Amanda Visell is a wonderful artist with many talents who runs the multi-talented Girls Productions along with the equally talented Michelle Valigura deep in the heart of Pasadena, California. Her paintings are pretty darn good at evoking wide smiles, as well as her Channel Frederator Interview Answers.
Thanks for taking the time to do this Amanda!

How long have you been animating/drawing/painting?
Forever.

Who are some of your influences?
Mary Blair, Eyvind Earle, Lou Romano. I like a lot of old disney conceptual artists.

Where were you born?
Puyallup, WA

Did you go to school for Art or Animation? If so, where?
Nope. Well, I kept attempting to take classes at the animation union but I would get frustrated and quit after a day.

What are some of your hobbies outside the world of animation/art?
I watch a lot of tv. I like eating.

What are you working on currently in the animation industry/Art world/?
Nothing for animation right now. Working on getting more products out there this year and illustrating a book Michelle wrote.

What company do you work for or have you worked for?
I work for myself. I used to work in stop motion animation for spacebass, and chiodo bros. So, like for Disney Channel, Simpsons, Elf. All stop motion stuff. For 2d Ive done some teeny tiny work for Laika, Animax, and Disney.

What do you think makes a cartoon or a children’s book good/ or a great painting or illustration?
I don’t know that Im a good judge, I have very particular taste. For me its all about the story telling, and I get tired of seeing the same old thing.

Have you ever shown your art in galleries? If so, where?
yes. Cities or galleries?

What types of reactions do you get from your art at first?
Laughter I think, I hope thats a good thing…

Do you have any advice for someone wanting to break in or just beginning in the Animation industry/Art world?
I dont know what advice I have… For me nothing has really worked out when I pushed it, so I’m trying to take opportunities as they come. Well, no Im not. Im a spaz.

What animation DVDs have you picked up lately?
The fancy Iron Giant…. 9 to 5 anniversary edition (that has animation).

What animation websites do you check in on regularly?
(bonus points for saying Lunch Break!)
Lunch Break, Cartoon Brew, Vinyl Pulse, Burgerlog, Talk to the Snail by Mr. Eric Homan.

Is there anything you want to say to the people out there in Blog-Land reading this?
Buy art! And stop googling girls productions to find porn!

Heh. Er… Well. It really does take you to a porn site (the other Girls Productions). I didn’t go there on purpose, I swear!
Anyhow, Cute Animals are my porn. I hope that doesn’t boost me up to weird Furry Status, but hopefully my fellow artists and friends with cute design sensibilities know what I’m talkin’ about.
Thanks again Amanda!
And Thank YOU all for reading!
-Jeaux Janovsky

We met this fellow this summer at The Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. If you go, you can pet cows, chickens, goats and pigs, and if you take the tour (or visit the web site) you’ll probably never eat veal again.

via Tall Grass Radio

This was a 1962 Cheerios spot originally seen on “THE BULLWINKLE SHOW” by Jay Ward Productions. For all of the animated commercials made, there were perhaps none more popular, more influential or more memorable than the creations of Jay Ward Productions.

Known mainly for Rocky and Bullwinkle, Jay Ward spent nearly twenty-two years creating a number of animated campaigns for the Quaker Oats Company. His studio put together spots for Scooter Pies, Aunt Jemima, Mr. Chips Cookies and the popular Quisp and Quake cereals.

The characters of Quisp and Quake were created by Bill Scott who also created and was the voice of Bullwinkle. Jay Ward’s longest running series was the promotion of Captain Crunch. In 1962, Ward brought Captain Crunch, actually Cap’n Crunch thanks to an early voice over ‘flub’, to the television sets of America, a place where he remains today even though Ward’s association with the brand stopped in 1984. Through the years, The Captain fought the pirate Jean LaFoote in his efforts to steal the cereal cargo of the Captain’s ship, the S. S. Guppy. These commercials were amazingly popular, shooting Quaker from the back to the front in the breakfast cereal market. In fact, Quaker even had to build a separate production plant to concentrate solely on Captain Crunch and its eventual spin-offs.

Over time many advertisers preferred to go the live action route, relying more and more on special effects which often do utilize some form of animation and outrageous humor. Today CGI characters like the Geico Gecko and the AFLAC Duck are very visible icons for their respective brands.

With the emerging Internet and the continuation of the logical convergence of all media there are great opportunities for animated cartoon commercials. They still are one of the best ways to attract attention and gain mind share, and smaller studios can utilize this as a great creative and economical opportunity.

-Floyd Bishop

Gavin Logan was in New York the other day to show us an animated show he’s been working on with some friends, and a few comedy ideas for Next New Networks. Bill Sobel is a friend of ours who teaches at SUNY Albany in his spare time and he was kind enough to give us an intro to Gavin. Thanks for coming by.

I had imaginary friends when I was little. I used to play 4 Square with them. Don’t ask…
However, I’ve never had a decapitated head for a friend. YET, at least.
Chris Nabholz gives us a very well done short which walks a thin line between Quaint and Disturbing. Chris took some time to answer a few of our Channel Frederator Questions.

1. Can you describe your process, from research to storyboarding, to achieving the final product? (which was fantastic, btw)
I came up with the story during my third year at Ringling College of Art and Design as part of the senior thesis curriculum. I spent about three months developing the story’s concept and storyboards, which were reviewed numerous times by teachers and peers. I simultaneously developed the visuals, such as character designs, environments and geographic locations. At the same time, I created an animatic.
After the story was finalized and the visual designs were working, I started modeling the 3D assets needed.

