Friday, April 14, 2006
Eight Great Blogs For Students Of Animation
Lately, there has been a lot of activity in the "blogosphere" related to design and animation history. I want to quickly bring a few blogs to your attention that you should add to your bookmarks. I've limited this list to the blogs that provide the best resources for information on animation history, analysis and design for students. There are many other great news and personal artist sites to explore as well. In no particular order...
John Kricfalusi's ALL KINDS OF STUFF
John K's blog is swiftly rising to the top of the traffic rankings, and for good reason... He's packing it full of amazing drawings and solid information. His analysis of style in animation surpasses that of anything currently in print. Post by post, he's laying the groundwork for a broadly arching theory about the creative process that taps upon the whole history of cartooning, from T. S. Sullivant and Milt Gross all the way through the present day. I really don't need to say anything else about John's blog, except to say that it is essential reading for all animators.
Michael Sporn's SPLOG
Michael Sporn's Splog is to independent animation what John K's blog is to cartoons. Sporn has had a long career in animation, going all the way back to the days when he worked with John and Faith Hubley, Richard Williams and R. O. Blechman, before creating his own studio. His blog is anecdotal and varied, as a forum for a creative artist's reflections should be, with commentary on the current animation scene, reflections on his own past work, and analysis of the importance of great animators from the past. Sporn's understanding and appreciation of the art of animation radiates through every post.
Jenny Lerew's BLACKWING DIARIES
Jenny Lerew's blog is indispensable reading for all animators for two reasons... First, for the well articulated analysis of the creative process in animation. Her articles on the art of pitching a storyboard, the importance of simplicity, and the need for likeable and honest protagonists in animated features are clear and direct and derive from practical experience and a firm foundation in the history of the medium. Secondly, her research into the life and work of Freddie Moore have been shining new light on a major talent. Moore's work illustrates vividly what is missing from a lot of animation today. Students of animation would be well advised to follow Jenny Lerew's blog closely.
Marc Deckter's DUCK WALK
Marc Deckter is one of the handful of people who form the core of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive project. He's an animator himself, and has great appreciation for the history of the artform. He recently became inspired to create his own blog, Duck Walk. Although there are just a few postings so far, his article on rubber hose animation, and his collection of images by T.S. Sullivant are already tops on my list of great blog postings. Marc donates time each week to help us catalog the material being inducted into our digital archive. Through his work at the archive, he sees more cartoons and artwork than anyone else in town. You'll want to read what he has to say about all of it.
Clarke Snyder's INSPIRATION GRAB BAG
Clarke Snyder's approach to animation blogging is very similar to my own. In each of his postings, he focuses on a single artist or film. He provides an introduction to put the work in context, and then provides a long stack of jaw droppingly beautiful images. He's done features on many of my favorites... Virgil Partch, Mel Crawford, Floyd Gottfredson, and Milt Gross... as well as some of the best looking animated films ever made... Gerald McBoing Boing, Deputy Droopy and Betty Boop in Old Man of the Mountain. If you find the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog to be useful, you need to follow this one as well.
Amid Amidi's CARTOON MODERN
Amid Amidi has been working on a book dealing with 50s animation design for several years now. I shared some of my own original artwork from UPA with him back when he was first starting on the project. Since then, he has amassed a remarkable amount of information on an area of animation that has been relegated to the back chapter of too many history books for too long. The stories of Disney and WB have been told... It's time for books that tell the rest of the story. Cartoon Modern features info on great artists like Bobe Cannon, Ed Benedict, Mary Blair and Tom Oreb. The focus is on a very narrow time frame and range of styles, but it's invaluable research into an area that's been neglected in the past.
Dan Goodsell's A SAMPLER OF THINGS
Dan Goodsell, the author of Krazy Kids' Food! Vintage Food Graphics for Taschen, was our first Archive Alliance member. Dan's personal collection of pop culture graphics, cereal mascot material, and just plain crazy wonderful stuff is monumental. His blog, A Sampler of Things is a showcase for his own comic work, The Imaginary World of Mr. Toast, and a way to share images of material from his collection. Dan's eye for quality is unerring, and he has grouped items from his collection to reveal a context that one wouldn't normally see viewing them in everyday life. That's the mark of a truly brilliant collector.
P-E Fronning's group blog, MARTIN KLASCH and his scrapbook blog MUSSELOPPANS VANNER
I know nothing at all about P-E Fronning except that he lives in Sweden, and his blogs consistently unearth remarkable examples of photography, illustration, industrial design, popular culture, animation and comics. It's rare when every single posting in a blog fascinates me, but this blog succeeds at that. I could easily spend an entire day just navigating through all the links in the sidebar. Along with Boing Boing, this is the blog I find myself reading most often.
