574 posts tagged with cartoons.
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Make Anim(ation) Real
Over 15 years ago, Microsoft released Photosynth [previously], a nifty tool that could correlate dozens of photos of the same place from different angles in order to make a sort of virtual tour using photogrammetry, a technique that went on to influence Google Earth's 3D landscapes and virtual reality environments. But what if you tried the same thing with cartoons? Enter Toon3D, a novel approach to applying photogrammetry principles to hand-drawn animation. The results are imperfect due to the inherent inconsistency of drawn environments, but it's still rather impressive to see a virtual camera moving around glitched-out versions of the Krusty Krab, Bojack Horseman's living room, or the train car from Spirited Away. Interestingly, the same approach works about as well on paintings or even AI-generated video; see also the similar technique of neural radiance fields (NERFs) for creating realistic high-fidelity virtual recreations of real (and unreal) environments.
"The noise of being online was becoming almost too much for even me."
XAXAXAXA XAXAXAXA XAXAXAXA XAXAXAXA
Want to watch the fantastic Soviet Ukrainian animated Treasure Island movie (previously) but don't have the time? Here's some shorter options: a 35-minute collaborative reanimation of everything up to the apple barrel, and a 21-minute YouTube Poop of the entire film.
I Can't Remain Neutral in the Now - This is Great
Drue Langlois' (previously) plucky post-apocalyptic scavenger Plague Roach has finally left the post-apocalyptic wasteland. But how? Through death? Even deeper escapism? Or something else entirely? Find out in the seemingly final installment of Staying Positive in the Apocalypse, Veil of Cloud - or watch the entire saga here.
A cat named Fraggle Rock
First 2 weeks of bringing home Fraggle Rock from the shelter, Week 3,
and commencing Week 4:
daily illustrations by an artist on Tumblr. More on their Fraggle Rock tag (the cat not the show)
Ah found me a real purdy Chrrrristmas special!
Here's another Christmas special for you all - the downright charming Coots and Critter in: Santa's Magic Book, directed by animator, cartoonist and cartoon historian Mike Kazaleh. [more inside]
D00DBUFFET!
In-jokes among friends, ill-advised Jackass audition tapes, a friend's unintentionally hilarious grandpa - it's the 00's-style musical animated series D00dbuffet, now with FOUR episodes! Waiting For My Dad, Brekfest, Tyler's Jackass Audition, and now, an episode entirely about watching TV. Keep an ear out for the particularly awesome songs by Sherby's voice actress Niachené. (previous mention - the show has also been featured on Channel 101, which is somehow still going! Next screening in January - they have an Instagram and Discord)
I invented my body and it was the best idea.
What's Cyriak done this time? Seriously, what has he done. As always, I'm looking right at it and I don't know what it is. All I know is that it's a video about a goose and it's called HONK. (post title source, previously) [more inside]
Saturday morning cartoons died [yesterday] in 1992
Draw Wick
Mschf, those merry pranksters of the internet, have invented a new take on collaborative reanimations (not listed there is one of the newest: the excellent Popeye: Barbecue for Two): The Free Movie, a collaborative redrawing of Bee Movie that anyone could collaborate to. It's bee-n completed already, and you can watch it in full (complete with MSDCHF-suppoied voices and sound effects), but they're currently making a second one: John Wick 4 Free. Draw as many or as few frames as you like, or as much or as little detail as you like, with only a single-pixel brush, an eraser, an undo button and a preview button. If you don't think you can draw your assigned frame, just reload for another. (Contains violence, inevitable drawings of dicks, and Bee Movie.)
Remember how it improved society somewhat
You might already know that political / reporting / general nonfiction comics outlet The Nib is closing down at the end of August. It was too good to last.
You might not know that The Nib is making all fifteen issues of the magazine free to download as PDFs! Consider kicking back a few bucks to help them preserve the website in the meanwhile.
You might not know that The Nib is making all fifteen issues of the magazine free to download as PDFs! Consider kicking back a few bucks to help them preserve the website in the meanwhile.