2. Who are some of your influences?
I was mostly influenced by the work of my peers at Ringling. I don’t generally try to emulate the work of a single artist; instead, I try to find inspiration through my research. For example, during the production of “Respire, Mon Ami,” I researched a lot of French engravings, as well as early 20th century photographs of French fashion, architecture, and life.

3. What were some of the obstacles and hurdles you had to deal with in the making of this film?
The single biggest obstacle was the production schedule. I had less than five months to model, rig, texture, animate, light and composite Respire, Mon Ami. Although five months sounds like a lot of time, it’s not, as anyone who has animated understands. I also had a limit as to how long it could take each of my frames to render, so finding creative solutions for rendering visually complex scenes was also a challenge.

4. Did you know that a human head remains conscious for about 15 to 20 seconds after it has been decapitated? Hypothetically speaking, if your head was ever cut off (We hope not!), what would be the last thing you hope to see?
I did in fact learn that during my research. Hypothetically speaking, I suppose that if I were beheaded with a guillotine, my perspective would be rather limited by being yoked in the lunette.
However, if I had a last chance to look around, I’d most want to see the bereaved expressions of the onlookers, because I’d like to think I’d be missed. Honestly though, I suspect that onlookers would be there to see a nice bloody beheading, which I would hopefully provide.

5. What are you working on currently?
Currently, I am working on Beowulf as a Lighting Technical Director at Sony Pictures Imageworks in Los Angeles. The film comes out in November and looks like it will be a lot of fun, so I hope you’ll
check it out!

(Beowulf actually looks pretty awesome!!!)
Thanks again for submitting Respire, Mon Ami Chris! Keep in touch!
-Jeaux Janovsky

It’s COMING.

Look for it on Youtube & Channel Frederator RAW. SOON.
CH.Frederator Quick FIX. We bite.
-Jeaux Janovsky

With no promotion the first cartoon social network we know about –our own Channel Frederator RAW– is up over 80 members. We’ve been working out the kinks but I don’t really want to let the whole world about it until we’re at 100 members. So try and sign up now and you can join THE FIRST HUNDRED CLUB we’re setting up.

I’m excited about RAW for a few reasons.

First, it’s an easier place for people to submit their cartoons for Channel Frederator. And not only do they get submitted, but our community gets to check them out first and help make sure our crack programming team doesn’t overlook any gems. The cartoons so far have been so good we’ll probably have a few up on the front page of the channel really soon. There’s even a great widget to put the most recent CF/RAW videos on your Facebook page.

Next, it’s a great place for professionals in the animation biz to share their art work others. As you can already see there are simple ways to upload your art, and I’m told there are easy ways to link the gallery to your Flickr account so you only have to upload one place, but share it across multiple communities. (Look, I know if you’re a professional in Hollywood or New York, you know it all and you know everyone you think you’re ever going to need to know, but it’s not true. If you join CF/RAW you become part of the world animation community.)

Groups and Forums are springing up right and left around Flash Animators, Claymators, and Obscure Cartoons, among many other. If the ones there don’t satisfy you, you can start your own.

What else? Are you a non-professional, a fan? This kind of community is perfect for you. It’s an inside look at the art and business of cartoons that probably isn’t available anywhere else. A student? There’s the Animation Students group. Anime? Right here. Nothing on CG or vintage cartoons, but, I’m sure they’re just around the corner. As soon as [link:you can get them going.

OK, OK, I’m done for now. Help us make the community better and smarter. Help us make cartoons even more fun than they are already. Help us get to 100.

Nickelodeon’s new show “Tak and the Power of Juju” is set to premiere this Friday August 31st at 8:00.

“Tak and the Power of Juju” is Nickelodeon Animation Studios’ first in-house CG TV show, based on the “Tak” video games.

While I caught one or two on my cable’s On Demand service, I’m anxious to see the show premiere on Nick. The world of Tak looks like a fun one, ad the story possibilities are seemingly endless.

-Floyd Bishop

Watch as Walt Disney explains the multiplane camera. In 1937, he released “The Old Mill,” the first short subject to utilize the multiplane camera technique.

That’s a very impressive accomplishment, especially for such an innovation created seventy years ago. But wait! Not so fast! Have a look at this…

That’s a much more impressive effect, in my opinion. That bit of film was created by Max Fleischer’s camera, the Rotograph.

The Rotograph, patent #2054414, was invented by animator Max Fleischer in 1936 (although the documents for the patent were submitted in 1933, according to the scans available from the Patent Office). The camera set up is essentially an enormous, revolving, circular miniature set built in forced perspective.

It amazes me that this technology was invented and used to such stunning effect over 70 years ago. Imagine what the Fleischer brothers and Walt Disney would and could do with computer technology!

Keep innovating!
-Floyd Bishop

One of the things I love most about working in cartoons is the grind that makes up the sausage, the early drawings, models, layouts, backgrounds, and, of course, storyboards. It’s great to look at the early work and see what kind of evolutions a creator’s mind and pencil go through.

RHOMBUS!!

It’s so seldom we civilians actually get to see this stuff that I thought it would be fun to take a look at one of the boards we picked from the almost 1000 presentations we got to select the 39 Random! Cartoons.

WE’RE GOIN IN TURBO TIME!!!

It’s amazing to see the intact vision of Pen Ward with Adventure Time. From the board’s first frame it’s obvious this man is reinventing the future of cartoons.

YOU WANT YOUR BOOTIES???!!!