Boing Boing » animation

Katamari Adventure Time

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:37 +0000

What better subject for a t-shirt than an Adventure Time/Katamari Damacy mashup?

It's a face! A skull! A mushroom! Psychedelic drawing lesson

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 14 May 2013 01:58:09 +0000

Katana Leigh sez, "I want to provide memorable ways to learn to draw that are interesting and visually entertaining. The proportions of a red spotted button mushroom are the same as a skull and these LSD colors provide maximum contrast so you can see the process and hopefully copy it. Not your boring art lessons but a new way to think about seeing."

How To Draw A Skull 2: when a mushroom is like a face (Thanks, Katana!)

Man of Steel trailer #3: animated version

David Pescovitz — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:51:52 +0000

Jawiin remade the third Man of Steel trailer with clips from Superman: The Animated Series and the soundtrack of the real trailer. A masterful job. And here's the original below.

Rendered stack of rubbery penile noodloids, falling

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:32:37 +0000

Logitech4873 spent 62 hours rendering an interlocking, Jenga-like stack of tumbling, penile, rubbery thinngums falling in slow motion: "The reason for the excessively long rendertime was the use of high quality indirect lighting, SSS materials (Sub-Surface Scattering) and the high quality of the motion blur."

I'm so sorry (via JWZ)

Time: XKCD's slo-mo time-lapse comic

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 01:00:42 +0000

On March 25, Randall Munroe ran a strip called Time, an enigmatic, wordless image whose tool-tip was "Wait for it." Ever since, the strip has been updating with subsequent frames, all of them making up a time-lapse animation of a lovely story about a day of sand-castle building at the beach.

The XKCD Wikia entry for the post has animated GIFs and a slideshow showing the progress to date. It's really coming along nicely, and Randall's done some clever things with the back-end to stop people from previewing future frames.

Tickets from the Studio Ghibli museum are made from snips of film

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:40:24 +0000

Tickets at the Studio Ghibli museum near Tokyo are made from snips of actual film from Miyazaki movies. This ticket shows Satsuki from the masterpiece My Neighbor Totoro.

I went to (Miyazaki) Studio Ghibli Museum near Tokyo, Japan. The tickets are made up of cut up film cells. My ticket is from Princess Mononoke.

Supercut of all the alternate endings to the Animaniacs theme

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:33:29 +0000

Here's TammieRD's compilation of all the alternate endings to the Animaniacs theme song, each better than the last. As I mentioned before the complete seasons 1-3 DVDs are a huge hit around our house. Really some of the best kids' (and grownups') TV of the last century.

Animaniacs alternate theme song lyrical endings (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

Wasa: the psychedelic animated overlay that "Whassup?" needed all along

Cory Doctorow — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:23:11 +0000

Mathias Lachal remade the classic Budweiser "Wassup" ad. The new video, dubbed "Wasa," is a gorgeous, psychedelic animation triumph that must be seen. This is exactly what this video needed all along.

Wasa (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

PES's title sequence for Dutch TV show

David Pescovitz — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 17:42:27 +0000

Het Klokhuis (Dutch for "apple core") is an educational TV show for young people that's aired in the Netherlands for 25 years. They asked the amazing PES, whose "Fresh Guacamole" was nominated for a 2013 Oscar, to create a new title sequence.

Ralph Bakshi's Kickstarter-funded documentary on Coney Island in the 1960s

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 22:37:35 +0000

A reader writes, "Revolutionary animation director Ralph Bakshi just started a Kickstarter for shorts about Coney Island in the 60s. Looks like it'll have some pretty heavy themes. Might be worth looking into! Looks like an important reflection of American cultural revolutions."

In my films I have always discussed America: who we are, what we are, for better and worse, and the ridiculous. I’m here on Kickstarter asking for your support for my newest project, Last Days of Coney Island.
It’s a series of shorts set against the strange backdrop of Coney Island and all its weird characters: crooked cops, broken hearts, jaded strippers, and singers.

Be sure and check out the rewards -- lots of extremely sweet Bakshi one-of-a-kind stuff.