These are just a few of my favorite blogs. You'll find more, including great animation news sites and artists' personal blogs in my Technorati Blogroll.
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
John Kricfalusi's ALL KINDS OF STUFF
John K's blog is swiftly rising to the top of the traffic rankings, and for good reason... He's packing it full of amazing drawings and solid information. His analysis of style in animation surpasses that of anything currently in print. Post by post, he's laying the groundwork for a broadly arching theory about the creative process that taps upon the whole history of cartooning, from T. S. Sullivant and Milt Gross all the way through the present day. I really don't need to say anything else about John's blog, except to say that it is essential reading for all animators.Michael Sporn's SPLOG
Michael Sporn's Splog is to independent animation what John K's blog is to cartoons. Sporn has had a long career in animation, going all the way back to the days when he worked with John and Faith Hubley, Richard Williams and R. O. Blechman, before creating his own studio. His blog is anecdotal and varied, as a forum for a creative artist's reflections should be, with commentary on the current animation scene, reflections on his own past work, and analysis of the importance of great animators from the past. Sporn's understanding and appreciation of the art of animation radiates through every post.Jenny Lerew's BLACKWING DIARIES
Jenny Lerew's blog is indispensable reading for all animators for two reasons... First, for the well articulated analysis of the creative process in animation. Her articles on the art of pitching a storyboard, the importance of simplicity, and the need for likeable and honest protagonists in animated features are clear and direct and derive from practical experience and a firm foundation in the history of the medium. Secondly, her research into the life and work of Freddie Moore have been shining new light on a major talent. Moore's work illustrates vividly what is missing from a lot of animation today. Students of animation would be well advised to follow Jenny Lerew's blog closely.Marc Deckter's DUCK WALK
Marc Deckter is one of the handful of people who form the core of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive project. He's an animator himself, and has great appreciation for the history of the artform. He recently became inspired to create his own blog, Duck Walk. Although there are just a few postings so far, his article on rubber hose animation, and his collection of images by T.S. Sullivant are already tops on my list of great blog postings. Marc donates time each week to help us catalog the material being inducted into our digital archive. Through his work at the archive, he sees more cartoons and artwork than anyone else in town. You'll want to read what he has to say about all of it.Clarke Snyder's INSPIRATION GRAB BAG
Clarke Snyder's approach to animation blogging is very similar to my own. In each of his postings, he focuses on a single artist or film. He provides an introduction to put the work in context, and then provides a long stack of jaw droppingly beautiful images. He's done features on many of my favorites... Virgil Partch, Mel Crawford, Floyd Gottfredson, and Milt Gross... as well as some of the best looking animated films ever made... Gerald McBoing Boing, Deputy Droopy and Betty Boop in Old Man of the Mountain. If you find the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog to be useful, you need to follow this one as well.Amid Amidi's CARTOON MODERN
Amid Amidi has been working on a book dealing with 50s animation design for several years now. I shared some of my own original artwork from UPA with him back when he was first starting on the project. Since then, he has amassed a remarkable amount of information on an area of animation that has been relegated to the back chapter of too many history books for too long. The stories of Disney and WB have been told... It's time for books that tell the rest of the story. Cartoon Modern features info on great artists like Bobe Cannon, Ed Benedict, Mary Blair and Tom Oreb. The focus is on a very narrow time frame and range of styles, but it's invaluable research into an area that's been neglected in the past.Dan Goodsell's A SAMPLER OF THINGS
Dan Goodsell, the author of Krazy Kids' Food! Vintage Food Graphics for Taschen, was our first Archive Alliance member. Dan's personal collection of pop culture graphics, cereal mascot material, and just plain crazy wonderful stuff is monumental. His blog, A Sampler of Things is a showcase for his own comic work, The Imaginary World of Mr. Toast, and a way to share images of material from his collection. Dan's eye for quality is unerring, and he has grouped items from his collection to reveal a context that one wouldn't normally see viewing them in everyday life. That's the mark of a truly brilliant collector.P-E Fronning's group blog, MARTIN KLASCH and his scrapbook blog MUSSELOPPANS VANNER
I know nothing at all about P-E Fronning except that he lives in Sweden, and his blogs consistently unearth remarkable examples of photography, illustration, industrial design, popular culture, animation and comics. It's rare when every single posting in a blog fascinates me, but this blog succeeds at that. I could easily spend an entire day just navigating through all the links in the sidebar. Along with Boing Boing, this is the blog I find myself reading most often.These are just a few of my favorite blogs. You'll find more, including great animation news sites and artists' personal blogs in my Technorati Blogroll.
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
