Bad artists always admire each other’s work. They call it being large-minded and free from prejudice. But a truly great artist cannot conceive of life being shown, or beauty fashioned, under any conditions other than those that he has selected. –Oscar Wilde
Sometimes there are no right or wrong answers- only ideas. One of the things I have always enjoyed most about working with great artists is the opportunity to discuss creative issues without being afraid of offending or saying the wrong thing. Intellectual freedom allows that as long as an argument is well supported, it is a valid opinion. If the criteria for judging are well defined and the arguments sound, diametrically opposed opinions can be equally valid. This sort of open dialogue illuminates a subject from more than one angle and is rare in these polarized times, but strangely, among cartoonists it is still alive and well.
Over the past several years, I’ve occasionally been moved to present articles which express a personal opinion. If I’ve done a good job of it, perhaps my arguments are persuasive, but feel free to disagree. Even if you disagree with me, hopefully you’ll gain some sort of insight on the subject that you might not have otherwise.
FEATURED EXHIBIT
Music shares an indescribable magic with animation. It’s hard to describe in words exactly why certain walk cycles or pantomime gags are so wonderful. Music is a source of non-verbal delight as well. The rhythms and pacing of cartoons often mirror the construction of popular music with a statement of theme followed by variations, culminating in a restatement of the theme and a big finish. If you think about it, the best cartoons are inseparable from music. Adventures in Music explores the wide world of music with an eye to revealing the relationships between music and creativity.
THEORY
- AESTHETICS
- Owen Jones’s “The Grammar of Ornament”
- Organic Shapes- Ernst Haeckel’s Art Forms in Nature
- W. Lee Hankey’s Deserted Village Shows Why CGI Animators Should Think Like ARTISTS
- Shirley Temple in Captain January: A Case Study In Objectively Breaking Down Reference
- Leopold Stokowski: Artist of the Past, Artist of the Future
- Cultural Literacy: Live the Lifestyle of a Fabulous Hollywood Cartoonist
- Olaf Gulbransson and The Magic of Drawing
- Robert Hughes’ The Mona Lisa Curse
- UPA Done Right
- 3D Design Inspiration: Hopi Kachina Dolls
- ADVICE
- Advice From Ralph Bakshi
- Chuck Jones- Animation Is A Gift Word
- Big Boy and the Power of Licensing- A Cautionary Tale
- Originality vs. Ripoff- Chaplin’s Shadow
- Whack! Comics and the Fine Art of Parody
- Bill Evans On The Creative Process and Self Teaching
- Stereotypes: Zim’s How To Draw Funny Pictures
- Carlo Vinci Shows Us How To Pick An Animation School
- How To Get The Most Out Of Animation School
- Three Steps To Greater Creativity
- Heroes and Imitation
- Art Education: The Dreyfus Model / Practice Types
- Animation Students: Do You Know The Big Lie?
- Feed The Library Of Your Mind
- A Few Thoughts About History
- USING THE MEDIUM
- Our Dreams of the Future
- WWI and WWII Propaganda
- The Cartoonist Who Helped Win WWI
- Pantomime- Churchill And Chaplin
- Cartooning’s Cousin: Puppetry
- TECHNIQUE
- Animation Approaches: Guts vs Polish
- George Clayton Johnson on Screenwriting For Television
- Anything For A Laugh: W.C. Fields on the Fickle Nature of Humor
INBETWEENS ARTICLES
- Will Finn on Style
- Marc Andre Hamelin’s Circus Gallop
- Singer Ute Lemper Shows How To Act With The Whole Body
- YouTube: Fred Rogers Defends Meaningful Children’s Programming
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