Saturday, December 19th

Vancouver Film School student Jordan Clarke’s match moving “Box Animation” might be this year’s best dream animation installation. Catch more from VFS on Youtube.

Thursday, December 17th

Holiday cards are out this year.   JibJab Sendables are the way to go. They kicks things off this year with a holiday classic that will be beaten into your brain relentlessly for the next two weeks. Last year there were two channels on Christmas day dedicated to a 24 hour “Christmas Story” movie marathon. Now you can add yourself to the action. Go Jibjab!

Wednesday, December 16th

The season for great holiday specials is upon us. My favorite so far is Baman Piderman’s “Happy Winter Friends!” (part 1) by Lindsay Small and Alex Butera. You know a show has reached the eleventh realm of weird when there’s no hope in explaining the back story (with justice) to friends. Hoping to see part two soon! We’ve talked up Alex’s work before here on the site but visit B & P on Facebook and show some love.

Be warned the video above is NSFW although… the ‘NS’ part (at the end) still has me trying to figure out what the hell I just watched. It’s a new video for band Ape School’s track “Wail to God” animated by Anthony F. Schepperd. He's channeling Pat Smith’s work for a lot of this but the freakish use of color and motion make the damn thing irresistible. Visit Schepperd’s Vimeo channel for more info on the artist.

Tuesday, December 15th

I admit I missed Sugimoto Kousuke’s music video “the TV show” the first few times it started popping up on art blogs across the web but the retweets and additional blog love did it.  Wow! Check it out above and scoot over to Kousuke’s site for more video clip and illustration gold.

Monday, December 7th

Animator Charles Huettner’s dreamy “What Is This” is the perfect solution for your Monday afternoon. Head over to Vimeo to check out his short “tEEf tuNG” and Charles’s blogspot for more assorted pics and peaks. We’ll get an animation show to your neck of the woods someday sir.

Wednesday, November 25th

The good folks over at Short of the Week have put together a viewable batch of this years Oscar Short list with a preview of the potential nominees for best animated short film. Half of the vids up are trailers or teasers for the actual shorts and I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the other half disappear from the web as different groups swoop in to license the work. The short list is typically a gossipy hush hush type of event leading up to the nominations but this year we’ve seen the likes of the Hollywood Reporter and industry writers like Nikki Finke taking notice. A sign that shorts are getting a little more love? The comments on Finke’s site don’t give me much hope. The trailer above is for Autour de Minuit’s Logorama. Can’t wait to catch the whole thing on the big screen.

Friday, November 20th

The Creative Talent Network Expo arrives to Burbank today with a busy line-up of panels, screenings, exhibitor booths and career planning info. It’s a must attend for those in the business of animation and animation fans alike. Hit up the CTN Expo site for the complete schedule and we’ll see you at the Burbank Convention Center.

Thursday, November 19th

Bill Plympton is hard at work on a brand new short film and has uploaded detailed pencil tests to share. The new short “Cheatin” is up on Youtube in two chunks (above and below). It’s a much longer short than we typically see from Bill with some great guest appearances. Over on Bill’s Facebook page it looks like he’s also upload a reaaally rough cut for another new short “The Cow who wanted to be a Hamburger”.  Join Bill on FB to take a look.

Tuesday, November 17th

If something about these spots feels familiar it’s due to Grant Orchard’s simple touch for the healthcare something-or-other Bupa. Orchard’s “Love Sport” series was sprinkled throughout our last theatrical program and his shapely characters make the medicine go down easy here. Add a dash of Bobby McFerrin’s score from the Pixar short “Knick Knack” and we’re selling healthcare people! All of this via Studioaka.