Animation techniques and effects from the classic era. For more vintage movie geekery, check out my Old Hollywood Special Effects, and my Early Color Film Processes posts! (And while you’re at it, take a look at my art blog, why don’t ya?)

Thought I’d bring this old chestnut back. Easily one of my all time favorite gif sets. I have a couple more that are still stuck in development hell for a number of reasons.

I love the xerox process

A total of 20 animated features have been submitted for consideration to AMPAS in the Animated Feature Film category. 

Click on the links below to watch trailers for each film. 

01. Big Hero 6

02. The Book of Life

03. The Boxtrolls

04. Cheatin’ 

05. Giovanni’s Island

06. Henry & Me

07. The Hero of Color City

08. How to Train Your Dragon 2

09. Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart

10. Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return

11. The Lego Movie

12. Minuscule: Valley of the Lost Ants

13. Mr. Peabody & Sherman

14. Penguins of Madagascar

15. The Pirate Fairy

16. Planes: Fire & Rescue

17. Rio 2

18. Rocks in My Pockets

19. Song of the Sea

20. The Tale of Princess Kaguya

We’ll know the final choices on January 15, 2015.

I like how in old animation, you knew what object the characters would interact with. Because they were significantly less detailed than the stationary objects around them.

i’m so glad i’m not the only one who noticed..

Earlier today this article was brought to my attention, in which it becomes clear that some of the Academy voters have little to no respect for the animation industry. They openly admit not having watched the nominated films and/or claiming that animated films are for kids, so they didn’t vote. Even the ones shown in the article that did vote barely motivated their choice.

I find this extremely disrespectful of the animators who poured their heart and soul into making these movies, only to have their work be pushed aside without a second glance by the judges of one of the most prominent and well known film awards out there. As an aspiring animator, I am deeply insulted.

Please note that in this post I am expressing no opinion on whether Frozen should have won or not. I think it’s a wonderful film, just as all the other nominees. I am simply saying that we deserve better.

What they did is disrespectful to the creators of every single one of these films, even Frozen. By barely motivating their choice, they make it look like they voted for Frozen simply because of Disney’s status in the industry. Because it’s Disney, and it made a lot of money, so it had to be at least somewhat good. To me it seems like some of the voters just defaulted to voting for the Disney film, and nobody likes to win by default.

Don’t get me wrong, I too have been guilty of loving Disney simply because it’s Disney, but there is so much more beautiful animation out there and it deserves to be taken into consideration. And if Frozen won, it should have won because the majority of the voters thought it was the best film, not because part of the voters was too lazy to even watch the nominated films.

it’s like Pixar… for adults

This is great I swear!

THIS GOT SO GREAT AT THE END LIKE IT WAS GOOD AND THEN THE END

LIVE ACTION vs. FINAL ANIMATION

We all know that in the golden years, as reference for animation, there were live action characters to study movement, posing, lighting, etc. It is all about filling the frame with proportions and personality. Here are some examples for some films, comparing a photostat wit the actor’s performance and the result, showing how greatly they influenced the animators.

Love how they just used a Mickey Mouse plush to reference Michael in the Peter Pan shot.

Many of these actors were favorites and were hired for various characters, like Helene Stanley who was a live action reference for Cinderella and Anastasia Tremaine (Cinderella), Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Anita Radcliffe (101 Dalmatians) or Kathryn Beaumont who was for Alice (Alice in Wonderland) and Wendy Darling (Peter Pan) as seen above.

Original Pictures Source

I thought I’d quickly document my animation process before the apocalypse hits. Happy 12-21-12!