Channel Frederator Blog

That’s right folks! Just over 24 hours to upload your 2-second cartoon for our St. Patrick’s day contest. We’ve already gotten quite a few awesome entries and are looking forward to yours!
You could be taking home a brand-spanking-new Nintendo DSi (yes, that’s the new, fancy-pants, improved version of the Nintendo handheld device that is being released in April).
Make sure you visit the contest page here, and submit your film at: www.channelfrederator.com/submit - Carrie

A pair of Quay Brothers events are approaching, so keep them in mind if you are fans of the identical twin animators of creepitude. For more on Stephen and Timothy, click here.

Thursday, April 2nd at 6:30 at The School of Visual Arts Theater, 333 West 23rd Street. FREE!: A discussion of the work of The Brothers Quay, moderated by faculty member Thyrza Goodeve.

And down in Philly…

February 27 – April 9: An exhibition of sets from Brothers Quay films at the Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, 333 South Broad Street. There will be a closing reception on Friday April 3, from 5 to 7:30 with The Quay brothers in attendance. Need a date? Bring your favorite decrepit, detached doll head.

—Anne D. Bernstein

Congrats to animator/director Joel Trussell on his contribution to the Flux Screening Series project PSST Pass it On - a collaborative series of 17 short films from around the globe that premiered last night at Los Angeles’ Hammer Museum.

Prior to PSST was a screening of Aaron Rose’s Become a Microscope - 90 Statements on Sister Corita a brief, reflective documentary about Corita Kent, an art teacher, Catholic nun, activist, and unusual pop-artist during the 1960’s and 70’s.

-Bailee DesRocher

Steve Kovalesky

Steve Kovalesky is a talented artist and self taught animator whose short, short film, “Nature”, is featured in this week’s epsiode of Channel Frederator. We did learn, though, there’s always room for further education in other areas. No, not that. What is with you guys?

Channel Frederator: Where did you study animation?

Steve Kovalesky: I took a computer animation class in 8th grade and learned on my own since then. One key resource for me has been The Animator’s Survival Kit. I already knew the software, but the book really helped me understand the principles of animation.

CF: What or who has influenced your work the most?

SK: One of my biggest influences is Bill Watterson. I love the sketchy look of his work and how there’s so much life in even his simplest drawings. I’m also a fan of Chuck Jones, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Ralph Bakshi.

CF: Do you have any cool projects coming up that [Read more…]

30 Days of shooting v.2 (the linear edit) from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

I was messing around this week’s featured filmmaker’s tumblr and found this great production vlog from Kirsten about her cupcake film.

–Fred

Calling all animators!

Channel Frederator is hosting a 2-second animation contest for Saint Patrick’s Day. We want your stop-motion, flash, cartoons, flip books, or any other kind of animation to help us celebrate the day of Irish green cheer. We’ll be featuring the best submissions in our Saint Patrick’s Day episode on March 17th.
One lucky winner will receive a Nintendo DS!

[Read more…]

Funkadillo CEOs

Funkadillo: Hey there, Channel Frederator!

Barfy just informed us that you wanted to know a little more about the two of us. He does all of our emailing and what not, but since he has hooves at the moment, he wasn’t able to write you back himself. He was so excited you’d taken an interest in him, we had to hose him down in the backyard till he was calm. Ah, that pig sure does love the hose. The neighbors think we can’t see them peeking through their blinds.

Channel Frederator: How long have you two been animating?

Joel: I think we’ve both been at it pretty much all day. We took a lunch break, then there was the laser tag, the trip to the aquarium, the deep fryer incident, and building the squirrel-a-pult, but yeah, other than that, it’s been nothing but animating.

Ryan: I don’t think that’s what they meant. We’ve been animating professionally [Read more…]

Joel Trussell has been a long-time contributor to Channel Frederator. In fact, Joel’s film War Photographer was in the second episode to ever air! Every time we show one of his shorts we get a great response. This month, you guys really did your duty!

Joel’s animated music video for Morcheeba’s “Enjoy the Ride” is the winner of our January Cartoon of the Month prize, which means that out of all of the cartoons to run in December, you guys voted his the very best. Because of you, Joel will receive a totally awesome $100 prize pack of extra special Cartoon of the Month Channel Frederator merchandise.

I asked Joel a few questions about the making of the video. Check it out after the jump, and don’t forget to get voting on next month’s Cartoon of the Month! [Read more…]

Emily Hubley’s new animation-and-live-action film The Toe Tactic will be screened tonight at MOMA at 6 PM—it’s the theatrical premiere of her first full-length feature! Other showings are Thursday at 8, Friday at 4, and Saturday at 2, Sunday at 3, Monday at 5. The impressive voice cast includes Eli Wallach, Marian Seldes, Andrea Martin, Mary Kay Place, David Cross, Kevin Corrigan and young Lily Rabe (daughter of actress Jill Clayburgh and playwright David Rabe.) Score by Yo La Tengo. FREE for MOMA members. $10 for non-members.

Mona Peek is a young woman engulfed by loss. Her father recently passed away, her wallet disappears, and she is isolated from those around her. Her life, and the lives of her neighbors, are manipulated by four capricious dogs playing a game of cards. Winsome newcomer Lily Rabe interacts with animated forms that push, pull, and caress the film’s flesh-and-blood cohabitants through a journey of renewal.

After the jump, hear a radio interview with Emily Hubley… [Read more…]

British animator Simon Tofield specializes in simple, amusing, and observant shorts about pets. The floor-level chomper above appears in “Fed Up”, a recent holiday spot for the RSPCA. It’s a warning about overfeeding pets that makes its point without preaching. If you’re more of a cat person, the classic below stars an impatient fuzzball who acts just like my cat, Blinky! Well, with a bit of exaggeration.

Simon is repped by Tandem. His personal site is Simon’s Cat. (It is temporarily closed for maintenance. but this is where you buy T-shirt and sign up for his newsletter.)

Here’s a short interview with the creator, from Your Cat Magazine—not to be confused with Cat Fancy!

—Anne D. Bernstein