I met the half brother of Gene Deitch yesterday. His brother is a doctor outside of Houston, Texas. Can you believe that!! I was embarrased to be an animator and not know who Gene was. This site's great!

Konnichiwa! I am a desperate anime fan, that is really into anime drawing. I wish to improve my skills, and take them to a higher level, but I'm still a high school student, so schools cannot come into play right now. Please at least put links on your magazine, that would show people to sites where they can have tutorials, or lessons online. Thank you ever so for your attention, sayonara! Jade

I LOVE U JHONEN!!!!!!!!!!!

Look just after the parenthesis on #12, Dave. Gene mentions there that he's adding #'s 13 and 14.

"SPARX" the rising studio has got the intense creative spark in the field of NEW AGE MEDIA.

Mark of Kri has been the best animated game I have ever interacted with. How can I go about freshing up on my skills to land a job doing similar character animation? What do game companys look for in character animators?

How do you go from an Intro to Animation class to a job with Disney Online making animations? Did Travis know someone? I've seen a lot of talented people with far less luck (or breaks...Travis obviously is talented). Is career like real estate? Location..Location...Location?

My 2 year old daughters love this cartoon, and I ADORE it! The characters, the song, the story, all of it. I started to sing the song in the car last night, and stopped when I didn't know the next line. I thought my daughter said "row row", so I started to sing "row, row, row your boat", and she said "no mommy, no - bing bong". As short a song as it is, I better learn the lyrics!

Good article

Travis Kotzebue is a badass!

I have Digital Cable. All 3 Billion channels of Digital Cable. And while there might be signals coming from the different television stations to my cable box, and subsequently to my TV resulting in a corresponding moving picture on the screen, there is rarely anything on that screen worth watching; especially during the late night/early morning hours. Last night, with all this knowledge at hand, I proceeded to browse the many stations of nothingness just to confirm that there was nothing to watch, when a glimmer of light came from that 27 inch box of darkness, that light was titled "Saddle Rash." Light in the form of a sarcastic, whimsical cartoon about life in the Wild West. I want to take this time to thank all those responsible for making this cartoon possible, for you brightened my nights of darkness and despair, and utter misery. I now see the reason the television was created - Saddle Rash. - CountChuckula

Storyboard people can often add a lot to a script. Also, some writers are artists and have had storyboard training or naturally think very visually. The storyboard contribution varies from studio to studio and director to director. Some directors encourage their board people to make major contributions. Some do not. If the story depends greatly upon structure and less on gags, then gags can hurt that structure. If the gags are the important thing, then additional gags can contribute to a much better finished product. Also, in a story that's already on the long side, too many additions upset the timing. Some directors request shorter scripts to allow for those extra additions from the board people. A good animation writer who thinks visually (as all animation writers should) can be just as funny as a good board person. Not all animation stories are created to be very gag oriented. There are different kinds of animation stories just as there are different kinds of live action stories. Live action films are also a visual medium.

Finland is the last place that a non-drinker should visit. Yikes. Animation festivals are mostly boozy affairs broken up by screenings of cartoons. If you're lucky and female Bill Plympton will saunter over and share food vouchers with you. I feel for you pal...being at any animation festival and trying to maintain sobriety sounds like one of those sections of Dante's Inferno. Love to know what was said to the Bros. Quay. Sincerely Deb Dawson

I am happy to draw; thats all i know I am happy to paint; thats all i feel I am happy NOT to explain; thats all i "think" Do we really have to dissect our happiness ? Do we really have to dissect Art? Do we really have to tell why ? why must we? Y Y Y Y Y