How my father and I drew a new life
Every Day Is Like My Birthday, Every Way I've Got To Treasure The Moment
[MLYT] Drue Langlgois' courageous cartoon clean-up crew, The Dudes of Hazmat, have completed their latest weird adventure, Doorway of the Devourer. You can watch all four adventures (and three music videos) to date here. It's reminiscent of Sam and Max in that there's bizarre situations, a nonetheless strong character focus, and a Weirdly Specific Vibe (different to Sam and Max's). [more inside]
Here's the story, sonny Jim... and I swear, every word is true...
It was the 90's. The Australian Prime Minister had begun a program to increase the amount of distinctly Australian media. The Australian Children's Television Foundation embarked on an Australian-French co-production that couldn't possibly work - a show about Elvis without his likeness, his surname or a single Elvis song, costing $11.5 million, and made by people with no experience with production on that scale. The result? RUN THE THEME SONG! This is L'il Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers, and you can watch the whole thing here (playlist is missing episode 4). (article 1, article 2)
The Hole of Cartoon Badness
The Best of the Worst Cartoons Ever was an episode of the early Cartoon Network show Toon Heads, it is said to have been unaired for posing several Hanna-Barbera productions as bad in some way. It had been preserved by animation historian Jerry Beck (who co-wrote it) and recently uploaded to YouTube by Jerico Dvorak. Here it is, 43 minutes of tremendous cringe. [more inside]
"we were, in effect, rewriting our own childhoods"
"The songs and stories on "Free To Be" showed kids that they could question the world they lived in, that parents are just people and that emotions are real. And what's on TV might not be." [more inside]
Stand on that X there
Using freehand machine embroidery, Peter Frederiksen recreates scenes - and sometimes even short animated clips - from classic cartoons, and sometimes makes more abstract sketches. His web site is a bit neglected and the freshest images are on his instagram page. [more inside]
Far out!! Wow!! YES!! Lynda Barry #1!!
New York Times Magazine: A Genius Cartoonist Believes Child’s Play Is Anything But Frivolous [more inside]
A Return to Possibility
While reading Hal Erickson's entertainingly-written encyclopedia of television cartoon shows, I discovered an entry about a show I'd never heard of, the 1992-1993 single-season American-South-Korean series Twinkle the Dream Being, co-created by the people behind Denver the Last Dinosaur and Widget the World Watcher. Looking it up, I discovered that the entire series, save a few clips, was considered lost until two months ago, when the whole thing was uploaded to YouTube.
Rom-ads of the Three Kingdoms
The concept of McDonaldland (huge playlist, notable compilation from same) has a prominent place in public consciousness. Less well known is its rival, the Burger King Kingdom (compilation video). But before the current Jack-in-the-Verse (playlist) or even the Jack Pack, there was the Jack in the Box Bunch. (Two ads and three flexidisc-records-with-comics. Alt. vid of last one. And yes, at least those last three are voiced by Paul Winchell, Disney's original voice of Pooh and Tigger.) [more inside]
Classic Megaposts Remixed
In 2008 and 2011, we explored the early history of two titans of children's television. Starting in the '80s, fresh off success with MTV, producer Fred Seibert helped revitalize a struggling Nickelodeon with a comprehensive brand overhaul -- infectious doowop jingles, surreal interstitials, and a visionary slate of original shorts that brought it "from worst to first" in the ratings. In the '90s, he followed suit at Cartoon Network, working with creative director Michael Ouweleen on a series of inventive musical idents that reinterpreted the network's properties through stock footage, indie music, and original animation in a wide variety of styles, along with another groundbreaking roster of shorts that, along with the Nicktoons, would become some of the most famous in the history of American animation. [warning: Frankenstein's monster post inside] [more inside]
Kid's Got a Point
Three (four?) Pinocchio movies are coming out this year. Let's look to Russia for some alternatives, hm? All live-action unless otherwise noted:
The Golden Key (1939) (English subtitles; click the CC button)
The Adventures of Buratino (1959) (as Pinocchio and the Golden Key, the 1995 English dub of the Soyuzmultfilm animation, starring Bill Murray) (original undubbed version)
The Adventures of Buratino, first half, second half (1975) (English subtitles)
Buratino, first half, second half (2009) (untranslated) [more inside]
The Golden Key (1939) (English subtitles; click the CC button)
The Adventures of Buratino (1959) (as Pinocchio and the Golden Key, the 1995 English dub of the Soyuzmultfilm animation, starring Bill Murray) (original undubbed version)
The Adventures of Buratino, first half, second half (1975) (English subtitles)
Buratino, first half, second half (2009) (untranslated) [more inside]
I never metafiction I didn't like.
