Channel Frederator Blog

Thanks to Boing Boing for bringing this Russian version of Winnie the Pooh, called Vinni Puh, to my attention. The state sponsored animation house Soyuzmultfilm crafted its own version of the Pooh tales back in the 1970s. They have their own distinctive style (I love the scribbly backgrounds) and the overall feeling is less delicate and more goofy than the E.H. Shepard interpretation we all know so well.

(By the way, it seems that Shepard ended up hating Pooh. Silly old bear!)

Thinking Pictures goes into detail about Russian interpretations of Pooh here. (Warning: It’s a brainy essay and uses words like Gemütlichkeit and Gemeinschaft. Mickey Mouse is apparently Gemeinschaft.)

And if you are hankering for more Soviet silliness, enjoy these additional Vinni Puh adventures:

Chapter Two (with subtitles)

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

—Anne D. Bernstein

“All The Cats Join In” from Make Mine Music is one of my favorite cartoon shorts. It’s got a great swingin’ track, cute Fred Moore girls, fluid animated jitterbugging, and ice cream! If you click on the links below and visit two highly recommended animation blogs, The Blackwing Diaries and Mayerson on Animation, you can get a detailed peek into the making of this clean-cut classic.

Mark Mayerson: PAGE ONE, PAGE TWO.

Blackwing (Jenny Lerew’s blog): PAGE ONE, PAGE TWO.

Lerew has tons of additional Fred Moore info on her site and sketches of assorted Fred Moore girls, including this sassy lass from “All the Cats Join In.” YOWSA!

—Anne D. Bernstein

Simple. Clever. Succinct. That’s how I would describe this Post-It animation. But who’s behind it? Turns out it’s an Argentinian motion graphics company called Gazz. It’s worth it to explore their website, as only a few examples of their work show up on YouTube. You can check out a stop-motion town full of egg-cars and a smoking belly face ID for MTV, among other fanciful things.

Also, don’t miss the videos in the section called “zzzaping”, which compiles tests and demos. One project is a motion-capture kit comprising two marachas and a belt, which can harness your rhythmic chops and sexy hip action to make an animated monkey dance.

Here’s a lovely music video they did for the song “Marta Ý Nestor” by Robot Bajo El Agua. I really love the song, although I don’t speak Spanish and don’t know what exactly they are singing about— I suppose love?

For the band: the [Read more…]

Click on the image, to be transported to Episode 3!

The Channel Frederator Awards are Here!!! It was a hot, feverish, and fierce competition!!!

Find out if your favorite cartoons claimed the Big, Red, Hunk of Burning Fred!!!

In this episode, Computers, Computers, Computers!!! Figure out which tricked out lite-brite and animator came away with The Freddie for Best CGI Film!

Also, Animator and Internet Person, Dan Meth receives the Van Guard Award. Not just cause he’s good at Guarding Vans either.

Watch all the nominees at channelfrederator.com

-Jeaux Janovsky

*I meant to have this up yesterday, but when I posted an embed it looked like it broke the fredblogs. I’m glad it works now, and thankful for youtube.-JX

Apparently, sometimes when women give birth (some women), a tiny bit off poo squeezes out along with the baby.
Such is the premise of our pals Mukpuddy’s new “nutty” pilot, It’s the Pughs.
[Read more…]

As there’s been some bunny talk around here today, I just wanted to link to an impressive short 3-D film, “Bunny Situation”, made by Michael Sormann. Sormann isn’t bankrolled by Pixar, or some other company with deep pockets; he does his animation independently (with Maya software). Pretty impressive, I’d say!

He developed as an artist in the videogame industry and is an alum of Rockstar Vienna. Now he’s a freelance 3D artist. He’s been working on his pet project, Theme Planet, for many years. He’s posted some beautiful finished artwork, as well as preliminary drawings, in the Gallery Section.

If you want to learn more, you can read these interviews: one from 3D Valley, another from It’s Art Magazine, and a third from Render Node.

—Anne D. Bernstein

(All images copyright Michael Sormann)

[Read more…]

The Channel Frederator Awards are Here!!! It was a hot, feverish, and fierce competition!!!

Find out if your favorite cartoons claimed the Big, Red, Hunk of Burning Fred!!!

In this episode, watch which Bunnies duked it out and prevailed in a battle of Epic Bad ASS Bunny-ness!!!

Also, meet Animator Stephen M. Levinson, winner of Channel Frederator’s Youngest Filmmaker Award, and watch his cartoon, Ace & Aqua!
You’ll forget that this 17 year old animation whiz kid is barely out of diapers.

Watch all the nominees at channelfrederator.com

-Jeaux Janovsky

Matt Schwartz, another ex-MTV Animation comrade (and there are a lot of us around), contacted me to say that his cartoon, Calling Cat-22!, will be featured as a Wedgie this Sunday on Cartoon Network.

Wedgies are cartoon shorts that CN is currently “wedging” in between programs, such as the “Not So Smart Toons” marathon on Sunday from 12-6 PM. If you can’t be home and/or don’t have TIVO or some such gizmo, you can watch Wedgies on the CN Video Page.

If you want a sneak peek of Calling Cat-22!, there is one episode up right now called “Stink”. Other Wedgie series so far are Flapjack, Bremen Avenue Experience, Nacho Bear, and The Talented Mr. Bixby.

(Oh, and one thing I don’t like about the CN video site is that there are no show credits and they don’t provide any info about the creators. C’mon, CN, why make it difficult for us to [Read more…]

Click on the Image to watch the episode!

Channel Frederator Awards Announce Winners
First Network to Celebrate the Internet Where It Belongs - Online!

NEW YORK, NY - June 10, 2008 -

Channel Frederator, the largest Internet cartoon network in the world and one of the founding networks of Next New Networks, today announced the winners of the Channel Frederator Awards, recognizing extraordinary talents in animation and the internet. The Second Annual Channel Frederator Awards is available to watch online today at http://www.channelfrederatorawards.com/.

Winners were announced in all seventeen Freddies categories that range from “Sick Sick Sick Award” to “Best Flash Film.” Channel Frederator’s prestigious Vanguard Award, went to Dan Meth, a New York-based independent animator.
[Read more…]

I’m not in Annecy. You’re not in Annecy. (Well, some of you may be, but I’m sure you have more interesting things to do than reading blogs today.)

See, there’s this little animation festival going on there right now. Must be nice.

So, for those of us stuck in Non-France, here is a beautiful short from last year’s festival. It was produced by students of the animation program at the Gobelins art school in Paris: Jean-Michel Boesch, Quentin Bailleux, Manuel Tanon-Tchi, and Sébastien Vovau.

(Each year, Gobelins animation students produce the shorts that open all the official competition screenings of the festival.)

This group of animation artists (plus others) have formed Studio Aaameriques. Go to their site to see some examples of animation eye candy.

So, pull up a croissant and enjoy.

A few images for you. An amuse-bouche, if you will. This one is by Icha:

Character designs by Quentin Bailleux:

[Read more…]