I like to use my children as an excuse for all the toys I have and the cartoons I watch, but the truth is that it’s for me.  I love them, and I can’t hardly wait for the new shows to start up again.  We save up our shows and watch them on Saturday in between making Waffles and cleaning up the house.  Most of the shows have been on mid-season breaks, so I thought that I would start to make a list of the their start dates.

Avengers Earths Mightiest Heroes    ~    April 1 on Disney XD
Ben 10 Ultimate Alien    ~    February 4 on Cartoon Network
Clone Wars    ~    Started on Cartoon Network
G.I. Joe Renegades    ~    Not returning.
Green Lantern the animated series    ~    March 3 on Cartoon Network
Kung Fu Panda Legend of Awesomeness    ~    5 more episodes in Season One TBA
Lego Ninjago Masters of Spinjitzu    ~    ??? I need to find out more information about this one
My Little Pony    ~    Started on HUB
Napoleon Dynamite    ~    3 episodes have played, but I haven’t watched any yet…
Scooby Doo mystery incorporated    ~    Season 2 starting in May on Cartoon Network
Ultimate Spider-man    ~    April 1 on Disney XD
Thundercats    ~    Second season confirmed, air date TBA
Transformers Prime    ~    Feb. 18th on Hub
Young Justice    ~    Titled Young Justice: Invasion, an air date is TBA

In addition to these titles, Disney XD will launch an all-new Marvel Comics dedicated block called Marvel Universe.  It will include the above mentioned Ultimate Spider-Man and the return of The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as well as new animated short-form series and some live-action parts.

Not to be out done,  Cartoon Network will launch an entertainment block called DC Nation.  It will include the above mentioned Young Justice and Green Lantern: The Animated Series, as well as a series of animated shorts.  The theme for the shorts and other series will be about Plastic Man, a possible live-action Blue Beetle, chibi versions of The Teen Titans, Amethyst Princess of Gemworld (I have no idea what that is), Lego Batman, and some other Batman shorts.

It looks like I’m going to be starting my Saturdays earlier to get all these cartoons in. 

 Around March 25th I learned that one of my favorite new animated shows was being canceled.  The internet rumors are swirling that this is not due to terrible ratings, but instead due to the fact that the show doesn’t have enough merchandising potential.

Sym-Bionic Titan debuted Sept. 17, 2010 on the Cartoon Network. Billed as “an exciting hybrid of high school drama and giant robot battles”, Sym-Bionic Titan features “the adventures of three beings from the planet Galaluna who crash-land on Earth while attempting to escape their war-torn world.” The series follows the lives of Ilana, Lance, and Octus, two alien teens and a robot in the form of humanoids who arrive on Earth while fleeing an evil general who has taken over their home planet with the help of monstrous creatures called Mutraddi. (via)

The show’s creator, Genndy Tartakovsky, is best known to me for his work on the original animated micro-series Star Wars Clone Wars as well as Samurai Jack and Dexter’s Lab.  In the video below Genndy describes that the premise for the show came from he and his son watching Godzilla movies, and then re-enacting them with little soldiers and Barbies!

I loved that these aliens had to try and figure out a way to fit in to this new world AND they had to try and fit into High School too.  The show had some scary moments as well as a scene where the head cheerleader tries to convince one of the characters to do her homework by dancing around the room, BUT I really enjoyed it.  As Newton (robot disguised as a big nerdy kid) refuses to do Kimmie’s homework (head cheerleader just mentioned), and helps her figure it out for herself she gives him a kiss.  Shes never felt that she was smart enough to do this work, and Newton helped to build her confidence.  This video takes place right after this scene (thank you Flock of SeaGulls for just the right song!).

So there it is.  I really enjoyed this show, but now, it looks like it’s gone.  I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how this could have been avoided, but I’ll save that post for later.

The other day I saw a random post inviting me to follow a link and check out the way that Disney made cartoons “Back in the Day”.  I love animation, and more specify, I love Disney.  I grew up watching the live action and animated features as well as the Wonderful World of Disney TV show.  I loved drawing and decided that I would someday work for the Disney Animation Studios.  I went to art school at Arizona State University, got a degree, and interviewed at Disney… and I didn’t get in.  I came back to Phoenix and interviewed at Fox Animation Studios… and didn’t get in.  There’s quite a bit of competition in the animation and film industry and (I can admit now) that I just wasn’t good enough.  In fact, there are LOTS of people that are better at this stuff than me, but when I saw that link, and I watched Walt at the studio, I remembered what it felt like growing up on Disney animation, and it makes me happy.  It makes me want to go out and fulfill that dream of being an artist and storyteller.

That link started me on a bit of a quest.  I’m working on a project right now that has its roots in traditional animation techniques (more to come on that later).   So I started to look into what I found and I’ve decided that I would use this post to catalog my findings.  It’s going to be long and drawn out, so if you’re interested you can check it out after the break.

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Associate professor of the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California Berkeley Daniel Fletcher posed a challenge to his students.He said to imagine working in a remote African village at the time of a disease outbreak, and that all they have at their disposal is a camera cell phone and an assortment of basic optics lenses and mounts. He asked if it would it be possible to convert the camera phone into a sort of mobile microscope that could be used to diagnose the disease?

