Channel Frederator Blog

Animation enthusiast, voice actor, comedian and handsome naturalist Mike Funt celebrated his birthday last weekend with a cartoon themed birthday party - everyone came dressed as their favorite cartoon character…

Birthday boy wearing Goofy’s clothes…

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Do you love cows? I do… with special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

If you love cows, animation, Bill Plympton, or BBQ in general, come out to Hill Country on Tuesday for the premiere of famed indie animator Bill Plympton’s new short, The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger.  The event will include live performances by famed musicians Nicole Renaud and Maureen McElheron. Everyone who comes receives a free Bill Plympton cow drawing.

The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger is a children’s fable about the power of advertising, the meaning of life and ultimately the test of a mother’s love.  The style is sharpie with digital coloring and music by Nicole Renaud and Corey Jackson.

I hope all of you New Yorkers will come out to see this great new short. I’ll see you there! - Carrie

When: Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010- 6-8pm
Location: Hill Country Barbecue Market - 30 [Read more…]

Saturday, February 6th, animation’s highest honors were handed out at the 37th Annie Awards. This years contenders all had a fair shot at top honors, with Sony, Dreamworks, Pixar, and Disney all repped pretty evenly across the board in major categories. With so many excellent films this year, it’s safe to say that animation is the winner.

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French animator Ghislain Avrillon’s short film “Galileo” is a bonifide hit with Channel Frederator Fans! Here is a quick interview with the filmmaker about his work.

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Ghislain Avrillon: I learned animation and art at the Pivaut School in Nantes (France). My studies lasted 4 years, but only the last two were animation.
Galileo is the result of the last year. Six months of hard personal work.

CF: What gave you the idea for “Galileo”?

GA: I love poetry and the idea of freedom. This mentality orientated my choices for the scenario and graphic world. I heard a beautiful comment about Galileo : “A Modern Icarus”. Icarus has ever been a beautiful dream to me.

CF: What influences your style the most?

GA: Hmmm… I’m very interested in illustrator’s digital work. I want to approach a traditional result with digital tools.

CF: Are you working on anything new you can tell us about?

GA: I’m working on many personal [Read more…]

Mountain from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

Here’s a little diddy by Channel Frederator favorite, Kirsten Lepore! Check out Kirsten’s previous CF episode and interviews!

-Bailee DesRocher

Our very first episode, November 2005, featured Pendleton Ward’s wonderful “Barrista.”

The other day, Frederator producer Carrie Miller saw this live action adaption on someone’s tumblr.

It’s a wonderful world.

–Fred

Recently I had a sit down with one of my favorite people, multi-talented animator and director Sherie Pollack, whose body of work ranges from edgy primetime programming animating and timing on “The Simpsons” to directing “God, The Devil, & Bob” to the pre-K “Dora the Explorer” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” I took the opportunity to discuss her journey into animation success and her upcoming lecture “My Career in Cartoons”. Here, in the second half of her interview, Sherie goes in depth about her lecture.

BD: In your lecture, what kind of things do you cover for aspiring pro animators?

SP: I basically want to share everything I wish I knew when I started. You know, how to get a union job. What is a union all about. What do I do if I’m not doing well on a job - how do I get my groove back? Carpal tunnel. Everyone gets it. Eye strain. How to [Read more…]

Recently I had a sit down with one of my favorite people, multi-talented animator and director Sherie Pollack, whose body of work ranges from edgy primetime programming (like animating and timing on “The Simpsons” and directing “God, The Devil, & Bob”) to pre-K entertainment like“Dora the Explorer” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” I took the opportunity to discuss her journey into animation success and her upcoming lecture “My Career in Cartoons”.

Bailee DesRocher: What got you started in animation?:

Sherie Pollack: I was 17 when I first started thinking about colleges, I flipped a coin - it was either going to be theatre, or fine arts. That’s when my mother pulled me into the pantry and said,”Do ya have to do this? Isn’t there anything else?”

Going forward, I combined the two. I didn’t know I wanted to be an animator. As a kid I was always drawing and I was very lucky - my parents would [Read more…]

When you get a sec, you should definitely go check out - no, you know what?

Stop. Stop what you’re doing.

See this? Yeah, there’s more where that came from.

Joel Trussell’s revamped website is finally up, with paintings from his gallery shows, illustrations, and the cool intro to “The Animation Show 4“.

Stop reading this and visit www.joeltrussell.com to get your face rocked off. Then grab an icepack and an aspirin to soothe what’s left of your head. Totally worth it.

-Bailee DesRocher

We got such a boatload of submissions for Channel Frederator’s 2-Second Cartoon Contest and it really looks like everyone put a lot of work into their shorts. Thanks to everyone for submitting! I would love for everyone to to win, but we did promise a prize, and that prize goes to Jeff Gill for his short, “First Kiss”. Congratulations, Jeff!

I asked Jeff a few questions about himself and what inspired his 2-second short. Check out his answers below!

Tell us a bit about yourself:

I’m originally from Seminole, FL, but after attending school in Savannah I moved out here to Los Angeles and have worked at a number of really fun studios, including Jib Jab and South Park. Currently we’re hard at work on the 13th season, but during our mid-season breaks I enjoy working on my own side projects including music videos, experimental films, and updating my daily art blog, goodbyespacebar.blogspot.com

What inspired yoru [Read more…]