Animated Events: the 50th Annual Annie Awards

Well, the nominees for the 50th annual Annie Awards have been announced by ASIFA Hollywood. The following are the nominees for the three main categories that I'm most interested in:

Best Feature

• Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
• Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
• The Sea Beast
• Turning Red
• Wendell & Wild

Best Indie Feature

• Charlotte
• Inu-Oh
• Little Nicholas, Happy As Can Be
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
• My Father's Dragon

Best Short Subject

• Amok
• Black Slide
• Ice Merchants
• Love, Dad
• The Flying Sailor

Sadly, due to the lingering travel restrictions preventing me from attending animation festivals, this is the first time in recent memory that I haven't seen any of the nominees. On the bright side, I do have Netflix, so a private screening of Wendell & Wild and My Father's Dragon is in my future.

The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 7 p.m. PST.

Congratulations to all the nominees. I look forward to seeing who wins in February. You can see a full list of the nominees and watch the ceremony streamed online at: https://annieawards.org.

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Animated Events: Van Gogh at the DIA

The DIA's own "Vincent Pop-up Cafe"

Well, I finally made it to the DIA's Van Gogh exhibition before it closed out. After watching the Van Gogh animated installation in Grand Rapids it was time to see the real thing in Detroit. I have to say that I was left awestruck by the breadth of the man's ability. So often in the books and classes, all you get to see are Vincent's paintings like The Starry Night. However, in addition to his paintings, this exhibit showed examples of his drawings with ink, charcoal, and crayon. And it was in those pieces that you really started to grasp the tremendous amount of skill and talent that Van Gogh was blessed with. What really struck a chord with me is when they mentioned how Van Gogh studied pointillism. Then, as you looked at his paintings, you saw how Van Gogh expanded upon the technique and made it his own before incorporating it into his own style.

The following photos really aren't the best examples of Van Gogh's diversity of talent, but these were the paintings that really spoke to me, the ones I spent more time observing (and appreciating) than all the others.

Landscape with Figures, 1889

Sheaves of Wheat, 1890

Grapes, Lemons, Pears and Apples, 1887

Roses, 1890

Vase with Carnations, 1886

Peach Trees in Blossom, 1889

I'm not much of a fan of the television show Doctor Who. To be honest, the show is just not to my tastes (excepting the season with Christopher Eccleston, of course). But there was this one episode in the later seasons where the Doctor takes Vincent Van Gogh forward in time to the Musee d'Orsay and has a chat with a curator. Probably one of the most poignant yet beautiful scenes of science fiction out there. And while I related to it on an emotional level since it was a very well written, well produced scene of television, after seeing the breadth of Van Gogh's skill on display, the curator's monologue made so much more sense, on an intellectual level.

The Doctor: "Between you and me, in a hundred words, where do you think Van Gogh rates in the history of art?"

Curator: "Well... um... big question, but, to me Van Gogh is the finest painter of them all. Certainly the most popular, great painter of all time. The most beloved, his command of colour most magnificent. He transformed the pain of his tormented life into ecstatic beauty. Pain is easy to portray, but to use your passion and pain to portray the ecstasy and joy and magnificence of our world, no one had ever done it before. Perhaps no one ever will again. To my mind, that strange, wild man who roamed the fields of Provence was not only the world's greatest artist, but also one of the greatest men who ever lived."

It was after this exhibit at the DIA that I truly began to grasp the above statement and both how and why people hold Vincent Van Gogh's artwork in such high regard.

I'll end this post with the obligatory foodie photo of the lovely meal that I had at the Vincent café before going on to enjoy the exhibit.

Beef Bourguignon and Chocolate Pot de Crème

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2022's end of year wrap-up: the good, the bad, and the 'meh'

It was kind of a light year for animation.

Other than teaching my class, I had watched a fair number of animated films over the past year (and a couple series) but hadn't done much animation or even produced anything artistic. My paintbrushes sat unused on the desk. The light table collected dust. Even old animations went unarchived. I did paint some miniatures for wargaming, however. But other than practicing color coordination, it really doesn't help me grow much as an artist.

Self-Portrait II, 1938
Joan Miró

I did write some scripts and stories this year--nothing that I'd ever publish or anything, really more dealing with honing my skills and getting some ideas out of my head and onto the page.

Most of my efforts this year were dedicated toward historical research for changes and updates to my animation history class -- and those efforts paid off that Fall semester. This was easily the best class I have taught so far. Sadly, a lot of the updates were notations of animators who had passed away in the previous year. However, there were some areas where I was able to refine and clarify information -- like the history of animation registration pegs -- and another where I added a brand new assignment covering the history of major animation patents. And I had enough time left over to add a new lecture for the last day of class -- lots of advice from my personal history on where and how to land a job in the industry.

Sidewheeler II, 1913
Lyonel Feininger

With Fall semester over and grades submitted, I ended my year with a trip to DIA. I hadn't seen the big Van Gogh exhibit yet and it was leaving by the end of January. Unfortunately, the exhibit was sold out by the time I bought my ticket. But, a trip to the DIA is still at trip to the DIA so I was still able to wander around and appreciate the art.

Spectral Rhythms, 1970s
Charles McGee

Looking forward to the new year, I think I'd like to get back to the basics and work on a lot of those foundational skills: line and brush work, watercolor, gesture drawing, things like that. Going into the Fall semester this past year, I talked with one of my colleagues about how fun it would be to produce a short animated film -- with production starting at the beginning of the semester and then showing my students what I had completed by the end of the semester. Given that my history class is being downgraded to a 200 level course, it will free up some time that I would've otherwise spent grading the daily writing assignments. I think that next semester, it'd be a good lesson for the students to see what you can produce in four months. Leading from example and all that.

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