Thank you to Heather Kenyon to have given me the card of AWN in Annecy last year. Your site is very interesting. I have some comments on the activity of Winsor McCay concerning the beginning of animated cartoons between 1914 and 1919. Emile Cohl (1857-1938) has drawn the first animated cartoon in 1908. The title of the film was "Fantasmagorie" in France, "Metamorphosis" in U.S.A.. It has been released in the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris on August 17. Many others animation films were produced by him at the end of 1908 and during the following years (many are lost, but I have the titles, dates, length, etc.). So I have been rather surprised when I read some years ago, at the beginning of the film "Gertie the Dinosaur" : "This is the first animated cartoon in the world". It seems that Emile Cohl had already had a knowledge of this notice as I have found in his archives a note expressing his surprise. I have also in the documents left by Emile Cohl some flipbooks dating about 1908/1910. Emile Cohl has also built the first drawing table (or animation table) at the end of 1908, as it was absolutely necessary for his job. I have presented the relative photos and documents in a conference at the Domitor Congress in Montreal last June. When he worked in Fort-Lee, N.Y., between 1912 and 1914, Emile Cohl had the occasion to meet George McManus, who appears later on in a film by McCay on Gertie. Maybe McCay has learnt several things from Emile Cohl ... I apologize for my English, but I hope the readers will understand everything.

I'm old enough to remember "Tom Terrific"!

I'm delighted to know that you're still around, and have written the story of your career on your website.

After reading the parts about your tenure at Terrytoons, I only wish that your stay there was much longer than it actually was.

While, in time, the "classic" Terrytoons characters like Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle might have been brought back--even if you were still in charge--I'm sure that under your supervision, we would have seen by far the BEST episodes of the "older" Terrytoon characters.

Additionally, had you been able to stay, Terrytoons might yet have been able to be a major source of TV cartoon programs, not just for it's parent CBS, but for NBC and ABC as well.

In fact, had you been able to stay at Terrytoons, I think the studio might still be around today and would rank alongside Disney as the "World Leader in Animation".

humor is simple. suprise, synthesis and cultural supernormal stimulus. (take my wife... please) it has a relations of churlish, buffonery, imative and self-depreation. ( in surp./syn + CSNS) formula delivery and content round it out. it's an intellectual function, intagrating data. (stimulus) get it? got it? good.

I have to say that I agree with Gildas Jaffrennou. The review is a very "professional" one, i.e. it doesn't meet the movie on its own terms. A lot of fairy tales are less than understandable - take "Alice in Wonderland" as an example, and in that tale there are hardly any overweight or mythical creatures present. Perhaps in a western way of thinking, and that is also where one has to draw a line, because the movies from Ghibli are indeed *very* Japanese. Intentions or not, it is a beautifully crafted well put together animation with a story line you don't really have to 'understand' completely - at least not as an adult. I believe that even though many viewers both outside and inside Japan are adults, you have to consider the (Japanese) children also, and there, I do believe that Miyazaki and co. do a very good job. I admit, I have to see it again, and that not only for its masterful execution, but for some of the symbols depicted. And that's what makes a well-crafted story - the multiple layers you may find beneath the surface. Not all feature animations need to be as 'square' as some of Disney's... (Now I'll sure get some angry mails - no offence intended! (^_^))

Great advice, I wish I would have followed that kind of info. a long time ago. I have worked in animation for the last 27 yrs. as a Background artist. The trouble is that sometime things get so busy that you see no one for days and now that I'm on a computer and in a cube, you see very few people. I do e-mail as many people as possible which helps. My biggest problem as of late is trying to fit in with the younger kids coming in. In this biz there are lots of clique, and I'm almost 50 and face it 20 yr olds don't really want you around. It's like having a parent there. The new generation seems to network much better then the old. Of corse that's just me talking. I have noticed that the younger guys are very intimidated to ask any questions. I'm very good at what I do, and very willing to share my skills but they stay clear. I have a 22 yr old and get along excellent. Animation is a very strange field to be in. Thanks for your advice it is right on. Just a little harded to do at 49, but still very important.

Dear Janet, Looking for a good agent. Please refer one to me. Nothing to lose and all to gain. Very serious and very creative. Thank you.