartoons in a terribly stifling fluorescent windowless office, Fiore happily fled the print world in 2001 to devote all of his energies to creating animated work.
credit card exposure of charging for under use
Mark Fiore was awarded a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and has also received an Online Journalism Award from the Online News Association and the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. With two awards from the National Cartoonists Society for his work in new media under his belt, Fiore also seems to excel at writing in the third person.
Mark Fiore is the first internet animator to win a Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. His work appears only online

I am liking this archive facility from Europa, "For the first time, a web site offers free access to a scheduling of heritage films from the most prestigious European archives and film libraries." have a dig...

lines and colours

Good blog this, Lines and Colours I haven't trawled its depths, but it looks rich. for example; Milton Glaser draws. video here. lines and colours archives go back to 2005, key person is Charley Parker, "I've been doing professional web site design since 1995. I'm perhaps best known as the creator of the award-winning online comic Argon Zark!, widely credited with being the first comic created specifically for the Web."
not Charlie Parker, the great Jazz saxophonist...
and good links, like this to Classic Cartoons blog

Lou Romano

Thanks max for linking to Lou Romano. I particularly like the colour scripts for the Incredibles.
"Here are some other samples of Incredibles work I did (2000-2004): Development, color/lighting design and DVD bonus materials."
*ALL ARTWORK PROPERTY of PIXAR/DISNEY*

Sarah Cox interview on AP/engine

Good interview with Sarah Cox of ArthurCox on AP/engine. Talks candidly about her career to date, and the move to Bristol and the future of ArthurCox.

joel Trussell

I am liking the work of Joel Trussell at the moment. this Video is rather good. Have a browse!

UK animators call for tax breaks

UK animators call for tax breaks


Wallace and Gromit, Bob the Builder and Pingu are going in to battle as leading lights of Britain's animation industry prepare to campaign for government support for UK-based talent.

The industry, creator of classics such as Bagpuss, Mr Benn and Thomas the Tank Engine, is seeing talent lured overseas by lucrative tax breaks. And they complain that work is being outsourced to studios in the Far East. Earlier this month it emerged that a film produced to showcase one-eyed monsters Wenlock and Mandeville, the mascots for the London 2012 Olympics, was produced in China. [thanks tanya]

Spiegel van Holland - mirrors of Holland

Here is one for Jamie... Mirrors of Holland, by Philips Geluidssysteem and Bert Haanstra, 1951, Very Nice too! "Mirror of Holland (Dutch: Spiegel van Holland) is a 1950 short Dutch documentary film directed by Bert Haanstra. It won the Short Film Palme d'Or at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival."

framepool stock film site

thanks to the doritos team for pointing this resource out. framepool for library film stock of global proportions. Good.

forming Game - Malcolm Sutherland

Malcolm Sutherland documentary on making the great film forming game. "This is a making-of video for the NFB produced experimental animated film "Forming Game", directed and animated by Malcolm Sutherland in 2008, with sound and music by Luigi Allemano". (he also made a film called Astromomer's dream, interview here, and Pixeldoodle is also worth a look.

DVD DESIGN

for all about to design DVD covers, this DVD search engine is a sure fast way to see the good, the bad and the ugly and downright redundant. Slothradio DVD search Just put in any name to the search box, such as Roger, or space, or treacle, and see what you get!

NEW COMPETITION OPP

eDIT 13 has a call out for a 30 second movie about water. German Festival in September.

stick with sharky

'Sharky' is a talent, stick with this one to see him encouraged. the boy got rhythm. 2 Year Old Djembe Drummer...

little chimp society

good hub for illustration / animation / opportunities . News . the little chimp society

good character design Blog

thanks Robyn for this link in your essay, thought I would share... character design blogspot. does what it says on the tin. Picture by nico Marlet

Renaud Hallee Canada

very nice tonal device used on this film, the duration makes the tone, I think. sonar by Renaud Hallee . Gravite by the same artist is very good too.

2010 student blog links

the below are the links to the work the students have been logging in support of their developing and exploring work;
Jenny Adam
Jade Bessant
Livvy Brewer
Tom Clark
Rebecca Farr
Sophie Grimwood
Lucy Guthrie
Colin Hill
Daisy Hynes(blogspot)
Jamie Iles
Daniel Keeble Dan's WEB
Sarah Little
Sophie Lowden
Max Mavromichalis (blog)
Robert Meech
Charles Miller
Andrzej Niedzialkowski
Jack Norris
Sander Raadjes
Craig Rudman
Rebecca Smith
Ben Stanley
Daniel Tilley
Rebecca Viale
Samuel Walsh
Dane Winn(web)

David Dymond Japan adventure!

klik extended deadline

NEW DEADLINE for CALL FOR ENTRIES: June 1st 2010!
tue 01 June 00:00

Ha! Maybe you thought it was too late to enter a film into KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2010?
Well, we've decided to meet you half way and have extended the deadline another two weeks, to the 1st of June 2010. This really is the last chance to enter for KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival 2010.

