Aardman saves the planet

More brilliant work from my second-favorite animation studio, Aardman. Here are a series of spots for Animal Planet promoting green solutions to help solve our environmental crises. Look for all the hallmarks of Aardman animation: Simple, clear staging? Check. Appealing characters? Check. Charming Brittish accents? Check!

Brad Bird on fostering innovation

An in-depth story on GIGAOM features nine important lessons on fostering innovation in animation from renowned director Brad Bird, who helmed such hits as The Incredibles and Ratatouille. The article focuses on how Bird managed to encourage his crew on his various films to do their best work, and insists that the better the morale of the animators, the better the film will be. He also strongly advocates taking risks when telling a story. “You don’t play it safe—you do something that scares you, that’s at the edge of your capabilities, where you might fail,” Bird explains. “That’s what gets you up in the morning.”

Team Fortress 2 Character Trailers

I don't know how long these have been around, but I just discovered these little vignettes for the characters in the game Team Fortress 2 (which I would definitely play if I still played video games!). The design, animation and execution are top-notch, and the writing and voice acting is hilarious, too! I love how specific every character is. You know generally where in the world they are from, what their outlook on life is like, and their personality quirks all within moments of meeting them. The design, voice and animation are all working together brilliantly to create characters that are clear and appealing. Makes them all that much more fun to kill.

Meet The Heavy (Team Fortress 2)
by nofrag

Team Fortress 2 engineer
by minutemed

Team Fortress 2 soldier
by minutemed

team fortress 2 demoman
by ElectronicArts

Meet The Scout (TF2)
by nofrag

"The Pixar Story" on TV tomorrow

Tomorrow (April 22nd) you can catch this in-depth documentary about the origins of Pixar on the Starz network at 10pm EST/PST . Set you TiVo's! The Starz web site also has some bonus footage that's not in the documentary, involving the infamous "Love Lounge" and Pixar University.

Goodbye Ollie Johnston

Two days ago we lost the last of Disney's Nine Old Men. His contribution to the art of animation was undeniable, and I'll leave to those better qualified to speak about the man. In particular, there's a great piece by Brad Bird on Cartoon Brew.

Here's a photo of Ollie with the Pixar animators taken a few years ago:

Irma's Car

Here's a nifty bit of animation from Crew 972, a studio led by my old buddy and former Pixarian Alex Orrelle. Nice mix of 2D and 3D. Enjoy!

Edit: If the above link prompts you to log in to Facebook, you can use this link instead.

Romain Seguad's new site

One of my favorite indie animators, Romain Segaud, has updated his site. There's loads of great content, both old and new, all with a very unique style. Be sure to check out his short film, "Tim Tom", and the music video "Bip Bip", as well as some of his recent commercials, such as the new "Islands" spot. Vive Romain!