Katsuhiro Otomo Exhibition 大友克洋 GENGATEN

The other week I posted about Katsuhiro GENGATEN exhibition at 3331 Arts Chiyoda.
Amazing work. Sadly pictures weren't allowed in the exhibition, but I was able to get a shot of this:

Every day is Milt Kahl Day

For the next forty years, Kahl was Disney graphic style, a fact he proudly touted:

I felt a little bit like the chess champion of the world at one time was a Franco-Russian by the name of Alexander Alekhine. Someone --- an onlooker --- mentioned to him, "Mr. Alekhine, that isn't a book move you made there." He said, "I am the book."

---- from John Canemaker's, Disney's Nine Old Men

He has been called the Michelangelo of animation and is usually seen as the greatest animator of all time.

Many people credit Fred Moore (who basically designed Mickey Mouse as we see him today) with the "appeal" ever present in Disney animation, but Milt Kahl, as far back as Pinocchio, has been regarded as the architect of refining graphically what is known as the "Disney style" in character animation.

There are many animation blogs that often pay tribute to him with a 'Milt Kahl Day", posting his pencil tests or drawings. Andreas Deja, Sandro Cluezo, and Jamaal Bradley's blogs are some of the most popular.

A couple of years ago I stumbled up an audio recording of what sounds like a CalArts lecture with Milt circa early 1970's when Disney's "The Rescuers" was in production. (I think this recording was available on sewardstreet.com, but it seems that it's down)

I found the recording greatly inspiring, insightful and loaded with helpful comments on staging, caricature, production and an artist's mindset towards his work. This recording is nothing new, but I noticed there wasn't anyone presently interested in sharing these valuable words online....so I figured I'd share it.

On that note, Clay Kaytis on his Animation Podcast website has a great post with another recording of Milt Kahl at CalArts also speaking about The Rescuers. Definitely worth listening to.

In addition to the eighteen sound clips I am re-posting, I am posting the pencil test of Madame Medusa which Milt references in the recording. Apologies for not being able to combine all the clips into one track.

If you listen carefully you'll hear who I believe to be Eric Larson sitting on on the lecture. If anyone out there has anything they would like to add about this recording, please feel free to comment below.

Hope you find this as inspiring and informative as I did. Enjoy.

Credit and thanks to Jaamal Bradley for posting the clip below.

Milt Kahl & Ollie Johnston from Jamaal Bradley on Vimeo.

Toyko International Anime Fair 2012 - Goro Miyazaki Wins Big

Japan doesn't have the ComicCon or WonderCon but what it does have is the Tokyo International Anime Fair. As one of the largest Japanese animation conventions in the world, animation, film and television companies, as well as toy and game developers will all converge on one place from Thursday, March 22 to Sunday, March 25.

This will be the 10th convention in its history as last year's was canceled due to Japan's Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster of 2011. Many of events this year will center around support for aid and recovery still needed in Japan's Tohoku region.

Anime director Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki will receive the top award in the the category of Animation of the Year for "Kokurikokaza Kara" (コクリコ坂から Ani) English title: "From Up On Poppy Hill" . Dying to see how Disney is going to market a somber animated drama about Japanese high school students in 1963 struggling to move their lives forward as Japan picks itself up after World War II.

The Tokyo International Anime Fair should be prove to be interesting this year with symposiums on how Japan's animation industry will have to consider business with the China and India as they continue to grow economically. If that bores you there will be plenty of girls in anime costumes to keep you entertained.

One Piece Exhibition

Personally not a fan of Eiichiro Oda's manga, One Piece. Arguably the most commercially popular manga in Japan since Dragonball.

Like it or not this manga is a marker for this generation of Japanese and manga-philes. I'm sure in about 10 or 15 years some Hollywood studio will acquire the rights to do a live action version of it....and likely screw it up.

From March 20th to June 17 the Mori Arts Center in Roppongi Hills (Tokyo, Japan) will host a One Piece Exhibition featuring original artwork, films, interactive media and all that geek stuff.

Snoopy Anime in Japan.

From the people who brought you Ninja Scroll, Japanese animation studio, Madhouse, Inc. has not only acquired animation rights to Charles Schulz's Peanuts, but has already completed one animated short.

Whether this means Madhouse will be animating only content for commercials or if they will be animating narrative content, is unclear at this time. Most likely it will be only for Japan since the American animation studio, Wild Brain has rights for the USA. Wild Brian animated the first Peanuts special with involvement of neither Schulz nor animation director/ producer Bill Melendez with "Happiness is a Warm Blanket Charlie Brown".

Peanuts, otherwise known simply as "Snoopy" (poor 'ol Charlie Brown, upstaged again) is immensely popular in Japan, only rivaled by Mickey Mouse.

Peanuts is now 63 years old. Charles Schulz at one time being the only person to draw the characters, as well as oversee all merchandising, there existed a certain purity in the integrity of the strip. Melendez was the only man Schulz trusted to animate the Charlie Brown and Snoopy universe. Peanuts' charm truly laid in the fact it truly was 2D, graphically. But the nuance and the timing of animated Peanuts is certainly from an American point of view, established originally by Schulz and Melendez.

If Japanese Snoopy stories will be produced, let's only pray it won't be a repeat of the horrid (and I mean horrid) miscarriage of animation like Japan's Lilo and Stitch.

Coming to Tokyo? Katsuhiro Otomo Art Exhibition - Starts April 9th

Celebrated but at the same time underrated manga artist and animation director, (my favorite Japanese animation director) Kastuhiro Otomo will have an exhibition of his original art at 3331 Arts Chiyoda starting April 9th and continuing on to May 30th.

The exhibition entitled, Katsuhiro Otomo Gengaten will feature the history of Otomo's artwork (3,000 original sketches) as well as 2,500 first time released pieces from his most globally recognized work, Akira. It will also premiere his new artbook, Otomo Katsuhiro Artwork KABA2.

Tomorrow marks the 1st anniversary of the 3/11 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster otherwise known as Great East Japan Earthquake. 30% of the event proceeds will go to donations for relief and aid still needed in those areas.

Eiko Ishioka - 石岡 瑛子 - (1938 -2012)

Her work is the antithesis of femininity in Japan. Her designs were always BIG and BOLD and sometimes a little BAD. Instincts say there will be a tribute to Eiko Ishioka during the 84th Academy Awards this coming Sunday. For those who she is not a household name with will likely say --- "Oh, she's the one who did that?".

Whether it's Eiko's work for Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, The Fall, Miles Davis' album design "Tutu", or even that Parco ad with Faye Dunaway eating an egg on camera ---- it's all there. The balance, energy and that statement that reads as her work is all there.

There was clear theatricality in her work. A magic that translated well to film. Ask some people and they will tell you the real star of Coppola's Dracula wasn't the actors but Eiko's costumes. Who's going be the Art Director for Tarsem Singh's films now?

She never threw together random and clashing bold elements just to hustle your attention. She created a new mythologies that did away with traditional imagery but was faithful to the energies of the characters or set pieces. I feel she was not beyond caricature or absurdity. Not with the intent of lampoon. Simply her artistic editorial.

Some people do caricature with pen and pencil, some can do it with a camera. She was able to do it with fabric and materials.

Below is her obituary and perspective on her method madness in her own words. Eiko Ishioka Obituary, source: The Guardian.