Subtraction Blog

There has been a rash of new animation Blogs recently. Many of which have been created by the talented people at Uli Meyer Animation Studio. So here’s a list of links for you to peruse.

Uli Meyer
Matt Jones
Gerben Steenks
Joan Cabot
John Nevarez
Hans Bacher
Stephanie Choi
Marco Allard
Stephane Kardos
Neil Ross
Jez Hall
Paul McKeown
Sean Hayden
Gruesomestein’s Monsters

Few! Thanks to Cartoon Brew, Drawn and the people of Skwigly Animation Forum for all the links that I nicked.

Talking of Uli Meyer Studios, they have also donated some of their web space to the Eurovision Art Challenge. Every month a new theme is chosen. Members then enter an illustration based on that theme. All the members vote and and the winner gets to chose the new theme. Sadly they don’t get money. Check it out. There are some lovely illustrations.

Hello? Are you still there? Whoever you are.

Yes, it’s an update to the site. Finally! Regular viewers my have noticed that this page has changed very slightly. I’ve blogified it. This means that it should be a bit easier to add new stuff to the page. It also keeps it neater and adds a lovely search function. I don’t think the RSS thing is working. I really don’t think you’re going to need it though. However, you can always tell me because now there are these comment things at the bottom of each post. So you, lonely reader, can communicate right back at me. I doubt you will though, you’re very quiet.

But wait there’s more. I’ve also added a new project to the site. It’s a short article on the making of this year’s Animated Encounters Festival trailer. So go and check out all the details you never wanted to know about it’s production.

Right that’s enough excitement for now.

Oh dear. What’s happened then? Where are the regular updates? Well, the truth is I don’t have any very good excuses. We are currently in production on a new 2D series at A Productions and work seems to be constant and unending. Really this is a good thing. I’m lucky. There are many people out there in the animation industry who would love to be in constant work. However, I do tend to feel a bit numbed by it all. When I get home I just want to veg out in front of the TV. That’s bad and I feel bad for doing it. However, it’s just very easy to do.

On the plus side I’ve been asked to create the Animated Encounters Festival trailer again this year. I already have an idea of what I want to do. However, I’m leaving the actual animation to someone else. I’ll be directing and compositing the piece. It’s exciting because it is like being commissioned to make a little film. The only problem is that I have to fit it in around my other work. Once it’s finished I’ll put some stuff about its creation on the web site.

A big congratulations to Tim Ruffle and Luis Cook who, along with the other members of their team, recently won the Interactive Media prize at the Design Week Awards 2005. They won the award for their work on the revamped Aardman web site. Design Week is a magazine that covers all aspects of design on a weekly basis, surprisingly. My brother got his picture in the very same magazine when he graduated from university. A bit of trivia there.

Tim has been working at A Productions recently and the award has hardly gone to his head at all. He’s only mentioned that he should get a pay rise a few times.

It was Christmas recently… well… two months ago. Doesn’t time fly. Anyway, I got some lovely books which I thought I would recommend to you, the viewing reader.

Animation Now!: This book gives an overview of the animation industry around the world. It profiles around 80 studios and artists. It contains loads of large colour pictures and is great to just flick through or spend some time reading. An added bonus is that you can learn French and German at the same time. Every bit of text is included in three languages.

The Art of The Incredibles: Basically it’s pictures, lots of lovely development pictures from the huge Pixar/Brad Bird movie.

The Complete Far Side: I’ve wanted to get this for a while. Now I finally have it. It is actually two books, the size of encyclopedias, containing every Far Side cartoon ever published. It weighs a tonne and is still sitting on my bedroom floor because I can’t find a shelf that can hold it. It’s a joy to behold and makes your legs go numb as it slowly cuts off the blood whilst resting it on your lap. As well as the cartoons it also features the occasional letter of complaint or bemusement from newspaper readers who just don’t get Gary Larson’s weird genius. Excellent.

I’m unlikely to update the web site over the next couple of weeks. That will make a change. However, in the new year I plan to start regular updates on the site. I will also be making a concerted effort to get on with my film.

At the moment I’m making Christmas Cards for friends and family. Here is one of my cards from last year.

Have a Happy New Year as well!

www.martz.ca

Whilst looking for a suitable font for a project I came across this site. It is the web site of John Martz, an illustrator. I really like his illustration style. You can also visit his Blog site at www.robotjohnny.com

www.aardman.com

Aardman’s new web site is finally online. It has been in development for at least a year but it looks fantastic.

You may have noticed a lack of updates recently. I don’t really have any good excuses for my shortage of activity on the site. I should be working on my films and projects and giving you updates on them. However, my films tend to develop very slowly. There is always some other idea to think about which is so much more attractive than actually sitting down and doing some proper work.

If you have any suggestions or things you would like me to expand upon then please send me an email. I’m not really sure who reads this web site other than a couple of bored work colleagues. (Hello Duncan). So if you’re out there let me know.

Thanks.

Small independent animation projects are all very well but sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are some big animation and effect studios in the UK producing world class material. So here are some reminders.

www.framestore-cfc.com

Framestore CFC is the biggest effects house in Europe. Based in London they have worked on projects from TV to film. Recent movie work has included the Harry Potter films and the new Thunderbirds.

www.mill.co.uk

The Mill produced the Oscar winning effects for Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. As well as work on TV commercials they have recently been awarded the contract to produce the effects for the new Doctor Who series.

www.passion-pictures.com

Passion Pictures have produced a wealth of interesting and innovative commercials and music videos.

www.aardman.com

Aardman really don’t need any introduction. They are the most famous animation studio in the UK. They do a lot more than just Wallace and Gromit.

www.chf.co.uk

I think I’m right in saying that Cosgrove Hall are the biggest animation studio in Europe. They have created many of the most loved children’s animated series.

E4 and Creative Review Magazine are currently running a competition to design and produce stings (the little channel ident sequences shown before programmes) for E4. The winning stings will be shown on E4 as well as featured on the competition web site. The main winner will also receive £15,000 to develop more stings for the channel. Two runners up will each be given £1500 worth of equipment and ten more runners up will get free subscriptions to Creative Review.

They are looking for funny and unusual sequences which must feature the E4 logo. The logo and optional music can be downloaded from the web site. Apart from some imagination you will also need access to Mini DV, BetaSP or Digi Beta equipment as these are the only tape formats that they will accept.

The deadline for submissions is 14 September 2004.

Go and check out the competition web site for all the details and rules as well as examples of last year’s entries.