So Submit (...) KLIK!
also,


The GIF ALERT project is a virtual promenade where GIF characters strut their stuff and meet up to do what we do best: loop, loop and loop some more. We're always looking for new friends to loop with, so if you'd like to join us, send yourself to

gifalert@klikamsterdam.nl

You should be 150 x 150 pixels on a pure white background.

In the near future you can even add some information on yourself, like your email address or homepage and we'll get to work on making this place feel more like home.

BAND CAMP

looking for plan B for music and soundtrack ideas... band camp is a good place to start to make connections with unsigned talent, or to even host your own music on. it seems there are no ads, just lots and lots of music.

Animation Magazine pressbox

'Animation Magazine pressbox' is a dry business based collection of press releases from around the world. deals with games, features, developments... this tag deals with festivals, calls for submissions and opportunities, residencies etc

good contemporary chinese work

this site is a good expo of contemporary Chinese work; "NeochaEDGE is a daily-curated, bilingual website and discovery engine dedicated to showcasing leading-edge creative content and emerging youth culture in China."
Some lovely, provocative, well executed neat ideas. illustration, animation, home.
They have new banner design competition every couple of weeks.

mass observation diary 12 May

Would you keep a one-day diary
for Mass Observation?
Wednesday 12th May 2010

May 12thIn 1937, Mass Observation called for people
from all parts of the UK to record everything
they did and thought from when they woke
up in the morning to when they went to sleep
at night on 12th May. The resulting diaries
provide a wonderful glimpse into the everyday
lives of all sorts of people in the late 1930s.
They are stored, with many other diaries and
papers, at the Mass Observation Archive at the University of Sussex.

Hot film from Film bilder

hot film from film bilder, going to rip up the festivals this Summer, but it is flawed as single user. Too long. lovely though. Love and Theft by Andreas Hykade

Mother of Many

Emma has asked me to spread word of this online voting NFB/Cannes Competition in which she has her film - Mother of Many - which she was decent enough to premiere here at UWE. (There are also the other films there online too, for fairness). Like there are other types of biscuits.

Pricing? how much to charge for that first job?

Difficult one this. Love or money. don't give your best for free, also don't price yourself out of the market. Bottom line. break even. This illustrator Heather Castles has written a logical and reasonable article to work out how to get a good hourly rate for yourself to use as a starting point. Does one price by hour or job? do you give your best for experience? She gives a good formula for you to attach a sense of self worth.

bristol west boundaries

Election boundaries have changed making Bristol west an important guide, three way seat too tight to call.

mortydraws part three

part three of Mortydraws take on the election debates on TV...

northern lights volcano

what a narrow spectrum of temperature, chemical conditions we all live in. it is cold for the time of year is such a puny thing to say, but it is though.

DepicT call for entries

DepicT has announced its scheme is open for 2010.
some of their rules and regs...
# The deadline for entries is 1700hrs (BST) on Mon 6 Sept ‘10
# We no longer accept postal entries. Only films submitted via our online entry system will be accepted.
# The duration of your film(s) must not exceed 90 seconds including titles and credits.
# DepicT! is open to short films of all production techniques, including animation, documentary, drama, experimental or artist film and hybrid work. We do not accept advertisements.
# Only films completed since September ‘09 may be submitted. Whilst we do not have a premiere policy, we positively encourage entries made specifically for DepicT!
# The maximum number of entries per individual is two.

Screening 27.04.10

Short form film making screening links.
Interlude
potters wheel
biscuit factory
my brother’s quarry blast
AUDI branded content campaign
SAMSUNG
CG CHILDBIRTH
McCLAREN dots
red dots
smog rock bottom riser
hextatic
chris Cunningham star wars
hextatic bert and ernie
dog and cat puppet thing
wegman dogs make bread

Stroud International Textiles (S I T)

Stroud International Textiles (S I T)

S I T aims to encourage debate and discussion around contemporary textiles and the crafts, encourage new ways of looking at and exploring textile design and textile art through events, exhibitions, talks, workshops, and debate while broadening it out to connect to other disciplines.

We organise an annual festival that takes place every May (1 – 23 May). The festival has built a reputation for delivering high quality, world class work and a stimulating programme.

Artist in residence is Deirdrie Nelson

this is a good database for tiny physical crafty type artists...

the free sound project

The Freesound Project

The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, ... released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to

* browse the sounds in new ways using keywords, a "sounds-like" type of browsing and more
* up and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license
* interact with fellow sound-artists!

