Channel Frederator Blog

Jesse Thorn (seen above with taxidermy) hosts one of the web’s most consistently entertaining interview podcasts: The Sound of Young America. He recently corralled a somewhat-animation-themed trio of innovators at the Integrated Media Association Conference in Atlanta. The panelists were Funky Flash-ness pioneers Bros. Chaps (creators of the pioneering cult webtoon HomeStarRunner), Jeff Olsen (adultswim.com head honcho), and Merlin Mann (who runs productivity and creativity site 43folders.com, among other things). The panel was titled “Blow Up Your Brain” and it’s really worth checking out their conversation about inspiration, celebration, and other essential engines for making Internet coolness. Their comments about how they hate the word “branding” are particularly refreshing. Chock full of insightful concepts like “The mullet approach to doing social media”.

Download here.

And you likely will enjoy this G4 interview with Bros. Chaps. For more on them, see the official HomeStarRunner page and more at the HomeStarRunner Wiki.

—Anne D. Bernstein

COLOURlovers is an amazing website where you can go for endless retinal stimulation. “The Colour and Design Community for Creative Inspiration” offers hundreds of color palettes, patterns, trend reports, color predictions, discussion boards, a blog, and much more. Members contribute their own colors and designs so there is a constant stream of new ideas.

They recently posted a list of their favorite colorful animated shorts from 2008. See if you agree.

And here’s a little timely round-up regarding the importance of red to the Chinese New Year.

And I have no idea why they use the British spelling of “colour” since they are based in Portland. Or if Darius A Monsef IV, the founder, was really born with such an amazing name. Or what exactly an “internet astronaut” is, which he claims to be. I just know…I like this site and blue with a bit of grey (gray?) in it.

—Anne D. Bernstein

Peter Griffin (Family Guy) by mataleoneBR

Worth1000 is a company that creates web-based internet applications for artists. But what’s really fun about the company is that they’ve decided to generate buzz by hosting a series of Photoshop image manipulation contests. The resulting entries can be astoundingly strange.

The Reality Cartoon Contest asked contestants to “make a photorealistic image which depicts what a cartoon character would look like if they came to life.” See the deeply disconcerting results by clicking on these links:

Reality Cartoons 1

Reality Cartoons 2

Beavis by mataleoneBR

Another contest after the jump…
[Read more…]

I recently came across this animated guide to buying and selling on Etsy, the endless e-commerce site where you can joyously bypass malls and chain stores to buy unique crafts and gifts—everything from a picture of a terrier plunging a toilet to a naturally-shed deer antler pen.

The spot was made by Also, a mini-collective of three very talented people: Jenny Volvovski (design), Julia Rothman (illustration), and Matt Lamothe (animation). Lamothe did the Etsy spot, and his other web design projects are definitely worth perusing for their innovative and elaborate incorporation of animation. I love the one for The Busy Beaver Button Company—I have never enjoyed navigating a shopping site more! Another nice place to perch is at the animated home page of kids’ clothing site Enfant Terrible.

And speaking of Etsy, here’s an extremely low-tech and silly stop motion adventure from Etsy seller Absolutely Small.

—Anne D. Bernstein