BoingBoing has had Stephen Worth guest-blogging for them; Stephen is, as many of you probably know already, the director of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive (a site any animation lover should have bookmarked) and he’s been posting a series of blogs under the BB Cartoon Circus banner talking about early animation and the artists involved, including some early works I’d never seen before (got to love the web for allowing us all to watch these) like Grim Natwick’s wonderfully weird cartoon:
And makes a case for the importance to early animation of Max and David Fleischer, not least for their Betty Boop and Popeye work: “No cartoons of the 1920s and 30s are more imaginative, and they pioneered many technical advances in animation as well- timing to a musical beat, the rotoscope and three dimensional backgrounds. The Fleischers’ Bouncing Ball, Betty Boop and Popeye cartoons were hugely popular and reflected the ethnic diversity and toughness of the streets of New York.”
If you’re dealing with the Monday morning syndrome you could do worse than having a wee view of some of these classics on your break to make your day better; BB’s posted a set of links to all of the articles with their associated videos.
Mon, Jan 18, 2010
Art and animation, Film, TV and radio