MOMMY...WHERE DO SKETCHBOOKS GO WHEN THEY DIE?

Sometimes sketchbooks die.

And they go to a special place on the shelf

with other sketchbooks that have passed on.

They might be gone.

But they'll always be with us in our hearts.

Like this one that booted up on 

November 5th, 2014

whose sticker mash-up is called

ATTACK ON TIN-TIN

The title page injected all manner of organisms 

into this sketchbook's empty pages:

See?

Long meetings often call for a theme.

Like raccoons:

Or fishies:

Chickens:

Mice:

Rabbits:

And generally unhappy

cupcakes:

Here's a t-shirt design by

sooper talented technical director

Darren Clark:

I like drawing birds alot.

Because beaks:

And sometimes you're just not feeling it:

But you zap it and move on:

And then on May 5th, 2005

it was time for this book to lie down:

6 months

feels a little long

to fill one of these puppies.

But I been doin' lots of

non-sketchbook stuff

lately.

Hope to show you some soon!

THE RIVERRUN FILM FESTIVAL

So as promised,

ima tell you all about what

went down at the 

2015 RIVERRUN FILM FESTIVAL

in 

Winston Salem,

North Carolina.

It started out beautiful 

(and tasty) 

with an

outdoor 

"family supper"

in a big open field.

What a great place to mingle

while your mouth is stuffed full of

some killer

Southern BBQ

(OMG the pulled pork!)

But they didn't bring me 

and my fellow jurors

down South to

just eat and drink!

We had to

WORK!

Well, if you consider getting to watch 

a great selection of animated shorts

"work".

There were a lot of fantastic films

and I told you about our picks over

HERE.

But I also got the chance to see a couple of

live action documentaries in competition.

The first was

"Cartoonists: Footsoldiers of Democracy"

This was a fascinating look into 

the creation, the reaction and

the consequences of political cartooning

 around the world. 

Both inspiring and terrifying,

it reminds you that our 

freedom of speech in America,

while not perfect,

is definitely something to be thankful for.

The other movie worth a mention was "SEX ED: THE MOVIE"

It takes a deep look into  the history of school sex ed movies  through the ages. And because the films are so dated, they're very funny. Often hysterical. But also  misinformed, scary, biased, and naive.
Its pretty shocking how terrified  some people are about educating kids about their bodies. But this film drops some real talk:

But seriously, can we get back to talking about food? Because the biscuits at  Marys Gourmet Diner were the greatest Ive ever had in my life:

Oh, and Winston Salem is the home of

Krispy Creme Donuts.

So that action was

EVERYWHERE:

When not watching films at festivals,

you're usually at parties.

Of which there were many:

And there was

ALWAYS

a photo booth:

Ive already stated elsewhere that this is possibly

 the third best picture in the history of North Carolina film festival party

 ping pong battles fought in an old power plant turned into condos:

Festival Director

Andrew Rodgers

and his crew

put on a great festival

and I gotta give them mad thanks for inviting me

to be a judge this year!

Thanks

RIVERRUN!

Hope to see you again one day! 

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!