Here is a clip of Rupert’s Olympic Feet produced in 1984.

This humble film was the beginning for bigger things…

It was the beginning of what became The Animation House, Inc. - a studio that at times, employed some 40 artists.

Animation on Rupert was by Bess Powell, Stuart Louder and yours truly. Stuart also painted all the backgrounds. This film was “ruff” spontaneous and full of passion. Unfortunately, a better copy is not available.

A mostly volunteer staff helped with the inking and painting on acetate cels. Folks would stay all night at our house and ink and paint. We would kick everyone out at 2:00 am when the Late Show with David Letterman was over. We even sent him an animation cel and told him he could “sponsor” our film. He never did pick up on it…wonder if he ever got the cel?

Every morning our children would enter the living room, kitchen and studio rooms where card tables covered every available space with multi-colored pieces of acetate drying ready for the camera. They were in a wonderful wonderland of brilliant hues and shiny plastic!

The film was finished on time, selected by the Academy and screened at the Festival…

Of course, years later…we see all the mistakes…but, the passion is still there.

Even more animated!!!!!!!!!!

The story of RUPERT’S OLYMPIC FEET… part 1

Here is Rupert carrying the torch- in years past it was a more welcomed job

    It was February 1st, 1984, Charles Samu from HBO was in town- and, since I was president of ASIFA Washington, we along with our wives enjoyed dinner. At one point, Charles looked at me and asked, “So, are you making a film for the Olympiad of Animation?”” Yes.” I replied.  “How is it progressing?” Charles responded. “I don’t know…” I quipped”…we begin it tomorrow!”

    He just looked at me with a quizzical, partially horrified stare.

    At that moment, I fully understood his emotions. Today was February 1st and the film had to be shipped by April 1st…that gave us just under 2 months to produce, direct and animate a film.

    The film, Rupert’s Olympic Feet (just over three minutes long) was completed in time to be shipped and was one of 28 films selected to be screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences theater in Beverly Hills, California.

    You have probably never heard of the Olympic Arts Festival – it is a part of every Olympics. Obviously, the athletic portion of the Olympics is the mainstay of the event.

    In the spring or summer of1983, Fini and Bill Littlejohn spearheaded the Olympiad of Animation to be a part of the Cultural Festival of the Games. Animators from all over the world jumped on board. Bill was a Vice President of ASIFA International (a French acronym for the International Animated Film Association). Fini was a ball of white energy calling people, sending out reminder cards, calling, etc. - she was amazing. Her calls ranged from pleading, to cheer leading as she and Bill kept everyone focus and on task.

    The artists themselves attempted to communicate with each other with mailings and phone calls. Remember 1984 was B.I. (before the internet).

Rupert’s Olympic Feet was the story of a torchbearer who brings the flame from Greece through Europe, across America to Los Angeles. The original storyline called for Rupert to run cross-continents. The music was composed and performed by George Michael- no the other George Michael who live in the Seattle with his wife Julie. The idea was to animated to the beats and instrumentation of the music.

The final track was VERY electronic- sooooooooooo that story changed from one that was set on land to a “run through space” sort of motif.

Then, the race really began….not the torch run - but the race against the clock to finish Rupert.

…more on that later…in part 2.

The Beaufort Kaleidoscope

We had a wonderful time this past weekend at the BEAUFORT KALEIDOSCOPE in beautiful, historic Beaufort, South Carolina. EVERYTHING was incredible - the people, the films, the receptions, the hospitality - everything.

I had entered the festival with our film OUR WORLD. A wonderful film, IDEA DEVELOPMENT by Dane Webster won the Animation category. IDEA was a very clever film that had very good story, visuals and a wonderful soundtrack. The animated films displayed an awesome range of techniques with CG, experimental drawn on film/after effects and 2D animation. One had to feel good being in the company with such works.

The Festival began with a red carpet reception for the filmmakers and dignitaries at the Beaufort Inn. We met so many people that night including live-action director, T.K. (Tom) Reilly and his lovely wife Ellen.

There was an open bar in a room with Low Country delights especially the fresh local shrimp and crab cakes. There was also a dessert room, thats right…a dessert room.

This is the best reception I have EVER been attended. The folks in Beaufort were welcoming and warm!

Friday the films rolled! The animated films program screened four times each on Friday and Saturday in the

Enter the Film Festival

Then I jetted across the bridge over to Lady’s Island Cinema to watch the last half of FLY BOYS, a very slick indie film starring Tom Sizemore and Stephan Baldwin. The acting was very good and some of the action sequences were breath-taking.
All of the live-action feature, docs, shorts and student films were screened at the Lady’s island Cinema.