Last Days of Coney Island

Disney's "Paperman," a romantic short film

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 23:50:50 +0000

Disney's posted the short feature "Paperman" to YouTube. It's an utterly charming and stylishly drawn animated film about love at first sight, and the perverse uncooperativeness of inanimate objects. We saw this as the short before "Wreck It Ralph" (another great one), and loved it.

Paperman - Full Animated Short Film

Jackson 5ive animated series on DVD

David Pescovitz — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:55:23 +0000

Jackson 5ive, the wonderful 1971 animated series starring the voice of a young Michael Jackson and his brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlin, is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download! Bob Balser, who co-directed The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" film, was the animation director.

"When I came in," Balser told CNN, "the series had been started. I was not happy with the approach they were doing because ... (this) was going to be the first series directed at young people that was about a black group, and I felt that it was really important that it be shown in a creative way, that they solved their problems with music and with intelligence and not with violence -- which had started out as the approach in the first episode."

"I got the best artists I could get and gave them complete freedom," Balser recalls. "I said, for example, 'This is a circus theme, so the graphics have to reflect that theme.' Other than that, they were completely free to do it however they wanted. We came up with some fun stuff, which was really one of the best parts and that was probably one of the things that made the 'Jackson 5ive' series so popular in terms of the reception that it received."

Jackson 5ive: The Completed Animated Series

Insanely labor-intensive Gangnam Style flipbook animation video

Xeni Jardin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 23:37:52 +0000

An incredibly labor-intensive animated flipbook version of PSY's "Gangnam Style." Such a bummer that Etoilec1, the talented creator of this stunning video, was sound-blocked by YouTube's automated IP enforcement police. Etoilec1's original video is here (and below), in higher rez, but it's stripped of sound. Subscribe to his channel or follow him on Facebook, for more flipbook fun. Above, a lower-rez copycat upload on Vimeo. (Thanks, Joe Sabia!)

"ABC of Architects" animation

David Pescovitz — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:55:21 +0000

Andrea Stinga and Federico Gonzalez created this delightful animated "ABC" list of 26 influential and important architects and their buildings.

Gorgeous, psychedelic hand-drawn animation made with ink, white-out and coffee

Cory Doctorow — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 04:15:25 +0000

This is the video you've been looking for.

Boston-based animator Jake Fried just released his latest psychedelic animation, The Deep End, which was drawn entirely with ink, coffee, and white-out. The animation is continually layered on top of itself as forms morph, bend and transform across the screen. I can’t help but wonder how thick the final canvas is with so many layers of illustration. If you were as blown away by this as I was, you’re in luck: see some of his earlier animations such as Sick Leave and Waiting Room.

The Deep End: A Jaw-Dropping Animation Drawn by Hand with Ink, White-out, and Coffee by Jake Fried [Colossal/Christopher]

NSFC: Cyriak's horrific Christmas animation

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 23:02:26 +0000

"The Spirit of Christmas," a video from UK animator Cyriak, is not really like anything I've ever seen. It's definitely not for the faint hearted or weak of stomach. Don't watch it if, for example, you have an aversion to prehensile, tentacle-like red noses.

The Spirit of Christmas (via JWZ)

Clockwork Orange babies

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 19:46:56 +0000

Butcher Billy of Curitiba, Brazil posted these "Clockwork Orange Babies" concept illustrations to Behance. It's wildly implausible that such a thing would ever exist, but I'd like to vacation in the parallel universe where they do.

A Clockwork Orange Babies Design Concept (Thanks, Fipi Lele!)

It's OK to Do Stuff: rude and funny parody of Free To Be You and Me

Cory Doctorow — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 16:56:49 +0000

Rob Kutner and the Levinson Brothers (and friends) released It's OK To Do Stuff, an album parodying Free to Be You and Me. Guest vocals include Steven Page from Barenaked Ladies and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos (featured here singing the album's themesong). It's a $6 MP3 download on Amazon.

It's OK To Do Stuff

Fantastic graphics innovations from SIGGRAPH Asia 2012

David Pescovitz — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:49:27 +0000

SIGGRAPH Asia 2012 starts tomorrow in Singapore. The above video teases some of the astounding graphics accomplishments that will be presented at the conference.

