Wednesday, April 29, 2015

THE ANIMATED WINNERS OF RIVERRUN!

Okay,
so I'm back from my
judgeship at the 
Riverrun Film Festival
in beautiful
Winston Salem,
North Carolina!
I'm used to going to 
animation-only
festivals where I know,
(or at least know of)
most of the filmmakers 
and attendees.
But Riverrun is primarily a
live-action festival so I didn't 
know many people.
 
Fortunately I had my fellow
 animated shorts jurors:
That's 
New York
animator/director
Celia Bullwinkel 
in the middle.
And that's 
animator
illustrator
designer 
and
Nickelodeon 
development coordinator
Joanna Leitch
on the right.

They kick butt
and we had a great time
wandering around Winston Salem,
eating Southern food
and
drinkin' root beers,
But the real reason we were there was
to watch lots of films,
pass mad judgement
and declare some
winners!

So I present to you
our pick for the 
Best Student Animated Short:

The Present
by
Jacob Frey
from
Filmakademie Baden-Wurttenberg,
Germany


And the winner of
Best Animated Short:

Bear Story
by
Gabrielle Osorio Vargas

Here's what we had to say about it:

“With its mechanical tin toy aesthetic and clever 
take on narrative vs. reality, we and the audience enjoyed 
the film’s tale of a bears tragic and ultimately heroic life story.”


Both are wonderful films.
Definitely check them out if you get a chance!

I'll tell you a little more about 
the festival in my next post.
So stay right where you are, okay?

Thursday, April 23, 2015

THE 2015 ASIFA EAST
ANIMATION FESTIVAL AWARDS SHOW


Seriously...
I don't want you to think I'm just
an animation festival 
JUDGE.

I mean, yeah.

But come May, it's
HOSTING
TIME!

Check it:


You are most cordially invited to attend the 
46th Annual ASIFA-East Animation Festival Awards Ceremony 
hosted by Codename Kids Next Door Creator, 
Tom Warburton.
Sunday, May 17th, 2015
6:00pm – 11:00pm
Tishman Auditorium at The New School
63 5th Avenue, NYC
(NE corner of 13th Street & 5th Ave)
Reception will be held at Wollman Hall directly 
after the Awards Ceremony and Screening. 
Refreshments and drinks will be served. 
You must be 21 to drink. Please bring ID. 
Please stay tuned for more details.
65 West 11th Street, 5th Floor, NYC
(between 5th and 6th Avenue)
Elegant attire is requested.


I mean, 
it only makes sense
that this:

and this:


Leads to this:


Right?

For more info,
head over





Monday, April 20, 2015

PIZZA YEAH!


So a while back some dear friends from 
back home in Pennsylvania
were talking about opening a pizza place.

I jokingly said they should name it
PIZZA YEAH!
because one of them has a 
booming, 
enthusiastic
YEEEEEEAH!
when he's excited about something.

A year or so later I get a call
saying they've
actually
really 
honestly 
done it!

They've bought a place and named it
PIZZA YEAH!

And they'd like me to design the sign.

Well...
YEAH!

First, I doodled a bunch of rough ideas
in my sketchbook:




They liked the 
"Slice Guy"
in some of the roughs
so this dude came into being:


Then I played around with some color ideas:


And now
BOOM:




Thursday, April 16, 2015

GETTING JUDGEMENTAL AT RIVERRUN



After word got out about my 
I've now been asked to pass judgement
in the animation category
at the 
in 
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Founded in 1998, RiverRun was inspired by the French Broad River near 
Brevard, North Carolina, where the festival was originally held.
 RiverRun is a non-profit cultural organization dedicated to the role of cinema 
as a conduit of powerful ideas and diverse viewpoints. 
Our mission is to foster a greater appreciation of cinema and a deeper 
understanding of the many people, cultures and perspectives of our
 world through regular interaction with great films and filmmakers. 

I've never been to Winston-Salem
but I'm looking forward to it,
especially with what looks like a 

So I'll see you there, right?







Monday, April 13, 2015

EMMY NOM NOMS!


There's a lot of 
NOM
NOM
goin'
around:




And
The 7D
has not one but
TWO
NOMS
for the
2015 Daytime Emmy Awards



Congrats to the 7D music team!

And what does 
sooper-talented
sooper-prolific
sooper-funny
7D composer
have to say
about this?

Thursday, April 9, 2015

MY DISNEY TVA ART SHOW PIECE



 

As promised,
here's the piece I did for the
DISNEY TV DISNEYLAND ART SHOW.

I mean...
what's Disneyland
without a 
sooperbiggiant
LINE,
amiright?!

So I started drawing a line of people.
And 18 sheets of paper
and 106 characters later,
this happened:



















It's a little better seeing them all in one line,
but whatchagonna do 
when your blog is
vertical?


And yes...
those are my goblins
having a churro light saber fight
on page four


FUN!

Can't wait to hear what the theme 
is for the
NEXT
TVA art show!






Monday, April 6, 2015

DISNEY TVA ART SHOW: DISNEYLAND


You've been 
TOTALLY
wondering when there's gonna be another
Disney Television Animation
art show,
haven't you.

Well, it happened!

And if you remember correctly,
the last theme was
ZOMBIES.

So what was it this time?

Check it:


Here's a nice promo piece
about the event.
(keep an eye out for the really handsome guy)
(that's me)


There was a great turnout,
as always:


And there was,
of course,
lots of amazing art:


Craig McCracken made some 
really cool
snow globes:




Sophia the First's
Willie Sims
ALWAYS
submits amazing paintings.


Wanna hear something
stoopid?
He's a production guy 
and not an artist on the show.

With skills like this
HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?!

Check the detail:


7D's own
Jennifer Nelson
rocked some more felt


Penn Zero
creator
Sam Levine
got his 8-bit on
like 
this:



Bill Reiss
nailed 
Mickey Mouse Shorts
editor
Illya Owens'
likeness
in this one:










And what about my piece?

We'll get to the bottom of that next time"