The Making of 'Rock and Rule'

"Apple Dap" by Hobo Divine

Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life

Last February 2010, Spike Jonze had finished producing a new live-action/animated adaptation of Maurice Sendak‘s Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life. The film, a collaboration between the National Film Board of Canada and Warner Home Video, was included on the Blu-Ray release of Where The Wild Things Are. The 23 and a half minute short film was created by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, the Oscar-nominated team behind the short Madame Tutli-Putli, and features the voices of Meryl Streep, Forest Whitaker and Spike Jonze.

Through the use of stop-motion, model sets, trick photography, amazing puppetry, lots of After Effects compositing and actors dressed in elaborate costumes Sendak’s story springs to life in what can called a long trippy dream sequence. It reminded me of Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal, and has the same feeling as we follow Jennie’s surreal, suspenseful and unexpectedly moving journey to gain new experiences and realize her dream of becoming the star in the World Mother Goose Theatre.

Download the film here.

Mike Geiger - Poster Art

Akira Kurosawa - Film Director

Kyûzô the Swordsman
Seven Samurai

The Final Showdown
Yojimbo

Get Two Coffins Ready
Yojimbo

High Treason
Throne of Blood

Kurosawa entered the Japanese film industry in 1936, following a brief stint as a painter. After years of working on numerous films as an assistant director and scriptwriter, he made his debut as a director in 1943, during World War II with the popular action film Sanshiro Sugata (a.k.a. Judo Saga). After the war, the critically acclaimed Drunken Angel (1948), in which Kurosawa cast then-unknown actor Toshirō Mifune in a starring role, cemented the director's reputation as one of the most important young filmmakers in Japan. The two men would go on to collaborate on another 15 films.

Rashomon, which premiered in Tokyo in August 1950, and which also starred Mifune, became, on September 10, 1951, the surprise winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was subsequently released in Europe and North America. The commercial and critical success of this film opened up Western film markets for the first time to the products of the Japanese film industry, which in turn led to international recognition for other Japanese filmmakers.

Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, Kurosawa directed approximately a film a year, including a number of highly regarded films such as Ikiru (1952), Seven Samurai (1954) and Yojimbo (1961). After the mid-1960s, he became much less prolific, but his later work—including his final two epics, Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985)—continued to win awards, including the Palme d'Or for Kagemusha, though more often abroad than in Japan.

In 1990, he accepted the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
He passed away September 6, 1998, at the age of 88.

Star Trek rare photos

The Thing (1982)

'Storytelling' by Andrew Stanton

Animated Shorts from DC Nation Block on Cartoon Network

These all have a very wide range of graphic styles, different directors and studios were all contracted to do separate stories, I think they turned out fantastic!












DC's World's Funnest, by Rich Webber at Aardman.












Superman of Tokyo by Toshiaki Hontani at David Productions.






Super Best Friends Forever, by Lauren Faust (My Little Pony).












Plastic Man, by Andy Suriano & Tom Kenny.









Animal Man









MAD Presents Shazamwich.

Jonatan Catalan - Lighting & Shading Reel

The Short Films of Masanobu Hiraoka

Production Blog for Bill Plympton's new feature - Cheatin'

Maurice Sendak, Inspirational Author and Artist, Dies at 83

Maurice Sendak, author and/or artist of close to 100 books such as Where the Wild Things Are, passed away today at age 83. Sendak won nearly every major award for children’s literature, and inspired artists and imaginations from all over the world. Thousands of kids across the world can remember going into the school library as a child, and Where the Wild Things Are was always the “go-to” book.

Sendak has been quoted saying “I am a professional rude, crude artist”, and while it has only been the past few years I have really begun to appreciate the art in many children’s books, the illustrations by Mr. Sendak always seemed so intense. Filled with so much detail, texture, and most importantly so very unique. A drawing from his book Outside Over There, shown last, clearly shows how talented an artist he was.

So to celebrate this prolific and inspirational author and artist, we have some links to some amazing interviews and art. Back in 2009 Gallery Nucleus hosted Terrible Yellow Eyes (here), a group show with work inspired by Where the Wild Things Are. Huffington Post has a great interview from 2004 with Bill Moyers (here) , in which Sendak talks about childhood memories and the inspiration behind his work. Finally for some laughs, if you haven’t seen it already, Stephen Colbert interviews Mr. Sendak (here) in preparation for his own children’s book. This is a must see, and shows how much of a character he was. Take a look at some illustrations below, such as a a drawing Sendak made in 1967 for Tolkein’s The Hobbit (shown first).

RIP. Mr Sendak, and from artists, authors, grown-ups, children, and monsters everywhere -- “Please don’t go. We’ll eat you up. We love you so!”

"The Princess Who Never Smiled" by Sun Jae Lee

via onanimation