A small team of graduate, postdoctoral and undergraduate students has worked with Fletcher to refine their invention which they call CellScope.

In some sort of super powered Team up, the Wizards of Aardman Animation (Wallace & Gromit) are using the brand spanking new 8 megapixel Nokia N8 and the CellScope to create the animation below.

Here is a fabulous behind the scenes look at the creation of this World Record holding animaiton.

Back in 2004 Garrett Barati had beat out 500 contestants for a shot at his dream job as a professional Lego builder. He didn’t get the job, but he kept on working at it. Sometimes spending up to 12 hours a day hunched over a mound of Lego blocks.

Then, in 2008 he won the “Built By Me” Movie Contest sponsored by LEGO and Nickelodeon. He received $25,000 to create a brand-new original animated short for Nicktoons Network using LEGO bricks and minifigures. The animation was showcased at the Nicktoons Network Animation Festival, on-air and can be seen on Barati’s YouTube channel here.

It wasn’t this accomplishment that brought him to my attention. It was his fantastic 2:00 minute retelling of the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Barati states that he created all the sets and animation for this while Lego provided the script, cg, and audio. I haven’t been able to find out much more information about Barati, but I’m super happy that he seems to have found a way to do what he loves.

Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back opened in 1980 and introduced us to a Bounty Hunter named Boba Fett.  The masked mercenary was chided by the Dark Lord of the Sith saying, “No disintegrations this time” and we all knew there and then he was bad to the bone.  Through out the expanded Star Wars universe in comics and books we learned more and more about this mysterious figure, but it wasn’t until Star Wars Attack of the Clones in 2002 that we learned his true origins.  Now he’s back in the Clone Wars animated series  voiced by Daniel Logan who played the character on screen in 2002.

Back in November of 2007 I imagined what it would be like to have Boba Fett in his armor surrounded by his clone brothers.  I took created the image below and submitted it to Lucasfilm for licensing and was told that Boba Fett in armor had to appear as an adult and not a child.  I edited the image and it’s now available on Zazzle.

I’m also pretty excited that this upcoming story seems to follow along with the Boba Fett stories that I read a few years back and have him chasing down Mace Windu. The one thing that it seems to be lacking is some sort of memorable quote like, “You killed my Father! PREPARE TO DIE!”

Long before I’d ever heard of Jake Parker I was a fan of the artwork created by Agent 44.  I felt like Lois Lane when I finally connected the dots and found that these two were the same person!

I feel a certain kinship to Jake.  You see, he’s doing the things that I wanted to do.  He got that job at the animation studio and used the opportunity to learn everything he could.  He realized early on that the only work that is going to be steady is the work that you make for yourself.  He’s taken all of this talent and all connections and has put it together in his very first solo graphic novel. The following video was put together by Darren Rawlings.

you can hear the podcast below or click on the image to visit the site.

You can also head over toAmazon and pre-order this book.  I’ve got mine!

On December 21st, 1937 my world changed.  Hmmm, well, now that I think of it, it wasn’t really my world yet!  This day marks the premiere of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first to be produced by Walt Disney, and the first in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon.  I knew that it was I wanted to do.  I grew up watching these animated features and explaining to everyone that I knew that my life’s ambition was to be a Disney animator.  Well, I went to college for a semester, then spent 2 years as a missionary in Japan, returned home, finished another semester of college, changed majors, changed schools, changed majors, got married, and then graduated with a Fine Arts Degree from Arizona State University.

I interviewed and has a portfolio review at Disney but it didn’t go anywhere.  Fox Animation Studios set up shop in Phoenix and I met with people, toured and tested for positions, but I never made it there either.  I settled into a job working to create graphics and illustrations for online training courses, but it was NOT traditional animation.  I’ve worked to at this job for 10 years now, and I’m slowly starting to work my way into doing my original dream.  It’s not quite traditional animation, but I’m having a blast drawing Star Wars!

On a side note, after Snow White was released, Walt Disney saw a need to expand the studio and he used the profits from Snow White to build this studio in Burbank.  The success of Disney animation is built upon the Seven dwarfs so they are shown holding up the roof on the main administration building. Thanks Uncle Walt!

photo by Loren Javier

So watching the latest episode of the Clone Wars cartoon I noticed something interesting.  There’s a scene when two clones that have been infected by these parasites fire on the Jedi and Ahsoka flips over the table in a pose that I’d seen drawn by Katie Cook.

They were able to knock the clones out and then two more came rushed in responding to the blasters they had heard.  Even though they are clones, they do look a bit different.  I think that this clone looks a bit like Ken the Elvis trooper.  :D

To celebrate Columbus Day, you can SALE the ocean blue at a discount of 14.92%.  LOL!  :D  Click the image below to go on over to Zazzle and look at a few of the items that I have there or browse to find something else you like.  Use the discount code of 1492Columbus this weekend only and get 14.92% off your purchase.

TransAMformer!! by Spencer_B3
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