I also caught RIVER WAYS a documentary film about the salmon breeding grounds and water control on the Snake River.

After a dinner brake at Plums in town I was back across the river to watch an 8:45 PM screening of

BOBBY DOGS was over around 11:00 pm, and the evening was not over…THE BIG CHILL PARTY was next on the agenda. THE BIG CHILL was shot in Beaufort twenty five years ago. So to celebrate a party themed after the film was held at the PRINCE OF TIDES house which overlooks the water. The party had been in progress since 9:00 pm- so it was winding down by then…but it was still very lively!

We ended up having a 40 minute tour of this historic house from the owners Gwen and Scott. The entire house so incredible…the lower level was built in the 1700’s!

The Old Point Inn - a great place to stay in Beautfort - note the EYEBROW window on the 3rd floor

Inside the Old Point Inn

Yours trulyafter a workout in my room

The view from the skylight in my room

Fortunately, the B and B where I stood, the Old Point Inn was around the corner and right next store. Not a drinker, I was still very grateful to be so close to my bed after such a long fruitful day.

The next morning, we were treated to a huge breakfast which I gobbled down and was off to teach a 2 hour animation workshop.

One half of the space set-up for the animation workshop

The Beaufort County Arts Council was a perfect place for the workshop. We did a bouncing ball on a flipbook and then turn the balls into faces and some folks added hair, arms, legs and other appendages. I shared some of the pencil drawings from my sequences of OUR WORLD and then, did a basic demo about character design. Everyone had fun and learned a bit more about the art form.

While at festival, I met a kindred spirit in T.K. Reilly. Tom is really into his art form and also sports. I really enjoyed hearing his stories about the making of his films, his ideas, history… and talking b-ball, football and running.
That afternoon, I took a bit of a break from the Festival to rest-up for the Awards Dinner which was held out at Habersham- a planned community on the banks of the Broad River in Beaufort County. Again, they literally rolled out the red carpet! The folks in Beaufort know how to do an event! Local restaurants and cafes showcased their cuisine. There was a wine tasting room, a refreshment room, a jazz trio…again, only the word amazing can truly describe the event.

During the evening’s festivities I hung with Tom, and his wife Ellen and their daughter.

The Reilly’s at the awards dinner

While talking to another couple, I discovered that producer Jody Schiesser and his wife Sarah, live only about 7 doors away from me. Jody and his film partners had a film,

J.W. Rone emceed the evenin and it was lively, quirky and a really fun. The night ended with more food, coffee and J.W. playing a wicked harmonica with the band.

It was a great weekend! I have to thank Liz Mitchell, J.W. Rone, Christine Hipp, J.W.’s wife Jennie, Ron Tucker and everyone at the Film Council, the Arts Council and Habersham for their hard work, dedication and positive approach at time when the weather did not cooperate.

The Beaufort Kaleidoscope was really amazing!!!

TALKING ABOUT A WISH COME TRUE…

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We received notification that OUR WORLD was one of FOUR finalists in the animated short category at the Beaufort Film Festival- a part of a four day event called THE BEAUFORT KALEIDOSCOPE in beautiful town Beaufort, South Carolina - less than an hour from Savannah.

Beaufort has a rich film history as a location with THE BIG CHILL, THE GREAT SANTINI, FOREST GUMP, PRINCE OF TIDES and THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER being shot in that area. In the BIG CHILL, when Kevin Kline and friends take their morning jog - it is through downtown Beaufort, SC.

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Here’s a look at one of their posters….

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A recent OUR WORLD card…just found out last week the producer and good friend Alexandra Ohlsen is engaged to be married.

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Raul O Leary awaits his turn for IN SEARCH OF OSAMA to hit the big screen…

Hello.

I just cleared out my COMMENT box and the 2000 plus spam messages- that plus the 1200 + from the Christmas Holidays and it is NO FUN!

If you have a comment please email me at lanimate@bellsouth.net and I will transfer it to my page.

Thanks…

The view from our side of the mountain in Balsam, NC.

This Thanksgiving we were off to the mountains in North and South Carolina for a little R & R & R & R  ( rest and relaxation and reading and rendering). With all our ‘kids” and their spouses off establishing their own new Holiday traditions – it was time for our new traditions, too.

Of course, a rather back pack filled with art supplies accompanied us on our journey.

The Balsam Mountain Lodge - formerly an early 1900’s railway stop.

The first few days we stayed at the Balsam Mountain Lodge in North Carolina, The Lodge has no TV’s or radios -  just fireplaces and a library with about 5,000 books and a seemingly infinite supple of hot chocolate and hot cider. It was amazing!

