Richard Williams - The Thief Who Never Gave Up (1982)

This is a great documentary on the making of Richard Williams 'The Thief and The Cobbler'! Though the film had may troubles some of the animation sequences are just mind blowing!

The Theif Who Never Gave Up via Behind The Scenes


You can find more great info on 'The Thief and The Cobbler' here:  The Thief Blog

Shorts by Tout Court

Here are two films by Tout Court. The first one 'The Ugly Square' is a stop motion piece about circles and squares. It kind of reminds me of Chuck Jones film 'The Dot and the Line'. The second is 'Ruelf' and is about how some abstract 'color characters' bring color back to a black and white world. Both films are very interesting and worth a look!

You can learn more about these films here: http://toutcourt.fr/blog/





Le vilain petit carré / The ugly square from Tout Court on Vimeo.

Reulf from Charlesque on Vimeo.

Interview With Bill Melendez

This is a fantastic interview with legendary animator/filmmaker Bill Melendez! It's long and runs about 3.5 to 4hrs but it's a great window into the history of animation. You can also check out his website here http://www.billmelendez.tv/.


Part1


Part2


Part3


Part4


Part5


Part6


Part7


Part8

'8BITS' animation short

This is an interesting short. It has lots of action and is basically a long chase sequence. My beef is that the characters lack every emotion except anger (but maybe that's what the creators were going for) and I'm still trying to figure out the story (other than the 'save the girl' angle). I did like how the directors experimented with combining 3D and video game styled sequences despite how confusing some parts were. It's definitely worth a watch.

Film website here: 8Bits



8BITS_hd720 from 8BCREW on Vimeo.

Eric Goldberg talks animation

Here are some great bits of wisdom from Disney animator Eric Goldberg.

The Pioneer Series: Don Bluth and Gary Goldman

Dot. The world's smallest stop-motion animation character shot on a Nokia N8

The tiniest stop-motion animation ever! Turns out this short earned Aardman a Guinness Record ! More info  here: Aardman Earns Guinness Record via Animation Magazine



thanks for the heads up Cameron!

10 Memorable Movie Screen Tests

Some great acting reference here! Check out these screen tests that feature Marlon Brando, Sharon Stone, Henry Thomas, Dustin Hoffman  and others.

Actor Screen Tests via moviefone blog 

Face Research : Psychology of faces

This is an interesting website that studies the psychology of the face. It's free to register and no email is required.

Face Research

iPad Light Painting and Stop Motion

This is just too fun! Bet you could create something like this on the iPhone as well! Maybe there's already an app for it heh heh

More info here Dentsu London



Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

'Animating Art ' -- featuring Disney Legend Art Babbitt

A documentary about legendary animator Art Babbitt; featuring interviews with Art Babbitt, Richard Williams, and Andreas Deja.

Sketchy Duel

This is just great!!

'Motion Reference' on the high seas!

This is fascinating CCTV footage from a Pacific Sun Cruise liner that has hit a very rough patch of sea! The side to side havoc and mayhem is great motion reference! Made me think of Titanic!

'How To Train Your Dragon' story sketches

Toby Shelton posted some great story sketches and character designs from 'How To Train Your Dragon' on his blog. Check them out if you get a chance!

Toby Shelton: stuff i did

Bruce Ferriz Pencil Tests

Some really inspiring work by Bruce Ferriz --



via/ CatHicks

Angry Reference via the U.S. Open!

Direct from this weeks U.S. Open comes some great acting reference! Check out the gestures on this guy as he argues.
(heads up: here's a fight at the end and a bit of language)

more here: Spectator Brawl U.S. Open

'No Pets Allowed' new animated feature

This just looks amazing! Thanks for the heads up Dave!

More at Studio Nest Barcelona and Six Birds


NO PETS ALLOWED (Animation feature film) from Josep Pozo on Vimeo.