Every other month, Animation Resources shares a new Reference Pack with its members. They consist of an e-book packed with high resolution scans and video downloads set up for still frame study. Make sure you download the Reference Packs before they’re updated. When it’s gone, it’s gone!
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Animation Resources has just posted its 36th RefPack! This time, all of our offerings follow the theme of educating and enlightening the world. First of all, we are sharing a rare edition of caricatures by Honoré Daumier, arguably the greatest caricaturist who ever lived. Daumier has been called "The Michelangelo of Caricature" and when you see his work, we think you will agree. He lived in one of the most important periods of human civilization, the decades following the French Revolution. He fought tirelessly for liberty and freedom of speech. Many cartoonists today who have never spoken out before are inspired to create satirical cartoons to comment on the political turmoil of our own times. Daumier is a shining example of the power and responsibility that cartoonists wield in society.
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And that is just the beginning… In RefPack036 we are also sharing one of the most important films in the history of modern animation, Bobe Cannon’s "The Brotherhood of Man". This film, designed to be shown to members of the United Auto Workers, was designed to promote racial tolerance and co-operation. During World War II, the military had established integrated units for the first time, and Black, Asian and Native American soldiers had distinguished themselves in service to the country. Segregation was beginning to crumble, so an effort was made to begin taking the first steps towards equality on the home front. This was a subject that had never been addressed in an animated film before. This film was revolutionary from a graphic standpoint as well. It employed a totally new design aesthetic. Simple, stylized characters and backgrounds based on line and solid shapes of bold color were employed, rather than rendered volumetric forms with realistic perspective. Babe Cannon established the house style for UPA that would dominate for the rest of its existence.
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Animation is not only an entertainment medium, it can also educate. When educational films are overly didactic and dense with content, they often fail to get the ideas across. But animation engages the audience and presents information in a clear symbolic way that remains in the mind long after the film is over. RefPack036 also includes a series of cartoons produced by the Disney Studios to educate school age children on the subject of physiology. Titled "You Are A Human Animal", these films point out the differences between humankind and the animal kingdom, the five senses, eyesight, nutrition, the systems of the body, hearing, the sense of touch, and smelling and tasting. The limited animation techniques employed in these films are directly applicable to modern internet animation, and the appealing imagery and color shows how careful design and compositional planning can make a film look simple and appealing.
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Our bonus download this month is a pair of WWII training films from the collection of Paul Fennell. In a previous Reference Pack, we presented a film called "Night Battle", produced by the First Motion Picture Unit to train sailors in the Navy about strategic operations in the Pacific. This time we include a film called "Presenting Rear Admiral A. S. Merrill USN”, which appears to be a truncated version of the earlier film. Also included in this month’s Reference Pack is a training film on the battle of Okinawa, which includes some impeccably designed map graphics by John Hubley that trace the details of the Allied forces’ success there.
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At Animation Resources, our Advisory Board includes great artists and animators like Ralph Bakshi, Will Finn, J.J. Sedelmaier and Sherm Cohen. They’ve let us know the things that they use in their own self study so we can share them with you. That’s experience you just can’t find anywhere else. The most important information isn’t what you already know… It’s the information you should know about, but don’t know yet. We bring that to you every other month.
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Animation Resources is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization dedicated to providing self study material to the worldwide animation community. If you are a creative person working in animation, cartooning or illustration, you owe it to yourself to be a member of Animation Resources.
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