FLOG! Entries tagged 'animation'

Wake Up, Percy Gloom commercial no. 1

mike

From Cathy Malkasian, the first in a series of animated "commercials" for Wake Up, Percy Gloom, the upcoming sequel to her acclaimed debut graphic novel Percy Gloom, coming this Spring. If you weren't already conscious of the book... now you are!

Wandering Son is 10 years old!

TheJenVaughn

Serialized since December 2002 in Comic Beam Magazine, Shimura Takako's beautiful take on adolescence and growing up Wandering Son is celebrating its 10th year in Japan. With complex characters who discover they enjoy identifying as a different gender than their own, the story slowly evolves as Nitori and Takatsuki gain confidence. A quiet story that resonates deep with anyone who has felt different or been teased for seeming not manly or girly enough. Matt Thorn and Fantagraphics first made Wandering Son accessible in English in 2011 but we're speeding up the process! Volume 4 comes out at the beginning of the new year, followed by Volume 5 in June. Six will shortly follow, hopefully in time for the holidays.

The Wandering Son anime is available to watch for free at Anime News Network if you want a taste of the graphic novels. The beautiful watercolor-style of Takako is reflected in the treatment of the anime. Young middle-school students often openly describe what they want to learn throughout the school year, offer ways to help each other become the person they want to be in a refreshingly ernest way. The graphic novels are a to-die-for with pristine design and gorgeous Takako full-color character introductions. Sign up for a subscrption of Volumes 4-6 or check out your local library today! And eat a delicious cupcake to celebrate Wandering Son!

Ron Reg� Jr. animation for MTV's Liquid Television!

mike

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You may remember last year when we shared news about MTV putting their classic Liquid Television shorts from the 19mumbledy-somethings online, including work by Charles Burns, Richard Sala and other cartooning greats. We were all waiting for new original material from our comics heroes and MTV has not disappointed, rolling out a new series Worldword! the new episode of which, "Heal Everything, Heal Everyone," features artwork by Ron Regé Jr.! Ron tells us "I did drawings for a second one too, that will be coming out! Future installments will feature art by Leif Goldberg, Brian Chippendale, Kevin Hooyman, Megan Whitmarsh, and probably other people that I don't know about... um.... yeah! ????"

See more info & credits on the Liquid Television Tumblr blog and at Tiny Showcase, who have joined the fun with this limited-edition print of Ron's artwork!

Dash Shaw's new Sigur R�s music video

mike

Seraph from Sigur Rós Valtari Mystery Films on Vimeo.

Seriously go grab something to mop up the tears and exploded-brain matter before clicking "play" on this astonishing short animated film directed by Dash Shaw and co-written by Dash and filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell (with backgrounds by Frank Santoro) encompassing two songs by the amazing Icelandic band Sigur Rós from their new album Valtari. Like seriously.

Dave Cooper & Johnny Ryan present: PigGoatBananaMantis!

mike

Word's been buzzing around for a while that Dave Cooper & Johnny Ryan were developing an animated show for kids together and once we picked the pieces of our heads up off the floor we've all been eager to see the results. Well here it is, and now we have pieces of head all over the place again. PigGoatBananaMantis! was written by Johnny, art-directed by Dave, and animated by Nick Cross. (See the full list of credits on the YouTube page.) What do they call this, a pitch reel? Demo? I dunno, but whatever cable network executive passed on this is an IDIOT.

Things to See: Paul Hornschemeier hits your TV screen with a (Comedy) Bang! Bang!

mike

Comedy Bang! Bang! premieres on the IFC cable network tonight (check your local listings) with an animated title sequence and incidental artwork by the great Paul Hornschemeier (with an inking assist from our own Eric Reynolds, among others) and Paul is sharing a bunch of behind-the-scenes production art and sketches at his blog here and here. My DVR is set!

Tardi on the big screen!

kimt

Wouldn't you like to see a full-length steampunk animated feature designed by Jacques Tardi? Yeah, so would we. Here's a teaser trailer for just such a thing currently in development, from the studio that brought you PERSEPOLIS, called LE MONDE TRUQUÉ (co-written by Tardi's COCKROACH KILLER writer Benjamin Legrand, for good measure). In English, yet. Enjoy!

Dave Cooper's animation development deal

mike

It's an official announcement: Dave Cooper has entered into a development deal with TELETOON and Radical Sheep Productions for The Bagel and Becky Show, an animated TV program based on Bagel's Lucky Hat, Dave's children's book under his nom de plume Hector Mumbly. Dave says "just keep in mind this is 'development' not 'going into production' yet. Please cross all your fingers and toes for me over the next several months!!" Congrats and good luck Dave!