What happens when cartoons try to make cartoons and fail? This. I Like Pink (1994). Wacky Delly (1996). Dedede: Comin' At Ya! (2002/2003). Handsome Keroro (2004 - skip to 48:53). Mint's Hints (2011).
Cartoon Modern, free at last
Animation Obsessive has released a high-quality PDF of Amid Amidi's out-of-print classic Cartoon Modern.
Starship Impossible, or, White Giant
Remember Spamland, the bizarre 2006/2007 animated short trilogy set in a world where the gibberish they used to put in spam emails is real? Recently, its creators, The Brother McLeod, have released a twelve-part animated sci-fi comedy parodying Star Trek and its ilk, Starship Impossible. Total runtime: a little over half an hour. Contains extremely simply drawn nudity.
It happened to a friend of a friend of mine...
In the late 90's and 2000, YTV aired Freaky Stories, an animated series using a diverse variety of art styles to depict 140 urban legends across its 35 episodes. Not all countries to which the show was exported got to see the host segments, live-action puppet sequences which starred a bug and a maggot living in a greasy-spoon diner. Much of the show was lost until the entire run was rediscovered in 2020. Note: contains - hoo boy - death, gross-out humor, insects, spiders... everything they could get away with in a kid's show, basically. And remember: just because they never happened doesn't mean they ain't true! [MLYT]
"I haven't felt like myself for years now."
"Good ol' Charlie B" is a sad-and-sweet, talky comic by Marina Kittaka taking place years after the events of Peanuts: "half essay, half tribute to visiting old friends". A text-only version is available. "Yeah. I've been having a hard time, just. Figuring out where to go from here. Trying to piece something together that actually... feels like a life." Kittaka has also written about art and community and co-option, noting, "to practice my philosophy I must learn to be okay with people not getting it, to stop fighting to stay legible and correct-feeling in everybody's mind."
Televised Worlds Part 4: The Children of Pynco
Two orphans of unknown species, the sole survivors of a spaceship crash on an vast desert planet, meet two bumbling bounty hunters, and together, they discover abandoned technology, a distant world with more wonders - and hope - than it first appears to have... and each other. Oh, and did I mention it’s a series of Australian stop-motion shorts from 1997? This is PLASMO. (Note: eps 3 & 4 are listed in reverse order. Also included: the earlier pre-reboot special Happy Hatchday to Plasmo.)
Televised World Part 3: The Monster Who Ran With Good People
An ordinary young couple share their condo with a wacky slacker, and the couple’s nephew and niece show up in later seasons. Sounds like a standard sitcom, right? Except it’s smarter and wiser than you’d expect, the slacker becomes less slack over time, and the new characters are well-received... partly because the show’s nasty villain, having not spent years messing with THESE ones, sees his chance to take a risk, try acting kindly toward them, and maybe, just maybe, become a better person. This is The Raccoons, now on YouTube for free in its entirety (Seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Come run with them.
Televised Worlds, Part 2: Lands of Dreams and Nightmares
There's an important shiny rock, and the bad guy orders his minions to go get it. Sounds like a normal cartoon, right? But the is The Dreamstone, the gorgeous British animated series set in a full-blown fantasy universe, officially available on YouTube in its entirety (click Playlists to see everything in order). Stick with it after Season 1 - the heroes and villain may become more complacent, but impressively, they gradually improve, the heroes moreso. A miniatures game and a tabletop RPG based on the series are currently in production at Oakbound Studio.
