Cartoons

A while back I mentioned briefly on this site that I had been offered an opportunity to write a book for Pixar, and today I thought I’d offer a few more details about it. The coffeetable book I’m working on, which will be out later this year, is directly tied in to the Pixar Short Films Collection dvd, and is an in-depth history of the studio’s early shorts. I was naturally thrilled when they asked me to come on board because, well, come on it’s Pixar, but also because I know the importance of shorts to the company’s history and the value that they place on creating animated shorts even now that they’re a successful feature studio. Admittedly, in the beginning, I was slightly concerned about whether there was enough to say about the shorts to fill an entire book, but it took only a couple weeks of working on the book before I was begging my editor to double the initial page count. We’re still in production on the book right now, and one thing I can say about it is that there’s a lot more text and meat in this than your average art of book. It’s exciting to see it come together and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

Because the book’s content stretches back to André & Wally B. which was done before Pixar even officially existed, I had to familiarize myself with the ins and outs of the studio’s entire history. It’s truly a fascinating story. Today we look at Pixar as the untouchable 800-pound gorilla of computer animation so it’s easy to forget that not so long ago, they were a struggling hardware company and their animation division was comprised of just a handful of folks working in a company of over one hundred people. There was hardly a guarantee that their animation division would become what it is today, and it only happened because of the genius and vision of individuals like Ed Catmull, John Lasseter, Alvy Ray Smith, and a slew of computer whizzes like Bill Reeves, Loren Carpenter, Eben Ostby and Rob Cook.

When I began researching the book, I wanted to find a reliable source that would help me understand the early roots of Pixar and its earlier incarnation as the Computer Graphics Division of Lucasfilm. During an interview with Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith, he recommended I take a look at the recent book Droidmaker: George Lucas and the Digital Revolution. I took him up on that advice and am glad I did. This book is absolutely essential reading for anybody who wants to understand the roots of Pixar and its founders Ed Catmull and Alvy Ray Smith. The book is not entirely about computer animation, because Lucas’ Computer Division also dealt with editing, game and sound programs, but the parts about Pixar’s pre-history make it well worth the money and the solid technical details and hardcore research are enough to satisfy the geekiest of the computer geeks. George Lucas has played a crucial role in contemporary filmmaking by introducing digital technology into all aspects of his productions, and this book is a wonderful document of how it happened…and as a result, how Pixar came out of it.

Speaking of essential, below is YouTube video with the author of the above book, Michael Rubin, interviewing Ed Catmull, Alvy Ray Smith, Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird on stage. It’s 1 hour and 40 minutes, and it’s a fun and inspiring chat.

Just for the heck of it, let me share a few other random Pixar bits that I discovered online while researching the book:

Here’s a link to the personal website of Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith. He has an interesting page with rare Pixar documents and a page about the first “Pixar” short André & Wally B. with an amazingly in-depth PDF file about the making of that short.

Pixar has a sub-site where they make available all the technical papers that their technologists have presented at SIGGRAPH. It’s pretty heavy on the tech, so beware, but there’s also some QuickTime tests that accompany a few of the papers, like this one about “Volumetric Methods for Simulation and Rendering of Hair.”

Here’s a new link posted yesterday: Didier Ghez did a short interview with David Price, author of the just-about-to-be-released The Pixar Touch: The Making of a Company. I don’t know how the book will turn out, but it sounds like Price has done his homework and I can’t wait to read it.

Finally, one of the fascinating aspects of Pixar that nobody talks about is their TV commercial work. Did you know Pixar produced 71 TV commercials in the early- and mid-’90s? A complete list can be found by following this timeline on their site. They’re surprisingly difficult to locate online, but there’s a handful on Youtube, including the very first one the studio produced, for Tropicana, directed and animated by John Lasseter:

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On his blog, Didier Ghez points out an interesting-sounding book that was self-published a few days ago: Working for Disney: 1936-1937, The Ingeborg Willy Scrapbook. This is the description of it:

Reproduction of a 1936 scrapbook made during Ingeborg Willy’s first year working as an inker for the Walt Disney Studios. The scrapbook contains numerous photos of other Disney employees, internal memos, production work sheets, and a large number of original pencil sketches from the first feature-length animated film, Snow White, and other early Disney cartoons.

