Meeting Tonight CANCELED

The meeting tonight has been canceled due to the severe cold. Please check back in a few days for the new meeting date.

Stay warm and see you later! :)

Meeting

We may have a meeting this Wednesday evening to discuss the state of our Chicago chapter of WIA. Please check back soon for more details. Thanks!

Eric Goldberg Webinar!

Animation Mentor's holding a free webinar with famed animator Eric Goldberg THIS TUESDAY. Here's the link for more info:

http://www.animationmentor.com/webinar/

Sketchcrawl

The next sketchcrawl is this Saturday Nov 14th at 11am. We're meeting in the gorilla house at Lincoln Park Zoo. See you then!!

Sketch Crawl: Saturday, November 14th

We are in the works of planning a sketch crawl for next Saturday. We can meet at Lincoln Park Zoo. But we are open to other suggestions as well. Please let us know and check back here in a few days for more info.

Nice flash animation from Brazil

Motionographer had this nice clip from a new agency in Brazil called "Samuri." Really cute design and nice animation.

Here's the link to the vimeo: link

This site has some nice stills from the commercial.

Birdo

Girl Guides Film Festival

A couple of days back I stumbled across a cute short on Motionagrapher, made for the Canadian version of girl scouts.

Here's a link to that clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmWBthwiZU

BUT they also have a bunch of promotion pieces, done by artist filmmakers, some animated. Once the page loads, if you move your mouse over the bottom, a bunch of them should appear. It tends to hide if you don't hover.

http://www.perspectivesonagirl.ca/

Beatles Rockband

Boing boing has a short article showing all the animated pieces associated with the new Beatles Rockband. They've even got some background art up. Lets hope that there's a making-of book with more work, that would be pretty good. MK12 studio did the short motion graphic pieces set before all the chapters. This short article has links to clips from the game. It's an amazing undertaking as they're dealing with something with so much history and a huge fanbase. I think they did a phenominal job on this.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/08/everything-but-the-g.html

Need STRONG female leads!

Here's a good article asking Pixar to make a movie about a girl who is NOT a princess! ;)

Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees

WIA meeting at Cartoon Network

If anyone is going to be in CA on June 16th, you may want to check out the annual WIA meeting:

"One World" Annual Meeting

Bill Peet

We saw the Bill Peet exhibit at the Art Institute this weekend. Bill Peet was a great storyman at Disney who storyboarded all of The Sword in the Stone and 101 Dalmatians. The exhibit has 2 large photos of his storyboards from Sword in the Stone as well as some character sketches for Dumbo and mice sketches for Cinderella. A bunch of his illustrations for children's books line a long hallway. Among the those are some fun illustrations from his autobiography. I really enjoyed the drawings of him working at Disney and in his home studio. The exhibit closes in a week (on Sun, May 24th), so if you're in Chicago and haven't seen it yet, I would highly recommend it. To celebrate the opening of the new modern art wing, the museum is free until the 22nd. Also, the museum is open until 8:00 on Thursdays, so it's a great idea to go after work with friends.

Sita Sings the Blues Opens Tonight!

Dear all,

This is a final reminder that Nina Paley's SITA SINGS THE BLUES, a remarkable mash-up of musical, comedy and tragedy set around the ancient epic of the Ramayana, opens tonight in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center for a one-week run. The Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 1/2 stars today, calling it "delicious" and noting the film "finds solace in autobiography and an animated gold mine in the caverns of an ancient Sanskrit epic." The film took Nina Paley five years to create using an array of different visual styles, and the film has won critical acclaim and awards at film festivals from around the world (including BEST FEATURE at last year's Annecy!!)

The Siskel Film Center is located at 164 North State Street, and advance tickets and more info can be found on their website, www.siskelfilmcenter.org. You can also watch a trailer and learn more about Sita Sings the Blues at our website,www.gkids.tv/sita. We hope you will spread the word about this unique opportunity to catch a great film!


Thanks!

Best,

Dave

Newport Beach Film Fest

This is the opening title for the Newport Beach Film Fest and you have to see it.  It's got a nice style and pulls together all those animated movie company logos in a clever mashup.

http://motionographer.com/theater/newport-beach-film-festival/

CREDITS

CLIENT: Newport Beach Film Festival
FOUNDER, HEAD OF MARKETING: Todd Quartararo

AD AGENCY: RPA
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
SVP/ EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Gary Paticoff
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/ART DIRECTOR: Scott McDonald
DESIGN/PRODUCTION COMPANY: Elastic
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
DIRECTOR: Andy Hall
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Alex Gorodetzki
PRODUCER: Jenny Bright

VFX/ANIMATION/FINISHING COMPANY: a52
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Linda Carlson
PRODUCER: Jenny Bright
FILM/DI COLORIST: Patrick Murphy
CG SUPERVISOR: Kirk Shintani & Max Ulichney
3D ARTISTS: Adam Newman, Paulo de Almada, Christopher Janney

MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN: Robot Repair
CITY/STATE: Los Angeles, CA
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, SOUND DESIGNER: Douglas Darnell
COMPOSER: Kael Alden

FINAL MIX COMPANY: Framework Sound
CITY/STATE: Santa Monica, CA
MIXER: Ken Dahlinger

Freelance list

I came across this post on Freelance Switch, and I would recommend reading their website. Thursday Bram of Freelance Switch just posted some great tips on how to market yourself as a freelancer.  

