when magoo flew

a fascinating new book that I am in the process of reading:

"When Magoo Flew," a history of the UPA studio (United Productions of America), that has long held mythical status for me and many animators, along with later offshoots such as the Hubley studio. The notion of animators dedicated to new ideas, sophistication in content, and risk-taking approaches to graphics and art, is one that inspired me as soon as I started learning about it. Occupying a relatively short-lived but highly combustible and exciting place and time in history, UPA participated in America's post-WWII creative outpouring, alongside figures such as Charles and Ray Eames, and allied themselves to innovative trends in contemporary art and industry. Not without their human shortcomings (and perhaps even notable in these), but with energy, verve, intelligence, and great idealism - what more could you ask for...

Thanks to author Adam Abraham for this wonderful tome.

ace and son - a new find

here's a link to a studio mentioned to me by Elliot:

ace and son

the blog observations are thoughtful, and I will enjoy peering into them more...

michael sporn animation

Michael Sporn

A New York stalwart and mainstay, with a blog full of animation history, I haven't explored his world much yet but will dive in as soon as time permits...

an evening of W.I.P. at Motion Heads

motion heads is hosting an evening of works-in-progress next month; if you are one of the lucky few, you will receive an invitation to see what will hopefully be a more or less fully-animated pencil test version of "The Ogre & the Mermaid," as well as work by friends and colleagues.

this event represents part of our studio goal of serving as a hub for local animators and their work. We aim to reach out to more people in the future, in a public venue if needed, so stay tuned for upcoming notices...

walk around

...and this is what you may see:

in-house animation

how do you survive and thrive as an independent animator? well, one approach that seems to work for some is to either marry your studio partner or be born into their family:

couples:

• john & faith hubley

• paul & sandra fierlinger

• andy & carolyn london

• todd hemker & soyeon kim

• max porter & ru kuwahata

• other animation couples...

and siblings:

• the quay brothers

• the rauch brothers

animation movie night

tonight was animation movie night for the motion heads crew. spring break is nearly kaput, but no complaints - it was time well spent and misspent.

motion heads animated logo

motion heads logo animation from Christopher Magee on Vimeo.

subject to fine tuning, but this is our basic studio logo.

spring break is for getting it together

yesterday:

• purchased paper
• punched paper
• animated
• cross-checked the production calendar
• ate a chocolate-covered banana

spring break!

...yay! freedom!!!

now to get to work...