“Michael Nesbitt, an artist living in Aylmer, Quebec, has found local fame for his Flash-animated anime short Yuki Tani No Shuraba. The 6-minute film recently won an award at the California International Animation Festival. According to an article in the St. Thomas Times Journal Nesbitt began the film in school, and recently returned to the unfinished film and is now selling his own DVDs.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 17, 2007 in Animation
The above animated public service announcements were shown in the Kantō region of Japan, my guess is that they’re from the 70s. What I like about these spots is that they feel very Japanese, but they don’t look like typical anime. There’s also something quite charming about the limited animation and cheerful music.
“The Force may soon be coming to a television near you. George Lucas said Tuesday he is planning a live-action television series spinoff of the “Star Wars” film franchise. Lucas told The Los Angeles Times he has “just begun work” on the series, which will not include the films’ major characters Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. “The Skywalkers aren’t in it, and it’s about minor characters,” Lucas told the Times. Lucas wouldn’t reveal details, but joked that the series would be about “the life of robots.” Lucas already has another television series in the works. Lucas Animation has been working for months on the computer-animated “Star Wars: The Clone Wars”.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 16, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above are a few panels from Killing Girl #3 by Toby Cypress. While I see tons of comics that are so uptight about getting the inking just so, I love the animated expressionistic approach that Cypress uses on the interiors of this book.
“British fans of Nintendo Wii and Star Wars will get a first glimpse of the console’s upcoming Light Sabre peripheral at a gaming festival being held later this month. LucasArts will be exhibiting the peripheral alongside its forthcoming Wii title Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, at the GameCity festival due to be held between 24 and 28 October. Unfortunately, gamers will only be able to get in touch with their Jedi sides and use the Light Sabre on one day: 26 October.
Although LucasArts didn’t say if the peripheral or the game will be available to buy at the festival, the demo should at least gives gamers the chance to wield the Light Sabre ahead of the previously announced Spring 2008 release date.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 15, 2007 in Animation
Released in April 12, 1945 Momotaro’s Divine Sea Warriors was the first full length featured anime film (74 minutes long) made in Japan. The film was directed during World War II by Mitsuyo Seo and produced as propaganda for the Imperial Navy Department of Japan.
Special thanks to Nicholas D. Kent for finding this! Nick also had these other great insights to share:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 15, 2007 in Animation
Show above is an amazing behind the scenes look at the making of Snow White from 1938. The funny thing is that Disney still uses the “behind the scenes look” to promote their fimls today, but to be fair when you have a high level of craftsmanship you should show it off.
The Optical Mickey Mouse shown above is quite swanky! What’s cute about it is that it also includes a matching mouse pad that uses the same black and white comic strip motif.
