Why Vintage Animation and Not the New 3D World?
The guys at Darling Dimples are asked this question continuously. With Maya you can do this and with Maya you can do that. Take the Dimple challenge. Watch 30 minutes of your favorite 3D animated cartoon and then watch 30 minutes of good traditional 2D animation or even the splendid claymation of Wallace and Gromit. How did you feel after watching these flavors of animation? The guys at Darling Dimples found the perfect quote to describe how they feel in an article about Barry Purves who is THE master of puppet animation: “…Purves’s puppets have a breadth and depth that sets them apart from most work in this field and far indeed from the flashy but frigid creations of most computer animation.” The key descriptive phrase is “flashy but frigid creations”. The dimpled boys here believe this is true of 99% of 3D animated cartoons. They have the feel of a dead plastic toy. You can only marvel at the technology for so long before you yearn for good acting and a good story.
Matt Sandbrook – BBC 2005 New Animator Award Finalist
Matt was a finalist in 2005 for the BBC New Animator Award for Coffee Shop Hell shown below. It’s a wonderfully funny gritty film noir meets techno short. It’s also curious that Matt is obsessed with coffee since he claims he doesn’t drink the stuff.
While we enjoyed Coffee Shop Hell, we loved his short flash animation Poor Little Bunny. It appeals to our total lack of taste.
Visit this young animator and laugh along with his delightfully disgusting imagination.
Wild Brain Studios
The guys at Darling Dimples get really hot and bothered every time we think about Wild Brain Studios. Being caring canine lovers, our favorite Wild Brain film is “A Dog Cartoon.” This short won the Gold WorldMedal from The New York Festival TV & Promotion Competition and 1st Place ASIFA/SF for best short film. Enjoy Poochini.
Winkler Studios – Oswald the Lucky Rabbit
One of our favorite cartoons is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit created by Ubi Iwerks. Oswald originated at Disney in 1927 but was transferred to Winkler Studios. The first Oswald cartoons were fairly crude but they soon blossomed into classics.
Oswald made a few more migrations and the series ended in 1943. These cartoons are still shown in animation festivals and DVD collections containing the more memorable cartoons from the series are widely available.
Don Hertzfeldt’s Genre – Simply Fantastic
Don Herztfeldt is a living icon to the guys at Darling Dimples. We love him. We envy him. We want to be him. We’re not the only ones. Felix Hude, in his review of the 1996 “Genre“, said:
“In our modern digital world it’s a relief to see somebody actually using paper. A live animator and a cartoon rabbit battle for supremacy through sex, romance, children’s parties, and The Last Supper. In the tradition of Koko the Clown, Don Hertzfeldt has created a delightful pen and paper and live action animation and worked his frustrations out at the same time. Very funny and skillfully low-tech.”
In honor of the opening of the Da Vinci Code movie, enjoy the 1996 Bunny Jesus from Don Hertzfeldt.
Janet Perlman – Animation Rising Star
Janet Perlman has already received one oscar nomination for The Tender Tale of the Cinderella Penguin. The guys at Darling Dimples are very fond of Penguins Behind Bars. Janet may have a kinky fondness for Penguins. We can only hope. But, she may also have a darker side expressed in her classic Invasion of the Space Lobsters. Ya gotta love lobsters like these.
Feedburner