Animated People: Evelyn Lambart

Today, July 23rd, is Canadian animator Evelyn Lambart's birthday and the NFB is pulling out all the stops to celebrate this amazingly talented woman of animation.

If you're interested in learning more about Evelyn and her work at the NFB, I encourage readers to check out this blog post at the NFB website written by Carolyne Weldon: Evelyn Lambart | Watch 6 Stunning Shorts by the First Lady of Canadian Animation.

Shared from the National Film Board of Canada's Facebook post:

'"Join us in celebrating Evelyn Lambart's birthday! Hired by the NFB in 1942 to animate the maps featured in our "The World In Action" series, she quickly became a master of paint-on-glass animation. Before striking it out on her own, she worked alongside Norman McLaren, animating several of his most famous films."

Revisit her filmography for free today → bit.ly/EvelynLambartNFB'

I hope that you'll use the link above and take time today to revisit a film or two from Evelyn's filmography.

Here's one of my personal favorites from her library of films, 1968's cut-out animation Fine Feathers:

'Fine Feathers', 'Evelyn Lambart', provided by the National Film Board of Canada

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Women of Animation: Eleven Moving Moments with Evelyn Lambart

So back at the 2017 Ottawa International Animation Festival, the National Film Board of Canada showed up with a documentary showcasing Evelyn Lambart, the "First Woman of Canadian Animation" (produced by Donald McWilliams). Often overlooked due to her close working relationship with filmmaking powerhouse Norman McLaren, Evelyn Lambart was a gifted animator in her own right and McWilliams' documentary showcases this seriously neglected facet of Canadian Animation history.

Well the other day, as fate would have it, I received an e-mail from the NFB (I'm on their mailing list) stating that they've finally released said documentary on their website. So I'm very pleased to be able to share it with you.

Eleven Moving Moments with Evelyn Lambart, Donald McWilliams, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

Additionally, on the NFB's website, they've written a blog post titled "The Life and Times of Evelyn Lambart" that serves as a good overview of her life and career and introduction to the documentary. I encourage everyone interested in animation history to read the article and then watch Eleven Moving Moments. However, if you'd like to skip the blog post and jump right to the documentary, it can be viewed on this blog post via the embedded video, or on the NFB's website at the following link: Eleven Moving Moments with Evelyn Lambart.

And if you have the time, I also recommend reading Carolyne Weldon's article on Evelyn: "Watch 6 Stunning Shorts by the First Lady of Canadian Animation". In Carolyne's article, you can watch several of Evelyn's films in their entirety including The Lion and the Mouse, The Hoarder, Fine Feathers, and The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse--which is reportedly the last film that she produced for the NFB.

Evelyn Lambart died on April 3, 1999 leaving behind a filmography that includes some classics of cinema that were produced with Norman McLaren as well as an amazing body of animated films of her own creation. Many decades later, "the First Woman of Canadian Animation" is finally starting to get the long overdue recognition that she rightfully deserves.

Animated People: Norman McLaren

Happy Birthday to Norman McLaren, animator, experimental filmmaker, Academy Award winner, and champion of animation at the National Film Board of Canada, who was born on April 11, 1914.

Featured below is his Academy Award winning film "Neighbours", created using the pixillation technique.

Get Animated Workshop: Paint-on-glass

On Saturday, July 16th, I'll be teaching a workshop on the Paint-on-glass technique of animation at the Grand Rapids Media Center.

WHAT: Animation using the paint-on-glass technique

WHERE: 1110 Wealthy St, Grand Rapids, MI 49506

WHEN: Saturday, July 16th, starting at 9:00 a.m. and running until 1:00 p.m.

WHO: For further information, please feel free to contact the GRCMC or myself, or you can visit the Grand Rapids Media Center's website.

HOW MUCH: Admission for this event is $20 for non-members and $10 for GRCMC members. Advance tickets can be purchased at the GRCMC event website.

ANYTHING ELSE: Yep! I've just received permission from Canadian animator Patrick Jenkins to show his award winning paint-on-glass animation "Labyrinth" (info is about half-way down the page).

Animated Thoughts: TAIS/NFB Elemental Magic Workshop

Joseph Gilland and the author

I spent last weekend in Toronto. It had been months since I have seen my friends in TAIS, so when they announced the Joseph Gilland "Elemental Magic" workshop at the NFB Mediateque, well, it was time for me to make my quarterly trip to Canada. This visit was another shining example of why I travel to Toronto every quarter for screenings and workshops: community!