I Have Your Heart

Molly Crabapple, Kim Boekbinder and Jim Batt — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:30:26 +0000

We're proud to present the short animation, ‘I Have Your Heart’, a collaboration between New York illustrator Molly Crabapple, international rockstar Kim Boekbinder, and Melbourne animator Jim Batt. The film is the story of a good girl with a bad heart and the boy whose death will save her life. Told through darkly whimsical stopmotion, the story was inspired by ‘The Organ Donor’s March’, Boekbinder’s rollicking, accordion sing‐a‐long song about love, loss, and open‐heart surgery. A Q&A with Molly, Kim and Jim follows below — Eds.

I Have Your Heart

Web: ihaveyourheart.com.
Animator: Jim Batt (Twitter)
Illustrator: Molly Crabapple (Twitter)
Musician: Kim Boekbinder (Twitter)

Download The Organ Donor’s March

BB: Beautiful, heartwarming, magical... and a hell of a lot of work. Tell us about the process.

MK&J: Making this film was a long and detailed process. The characters and scene elements were hand drawn by Molly Crabapple, then scanned and photoshopped into layouts for moveable puppets, props, and scenery. These were printed on a thick paper stock, cut out by hand, and crafted into freestanding characters and sets. This paper world was then brought to life frame by frame with stopmotion animation by Jim Batt, using a trusty Canon 7D and Dragonframe software. Kim Boekbinder created an extended version of her song ‘The Organ Donor’s March’ to score the finished film.

BB: How was the drawing for this animation different than the usual comic or illustration process?

Molly: I always thought comics were the most brutal, tedious thing you could do with a crowquill pen, but I was wrong. Animators, hats off, you are the martyrs of this business. Even doing the relatively coddled job of designing the characters/sets was a tremendous amount of work that involved drawing objects and characters from every possible angle, then breaking them into pieces. Luckily, Kim and Jim are good whip crackers and art directors.

BB: Where did the inspiration for the song come from?

Kim: The idea for the song came from a story on "This American Life" about a teenage girl who received a donor heart from a boy who was killed in a gang fight. I was struck by how this young girl felt so much pressure to have a really good life ‐ that in order to deserve another person's heart, she had to be good enough for two people. In my version of the story there is a little bit of romance between the girl and the boy that she has never met. She feels his heart beat everyday and thinks of him as a separate entity inside herself.

BB: Why did you decide to use stopmotion animation instead of, say, computer animation in the same style?

Jim:: We decided at the outset to avoid software and go with a more hands on animation style. There’s something really beautiful and tactile about physically crafting the sets and characters, the way the light catches the paper. You get wonderful moments of serendipity, and everything sort of shimmers with potential life in stop‐motion, whereas in the computer it's easy to get bogged down in twiddling settings and keyframes forever.

BB: What was the most challenging thing in the production? Who are your animation influences?

Jim:: Animation is an art that requires constant problem solving and invention, which makes it both exhausting and very rewarding. It also takes the patience of a zen monk, as any frustration only slows the process down even further. The paper puppet animations of Jamie Caliri were a huge influence on this particular project. His animated title sequence for the Lemony Snicket film was one of my original inspirations, along with Tim Hope's insanely awesome short film 'I Am The Wolfman'.

The Simpsons might win an Oscar, heavy on the "might"

Jamie Frevele — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:15:44 +0000

While it's probably a long shot, a four-minute Simpsons short is currently included on the list of ten (narrowed down from 56) animated shorts that are eligible for an Oscar this year. Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" was shown (in 3D) before Ice Age: Continental Drift this past summer and featured a fierce battle between the youngest Simpson and Baby Gerald. Written by James L. Brooks and Matt Groening, The Longest Daycare's possible nod could be sweet, sweet payback for The Simpsons Movie being shut out for Best Animated Feature back in 2008. But, as I said, it might be a long-shot; other nominees include Disney's Paperman (currently being shown before Wreck-It-Ralph), Minkyu Lee's Adam and Dog, PES' Fresh Guacamole, and Raul Garcia's The Fall of the House of Usher, which is narrated by Sir Christopher Lee. The Wrap has the complete list of the ten final contenders, and the nominees will be announced January 10. (via Splitsider)

Hominid: predation among the human-skeleton'ed prehistoric creatures

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 01:38:42 +0000

Brian Andrews has spent many years producing his striking "Hominid" images, described as "photo composites made from human and veterinary images creating hominid creatures." Now, these images have been animated, and the result is beautiful and haunting and profoundly, wonderfully disturbing.