I’m going to wait to hear more before recommending it though. As is often the case with self-published books like this, the quality of image reproduction and presentation could leave a lot to be desired. The amateurish cover design certainly doesn’t do much to inspire confidence. But it could potentially be a very cool book.

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Imagine curling up in your comfy recliner chair, snug in your smoking jacket, slippers and monocle, pipe in your mouth and brandy snifter at your side, perusing your personal leather bound copy of The Hanna Barbera Treasury.

Yes, The Easton Press has just published a limited edition leather-bound edition of my H-B book for royal sum of $147. (payable in three monthly installments of $49.00). I don’t have one myself - I didn’t even know they were publishing such an edition - but I’d certainly recommend it for the cartoon fan who has everything - and I do mean everything! Place your order here.

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If you haven’t been a regular reader of Leonard Maltin’s website or his quarterly newsletter - both named Movie Crazy - you should be. Leonard has now collected the best articles from the newsletter into a 410-page trade paperback also named, you guessed it: Movie Crazy.

It’s loaded with incredible interviews with, and articles about, the people in front and behind the cameras during the golden age of Hollywood. It also contains many pieces of particular interest to animation fans. These include an interview with Janet Waldo (voice of Judy Jetson and Penelope Pittstop), a bio of Arthur Q. Bryan (voice of Elmer Fudd), an interview with Betty Kimball (Ward’s wife) and Marie Johnston (Ollie’s better half) on their careers as ink-and-paint girls at Disney, rare Hollywood caricatures by Disney Legend Joe Grant and an amazing publicity photo of Spanky McFarland and Mickey Mouse.

It’s published by Mike (Dark Horse) Richardson’s M Press imprint and available on amazon.com for $13.57 - and worth every penny.

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Golden Legacy: How Golden Books Won Children’s Hearts, Changed Publishing Forever, and Became An American Icon Along the Way is a book chronicling the behind-the-scenes history of the famous children’s book publisher. Though it is published by Golden Books, it appears to be more than your average corporate fluff piece, and seemingly has lots of original historical research. It is also copiously illustrated with illustrations and photos, and includes coverage of all our Golden Book favorites including Mary Blair, Gustaf Tenggren, Aurelius Battaglia, JP Miller, Alice and Martin Provensen, Mel Crawford and Tibor Gergely, among others. If anbody has actually read the book, please share your thoughts about it in the comments.

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I just got a copy of Christopher Lehman’s latest book, The Colored Cartoon: Black Representation in American Animated Short Films. 1907-1954. It’s an un-illustrated, 137-page survey of the black stereotypes and African American cultural influences in the Hollywood cartoons we all grew up with, and most of us still enjoy today.

Lehman goes out of his way not to applaud, criticize or denounce these films. He mainly reports in an even handed way, that they were made, what images they contain, and records any controversies surrounding them. Though he covers almost every black character I’m aware of (including Lantz’s L’il Eightball, Pal’s Jasper and Famous Studios’ Buzzy) he neglects to mention Chuck Jones’ Inki, a pretty significant character. And I’m not sure I agree with his assertions that Bugs Bunny’s personality was essentially a “black cultural characterization”. But overall Lehman did his homework, with considerable research on the NAACP’s protests against such cartoons as Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs and Scrub Me Mama With a Boogie Beat. For more info on this publication, visit the University of Massachusetts Press website.

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I had the pleasure of meeting animator Jakob Jensen over this past weekend. Jensen has worked in the animation industry since the age of 17 with stints at A Film in Copenhagen and Amblimation in London, before settling down at Dreamworks Animation in Los Angeles in 1995 (as animator on The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Madagascar and all the others. He is currently the Animation Director on Warner Bros. Astro Boy at Imagi Animation Studios).

