Category Archives: News

THE JIM HENSON COMPANY DEBUTS

JIM HENSON’S CHATTER ZOO AT LICENSING SHOW 2013

Multi-Platform Property Debuts as Appisode This Summer

Sassy, Inc. on Board to Develop Innovative Infant Development Toys

Los Angeles, CA (June 13, 2013) The Jim Henson Company continues its reputation as an innovator in content and brand development with the upcoming debut of its latest property, JIM HENSON’S CHATTER ZOO, at Licensing Expo 2013.  CHATTER ZOO will premiere to consumers this summer with the launch of an “appisode” – a mobile entertainment and learning application for kids – produced by Mindshapes. Also, The Jim Henson Company is collaborating with Sassy Inc., the lead partner for infant developmental toys and plush, for products in those categories. The announcement was made today by Melissa Segal, Executive Vice President, Global Consumer Products, The Jim Henson Company. Continue reading

Relativity Media, has just shared the first look images from their upcoming animated film, FREE BIRDS. Woody Harrelson and Owen Wilson star as a pair of feathered friends who travel back in time to change the course of history – in hopes of getting turkey off the holiday menu for good.

Release: 

Abobe has been working hard on some very interesting tech of late, namely Project Mighty and Naploeon. The former is a pressure-sensitive stylus, while the latter is a ruler for drafting (aptly named because it is a ‘short ruler’!) and it marks the first time the company has become involved with hardware. Both devices tap into Adobe Cloud as well, which is an interesting way to force subscriptions.

The pen looks pretty interesting and seems to work on any tablet, similar to other styli on the market. It does not look like it has palm rejection but it seems to have an interface that comes along with it allowing you to cut, paste and undo etc. From what I can tell it also will work with tablets that are not touch which is a VERY interesting development. I can not tell what tablet they are using from the video (it looks like Android) but they do mention iOS.

What does this all mean for us artists? Well, for one it seems that Adobe is actually listening to us and with Wacom’s announced foray into this same arena it might be only a matter of time before we see these big companies catering to us for once!

You can read more here on at the source link.

Yesterday, Sony unveiled their new 13.3 inch Digital Paper prototype which supports flexible displays and is quite possibly a peak into the future of the 21st century artist. While initially for books and print as of this writing you can write and draw on it.

From the Engadget site:

At 13.3 inches, the panel is larger than your typical e-reader’s, but it weighs just 60 grams. That light footprint comes courtesy of E Ink’s TFT tech, which allows for larger, more rugged devices without the extra weight. The Digital Paper’s form factor matches the size of a sheet of A4 paper, and the on-board digitizer lets users scrawl notes on the electromagnetic induction touchscreen.

Catch that? Scrawl notes! I’m sure right now it’s nothing more than black or white without pressure sensitivity but I’m wondering if they’ll change that. It seems to make sense.

So is this the “Cintiq Killer”? Perhaps, in the future,  it might be for a number of reasons… First off they will be significantly cheaper which studios and artists will drool over. Second, you’ll only need one connected to a sever via wifi to generate the same amount of work from a much smaller, lighter and possibly even portable piece of tech. Thirdly, while it is only a display showing one page, it’s logical to assume that they might one day add a hard drive and an operating system on it as well. Android? Windows Mobile? iOS? It seems the most likely would be Windows Mobile if only because they’re the ones who need to reinvent themselves. IF THAT happens, it’s likely to assume it could become mainstream.

Another interesting aspect of this is the possibility of doing the same thing to cloth. Imagine your art or portfolio on a slideshow as you walk the Comic Con? Quite a calling card wouldn’t you say? Add to that the fact that E-Ink has a ridiculously long battery life and it’s a pretty exciting possibility.

Now granted, all that said… E-Ink is strictly black and white so you wouldn’t be putting full color on it and all, at least not for now, but who knows what the future will hold since color E-Ink DOES already exist.

Is this the next wave of what a digital artist will draw on? Sound off!

Engadget

Sherm Cohen alerted me to the fact that there’s a huge resource of Don Bluth cels, animation drawings, storyboards, color models  at the Savannah College of Art and Design!

We interviewed Sherm a while back on Animation Insider.com.

From the site:

The Don Bluth Collection of Animation

The Don Bluth Collection of Animation came to the Savannah College of Art and Design as a donation from Don Bluth and Gary Goldman in fall of 2005. The collection consists of cels, animation drawings, storyboards, color models, and other materials created by Don Bluth Productions and later incarnations of this company in the creation of animated features and video games between 1979 and 2000. Also included in the collection are administrative, legal, and other documents, as well as scripts, concepts, and publicity related materials. The studio operated in both the United States and Ireland, and was, at various times, affiliated with other production companies. A preliminary inventory was completed by summer of 2006 and processing began in fall of that same year. Though the processing of the collection will continue for many years, materials already processed are available to researchers now. Presented here are selections from various animated features, concepts, and video games in the collection. The materials are divided by feature titles.

You can check out the huge repository of Don Bluth artwork here.