I have every Canemaker book and I love them all. His latest one hits stores in a few days. Here’s a promo:

Source: Didier Ghez

David Nethery has posted a bunch of commercials from the 80s created by Richard Williams and Eric Goldberg among others. Stop by and check out gems like this (below). I remember seeing this one as a kid.

Absolutely stunning! That’s all I can say about Pierre Lambert’s latest art book. I recently got a copy for my birthday and I couldn’t be happier. This is easily the most beautiful animation book I own. I’ve posted some of the images within, but it really doesn’t reveal the quality of the book, which is in itself a work of art. The paper, the cels, and fold-outs are all of a quality I have never before seen in an art book, and I have A LOT of art books.

This film is very special to me despite it’s short-comings. When I was a kid, I would always get so excited about going to see my grandfather because I knew I was going to see The Jungle Book again. I have no idea how many times I’ve watched this film, but it started the ball rolling for my interest in animation. Sadly I wouldn’t see much of my grandfather in later years due to relocation and family squabbles, but it’s one of the few memories I have of being with him. Oswald Iten has provided a more in-depth and similarly glowing review of this must have book.

Click the images below to access larger versions:

One of the many nuggets of inspiration from Starting Point by Hayao Miyazaki:

Sometimes budding animators write to me or visit me at home. They usually bring along some drawings. Uncertain of their own talent but full of hope for their future, they come with a lot of anguish. Whenever I see this, I am reminded that there is a certain shamelessness in such uncertainty and impatience, but that is what youth is all about. Youth isn’t just about running pell-mell at the son yelling, “Damn it all to hell!” Youth is about asking yourself who you are, what you can accomplish. It is about fervently drawing pictures every day, on the one hand thinking, “They’re all right, I’ve got something here,” and on the other hand wondering if your work will be accepted by others, and worrying that it may all be and illusion and that you really don’t have any talent at all. This anguish in the midst of uncertainty and impatience is what youth is all about. I would like all of you to fully experience your youth and have a lot of ambition.

“A man’s destiny can be truly wonderful.” This film is so beautiful, so inspiring, and so unique, that I almost didn’t post this chewed up, subtitled, internet version as it doesn’t do it justice. But then I thought of those who might not have seen it, and shouldn’t be denied the opportunity. For more of the genius that it Frederic Back, click here.

The fifteen year old in me just got a little giddy and then passed out. I remember wasting SO MUCH time on Starcraft, and adoring the cinematics. I used to want to work as a cinematics animator at Blizzard for the longest time.

Ridley Scott and Kevin MacDonald are teaming up for a social film making experiment designed to edit a documentary that encapsulates a day in the life of thousands of people all around the world. It’s got my attention, and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the results. It’s a great idea, and worth a plug here. Stop by YouTube to check it out. This historic event takes place in two days. Will you be contributing anything?

I just received my copy of, Pixar : 25 Years of Animation, an Oakland Museum exhibit catalog much like the now extremely rare MoMa one released five years ago for, Pixar : 20 Years of Animation. Both books are almost identical, with the exception that the new one features a bunch of art from the four latest Pixar films (Toy Story 3, Ratatouille, Up, and Wall E).  These are the kinds of “Art Of” books I really dig, they just feature art. Lots and lots of art.

If you missed out on the first catalog, here’s your opportunity to grab one that’s essentially the same without breaking the bank. The first one is now out of print, hard to find, and ridiculously over priced wherever you look. I would only recommend getting both if you’re a collector. You can get your own copy of the new catalog here. Hurry up or it might end up costing $400 in the near future. Here’s a glimpse of the MoMa exhibit from five years ago:

While I’m on the subject of animation exhibit catalogs, there are two other exhibit books you’ll want to add to your collection. The first is, The Art of Disney, from the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art in 2006, and the other is The Colors of Mary Blair also from Japan. The covers for both are shown below and they can both be found on Amazon, eBay, and Stuart Ng Books. Michael Sporn is giving everyone a pretty good glimpse of the latter book on his blog. The Art of Disney is one of the best Disney art books I have, and features a ton of work from Sleeping Beauty. Most of the stuff in all four catalogs I’ve mentioned does not appear anywhere else.

Towards the end of Maurice Noble’s last stint at Warner Brothers he worked on The Incredible Mr. Limpet. Bill Tytla also worked on animation for the film. Up until reading about this in Stepping Into the Picture, I had never heard of the film, so I looked it up. Here’s what I found.

Charming, isn’t it?

According to Noble, a lot of the beautiful background work created by Phil DeGuard for the film wasn’t used, and the film’s editor superimposed live action footage over them for no other reason than they were too good. Apparently they made the rest of the picture look bad. This was part of the reason why Noble left the studio shortly afterwards.