An ink and watercolor sketch looking toward a fireplace from the library

We drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to see what ice and snow look like (not much of that in Savannah).

We spent part of a day in Waynesville, NC. – which must have more art galleries per capita than any town I have ever seen. We ended the day at a furniture store/ café/ gelato shop listening to an evening set by a local singer songwriter. She was excellent!

a night view of Main St. Greenville, SC.

The second part of the trip was to Greenville, SC. We stayed at a hotel and reserved tickets for the national traveling troupe of MY FAIR LADY at the Peace Center. Greenville is such a beautiful town- with a natural waterfall downtown and then there are the cafes, shops and galleries strewn about the city. The town featured an old fashioned Christmas Market and a Festival of Trees (decorated Christmas trees throughout the city). It was a great way to ease into Christmas Holidays.

More art on the way!

Henri stars in the openning sequence of OUR WORLD

Whew! The annual art festival on Tybee Island coupled with their 120 year anniversary celebration as a city has come to a close.

We did very well selling tons of cards and prints - not only my paintings but Ty B. Bear, too! . My orginals did not sell- I kept the prices up there (300-400.00 for a small canvas and over a grand for larger ones). From talking to other artists, I decided to keep the prices to a point where only folks who LOVE the art will buy it.

Well I am back at work - madly rushing about…

AND…in two weeks FREE animation workshops will be presented by yours truly at AWN. It is a six week workshop… and I am finishing the materials for that…more on the workshop later…

This one was a little trickier because of the bulk of the character and the long head and neck of Tony. Note: what you are seeing stops at his nose…his eyes, forehead and head are above the nose.

In my renewed efforts toward OUR WORLD…a new card has been produced for the festival circuit (pictured above).

More later….

CROSSING THE LINE was headed at a good pace toward completion…when two other films got in the way!

The first is OUR WORLD. This premiered at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany in October 2005…as the graduation event for the animation classes from the Internationale FilmSchule (IFS). Under the watchful eye of course head and producer, Alexandra Ohlsen, the film enjoyed fruitful stint at a hand full of European film festivals. One part of the film, FOR SALE, won a second place in the student segment of the Hamburg Animation festival.

To recap, the project was an international co-production between myself and the IFS. Animation was produced by students mostly in Germany and one segment was produced in the U.S. During the days leading up to the Cologne premiere, I was working away on my animation in Savannah and then finished the work in Cologne, Germany and in Provence, France. The film was designed like a relay race where everyone would begin with the world and end with the world. The idea was to see what folks had to say about the world. The film is meant to be an on-going project. In fact, I still have 3 sequences that are not in the film and will be added at a later date.

I received my copies of OUR WORLD in February of 2007. The film has created some interest and is experiencing a bit of a rebirth. So…because I want folks to see the film and talk about it and the state of the world! That may all be a bit extreme- and…I think it’s worth a shot. So I am repackaging the film and sending it off to Festivals in the U.S. A friend told me about

The second film to enter the fray is THE TRY OUT. It is a one gag, football based animated film. It involves a placekicker.
This is just a really fun project that has created itself. I am 3/4 of the way through the animation and hope to have it finished by the end of this month.

A concept drawing from my sketchbook!!!

CROSSING THE LINE will be back in the pipeline in November.

EVEN MORE ANIMATED!

Hey!

This week is a bit of a “holiday” week while our “kids” and their spouses are in town.

I will be posting my next week. I am still doing some art…just because that inner voice never takes a holiday.

My most recent painting at Plato’s Gallery on the South end of Tybee Island…all my other shells had sold!

Here’s a sketch from a recent Arts Festival on Tybee Island

The view from A.J.’s Dockside, a cafe on Tybee…a great place to sketch across Horsepen Creek.

Another sketch of the lighthouse on Tybee Island…I had my contacts on… and no reading glasses….yikes!

Always Animated!!!

Another view of the village of Annecy

The last week was another very busy one - FUN - but busy. I instructed two workshops one for adult and another with teens at the Tybee Arts Association.

Back to Annecy…

A view toward the village of Annecy

During the week there are several screenings out by the lake where thousands of folks picnic on the grass and watch films. The last night the winners are screened.

The festival ends with a dusk to dawn party and everyone celebrates the films and the atmosphere.

A drawing along one of the canals as the market comes to life

Another event which now happens at Annecy is the Annecy Plus - it was conceived by animators Bill Plympton and Patrick Smith. It provides a venue for films not selected at Annecy to be screened publicly. We attended the first Annecy Plus in 2005 - hundreds of animators and fans attended. It was quite a party unto to itself.

Having missed this year’s event- I am already planning on attending next year’s festivities.

AHHHhhhhhh Annecy!