Frank Hursh: Painting backgrounds for Rocky & Bullwinkle in Mexico, Part 1

Frank Hursh Director Fondos Gamma_retouched

What was it like working on Rocky & Bullwinkle in Mexico City in the early 1960s?Darrell Van Citters tells you on his blog The Art of Jay Ward in the fist of a multi part series.

From the site:

During the writing process on The Art of Jay Ward Productions, I put out an all points bulletin on the Internet looking for a few artists who had either worked directly for Jay Ward in Hollywood or for Val-Mar/Gamma Productions in Mexico, the subcontractor for all animation production on the Jay Ward series.  One of those artists was Frank Hursh, an American painter who had headed up the background department at the Mexican studio in the early 1960s, a crucial period in the history of the Ward studio.

Admittedly, my request was a long shot and I had low expectations for any kind of response.  However, while the book was at the printer’s, I received a phone call from Frank’s daughter, Holly, responding to my posting which she had just discovered while searching on the Internet.  She was calling from Mexico with her father standing right next to her.  While it was too late to include any new information or art from Frank, it wasn’t too late for me to ask questions or to find out that his memoirs had been published in a bilingual book in Mexico.  Later I found out that Frank had photos of the personnel and studio from it’s heyday along with a few pieces of original art.  It’s unlikely there will be a second edition of The Art of Jay Ward Productions so I’ve decided to highlight Frank Hursh and his time at the Gamma studio with a multi-part blog post.

You can read the whole post here.

Flaviano Armentaro

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Flaviano Armentaro, storyboard artist and comic book artist. i’m a freelance.

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
I did magician for children s party.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
there aren’t so much good animation projects in Italy, is more something you do to work and survive than something artistic. I’ve been very proud to do storyboards for Gregory Panaccione wich is a fantastic director and incredibly talented comic book artist.  i’m also hugely happy to work on Nola which is a french comics i’m doing with Mathieu Mariolle and Pop that came out soon.

Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business?
I’m from Italy. i started as clean-up/inbeetweener for an animation studio and year by year I learned all the positions from animation to storyboards. In between I made Continue reading

Former lead Disney artist helps shape future animators

Tom-Bancroft

Veteran Disney animator Tom Bancroft known for his work on Disney greats such as “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Pocahontas,” “Mulan” and “Brother Bear” is teaching a Lipscomb University and today the school published and interview with him about his career and his classes there.

The undergraduate animation program developed by Bancroft is only in its second semester of existence. He has taught Character Design I and Character Design II and plans on teaching additional classes as the program progresses into its second year. Bancroft says he has also been excited to bring in industry experts as adjunct professors, including John Hill and John Pomeroy, who teach Animation History and 2D Animation, respectively.

You can read the entire article here.

360 Google Spotlight Story: On Ice

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Shannon Tindle (Go Goo Go) and Google ATAP’s Spotlight Stories have released ON ICE to YouTube TODAY. “On Ice,” is viewable in the Google Spotlight Stories YouTube channel app on many Android devices, and also with Google Cardboard. We’ll also bring “On Ice” to the Google Spotlight Stories apps (on iOS and Android) soon.

ON ICE is about an over-the-top, sci-fi themed ice show and its star (a la Flash Gordon), who suddenly finds he has competition for the spotlight from an unlikely rival…a bear.

ON ICE was directed by Shannon Tindle, and created in collaboration with Evil Eye Pictures. There are hidden surprises, both audio and visual, that occur on stage and off, including one musical surprise that pays homage to Queen! Ice skating techniques are drawn from both accuracy and creative liberties – and you can also catch the highlights you missed on the MainStage on the Jumbotron, just look up!

Google Spotlight Stories is a new form of storytelling made specifically for mobile and VR. In these 360-degree, interactive stories, your phone becomes a window to a world all around you. The sensors on your phone allow the story to be interactive; when you move your phone to various scenes, you are able to unlock mini-stories within the story.

In addition to ON ICE, we’re bringing Justin Lin’s HELP to YouTube later this week as well. HELP was released last year on our Android and iOS app, is our first live action piece, and received a nomination for a Visual Media Experience Award at this year’s SXSW.

Funimation launches its all-in-one anime destination site

dragon-ball-super-episode-3

Engadget is posting that Funimation Entertainment announced today that its FunimationNow platform is now live.

The site, which we first saw back at CES, will make the studio’s expansive archive of shows — including DBZ, Attack on Titan and Assassination Classroom — available to subscribers without ads or viewing restrictions. The new service will initially be available on iOS, Android, Kindle and Windows 10 devices while support for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Roku devices is expected by May.

Pricing for the service will be tiered. Free accounts will have to deal with ads and have access to a limited portion of the archives. For $5 a month, viewers will get full access to the entire HD library of shows but they’ll all be subtitled (which is how they’re best viewed anyway). The $8/month tier gives you everything from the lower tiers plus access to dubbed versions of shows and bonus content.