Jensen gave me a copy of his recently self-published book My First Imperial ABC, a beautifully illustrated spoof of American media and politics disguised as a children’s primer. Jensen “juxtaposes over-used, politically charged words with drawings expressing the author’s dismay with our current state of affairs.” Jensen edited together a video preview (with a bit of animation) of the books cartoon content and posted it on You Tube. I’d love to see a fully animated film based on these ABC’s - till then, this delightful book will have to do.

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Chris Robinson tells me that he’s currently looking for writers and articles to be published in ASIFA Magazine (previously called Cartoons). The magazine has published numerous fine pieces over the past few years, including John Canemaker’s excellent two-parter about the life and art of JP Miller. The downside is that the magazine isn’t available for sale to the public, and is received only by ASIFA members.

Robinson says he’s looking for articles about all aspects of animation (business, indies, cartoons, anime, academic, interviews, etc.). The magazine comes out twice a year (summer and winter) and writers are paid for their contributions. Anybody interested can send a pitch to Chris Robinson at chris [at] animationfestival [dot] ca.

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Dear Brew readers, please indulge me for this shameless late-night post. I discovered a new fact tonight: nothing perks one up at 1:30am like walking by MoMA and seeing your book in their store window display. I snapped a couple phonecam shots for posterity.

It’s equally exciting to know that Cartoon Modern is extending its reach all over the globe. It was a delight to hear Paco Calderón, a cartoonist from Mexico City, state in an Amazon review that Cartoon Modern was his personal “book of the year.” And on a recent trip to Japan, Christoper Butcher discovered that my book was on display in the country’s largest bookstore, the flagship Kinokuniya Books. He snapped the pic below showing it alongside some fine company: The Art of Ratatouille and the Fantagraphics Peanuts reprints.

Of course, a book is no use if it just sits in a bookstore. Thankfully plenty of artists are putting it to good use. Guillermo García Carsí, the co-creator, director and designer of the exemplary CG preschool series Pocoyo told me that after going through Cartoon Modern he was inspired to create a stylized Flash-animated segment for a recent episode. He sent a few stills which I’ve posted below. Also be sure and check out his new website GuillermoGarciaCarsi.com which features Pocoyo and non-Pocoyo animation as well as plenty of his eye-catching illustrations.

The accompanying Cartoon Modern blog is also inspiring artists. For example, Adam Garcia of Philly-based design studio The Pressure posted onto Flickr a page of studies based on images shown on the blog.

Saving the best for last, here is an intriguing sight: knitted versions of the cover’s Ernie Pintoff/Fred Crippen-designed characters.

Why are they knitted? Because I’m now the proud owner of this awesome one-of-a-kind Cartoon Modern scarf I received from my friend, filmmaker Heather Harkins. It’s the perfect complement to my Mary Blair boxers. Thanks, Heather!

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I’m way overdue in posting, plugging and praising these two fine publications.

In this day and age of blogs and dedicated websites, niche publications are getting scarcer and scarcer. However, the proprietors of these books have a passion and point of view that you have to admire—both putting a spotlight on overlooked and esoteric aspects of cartoon history.

Cereal:Geek covers animation of the 1980s, specifically action adventure cartoons, particularly of the Transformers, He-Man, Ghostbusters, Voltron variety. The latest issue (#2) features 100 glossy color pages, packed with artwork and articles such as “Things We Love About Thundercats”, “Why I dislike Defenders of the Universe” and “There’s Something About Jem”. It’s aimed squarely at those who grew up taking these things very seriously. If that’s not you—move on.

Craig Yoe’s Arf Forum (which we plugged before, in pre-production) is a work of art unto itself. I can’t praise this series highly enough. Yoe packs so much incredible cartoon history and eye candy into 122 pages, you are left breathless and amazed. Overlooked artisans George Crenshaw, Max Ernst, Ted Scheel, William Ekgren, Henry Heath and Italian girlie cartoonist Kremos are among those featured in this forum. I recommend this to all readers of the Brew. Order now!

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