Attention Minnesota comic book and animation fans! MicroCon 2008 is returning to the State Fairgrounds on Sunday, April 27. MicroCon is Minnesota's second largest comic book convention (the largest being FallCon, a two-day event in October). It's a fun gathering of artists, retailers, and fans. Expect to see dozens of artists including pencillers and inkers from Marvel and DC, local animators,...
I generally try to keep this blog about art-related topics, but every once in a while something completely unrelated grabs my attention. I beg your indulgence. Do you ever look up at the stars and wonder, "How on earth did we humans ever get here in the first place? Were we created by God, or did we evolve on our own...
The passing of legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston has stirred a lot of emotion, memories, and discussion among animators and animation fans. In that spirit fellow Minnesotan Robbie Halvorson sent me a link to some of Ollie's notes on animation. The notes came from Disney animator G. Scott Owen Pixar's John Lasseter, who writes: When I was an animator at the...
Animation legend Ollie Johnston, the last surviving member of Walt Disney's famous "Nine Old Men", passed away yesterday (April 14, 2008). He was 95. Johnston was a phenomenal artist and widely regarded as one of the world's greatest animators. In 1935 he was hired to work at the Disney studio alongside his pal Frank Thomas. They rose to become two of...
The mascot contest is over. Everyone who correctly identified all twelve products was eligible for the final drawing. I put all the names into a baseball cap and my one-year-old daughter drew the winner (with a little help from Mommy). Congratulations to Robert Miller for winning. He will receive a free copy of the new book Hi-Fi Color For Comics: Digital...
Kelly McNutt, a talented Minneapolis animator whom I mentioned in yesterday's post, has been working with Michael Jantze (creator of the comic strip The Norm) on some fun new animated shorts. The shorts are now viewable on the new Jantze Studios YouTube site: At Your Service is a cartoon created for a client in the hotel/hospitality industry. If only every hotel...
