Kung Fu Panda top winner at Annie Awards

This is shamelessly copy/pasted from Animated-News:

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature
Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
$9.99 - Sherman Pictures/Lama Films
WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films
D’ici, Razor Films

Best Animated Home Entertainment Production
Batman: Gotham Knight - Warner Bros. Animation
Christmas Is Here Again - Easy To Dream Entertainment
Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs - The Curiosity
Company in association with 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Justice League: The New Frontier - Warner Bros. Animation
The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning - DisneyToon
Studios

Best Animated Short Subject
Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Hot Dog - Bill Plympton Studio
Presto - Pixar Animation Studios
Sebastian’s Voodoo - Joaquin Baldwin
Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death - Aardman Animations Ltd.

Best Animated Television Commercial
Giant Monster - Curious Pictures
Long Legs Mr. Hyde - Curious Pictures
Rotofugi: The Collectors - Screen Novelties
Sarah - Z Animation
United Airlines “Heart” - Duck Studios

Best Animated Television Production
King of the Hill - 20^th Century Fox TV
Moral Orel - ShadowMachine
Phineas and Ferb - Disney Television Animation
Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
The Simpsons - Gracie Films/Fox TV

Best Animated Television Production Produced for Children
A Miser Brothers Christmas - Warner Bros. Animation
Avatar: The Last Airbender - Nickelodeon
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” - Cartoon Network Studios
The Mighty B! - Nickelodeon
Underfist: Halloween Bash - Cartoon Network Studios

Best Animated Video Game
Dead Space - Electronic Arts
Kung Fu Panda - Activision
WALL-E - Heavy Iron Studios, a division of THQ, Inc.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects
Alen Lai Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Li-Ming Lawrence Lee Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Fangwei Lee Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - DreamWorks Animation
Kevin Lee Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Enrique Vila WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production
James Baxter Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Jeff Gabor Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Philippe Le Brun Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Victor Navone WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Dan Wagner Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Television Production or Short Form
Sandro Cleuzo Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Joshua A. Jennings Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
Pierre Perifel Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Valerie Hadida Igor - Exodus Film Group
Sang Jun Lee Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Nico Marlet Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Bryan Arnett - Mighty B! “Bat Mitzah Crashers” - Nickelodeon
Ben Balistreri - Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Mondo Coco” - Cartoon Network Studios
Sean Galloway The Spectacular Spider-Man - Sony Pictures Television
Jorge Gutierrez - El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “The Good, The Bad, The Tigre” - Nickelodeon
Nico Marlet Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Sam Fell, Rob Stevenhagen The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures
Ari Folman Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
Tatia Rosenthal 9.99 - Sherman Pictures/ Lama Films
John Stevenson & Mark Osborne Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Andrew Stanton WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios

Directing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Bob Anderson - The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror XIX ” - Gracie Films/Fox TV
Joaquim Dos Santos - Avatar: The Last Airbender “Sozin’s Comet Pt. 3” - Nickelodeon
Craig McCracken, Rob Renzetti - Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends “Destination Imagination” - Cartoon Network Studios
Chris McKay - Moral Orel “Passing” - ShadowMachine
Alan Smart - SpongeBob SquarePants “Penny Foolish ” - Nickelodeon

Music in an Animated Feature Production
Kevin Manthei - Batman: Gotham Knight - Warner Bros. Animation
John Powell - Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios
Max Richter - Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
William Ross - The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures
Hans Zimmer & John Powell - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Carl Finch & Brave Combo - Click and Clack’s “As the Wrench Turns” - CTTV Productions
Henry Jackman, Hans Zimmer & John Powell - Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Kevin Kiner - “Star Wars The Clone Wars: Rising Malevolence” - Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.
Guy Moon - Back at the Barnyard “Cowman: The Uddered Avenger” - Nickelodeon/Omation
Guy Michelmore - “Growing Up Creepie: Rockabye Freakie” - Taffy Entertainment LLC

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Ralph Eggleston WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Paul Felix Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tang Heng Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Evgeni Tomov The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures
Raymond Zibach Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation

Production Design in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Andy Harkness Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Tang Heng Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Seonna Hong - The Mighty B! “Bee Patients” - Nickelodeon
Dan Krall - Chowder “The Heavy Sleeper” - Cartoon Network Studios
Raymond Zibach Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Alessandro Carloni - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Ronnie Del Carmen - WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Joe Mateo Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios
Jen Yuh Nelson - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Rob Stevenhagen - The Tale Of Despereaux - Universal Pictures

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Butch Hartman - Fairly OddParents “Mission: Responsible ” - Nickelodeon
Andy Kelly - Ni Hao, Kai-Lan “Twirly Whirly Flyers” - Nickelodeon Productions/Nelvana
Andy Schuler - Secret of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Eddie Trigueros The Mighty B! “Name Shame“- Nickelodeon
Chris Williams Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Ben Burtt - Voice of WALL-E - WALL-E - Pixar Animation Studios
Dustin Hoffman - Voice of Shifu - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
James Hong - Voice of Mr. Ping - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Ian McShane - Voice of Tai Lung - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Mark Walton - Voice of Rhino - Bolt - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Ahmed Best - Voice of Jar Jar Binks - Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
Seth MacFarlane - Voice of Peter Griffin - Family Guy “I Dream of Jesus” - Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions
Dwight Schultz - Voice of Mung Daal - Chowder “Apprentice Games” - Cartoon Network Studios