In more Dave news, check out this badass silkscreen poster he did for a 2010 Mastodon gig, which you can now buy from him (and don't forget about his "weekly art offering" too):

Young Romance editor Michel Gagne wins 2011 Annie Award

mike

It's a big, big week for Young Romance: The Best of Simon & Kirby's Romance Comics editor Michel Gagne: not only does his labor-of-love book come out this week after years in development, he's also won the highly prestigious 2011 International Animated Film Society Annie Award ("Animation's Highest Honor") for Best Animated Video Game for his creation Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet! Congratulations Michel!

(And hey, Eric Reynolds won for his work on that new Planet of the Apes movie! I didn't know you were moonlightin' in Hollywood, Eric... Oh, a different Eric Reynolds? Never mind.)

Classic Liquid Television now online - Dog Boy, Invisible Hands & more

mike

Via The A.V. Club and other internet sources comes news that MTV has a new website for Liquid Television, and they've posted a whole mess of classic clips from the original run of the beloved and long-departed alternative-animation anthology show (along with some newer stuff, it seems)! Watch Charles Burns and Tony Halton's entire live-action Dog Boy serial (part 1 embedded below)...

Get More: MTV Shows

...Richard Sala's Invisible Hands serial (part 1 below)...

Get More: MTV Shows

...Uncle Louie, with art by Drew Friedman (episode 1 below)...

Get More: MTV Shows

...and many other classics. This is fantastic news, and a definite improvement over the bootleg-quality stuff that's been floating around on YouTube. (Now if the original creators are getting royalty payments from it, that's even better. I also wish they had complete credits on the site but I guess you can't have everything.)

Vintage Jack Davis animated TV commercials

mike

Excitement for our big art book Jack Davis: Drawing American Pop Culture is building, and in that spirit fan Mike Ewing took to Twitter to point out this great compilation of Davis's animated television commercials for various products, posted to YouTube by user "chiefzabu." Fun stuff! One stars Ruth Buzzi and to my ear it sounds like the great Frank Welker in the Lectric Shave one.

Michael Kupperman's Pablo Picasso cartoon from TV Funhouse

mike

I've been hoping Michael Kupperman's animated segments for Robert Smigel's TV Funhouse show would show up online, and lo, here's one on YouTube as pointed out by Michael on Twitter — watch it before the Viacom copyright elves make it disappear...

Things to See: 6/27/11 Roundup

mike

• A gallery of Lorenzo Mattotti's recent cover illustrations for Internazionale's annual fiction (I think) issue

• Renee French's cute guy with awful infestation and cute guy with jaunty hat

• Recent sketches by Eleanor Davis

• Sergio Ponchione sure does great dedication sketches — here's a recent batch

• Drew Friedman presents the history of the Barfo Family, complete with concept art by himself, Art Spiegelman and Mark Newgarden

• Illos by Tim Lane for The New York Times and The Progressive

• Steve Brodner's illustration for a New Yorker article on racial tensions in the UK

• Richard Sala's newlyweds and Babes on Broadway

• Jason gets sexy with his lone attempt at cheesecake circa 1988 and a Prince illustration from the same time period — plus more teenage sketches at The Old Cat and the Dog

• Watch Lilli Carré's dancing lady in animated-GIF action

• Leslie Stein wraps up the last page of Eye of the Majestic Creature issue 5, which picks up where the book leaves off

• It's the return of Steven Weissman's Tiny Joe & Junior! Plus his latest "I, Anonymous " spot

• Noah Van Sciver presents "The True Tale of the Denver Spider Man," his story from Mome Vol. 15

• Sketchbook drawings & comics by Anders Nilsen

Weekend Webcomics for 5/13/11: Kupperman, Weissman & more

mike

Our weekly strips from Kupperman (who notes that "Moon 69" will resume next week) & Weissman, plus two weeks worth of links to other strips from around the web:

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Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

Barack Hussein Obama by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

And elsewhere:

Amazing Facts... and Beyond! with Leon Beyond by Kevin Huizenga:

Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane:

Ectiopiary by Hans Rickheit:

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell:

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

What happens when Tony is too drunk to draw:

Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge (at Act-i-vate):

The Pain — When Will It End? by Tim Kreider (from 1997, with artist's statement):

Les Petits Riens by Lewis Trondheim:

Smashing Crayons by Steve Brodner at SlateV:

Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

Underworld by Kaz & co. (click for animated strip):

Things to See: Percy Gloom's Dinky Theatre #1

mike

A delightful new animatic by Cathy Malkasian, who, you may recall, is a BAFTA-nominated animator in addition to being an Eisner-winning graphic novelist. The "#1" in the title makes us hopeful for more episodes!

Paul Hornschemeier's Life with Mr. Dangerous trailer

mike

Life with Mr. Dangerous from Paul Hornschemeier on Vimeo.

Paul Hornschemeier's Mome serial "Life with Mr. Dangerous" comes to simulated life in this spiffy animated trailer made for the collected edition coming next month from Random House/Villard. Paul has some brief notes about it on his Forlorn Funnies blog. Mark your calendars: Paul's coast-to-coast book tour brings him to Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery on June 18!

Things to See: 4/4/11 Roundup

mike

• Check out Mack White's illustrations for Michael del Ray's book Long Term Parking

• Monster Brains presents "Momster" by Ted Jouflas from Weirdo #26 (1989)

• "Ghost Dream," a sketchbook comic by Drew Weing

• From Lilli Carré, a short animated film, a poster for an event she'll be at, and a teaser of her work in the new Smoke Signal

• Leslie Stein gives this peek at artwork from the 6th issue of Eye of the Majestic Creature

• Panels for the next installment of "Nothing Eve" for Mome by Kurt Wolfgang at New Bodega

• Also working away on a new Mome story: Laura Park

• And yet more Mome previewing: new pages from "Wild Man" by T. Edward Bak

• Messages from Killoffer at Lewis Trondheim's Les petits riens blog

• Shirley from the TV show Community by Josh Simmons

• Renee French custom-painted this Dylan Sprouse vinyl figure; plus the usual drawings etc. at her blog; plus we like this photo on Sprouse's website for obvious reasons

• Sammy Harkham on Flickr

• A panel by Carol Tyler; also check out a photo of her drawing desk

And more Things to See from the past week:

• Illustrations, sketches and film reviews by Jason at his Cats Without Dogs blog

• Steven Weissman's latest "I, Anonymous" spot and sketching on his Chewing Gum in Church blog

• Drawings & diagrams from Frank Santoro

• Puppets in progress by Marco Corona

• Another possible puppet or other figurine in progress in some mysterious photos from Paul Hornschemeier

• Vintage Jim Flora artwork and illustrations at the Jim Flora blog

• Sketches by Mark Kalesniko for his new graphic novel Freeway at his blog

• "The Strangest Story You Ever Heard in Your Life" continues at Splog!, the Sergio Ponchione Lost Objects Gallery blog, plus an illustration at Mondobliquo

• Daily storyboards & production art from Dash Shaw at The Ruined Cast blog

• Watercolor panel process by Derek Van Gieson

• Daily sketches by Tom Kaczynski at his Transatlantis blog

Dash Shaw's Unclothed Man comes to McSweeney's Wholphin DVD

mike

Excellent and welcome news: On his The Ruined Cast blog Dash Shaw announces: "The 13th volume of Wholphin, the McSweeney’s quarterly DVD anthology, will have my 2009 IFC series The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. on it." That's artwork from the animated series in the lower quadrant on the cover there; of course, much more artwork from the series, as well as a bunch of Dash's short stories, can be found in our companion book of the same name, and the series is still available to watch at IFC.com.

Weekend Webcomics for 3/25/11: Kupperman, Weissman & more

mike

Our weekly strips from Kupperman & Weissman, plus links to other strips from around the web:

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Up All Night by Michael Kupperman (view at original size):

"Peter Criss Diary" by Steven Weissman (view at original size):

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And elsewhere:

Belligerent Piano by Tim Lane:

Lucky by Gabrielle Bell:

Maakies by Tony Millionaire:

Mugwhump the Great by Roger Langridge (at Act-i-vate):

The Pain — When Will It End? by Tim Kreider (from 1994, with artist's statement):

Truth Serum by Jon Adams:

Underworld by Kaz & co. (click for animated strip):

Things to See: Clobberin' Time (video)

mike

CLOBBERIN� TIME from chris anthony diaz on Vimeo.

Super-fan Chris Diaz and a few collaborators have created this spiffy short video putting together a series of Steven Weissman Post-It drawings into a quick animation with sound effects. Biff!