Pixar has released four slightly (and I mean, ever so slightly) different versions of the first Monsters University trailer, which has a June 21, 2013 U.S. release date.  Four high-res images were released as well - links and full images supplied below.

 

Disney has just released 8 character portraits with descriptions from Tim Burton's upcoming stop-motion horror flick, Frankenweenie.  The set includes profiles on the following characters:  Victor (voiced by Chalie Tahan), Sparky, Mr. & Mrs. Frankenstein (voiced by Catherine O'Hara & Martin Short), Elsa van Helsing (voiced by Winona Ryder), Persephone, Toshiaki (voiced by James Hiroyuki Liao), Bob (voiced by Robert Capron) and Bob's Mom (voiced by Concata Ferrell). Links are included to 1200x1800 pixel images - very detailed and very cool.

 

By Haley Hughes

If ever there was a film to see in 3D, it would be Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted.  This film proves that 3D can be used to enhance a viewing experience: allowing the audience to interact with the roller coaster like camera moves and the abstract sequences of light and color.  Though it has a relatively weak story and fails to really develop character, the visuals and the use of 3d make this film worth a viewing.

 

 

Sometimes, the only way to deal with events so sinister, so beyond comprehension, is to lay them bare with the darkest of humor.  Never shying from controversy, the South Park team confronts the Penn State scandal head on as well as from behind.

 

Pixar has posted a funny new "short" from Brave, entitled "Summer Games."

 

 

Is this 13 seconds of tough love or tough luck?  You decide.

A guest post by Robert Appleton, Faculty, 3-D Animation Program, New York Film Academy

Was famous voice actor Mel Blanc the actual genius of character development in 20^th century animation? Most baby boomer fans in childhood may not have realized it, but the voice he gave to Looney Tunes’ Bugs Bunny was largely borrowed from a show their parents were listening to on the radio on The Jack Benny Program (1932-1955) and its television incarnation of the same name (1950-1965). Phrases that the Oscar-winning rabbit or his sidekick, Daffy Duck (also Blanc’s voice) used – “Now cut that out!” and “Cuc….amonga!” among them – were directly borrowed from Jack Benny. The intra-show theft worked in reverse when once, on Benny’s radio show, the protagonist had a visit from the wascally wabbit in a dream.

In each of these animated series, the genius was that the characters evolved from elsewhere. The fact that each derived from adult series is likely the reason the animations were appealing – with the help of some double entendres from time to time – to both parents and children.

 

If you spend time analyzing successful people, you will tend to find a repeating list of similarities. Attributes like talent and charisma often get the most ink, but more often than not, a person’s drive and the quality of their education is a far better determinant of a bright future. Successful educators nurture this type of person, or set someone on the path to becoming one by creating a learning environment that is as engaging as it is relevant to their student’s future ambitions. And when it comes to careers in art, animation, and digital content creation, students that learn on industry-standard technology – like Wacom’s Cintiq – are more prepared for the professional world, and its elevated expectations.

A product of British Columbia-based Capilano University’s two year, Commercial Animation program, Gemma Reeks-Coad is living proof of how the right tools, in the hands of the right artist, breed success.

 

Ace & Son Moving Picture Company, led by Richard O’Connor’s animation direction, recently finished a poignant and thoughtful animated documentary short on the horrors of honor killings.

16 top episodes culled from all three seasons of J.G. Quintel’s Emmy® Award-winning series Regular Show have just been released on DVD by the folks at Cartoon Network.  Needless to say, that’s 16 great opportunities to share in the hijinks of Mordecai and Rigby, our friendly neighborhood blue jay and raccoon, bored stiff park groundskeepers, best friends and consummate slackers.  The show is one of the few animated series that works both for kids and adults without alienating either.  We had an opportunity to talk to J.G. (The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Camp Lazlo) about the show’s success and the challenges faced in creating an animated television series.