As a special thank you to our annual General and Student members, we have created a special page where we will archive past Reference Packs. There will be a new rerun of a complete RefPack between the new ones.
Available to Student and General Members
PDF E-BOOK:
Esquire Magazine
Cartoon Annual Volume 3 (1937)
Esquire was the leading "gentleman’s magazine" of its day. Great writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemmingway wrote for the magazine, and the Esquire staff included a stable of illustrators and cartoonists that represented the best in the field. Even though it was founded in the height of the depression, the publishers spared no expense to produce a first class product. The cover price was fifty cents, many times the price of any other magazine on newsstands at the time. Hugh Hefner began his career as a copy editor at Esquire in the late forties, and it’s clear that his vision of what Playboy would become was greatly influenced by Esquire.
In 1937, the staff of Esquire prepared a prototype copy of a proposed cartoon annual containing the best cartoons from the first few years of the magazine’s publication. However before the book could be printed, the project was cancelled and the prototype was put on the shelf. Twenty years later, they finally did publish a book honoring the great work of the Esquire art staff, but it was a much different selection of cartoons. Animation Resources was given access to the one-of-a-kind prototype of the 1937 book, and we have been sharing it with our members. This is the third and final volume. We hope you find it to be useful.
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Downloads expire after August 2024
HD QUALITY VIDEO:
“Tune In Tomorrow”
UPA / 1954
Industrial films are fascinating time capsules charting the evolution of style in animation. Since their budgets were limited, they often leaned on clever and eye catching design to make an impact on an audience, rather than complex movement. This particular film is no exception. It’s loaded with eye popping modern design and bold color. The film’s purpose is to promote CBS Radio Network, and it was made in 1954 just as television was beginning to replace radio as America’s “electronic hearth”.
Many thanks to Advisory Board member Steve Stanchfield for sharing this rare industrial film with Animation Resources. Films like this were ephemeral by design. They served a purpose in a particular time and place, and after that time had passed, they were disposed of. We are very fortunate that Steve uncovers these lost jewels and shares them with us. Steve’s video company, Thunderbean Animation is doing great work transferring and restoring rare animated films. We greatly appreciate his unfailing support of our Animation Archive Project.
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Downloads expire after August 2024
DVD QUALITY VIDEO:
Kumo To Tulip
Kenzo Masaoka / 1943
"Kumo To Tulip" was made by Kenzo Masaoka during World War II. Masaoka is regarded as one of the pioneers of Japanese animation, having directed the first Japanese sound cartoon in 1933. During his twenty year career, he directed over two dozen animated films, mostly based on fables and folklore. "Kumo To Tulip" was his masterpiece, exhibiting skillful technical effects as well as solid personality animation. The depiction of the spider as a blackface performer was clearly intended to be a racial slur on Americans, but the propaganda content is easily ignored today. The iconic story is based on a fairy tale by Michiko Yokoyama, and the film bears many similarities with Disney’s Silly Symphonies series.
Of particular note is the beautiful effects animation- wind, rain, fire and smoke- all done in a unique, keenly observed style. The contrast in the way the spider and the ladybug move is also impressive. If you look carefully, you’ll see that the backgrounds incorporate photographs and there are several very long camera moves that must have necessitated match cuts or dissolves to accomplish. The film evokes a gentle mood, quite contrary to the spirit of other Wartime films. Animation Resources is proud to bring this early Japanese cartoon to you for your research and study. We hope you find it useful in your work.
Click to access the…
Downloads expire after August 2024
DVD QUALITY VIDEO:
Gena The Crocodile
Roman Kachanov / Soyuzmultfilm / 1969
This charming puppet film features the character, Cheburashka. Created for a children’s story by Eduard Uspensky, the character is best known from this series of films produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio, directed by Roman Kachanov. Four films featuring the character were released between 1969 and 1984. Gena The Crocodile is the first in the series, released in 1969.
The animation in this film is brilliant, and it’s well worth still framing through to study how the various personalities are put across through the walk cycles and gestures. The puppets limit the flexibility of facial expressions, but the animators more than make up for it through the way the characters move. The principles behind stop motion, hand drawn animation and CGI are all the same. We hope this film is useful to you. If you would like to see more of these films, let us know.
Click to access the…
Downloads expire after August 2024
If you are currently on a quarterly membership plan, consider upgrading to an annual membership to get access to our bonus page with even more downloads. If you still have time on you quarterly membership when you upgrade to an annual membership, email us at…
membership@animationresources.org
…and we will credit your membership with the additional time. These bonus downloads expire after September 1st, 2024.
THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG!
Animation Resources has been sharing treasures from the Animation Archive with its members for over a decade. Every other month, our members get access to a downloadable Reference Pack, full of information, inspiration and animation. The RefPacks consist of e-books jam packed with high resolution scans of great art, still framable animated films from around the world, documentaries, podcasts, seminars and MORE! The best part is that all of this material has been selected and curated by our Board of professionals to aid you in your self study. Our goal is to help you be a greater artist. Why wouldn’t you want to be a member of a group like that?
Membership comes in three levels. General Members get access to a bi-monthly Reference Pack as well as a Bonus RefPack from past offerings in the in-between months. We offer a discounted Student Membership for full time students and educators. And if you want to try out being a member, there is a Quarterly Membership that runs for three months.
JOIN TODAY!
https://animationresources.org/membership/levels/
FREE SAMPLES!
Not Convinced Yet? Check out this SAMPLE REFERENCE PACK! It will give you a taste of what Animation Resources members get to download every other month! That’s 560 pages of great high resolution images and nearly an hour of rare animation available to everyone to download for FREE! https://animationresources.org/join-us-sample-reference-pack/
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