Hominid is an animated teaser based on the Hominid series of photo composites by Brian Andrews. The series has been exhibited internationally, including at SIGGRAPH, in the Hong Kong Exhibition Center, and at numerous galleries. This animated teaser was produced at Ex’pression College for Digital Arts. Be on the lookout for future Hominid animations.

Hominid (via JWZ)

Avian

Xeni Jardin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:14:44 +0000

"Alien" meets eggs. Video Link. By Terry Border of Bent Objects.

Run Wrake, animator of dark and imaginative award-winning short films, dead of cancer at 47

Xeni Jardin — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 13:29:52 +0000

Boing Boing reader Fergus Stewart writes,

I know that for obvious reasons you have been reporting in recent times on those who have cancer, so I wanted to draw attention to the premature passing of genius UK animator Run Wrake.
Run has been most well-known for his award-winning 8 minute animated short 'Rabbit,' which is a wonderfully dark and disturbing animation created with old illustrations culled from British reading-scheme books for children, (though few animations could be less suitable for children!).
Humour doesn't come much darker than this nightmarish vision of a somewhat warped pair of five-year-olds.
Unfortunately this incredible piece must now stand as a memorial to his talent as he died of cancer on Sunday at the relatively young age of 47.

Rabbit was BAFTA-nominated for Best Animated Short Film and winner of Best Film at the British Animation Awards 2006 as well as the McLaren Award for Animation at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

More about Wrake's life and work: Cartoon Brew, Televisual, FilmDrunk, Twitch, Big Cartoon News.

Watch more of Run Wrake’s work on Vimeo or YouTube.

Japanther video by 50 teenaged animators

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 03:01:40 +0000

Souris sez, "'She's The One' by Japanther and the California State Summer School for the Arts Animation Class of 2012 features the work of 50 teenage animation students, who collaborated over three days to create this animated dance party to accompany Japanther's song."

The Maker (animated short film)

Xeni Jardin — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:26:19 +0000

From LA-based Zealous Creative, a beautiful animated short in which "a strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life."

The Maker has screened at over 60 festivals and won 11 awards. Director: Christopher Kezelos. The short's score, "Winter," was composed by Paul Halley. You can download it from his website. (via Suzanne Stefanac)

Software converts two-dimensional drawings into interactive 3-D animation

Mark Frauenfelder — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 17:48:54 +0000

Luc Latulippe of Drawn! says: "I don’t understand what’s going on here because I’m old and crotchety, but I suspect it’s the future and it’s leaving me further behind than I already thought I was."

Live2D, developed by Cybernoids, is the world’s first drawing technology to enable 3D rendering of 2D images. This technology supports a variety of portable consoles and smartphones, and Live2D is already being utilized for games that take advantage of the unique characteristics of hand drawn artwork.

Orson Welles hates the advertising copy he's being asked to read

Cory Doctorow — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:47:27 +0000

Here's a YouTube clip of Orson Welles' infamous frozen/canned food advertisement voice-over recording sessions in which he berates the engineer for the inanity of the material he's being asked to read. It's a rare chance to hear a serious tantrum executed with stentorian emphasis. There's a brilliant homage to this in a Pinky and the Brain cartoon that makes for a great coda.

Orson Welles - Frozen Peas (Thanks, isaak!)

Nina Paley's history of the Holy Land: "This Land Is Mine"

Cory Doctorow — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 02:40:18 +0000

Nina Paley's new "potential-possible-maybe-feature film" project is Seder-Masochism, and she's posted a clip called "This Land Is Mine," which she envisions as the final scene of the movie. "This Land Is Mine" is a history of the Holy Land and all the blood spilled over the years by various parties who laid claim to it. Her web page for the short features a full cast of characters, with historical notes, and, of course, the wonderful video itself.

Interview with Ray Harryhausen

David Pescovitz — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 04:12:22 +0000

Here's a 1974 interview with SFX pioneer and "Dynamation" inventor Ray Harryhausen, whose stop motion magic brought to life such classic films as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), and One Million Years BC (1967). (via Dangerous Minds)