As a freelancer, you have a wide variety of marketing options available to you. Just which ones will bring you the clients you prefer to work with depends — it’s important to make sure that the methods you use allow you to reach the places prospective clients will be.

It’s worth considering a wide variety of options. For that, it’s useful to have a list of options to consult:

For the complete list check out the article on Freelance Switch:

http://www.freelanceswitch.com/finding/50-marketing-ideas-for-freelancers/

Sketch Crawl Today!

Yes, it is raining, but the sketch crawl is still ON! If it's still raining, we'll stay indoors and hope the zoo isn't too crowded. ;) See you there!

Sketch Crawl- Saturday, April 25th

The next sketch crawl will be held at Lincoln Park Zoo Saturday, April 25th. We'll be meeting at 1:00 by the gorillas. See you there! :D

Scholarship

I just received this email from WIA. Please pass it along to anyone interested. Good luck!

WOMEN IN ANIMATION PHYLLIS CRAIG SCHOLARSHIP ENTRIES DUE APRIL 29TH

Every year, Women In Animation offers a $1,000 scholarship to a deserving animation scholar. The deadline to submit entries is Wednesday, April 29, 2009.
It's not too late to enter this year. If you are a full or part-time student enrolled in an accredited animation program with a career goal of becoming an animation professional and are a U.S. citizen or a registered alien with the right to work in the United States, submit your portfolio or reel, a 500 word essay outlining your educational and career goals and financial need, a copy of your student I.D. and a recommendation from a teacher or mentor.
You can get all the details about the Phyllis Craig Scholarship and an application at the website at www.womeninanimation.org. Entries should be postmarked by April 29, 2009 to: Women In Animation, Phyllis Craig Scholarship, P.O. Box 17706, Encino, CA 91416.

WIA Membership Bonus: We will give a ten day extension to those who first read about the scholarship in the WORKS IN PROGRESS Newsletter.

Female Pioneers

Here's an article about female pioneers in the animation industry.

http://www.animationmentor.com/newsletter/0409/feature_feature.html

April Sketch Crawl

The next sketch crawl will be held Saturday, April 25th at 1:00 at Lincoln Park Zoo. Check back later for more details. We have yet to pick a spot to meet up.

April event on the way

We're going to organize an event for April. Either a sketch crawl or a get-together. If anyone has any suggestions, please let us know. We're always open to new ideas and guest speakers. Please check back on this blog for further updates. See you in April!

Sita Sings The Blues

For anyone who missed Nina Paley's feature film, Sita Sings the Blues, you can now watch it online! If you haven't seen it, please check it out here: WATCH SITA SINGS THE BLUES!

Or you can DOWNLOAD IT HERE!

Enjoy!

Art by Women

A friend emailed me this gallery link, Art by Women, a while ago. It's a gallery that showcases art created by women. It's located near the Blue Line Grand stop. Is anyone interested in an outing some Saturday afternoon?

They are also taking submissions for upcoming art shows, but there's a $24 fee.

Annie Awards Sunday Results!

Kung Fu Panda was the big winner, and Pixar was completely shut out of all categories.  James Baxter won for his work on Kung Fu Panda.  Check out the list of winners!:

http://www.annieawards.org/

Feb 5th- WIA meeting at DreamWorks

Hello everyone! I received this email today and am passing it along in case anyone is going out to CA in February or would like to book a quick trip over there to check this out:


"THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Careers In Freelance Animation"

ATTENTION WIA MEMBERS!
Animators are migrant workers. Lifetime employment at a single studio is a mere nostalgic dream. Most of us are freelancers, either by preference or necessity. We must network constantly, keep our skills fresh, and be ready at the drop of a hat to move to the next job. Reinvention is the name of the game. So how do you continually repackage yourself without becoming completely bored or totally insane?

Join us at DreamWorks Animation on Thursday, February 5th, when Women In Animation, The Los Angeles Chapter, presents its first General Meeting of 2009:

"THIS GUN FOR HIRE: Careers In Freelance Animation"

A panel of independent artists, writers and directors will discuss issues of self-marketing, networking and keeping up a skill set. If you're a freelancer, don't miss this event!

To RSVP, please email LAchapterrsvps@aol.com before Sunday, February 1st. For space reasons, we will be closing the list when we reach sixty guests, so don't delay. When you RSVP, please tell us your membership status.

Non-members will be asked for a $10.00 donation: attendence is free for members and DreamWorks employees. We look forward to seeing you!

Stephanie Graziano

Linda Miller

Women In Animation International