Televised Worlds, Part 1: Colonies of Color and Gloom
ReBoot wasn't quite the first all-CGI half-hour animated series. Earlier that year, French studio Fantôme released Insektors, an epic soft sci-fi romp about the conflict between two civilizations of insect-people (Engadget article featuring insights from a co-creator and an animator). The series had two dramatically different English dubs, available on YouTube in their entirety: the more faithful if somewhat unsubtle American dub and the more comedic UK dub. The former playlist also includes some originally unlocalized extras: a Christmas special, a Making Of special and a short about a fictional VR game.
A little cartoonish classical education
Vincent Alexander (@NonsenseIsland) has posted a lengthy twitter thread of classical music used in classic cartoons, giving title and composer name, and each entry is accompanied with a short (generally less than 2 minutes) video full of examples of that piece being used. It's a delightful little classical music education lesson that brings back a full blast from the past, if these cartoons were a part of your childhood. Threadreader link.
Lockdown Rachael
A 1:8 Airfix construction kit in the form of a single-panel gag cartoon (SL: Twitter). Find more of Rachael Smith's cartoons here.
Cartoonist Quino, BCE*
Popular in South America, Europe, and Quebec, Argentine-Spanish cartoonist Joaquín Salvador Lavado Tejón (July 17, 1932 - September 30, 2020) — better known as Quino — drew his comic strip Mafalda (a politically/socially aware six year old girl) from 1964 to 1973. There’s an English fan website, and a large gallery of Tejón’s later wordless political cartoons on Imgur [H/T Macwhiskey].
*Before the Calvin Era.
And knowing is half the battle
10s' kids get She-Ra. 00s' kids get Avatar. 90s' kids get Disney Afternoon. But 80s' kids get Hasbro's YouTube channel with a livestream of GI Joe episodes.
The life and times of Jack Charlton (1935-2020)
Guardian cartoonist David Squires pays tribute to England World Cup winner and Republic of Ireland hero Jack Charlton (May 8, 1935 - July 10, 2020).
Throw a Dog a Bone
In a world where dogs are people too, Huxley feels like he's the chewtoy of the universe. His latest indignity: being unable to afford his mother's funeral. He thinks he's found a way to win without his brother's help in this animated short film, Condolences from the Vulgar Tongue or (Boner).
Robert Louis Streamin', Son
Treasure Island. The reason we think of pirates the way we do. It has, of course, had many adaptations, but these five animated ones are among the most unique:
Treasure Island (anime series later edited into a movie, Japan, 1978-79/1987).
The Treasure Planet (Bizarre sci-fi version, Bulgaria, 1982).
Treasure Island - has two different fan-translations via YouTube subtitles - Option A and Option B parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (gorgeous animation interspersed with live-action singing pirates, USSR, 1988).
The Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Treasure Island (USA, 1990).
Legends of Treasure Island (epic funny-animal animated series, UK, 1993-1995 - link is to the entire series on Dailymotion - they're also on YouTube here but the uploader announced her intention to remove them from there in response to the YouTube COPPA ruling, although she has long missed her claimed deadline).
Treasure Island (anime series later edited into a movie, Japan, 1978-79/1987).
The Treasure Planet (Bizarre sci-fi version, Bulgaria, 1982).
Treasure Island - has two different fan-translations via YouTube subtitles - Option A and Option B parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (gorgeous animation interspersed with live-action singing pirates, USSR, 1988).
The Adventures of Ronald McDonald: Treasure Island (USA, 1990).
Legends of Treasure Island (epic funny-animal animated series, UK, 1993-1995 - link is to the entire series on Dailymotion - they're also on YouTube here but the uploader announced her intention to remove them from there in response to the YouTube COPPA ruling, although she has long missed her claimed deadline).
