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?

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.

I'm heading out to the 

RiverRun Film Festival

to get judgy wit it.

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

HERE!

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:

If you're in Langhorne, PA

anytime soon,

stop in for a slice and say

YEAH!

GETTING JUDGEMENTAL AT RIVERRUN

After word got out about my 

all-star 

injury-free

judging performance 

at last year's

Ottawa International Animation Festival,

I've now been asked to pass judgement

in the animation category

at the 

Riverrun Film Festival

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 

fun line-up of films!

So I'll see you there, right?

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

Parry Gripp

have to say

about this?

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!

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

(like she did here)

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"