We also aim to create an open database of sounds that can also be used for scientific research. Many audio research institutions have trouble finding correctly licensed audio to test their algorithms. Many have voiced this problem, but so far there hasn't been a solution.

Animation Event this Thursday

Cineformations Event: Inspiration=Animation
7.30pm, Thursday 29th April 2010
Waterside 3, Watershed Media Centre, Bristol BS1 5TX

What inspires an animator? What creative influences contribute to their work? Join leading animator/film maker Derek Hayes and 2010 BAFTA award winning animator Emma Lazenby, to discuss some of the films that have influenced their own work and inspired them to continue creating. Including a screening of Emma's award winning film 'Mother of Many'. This event has been created in collaboration with members from the Watershed's Young Leaders Programme.

Cinéformation is a forum for independent film and video makers, offering an opportunity for writers, producers, directors, crew and enthusiasts to meet and share ideas.
This event is free; collect a ticket from Box Office on the evening.- first come first serve!

Any questions please ask Tanya Scott L3

mortydraws bristol debate

part 2 of mortydraw's Election specials...

almost a year of badges

I like daft ideas that are serial, like this one. a badge a day for a year. there is something quite zen about it. preconceptions give way to chore, to difficulty to duty to new ideas to despair. badge a day by Stuart Bannocks.

Warp films and Bird's eye View opportunity

Good opportunity, deadline 13 May, Women animators to pitch and get on Warp films slate, residential course...
"Focusing on the worlds of screenwriting and animation, we will select up to 20 exceptional British women and equip them with the contacts and creative support they need to produce smart, commercial, animation ideas for the international marketplace."

The focus will be on forming new creative alliances and hot-housing animation projects in a relaxed and stimulating environment. A number of individual projects and creative teams will be selected for development support with the intention that the projects will go into production from late 2011.

David Daniels

Thanks Ricardo for pointing me to this amazing stratacut plasticine animation by David Daniels... enjoy!

Diagonal thoughts

I found this interesting, and there were many pings off links that you may also find interesting... Diagonal thoughts
"some notes on seeing and being, sound and image, media and memory".

A R Penck

to redress the balance a little, A R Penck, a great painter drawer.

pencil test blog is good

this is Good site for you 2D drawers, lovely stuff. Pencil test depot

the first election debate

Quick off the mark, this one.

Chris shepherd is visiting this week

Chris shepherd is visiting this week
Chris is co-founder of Slinky Pictures.
He is director of several monumental films, see his filmography here

joseph pierce

Joseph Pierce is visiting on Wednesday this week

Brett Domino: Justin Timberlake Medley

Brett Domino: Justin Timberlake Medley - Good this. Funny, I think!

one week left to enter Soho Shorts

One week left to enter Soho Shorts, a good festival in London in July. Anyone with readymades and films to go should think about entering. Cost a tenner, but worth it I think.

15 april spectacular sunset

watch out for a spectacular sunset tonight, as high altitude dust form Iclandic volcano drifts across Northern Europe, Enough to Ground all flights. Hope you arn't flying anywhere.

Election 2010

"Basically this election is going to be decided not by all 43 million of us, but by about 200,000 people in the marginal constituencies. The rest of the country doesn't matter."
Boundary changes in Bristol are going to have a major effect on the election result. article here. the new seat of filton and Bradley Stoke (FABS) is a three way split, and anyones call. Makes a change to be living somewhere where a vote may make a difference. good site and maps here. bristol west prospective Labour candidate Paul Smith blog here

The BAA (British animation awards) ceremony was last night with many twittering and assembled bodies in that there london, the winners are here
Best Student Film
Jury Citation: For its design, soundtrack, pacing and an enigmatic yet strangely compelling universe the winner is ...

Yellow Belly End
Dir: Philip Bacon
Produced at National Film & Television School

Special screening of Lotte Reineger Prince Achmed

saturday 10 april Arnolfini Lotte reineger Prince Achmed special screening. £7.00 conc.
"In this special commission for Bird's Eye View, renowned musician and composer Mira Calix will perform her musical accompaniment for The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), the first feature length animation ever made. Signed to Warp Records, Calix is winner of the British Composer Award 2009 and has worked with artists such as Radiohead, the London Sinfonetta and Aphex Twin. She has performed all over the world at events like Southbank's Ether festival. At this unique event she will conjour an original score for Lotte Reineger's beautifully creative fairytale inspired by Arabian Nights. The pioneering, painstakingly hand-cut silhouette animation, a labour of love for Reineger, stands as one of the great classics of early feature animation"

Wally torta - good blog

Wally torta, good blog. good drawer, reality, imagination and ideas.