Mickey Mouse-Haunted House (1929)

From back when Mickey Mouse cartoons were good. Before cute became more important than funny.

Haunted Mansion Animation!

My friend, Artist Chris Gallagher is at it again. This time with an animation he has done of Disney's Haunted Mansion, just in time for Halloween!

Karakuri: Clockwork Japanese Automatons

Matthew Allard shows us how it was done in the pre-electronic age. This Japanese tradition of automata has been around for 300+ years. A combination of subtle artistry and engineering.

Blockheads Revenge

John Carpenter hosts, a new version of "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Using the same lines from the classic special, "Funny or Die", twists it around into a live action teen slasher film trailer.

Fog Machine (On the Cheap!)

How to make an easy home-made fog machine on the cheap!

Spherical Flying Machine from Japan

Japan is building Star Wars-like seekers. I'd like one of these to play with.

"Heavenly Appeals" a short film by David Lisbe

After many millennia of being tortured in Hell, Raymond K. Hessle has finally earned a chance to appeal his sentence of Eternal Damnation. Upon arriving at the "appeals" gate of Heaven he is greeted by the angel who will preside over his case. As Raymond waits at the edge of paradise, he will finally have a chance to prove just how worthy he is.

The Secret To Creativity

(....And many other things as well.) Ira Glass explains some secret knowledge, which every creative person must learn.

Real Biped Robot Rides a Bicycle

The title says it all. The subtleties here really impress me.

Blizzcon 2011 - Diablo 3 Making of Black Soulstone Cinematics

Trailer and in-depth panel on the creation of this amazing work. This is some of the best art-direction and rendering I have seen in a good while. Thanks to Alex Lindsay for posting the link on Twitter.

I have embedded it here, but really recommend you see this in full HD on You Tube, here.

AICP Southwest 2011 Sponsor Reel

What an entertaining way to list sponsors, and what a pleasant short!

Oktapodi

This won a 2009 Oscar for Animated Short Film. Fun.

Origami Crane

Created by my friends at Analytical Mechanics Associates, from the NASA Advanced Concepts Lab. Animation developed to encourage Japan while they heal after the earthquake.

Are you a Right Brainer or a Left Brainer?

We are of course both, and what we know about the purpose and function of the divided brain has evolved. This animated RSA lecture helps catch us up. 

The Beatles : Rock Band Animated Trailer

(Yes, I know it's been out for years.)  This particular animated trailer is as exciting as any animated short I've seen in a while, so I thought I'd revisit it. See a short "making of" video below.

Beware The Gawper!

Video by "A Large Evil Corporation"

Quantum Levitation

I love to learn something new! To quote Feinman "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics."

Superman Classic

A Disney artist, Robb Pratt, made this short fan-film in his spare time. Decidedly more American looking than the anime inspired stuff being produced today. It feels like the old Fleischer cartoons, and yet very modern at the same time. I would pay to see a series with this look. Compare it the original from 1941.

Mysterious Mose

Share this Halloween puppet video with the kids! This is a real favorite of mine! Made in the 90's, it feels like an old Fleischer cartoon, back when they were at their 1930's their best. The band in particular is great. Made by Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero.

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Trapped in the Drive-Thru

Another great Weird Al Yankovic music video. An honest song about relationships and,...
 "No,.... What do YOU want for supper? " Animated by Dog Toons. It's a little long, but that's part of it's charm and it always cracks me up.

Serious Photoshop Magic plug-in

I can think of so many artistic and forensic uses for this. Believe me the security industry will be very interested. Think of all the blurry footage out there, of bank robberies and assassinations, etc.

This is like having a time machine, that allows you to go back to an event with your camera, and this time use a tripod! Thanks to Rob Burns for bringing this one to my attention!

Blik

Blik from Polder Animation on Vimeo.

I really like the style of this. The animator's here are great "actors." Having neither faces, or dialog, this almost plays like a silent film. It says so much more by saying less.

Tears,..in the rain.

As many of you know I'm a huge fan of 'Blade Runner". I found this great looping animated gif in an article found on Boing Boing.

Istanbul Not Constantinople

Get More: MTV Shows

A classic by "They Might Be Giants".

Big Buck Bunny

(c) copyright Blender Foundation | www.bigbuckbunny.org

Can you crowd source an animated short and have it be consistent, professional looking, and funny?

How about the software it's created with? The answer to both is yes! "Big Buck Bunny" was created with "Blender" a freeware application.

Don't Download This Song!

Weird Al Yankovic music video animated by the great Bill Plympton. Two great artists.

The Pictorial Arts Journal: 1.2 Long Live Frazetta

There is a nice tribute to Frank Frazetta to be found at the blog linked below.

The Pictorial Arts Journal: 1.2 Long Live Frazetta

What Light

A stop motion film by Sarah Wikens, using the sun and mirrors. Very original.

MATRIX: Everything Is A Remix

Excellent breakdown showing many of the influences that shaped the Matrix movies.

RIP Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has died. He changed the world. Think Different.

Pigeon: Impossible

A curious pigeon gets trapped inside his multi-million dollar, government-issued nuclear briefcase. Walter Beckett, rookie secret agent must figure out what to do. The music may have a lot to do with it, but this one seems self-consciously influenced by the Incredibles.

End of File.

It does not happen often, still sometimes one thing or another happens and I lose power on my computer in the middle of painting.

Like tonight.

Oh, The file icon is still there, but when I try to open it I get an "unexpected end-of-file" message.

The art I worked so hard on, simply ceases to exist. As though it were one of the paintings I have worked on in my dreams. (Yes, there have been many of those as well.)

Alma

A scary little "Twilight Zone" sort of short film. Perfect for the month of October. Scary,... like a doll's eyes.

John K. Couch Gag.

Seen last night....John Kricfalusi, of "Ren and Stimpy" fame created this opening for the Simpson's in his extreme style. John K. believes in funny drawings and rarely sticks to a model sheet, if it gets in the way of being funny. He has influenced an entire generation of animators, and many of the best modern cartoons feature a very watered down reflection of his style. 

Meet Buck

Bad enough when your girlfriend's Daddy has a gun. Worse still when he's a game hunter, and you're the game. I really like the inventive style of this short. It's 3d, but every frame looks like a painting.

Grave Digger: Old School Art

This is a good one to start October with. A long time ago I used to design T-shirts. 

I used seven different screens to create this design. I had to draw each color screen, in gray pencil, as a negative, on a separate vellum overlay, then shoot 14 x 17 halftone photos of each, on a camera the size of a refrigerator. These giant transparent films were then chemically developed by hand in a darkroom, before being used to expose the emulsion on the actual polyester "silk" screens.

 It was a labor intensive, technically demanding skill, now made obsolete by computers.