The weekend began around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday morning when I woke up, showered, threw my stuff in the car and drove to Toronto (arriving around 9:30 a.m.). After checking in to the Grange Hotel, taking a one hour nap, and changing some USD into CAD, I jumped on a streetcar and spent the morning enjoying breakfast at Movenpik, walking around the St. Lawrence Market and capturing images for an animation I'm working on. But, as the day approached 3 p.m., I got on the TTC and hiked up to the Labyrinth bookstore just in time to meet Joseph Gilland. I had only planned to spend a couple minutes there as I didn't want to monopolize Mr. Gilland's time or get in the way of other people's enjoyment. But, community has a way of changing your plans. As there wasn't a line when I first got there, I was able to spend some quality time with Joseph before everyone else started showing up (score one for Mr. "I'd rather be fifteen minutes early than five minutes late!"). As has been my experience with famous animators, Joseph was very energetic and easy to talk to. He answered my questions, showed an interest in the animation work I was doing, autographed my copy of his book (Elemental Magic: The Art of Special Effects Animation) and drew a picture on the cover page.

Autographing books with a signature and a drawing

Just like my experiences meeting Bill Plympton, Martine Chartrand, and J.J. Sedelmaier, Joseph is another animator who exemplifies the kind of person I want to be should I ever attain anything approaching their level of success. As I'm a little socially stunted from spending years behind the computer, I don't always get social cues or know how to keep a conversation going. But Joseph made it easy with his lively banter, stories of working at Disney, and tips & tricks for producing hand-drawn special effects. Best of all, he didn't have any problem with me (or anyone else for that matter) hanging out there and listening to him talk while he autographed books.

It was during this time when I met fellow TAIS member, Graydon Liang. Graydon had taught a stop-motion SFX workshop that I had hoped to attend but couldn't make due to a prior engagement. Thirty minutes of shop-talk later and I regretted missing his workshop even more than before, but decided to redouble my efforts to make it to his next workshop!

The workshop begins!

That night found me sitting at a table with around twenty other animators (and guests), sharing stories with fellow TAIS members like Patrick Jenkins, Tara Schorr, and Bryce Hallett. Ever the odd duck, I was seated next to a girl who was attending the 'dinner with Joseph' with her boyfriend. Turns out she was studying to become a lawyer. So, a lively discussion of forensic animation and the differences between Canadian and American law ensued (little sidenote: at the day job, we sometimes do vehicle investigations in Ontario). I'm always humbled by the attitudes of the animators I meet in Toronto. I sat next to a professor of animation from Max the Mutt Animation School, an animator from Nelvana, an award-winning independent animator, and Joe himself. During all the shop-talk, not once did I feel out of place. The sense of camaraderie was overwhelming in the Toronto Animation community. Although, honestly, as everyone shared what projects they were working on, it felt like the first time you got invited to sit at the adults' table at the family reunion. I'm proud of the work that I do, but when I hear about what gets worked on in broadcast media or independent film, it's easy to see how much else there is for me to learn about my craft. :)

NFB's display station for projecting hand-drawn animation.

The next day was filled with volumes of information. Joe started off by presenting an overview of his history as an animator--from his work on the Heavy Metal movie right through his time at the Florida Disney Animation Studio (working on films like Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Brother Bear) and climaxing with his latest independent animation.

Next, he discussed his book and why it was needed in the animation community. During the course of the workshop, Joe showed examples of hand-drawn special effects compared to computer generated special effects--put into the context of lines of force acting on the physical world and treating said effects as an actual character that moves along those lines of force, the difference between the two became dramatic.

Demonstrating lines of force on water to create waves.

He then dove right into a visual demonstration of hand drawn special effects. Condensed from his three-day workshop, Joe did an incredible job of explaining the theory behind special effects while illustrating said theory under the camera. For me, the highest point of the lecture came when Joe brought up Adobe Flash on his laptop and demonstrated these techniques using the paint brush tool and symbols--proving that in the hands of a master, Flash is an amazing tool! Joe finished off his presentation with a look at the sequel to his Elemental Magic book (examples of which can be viewed on his Elemental Magic blog).