Everyone's Hedgehog
According to furry historian Colin Spacetwinks in an article for New York Magazine (previously, Sonic the Hedgehog is a pop culture paradox - extremely specific in his design, yet also the ultimate blank slate who can be anything to anyone. So its fitting that after Shrek Retold, the collaborative remake of Shrek (previously), 3GI have done the same to the Sonic movie. No, not that one - the 90's direct-to-video animated movie, an oddball installment, even in a franchise consisting mostly of them. The result: Sonic Rebuilt.
Happy Honeybee Harmonies
For your Saturday cartoon enjoyment, here’s Honeyland (1935), one of the MGM Happy Harmonies available on YouTube. More about the Technicolor 10-minute short at WP, and production details at Cartoon Research.
A Convocation of Biological Art
Kate Lacour is a cartoonist and artist whose work is bloody, funny, gross, and beautiful (Content Warning). [more inside]
The Mexican ... is familiar with death, jokes about it ... celebrates it
This skeleton, known as “La Catrina,” is one of [José Guadalupe] Posada’s best-known calaveras: illustrations of skeletons, boldly drawn and thickly inked, and much more energetic and expressive than you’d expect, given their biological state. Although the figures have become closely associated with the holiday Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead), Posada originally drew his calaveras as political cartoons, commenting on various issues of the day. (“La Catrina,” for instance, was meant to poke fun at early 20th century Mexican women who imitated European fashions.) The Endlessly Adaptable Skeletons of José Guadalupe Posada -- Calaveras created by the Mexican artist have been repurposed for generations, with wildly varying intent. (Atlas Obscura) [more inside]
Drawing Criticism
Laaaa la-laaaa, la-laaaa, la-laaaa...
(reminder: add links, make it more interesting) The latest collaborative shot-by-shot reanimation is out. Content warning: mental illnoh god what was that sound. oh god it's right behind me no no no send help SEND HEVH")$@PObrapye3ohgwkjrnbv Ahem. The curious art of reanimation has redrawn many a situation. But this particular reanimation is oh-so-very... NAUUUUUUUGHTY. (A warning regarding content: I regret to inform you that there is, quite early on, a bare bottom. And a rather familiar one at that.)
Banana Hill 2 Character Contest: Enter the WoobWorldz
Banana Hill is a goodlarious cartoon about food, a zany misunderstanding and 90's-era technology. Its sequel, which will go heavy on the 90's-era technology by way of an online virtual world, is in progress, but its background character designs need YOUR help! As was done twice with the first episode, a contest is being held for retro virtual world avatar designs, at least some of which will be featured in the episode. Anything goes, but the aesthetic smacks of Worlds.com, Active Worlds, and the aesthetic of Hypnospace Outlaw. Hard-and-fast rules: None (multiple submissions were allowed last time and probably this time too). Deadline: August 29th. [more inside]
What, Me Worry?
Mor a Mallorca el dibuixant argentí Guillemo Mordillo a 86 anys
Guillermo Mordillo, known simply as Mordillo, was an Argentine creator of cartoons and animations and was one of the most widely published cartoonists of the 1970s. He is most famous for his humorous, colorful, and wordless depictions of love, sports (in particular soccer and golf), and long-necked animals. Mordillo died Sunday, age 86, in Majorca, Spain [in Catalan].
The Nib is running out of ink
Iconic political cartoon site The Nib seems to be facing its biggest challenge yet: defunded and laid off by their parent company and struggling to find wherewithal to continue. The Nib is famous for its important and heavy hitting work featuring cartoonists Matt Bors, KC Green (who was mentioned here very recently), Tom Tomorrow, Pia Guerra, and many others.
NYT drops all cartoons
The New York Times announced on Monday that it will cease publishing political cartoons, weeks after the newspaper came under fire for publishing a cartoon that was slammed because it had been deemed blatantly anti-Semitic.
"I’m afraid this is not just about cartoons, but about journalism and opinion in general," Chappatte wrote. "Over the last years, some of the very best cartoonists… lost their positions because their publishers found their work too critical of Trump. Maybe we should start worrying. And pushing back. Political cartoons were born with democracy. And they are challenged when freedom is."