Bustykelp’s Wood Imps

While trawling YouTube yesterday I came upon this tiny bit of animation. I love it. It’s so well done with the camera shake and the quality of the imps that you instantly believe in them. There’s something about the way they’re acted that reminds me of the Dark Crystal and other Henson classics.

Higher quality version and a clip from another short film Kelpie can be found on the Bustykelp website

Snail in a strange land

Here’s a strange piece of work about a snail in a computerised world. The snail makes its way through an ever changing, constantly redesigning electronic landscape.

This played at the London Internatial Animation Festival in 2008.

Born Button Presser

Many of us love to press buttons or flick switches…

By Zack Mathew, his final project for the Digital Character Animation program at the Vancouver Film School.

I Lived on the Moon

Here’s a rather haunting song from Parisian band Kwoon set to some impressive animation from a chap called Yannick Puig, a French animator living in Valencia, Spain. It features a young boy taking a strange, sometimes sad and yet wonderful trip to the moon.

Puig describes it like this: “A father speaks to his son. He explains how was his life on the moon. A place filled with flying snakes, fireflies and three tailed monkeys.A beautiful place, safe and far away from the human culture. A place for imagination, a place in which you’ll find the entrance only if you open your mind.”

There’s more about the film at Puig’s website

Kung Fu Panda from Dreamworks

Here’s a teaser trailer for the upcoming animated film from Dreamworks starring Jack Black as a kung fu fighting panda.

Kung Fu Panda trailer


Via Drawn! and Cartoon Brew

Chuggington Sneak Preview

Coming to kids TV in 2009 is a new CGi train series Chuggington. Catch a sneak preview at their website:

http://chuggington.com/

One to Watch – Blur Studios

Pixar are the makers of such wonders as The Incredibles, Rataouille, Toy Story and Monsters Inc. And as far as I’m aware they nudged their way into the big animated feature market by starting out with some amazing short 3D animations (some of which are available on iTunes to download). I’m wondering if Blur Studios based in Venice California are heading the same way. Their 3D short Gopher Broke was shortlisted for the Best Animated Short at the Oscars in 2004 and they continue to create stand out shorts including ‘The Gentleman’s Duel’ which I saw at the Encounters Festival in Bristol  at the end of 2007.

The Blur website has teaser trailers for both (Quicktime format)

Gopher Broke 

Gentleman’s Duel

Alternatively there are some full versions on YouTube at the moment…

Top Animations on YouTube

Sometimes a viral video takes on a life of it’s own. And two of those that have been most popular on YouTube are Kiwi and The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Both are 3D CGi creations and both have had millions of views. You might want to watch Kiwi first to decide whether it’s suitable for kids.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight (full version)

Kiwi! by Dony Permei

Kiwi! was made by Dony for his Masters Thesis while at The School of Visual Arts, MFA Computer Art, in New York City. Looking at his CV he’s clearly been busy since working in the industry, so this short animation has obviously done wonders for his career!

Bath Time with Carlos

Bath Time is a minute a half long animation by Carlos Puertolas, originally from Spain, but now living in San Francisco (via England for 4 years). It’s a charming little story that is cute and funny, not least because the story it tells has a real ring of truth about it, as any one who has tried to bath a dog will know…