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Jon Aibel & Glenn Berger - Kung Fu Panda - DreamWorks Animation
Etan Cohen and Eric Darnell & Tom McGrath - Madagascar:Escape 2 Africa - DreamWorks Animation
Ari Folman - Waltz With Bashir - Sony Pictures Classics/Bridgit Folman, Les Films D’ici, Razor Films
Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio - Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who - Blue Sky Studios

Writing in an Animated Television Production or Short Form
Joel H. Cohen - The Simpsons “The Debarted ” - Gracie Films/Fox TV
Scott Kreamer - El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera “Mustache Love” - Nickelodeon
Paul McEvoy and Todd Berger - Secrets of the Furious Five - DreamWorks Animation
Tom Root, Douglas Goldstein, Hugh Davidson, Mike Fasolo, Seth Green, Dan Milano, Matthew Senreich, Kevin Shinick, Zeb Wells - Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II - ShadowMachine
Chris Williams - Glago’s Guest - Walt Disney Animation Studios

Congratulations, well deserved!

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie - cool stop-motion video

(thanks Cameron!)

New Semester Starts!

First day of the new semester (or for some first day at the AAU in general)!!

I wanted to wish everybody good luck and all the best! Work hard, play hard, right? :)

The Power of a Frame

Sometimes you see a photo or a frame out of a movie and it just says it all (or at least something). A great resource for photos is The Big Picture @ boston.com. The photo set of war are pretty intense, so beware.

This has nothing to do with the technique of animation, but to me they are a springboard for ideas for shots. You want to tell a story using the whole frame, not just the characters within the frame.

Here a select few:

Look of fear? Hope? Longing?

A character doesn't always have to be human or a "living creature". The look of set or an environment can say a lot. Or I'm just looking for an excuse to post this awesome picture.

This would be a pain to animate, but it's cool to see a group focused on a single object.

Great facial expression and contrast between characters.

Single path, surrounded by limits, or whatever this image triggers, but the composition is interesting.

That guy is very eager or very lonely.

Guide the audience to the focal point.

That's just funny.

The people just look like ants.

Anyway. Again, nothing purely about animation, but maybe an inspiration to some.

Various Anim stuff

Up Poster found @ iwatchstuff and you can watch a scene from the movie (no spoilers) @ vimeo. The kid's voice is super low, kinda creepy. :)

Opening cinematic of Killzone 2. That's one long shot, holy moly.

A new Monsters vs. Aliens featurette is @ Animated-News

The Artistic Anatomy Blog

Here's another fantastic blog. "The Artistic Anatomy Blog" has TONS of figure drawings, paintings, studies, etc. Being figure centric, you'll see a lot of nudity, so sensitive people beware. Great resource and a fantastic reminder of how much I suck at drawing. :)

Temple of the Seven Golden Camels

I've mentioned this site before, but it's always good to remind people to check it out.

There are great posts, the newest ones being:

- "Do Your Research, it's Easier than Ever"
- "Simple Ways to Improve Any Picture"
- "FAC: Composition"
- "Creative Illustration: Composition"

"9" and "Planet 51" trailers

Bit late on that one, but iwatchstuff has the trailer for Shane Acker's "9".


Then go to Sony's site to watch the new "Planet 51" trailer.

T28 - Teaser

Watch it @ imagius.com!

Busy busy and lots of anim stuff

Hey all, sorry for the lack of posts. I'm really busy at work and was sick over the week-end...

But there's a lot of good stuff out there and I don't want you guys to miss out, so here we go:

I love it when John Nevarrez posts motivatinal blogs and here's a new bunch but this time over @ Cooked Art.

from SP-BOESCH-IAL




Great stuff (especially from "Burn Safari") over @ Aurelien Predal



There's a lot more, so make sure to check out the post @ Cooked Art.

The Academy of Art Animation Notes points to sweet drawings that emphasize the line-of-action, among other things. Very cartoony but super cool.


Then we got the January 2009 Animation Mentor Newsletter.


- The Year of the Indie Animator
- Find your Passion in 2009! A message from Bobby Beck
- Short Film: "Prospective Student by Eric Luhta
- Mentor: Jalil Sadool from Weta Digital
- Student: Corinne Hawari
- Tips & Tricks by Shawn Kelly: I'll never be as good as animator as so-and-so

Good read as always, so check it out.

- Harold Carr sent me a great email, he points to Amazon which has the Walt Stanchfield Notes, 2 Volumes, $20 each. I had them as print outs laying somewhere, but it's just not the same as a neat book. Yeah, I'm Swiss, I like organized and neat stuff, leave me alone. :)


But the great thing about the email was a link to an hour long cut-scene compilation of "Full Throttle". If you don't know Full Throttle then shame on you!!! :)

During LucasArts' glory years they released the absolute awesome classic games like Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, the Monkey Island series, The Dig, Grim Fandango, etc. etc. and of course Full Throttle. I love those point and click adventure games. The stories were great, the puzzles super funny and the 2D animation a blast. When I first got the iPod Touch I had to jailbreak it just so I could put ScummVM on it (SCUMM being Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion), which let me play Fate of Atlantis where I went. AWESOME!!!!


So come on LucasArts, re-release those games on the iPhone, people want it!!! Ok, maybe it's just me...

That's it for now, more will come. Plus I think I fixed my computer, so stay tuned.