Well, afterwards, a snow/ice storm in Michigan kept me in Toronto for another night. While I'm sorry to say that I didn't partake of the Toronto nightlife, I did spend an evening in my hotel room re-reading portions of Joe's book and further clarifying my notes.

The TAIS Summer screening, with its annual Anijam, is four months away in June. It can't come fast enough for me. I'm already looking forward to being a part of that community once more.

Women in Animation: Martine Chartrand

Martine Chartrand was born in Montreal in 1962. During her college days, she discovered animation while studing fine arts at Concordia University. After working in the television and film industry , she hooked up with the animation co-op "Ciné-clic". At Ciné-clic, Martine worked on animation projects while teaching workshops in creating backgrounds. She later joined the National Film Board of Canada working as a colour artist and collaborating on films. In the early '90's, Martine directed her first film "T.V. Tango". Also in 1990, Martine first saw "La vache" by Alexander Petrov, which inspired her to travel to Russia for four years as she studied paint-on-glass animation under the Russian master animator. From 1993 to 2000, Martine created her paint-on-glass masterwork "Black Soul", the story of an African-Canadian grandmother telling her grandson the history of the African people in North America. "Black Soul" went on to win twenty-two awards worldwide including Berlin's "Golden Bear" award and Indianapolis' "Crystal Heart" award.

Martine animates her films using a modification of Petrov's paint-on-glass style of animation. While Petrov uses a specific brand of bicycle grease that is very difficult to obtain in the west, Martine found an inexpensive, easy to obtain brand of industrial grease that, when mixed with paint, prevents the paint from hardening and doesn't change the color of the paint. The film is then animated, frame-by-painstaking-frame as she manipulates the paint, effectively destroying the contents of the previous frame to create the next frame.

Black Soul


Martine was part of my first experience at a workshop for the Toronto Animated Image Society. I didn't know what to expect so I went with the most humble attitude I could muster and a willingness to learn anything I could. To say that Martine made learning easy is an understatement of epic proportions. Martine is this little bundle of positive energy who spent Saturday night showing us her and Petrov's films and explaining the paint-on-glass technique. And on Sunday, she ran from workstation to workstation, watching what we'd produced thus far, showing us new techniques and providing encouragement as we struggled through a trial-by-fire with learning this new style of animation. By the time the workshop was over, and Martine was heading out for the train, none of us wanted to see her go back to Montreal. That weekend was my first experience with a TAIS/NFB workshop, but as I drove back to Michigan (invigorated from my experience and ready to animate), I knew it wouldn't be my last one.

During the workshop, I was paired up with this sweet young high-schooler who introduced herself as 'Chevron' (which she pronounced shee-vah-roh). During the next eight-plus hours of the workshop, we created this film by alternating back and forth under the light table where one of us would animate while the other would make thumbnail sketches for the next sequence, and vice-versa. The wave and flowers sequence became the inspiration for one of the films that I'm currently storyboarding.

Women in Animation: Lynn Smith

I first met Lynn Smith last year (2009) at a workshop presented by the Toronto Animated Image Society and the National Film Board of Canada. Lynn's career as an animator started in 1968 when she lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1975, Lynn moved to Montreal to work for the National Film Board of Canada and became, in her terms, a 'resident alien' of Canada. Lynn is currently on the part-time faculty at Concordia University in Montreal teaching animation and cinema.


Lynn was at the workshop to teach us her own brand of paint-on-glass animation. Unlike Petrov's method, which used bicycle grease to prevent the paint from drying, Lynn uses a small amount of glycerine. Lynn also adds a collage element to her films by cutting out objects in magazines (or creating her own) and duplicating them using a color copier. She then laminates the objects (like eyes, mouths, etc) and animates them under the camera frame-by-frame along with the paint and ink.

The following is one of the films she produced for the National Film Board of Canada. It's called "the Sound Collector" and was created in 1982.



This next film is callled "This is Your Museum Speaking" which Lynn created in 1979. It's about a night watchman and his dog who discover the link between the past and the present as he travels through the museum.

During the workshop, Lynn and I had a wonderful time discussing our respective animation backgrounds. As I am a forensic animator and both Lynn's father and mine worked in the legal arena, we had a fair amount of shared history.

Of course, while Lynn and I were chatting, my friend Jon was at the workstation, creating the following animation: