Toys Coming to Life
Do you know what film strips and zoetropes have in common? They have slits. I am not referring to the British punk rock band or a woman's dress. I am talking about the vertical and/or horizontal…
Ahhh! Boom! Crescendos!
Sometimes a very powerful aspect can be easily over looked or in this case, overheard. After being in Mark Berger's "Sound" class back at Cal, he broke sound for films into three major categories:…
Academy of Art Students work on “Beasts”
A message from Dr. Elisa Stephens: Dear Academy of Art University Community, Please join me in congratulating Executive Director of Animation & Visual Effects, Chris Armstrong and the faculty at…
Inspiration: Master animator Sylvain Chomet
In this excerpt from the BBC series "The Secret of Drawing" (2006) director Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville and L'Illusionniste ) demonstrates his approach to drawing for animation. The…
Inspiration: Master Animator Joanna Quinn
Master Animators at work. It's always interesting and educational to see how an animator approaches animating their scenes. First up, the amazing Joanna Quinn . More Joanna Quinn on YouTube :…
Shop talk: Traditional animation and Cintiq tablets
An article in animator Steve Moore's online animation magazine FLIP! has a survey of animator's who are using Cintiq tablets for their professional and personal animation work. With so many…
Bane Brings the Pain
As many of you might know, the newest Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises directed by Christopher Nolan was released this month. If you are a Batman fan and have read the comics, you are probably…
Monthly Film Screenings at the Walt Disney Museum
The Walt Disney Museum selects a classic Disney film each month to show in their theater. Check out the calendar of events here. July Sword in the Stone (1963) 11am, 1pm & 4pm | Daily except…
new animated feature: “Ernest et Célestine”
Looks like we can eagerly anticipate yet another wonderful hand-drawn animated film from France. Thank goodness the French animators apparently did not get the memo that "2D is dead" .…
The Lady Behind the Mouse
After being sick for a few days and wearing gloves (don't ask), my days of looking like Minnie Mouse with the white gloves are over. Minnie Mouse will always be known as Mickey Mouse's love interest.…