Animation Classic No.5 ‘Father and Daughter’ by Michael Dudok De Vit

I remember seeing this film at the Watershed in Bristol ( @wshed ) getting on for 10 years ago now, IIRC I think the Director was there for a show and tell (Bless you Watershed, fine purveyor of art house noodlings). Its probably that long since I’ve actually watched the film, I knew it was good, but I’d forgotten how good…

The youtubes dosn’t really do this film justice, it really is a lovely looking thing. I watched a very low quality version of it yesterday before posting here and that still brought a tear to my eye! The score is also worthy of a mention, I love the way the instruments change as the girl gets older. Anyways, put aside 8 minutes and watch this beautiful piece of animated film, you won’t regret it.

Dave Cat Pictures No.3 Cotton Reel Cat!

Aww… Look at him play! bat, bat, bat – Rawr!

*Gasp, I am so happy!

More kitty pics! Gotta love it – this is one of my faves. Perhaps not technically one of the best ones – but look at him! …awwww, so cute!

Like him? Click here for more Dave Cat pictures…

Life Drawing 28_10_10

Well, that was a fun session. Mostly straight drawings again… apart from one – sorry Miss model! Late night tonight tho, popped to #bristweetdrinks hosted by @G2Bristol and caught up with the local tweeps after Life Drawing this evening. Always a pleasure to have a cheeky pint and a chinwag with the Bristol twitterati.  So, aided by a nice downtempo mix CD thrust fortuitously into my hand by Mr Hatrick of the Sunday Slouch Sessions at the Golden Guinea just before I left the Kings Arms pub tweet-up, here’s the result of tonights’ session

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

As always, for full screen versions of tonights pictures just click one of the images below and navigate using the arrows at the top and bottom of the page – enjoy!

Like them? G’wan, Click here to see more…

Animation Classic No.4 ‘The Big Snit’ by Richard Condie

Awww… A story of love, scrabble, sawing, electrocuted cats and Nuclear Armageddon! Its the Big Snit by Richard Condie produced by the National Film Board of Canada

I really enjoyed watching this again after so many years, its a lovely poignant thing – makes a nice change to all the whiz-bang that I’m used to nowadays. Enjoy!

 

Animation Classic No.3 – ‘Rejected’ by Don Hertzfeldt

I saw this at one of the animated encounters film festivals at the Watershed in Bristol quite a few years ago now; it was one of those rare moments where a chink of sunlight breaks through an otherwise grey day. I almost pissed myself laughing (PMSL for you nerds out there) when this gem came on:

Surreal, check. Cartoon violence, check. Funny as hell, check. Proper old-school 2D animation, check. What more could you want! This film had a massive influence on me and was possibly the main driver for creating my film ‘Mouks‘. I see this film as very much an animators film, for animators… which is probably why I like it so much! But still, it gets me every time… thanks Don *tips hat

My spoon is tooo big…

Dave Cat Pictures No.2

Heh, Heh This was the picture that started off the whole grafting my head onto cats gig…

The cat that got the cream!

Still as silly now as it was then… that’s the way to roll!

Classic Life Drawing 21_10_10

A friend of mine Dave V once described me as ‘The M C Escher of Life Drawing’ – I kinda like that! Tonight I’m posting a selection of life drawings from Sketchbook_Black_11 to make up for the lack of life class this evening. You can see how I got that title below…

 

Life-Mash!

 

I create these images by shmushing together 2,3 or 4 short poses into one picture. Its not entirely random, though it may seem like that. I draw sections of the model that most interest me in a particular pose until time runs out, then map a section or line that roughly fits an area of negative space or nice curve, line or shape in the new pose and carry on regardless. It sometimes gives a kind of fractured, Dave-style Marcel Duchamp ‘Nude descending a Staircase‘ type feel which I really like. Anyways, read on for a nice selection of artwork past. I’m very fond of these drawings, I hope you enjoy them too – click ‘continue reading’ to view the selection ->

Beermat Challenge Thermonuclear Blast Animation

OOooo. Sneak preview! I created this animation in Flash as an Easter Egg for our (Evans & Finch Ltd) Beermat Challenges, currently running in 3 University’s Nationwide.

I’ve been fascinated (and equal parts horrified) by Nuclear testing in the 1950’s since I discovered old movie footage in the brilliant Prelinger Archives. Of particular interest were the American Nuclear tests Operation Ivy and Operation castle in the pacific Ocean on Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll. So this animation was born! I had great fun also doing the sound design (another growing interest of mine) for this spot. Its made out of 6 separate sounds: A jet plane, a firework, a large caliber weapon shot, a cannon shot, a fat bass drop, and a thunderclap – nice.

Dave Cat Pictures No.1

I’ve already posted a few of these, but I think they’re worth their own little slot! Makes oi larf so they does…

 

Aww, look at him play! Rawr...fft fft!

 

I grew up with cats and got to know their personalities well. It rubbed off in my animation work as I loved drawing cats and enjoyed exploring the way they think and move (I got my first job at Aproductions essentially on the strength of a feline character animation test…). I had lots of fun taking silly photos of myself with a digi-cam and photoshopping my head on to images of cats – this is the result!

Animation Classic No.2

Tom and Jerry, ‘Cat Concerto’ by Hanna Barbera at MGM. What can I say about this 1946 Oscar winning short. I’ve managed to track down a really good HD copy of the original uncut version from the youtubes – watch it, watch it!

I grew up on Tom and Jerry. It wasn’t until I was at university and writing my final dissertation (…on Tom & Jerry no less!) that I twigged its the same Hanna Barbera that I’d known from the Flintsones, Yogi Bear, The Jetsons etc etc before TV killed the cinema star…

I can trace back my fascination with synching action to sound with these cartoons, especially this one (…and Tom & Jerry at the Hollywood Bowl) It feels a bit weird putting Mouks_REMIXED next to this classic, but you can see the influence