Sunday, March 27, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Dialogue Key Pose

First key pose for No-Mouth Dialogue project. (Still need to add more colouring to head-dress)

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Chuck Jones

Today we watched clips of two Merry Melody episodes from Warner Brothers Studios, which were both directed by Charles (Chuck) Jones; 'The Case of the Missing Hare' (1942), and 'The Aristo-Cat' (1943). In the '30s and '40s Jones tried to immitate the animation style of Disney, and even had a brief stint there in 1955 while working of Sleeping Beauty. However from the late '40s and into the '50s Jones began to produce a style of work which soon caught on in popularity and influenced animation history- he favoured a less realistic, and more cartoony style.
In the Pixar movie 'Mosters Inc.' the directors paid tribute to one of Jones' films 'Feed the Kitty' (1952). Frank would like to add that this is in fact his favourite cartoon.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Library Resources for Animation

Today we explored unchartered territory and went on a tour of the Tafe Library, looking specifically at what resources were available for Animation students. And here is what we discovered...

The librarians are able to help out with Copyright information for students, alternately you can look it up for yourself on the Library Catalogue site, under 'Resources'.

Located on Level 2 are all of the journals, and while there's quite a variety to choose from in Digital Art, Graphics, and Cinematography, probably the most relevant one is the Animation Journal (had a flick through and liked what I saw, definitely need to have a closer look at some point).

Frank went to the ends of the earth a couple of years ago (Paris) and brought back with him an excellent resource from Gobelins called 'Paris: Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris. This is the only copy available to Animation students in all of Australia. Yay Frank!

On the 3rd floor of the library you'll find a very important book by Richard Williams (creator of the Princess and the Cobbler- woohoo!) called The Animator's Survival Kit, as well as the DVD by the same title- another one I'm keen to have a squiz at.
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, written by two of Disney's 'Nine Old Men'- Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston is also located on level 3.

The library also has films by Miyazaki, a Japanese animation director. Available are Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Nausicaa, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Porco Rosso.

And although The Lost Thing by Shaun Tan (2011 oscar-nominated short film) isn't yet out for loan at the library, two of his books are; The Bird King and The Arrival which display some excellent illustrations.