Len Peralta and I met in the new classic way people meet. I liked his stuff on Flickr and set him up as a contact. He contacted me back and sent an email, telling me that his animation class had turned him onto Adventure Time and asked if I could participate in his project Geek-A-Week. After I protested (not too much) that I didn’t deserve geek status, and then convinced him to set it up on tumblr, I agreed and he did an interview and tricked up these cool trading cards. I’m in awesome company that I wish I deserved.
Nathan Sawaya is one of those rare artists with a unique vision that has quality and populism wrapped up in one really cool package. I’ve written about his Lego art before (he’s sculpting a Fredbot logo tag for us), so I brought my family over to his art show opening in New York last night (my younger son is a Lego Roboticscompetitor). It was totally worth it, so if you’re in New York in the next few weeks, drop by the Agora Gallery for a glimpse.
As soon as Nickelodeon production Prexy Albie Hecht heard the title ChalkZone he was in (he’s totally a high concept guy). Good thing. I’d lured co-creator Bill Burnett (whom I met through Albie in the first place) from NY to la-la land, and Larry Huber was overseeing all the lunatics in our shorts asylum. It was great when they got their series –the second spin off from Oh Yeah! Cartoons– which launched as the highest rated premiere in Nick history as of 2002.
….. From the postcard back:
Congratulations! You are one of 200 people to receive this limited edition Frederator postcard! www.frederator.com
As anyone who’s known me for more than a few minutes is well aware, I like posters. Too much.
The 60’s was pretty much the end of the useful commercial poster (though in some cities, transit posters will occasionally still work) but in the last 40 years the limited edition art poster has been alive and well. My ad agency made more posters than they were sometimes comfortable with, and when I got into cartoon biz my habit continued unabated. At Frederator our bank account slows us up quite a bit, but I can be persuasive in convincing our partners that it’s a really good idea for them.
Now that there are a lot of easy ways to publish books on demand on the internet, I’m starting to go a little book crazy. The latest one up, edited by Eric and me, is a collection of our posters. You can see the latest draft up above, and it should be available on Amazon next month. Next, title cards and the latest postcards.
By the way, here’s the description I’m going to putting on Amazon. If any of you have a better way to do it, please let me know. I’m eager to hear what you think.
Original Cartoon Posters collects a dozen years of the Frederator Studios limited edition poster releases.
Since 1998, Frederator has been America’s leading independent cartoon producer, with smash hits like ‘The Fairly OddParents’, ‘Fanboy & Chum Chum’, and ‘Adventure Time’, and the big idea cartoon incubators What A Cartoon!, Oh Yeah! Cartoons, and Random! Cartoons. Showcased here for the first time, you’ll find rarities like private staff editions, comic convention promotions, and one-off digital giveaways.
Butch Hartman’s FOP got the go-ahead for series production while I was in the midst of a cross continent family move, but Butch didn’t lose a beat. He staffed up and started one of the great juggernauts in modern American cartoons.
….. From the postcard back:
Congratulations!
You are one of 200 people to receive this limited edition Frederator postcard! www.frederator.com
Frederator/NY was honored by the presence of an honestly won Oscar nominee this morning, when “Secret of Kells” director Tomm Moore stopped by to get acquainted. We met briefly at the Annies last month, but he’s been so booked up with people wanting to kiss his ring that it took a while for us to have a few minutes peace. Like his Cartoon Saloon partner Paul Young, who gave us our first preview last summer, Tomm embodies the independent spirit of talent and ideas we all would hope gets the top nods in the movie biz. There are great things in store for everyone at the Saloon, so keep watching for them, they’ll constantly surprise and amaze you.
Check out a bit of “The Secret of Kells” here, before buying your theatre tickets.
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