Animator and director Don Bluth (Secret of NIMH, The Land Before Time, Titan AE) has a new web site, www.donbluthanimation.com. It not only features background information on Don and his crew’s many film projects, but also Don’s latest passion: Teaching would-be animators the ropes of the business. Several tutorials are available on the site, matching up with a series of how-to books that Don has released over the past few years. That includes character design concepts, backgrounds, in-betweening, and more, as well as how to work with modern computer graphics assistance.
New Disney 3D — from 2D!
Word has come down the pipe that Disney/Pixar will be revisiting some old favorite animated movies and re-releasing them in the new (and very popular) True 3D format. First up is a double-feature of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, coming this October. That’s to be followed by a special True 3D version of the 2D classic Beauty and the Beast, to be released in February of 2010.
The Return of Milikardo Knights
Matt Henry, also known as Cutter McCoy or El Badjah, has decided to revive his black & white furry science fiction comic book series Milikardo Knights. Originally published in 1997 by Steel Badger Studios (with illustrations by Freddy A-Son, Richard Bartrop, and Steve Adelsee), the story involves an elite multi-species team of interplanetary fighter pilots battling to save their homeworld from the forces of a corrupt planet-stealing corporation. Currently, El Badjah is re-working the story and looking for interested artists. Visit www.myspace.com/elbadjah to find out more.
Dentiblu Returns
Ready or not, it’s time for more Dentiblu! The pig-happy parodist has returned with his latest self-published full-color comic, The Hamazing Spider-Mad. In this one-shot we watch as Pigger Porker (!) attempts to become a radioactive superhero with super-spider-powers. Spider pig, spider pig… does whatever a spider pig does…
DinoWars Trade Paperback
DinoWars, the full-color science fiction manga series written and illustrated by Rod Espinosa, is now available as a digest-sized trade paperback collection from Antarctic Press. We thought they dinosaurs were dead — but they had simply left our planet. Now a new species of evolved dinosaur has returned… to invade and conquer the Earth!
Archibald Returns
He’s little, he’s wirey… he’s solving murder mysteries! Specifically, his brother. It’s Archibald the Ardvaark, returning to a new adventure in Archibald Chases the Dragon, a new one-shot two-tone comic book, with a story by Dara Naraghi and art by Grant Bond. This time, the search for his brother’s killer takes Archibald to Little China, in search of the mysterious “Compassionate Wind of Death”… while visions of deadly red dragons haunt his dreams. The comic is published by Shadowline.
Where the Wild Things Are
A brand new, more-detailed trailer for the long-awaited film adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are is up on the Internet in several locations. The film version of Maurice Sendak’s beloved children’s book is being directed by Spike Jonze — who, it turns out, has been filming this since 2005. The release date has been pushed back several times, and now sits at October of this year. Of course, the big question on every furry fan’s mind is: How are the monsters? Interestingly, unlike the typical Hollywood thing these days, the studio (Warner Brothers) is not being coy about their design — they’re all there in plain sight in the trailer, cavorting in all their glory. The creatures were created by the Jim Henson Company, and feature CGI morphing faces.
Check out the trailer at the following locations:
www.thetraileraddict.com
www.apple.com/trailers/wb/wherethewildthingsare
http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–N9klJXbjQ&feature=channel_page
Voting is Open for the 2008 Ursa Major Awards!
[From www.ursamajorawards.org:]
Public voting is now open for the annual Ursa Major Awards, which highlight excellent works in the anthropomorphic community appearing during 2008 as decided by the fans. Nominees range from Hollywood movies such as Bolt and Kung Fu Panda, to works published in the furry fandom such as Alone in the Dark and Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe, to single illustrations and webcomics.
Voting is open to everyone and will close on April 19. Please go to
http://www.ursamajorawards.org/Voting.htm
to get the ballot. The ballot includes a URL link for each nominee that has one. Click on the links for further information about the nominees.
Best Motion Picture (Live-action or animated feature-length movies.)
* Bolt
* Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
* Kung Fu Panda
* Madagascar 2
* Wall-E
Best Dramatic Short Work or Series (TV series or one-shots, advertisements or short videos.)
* Big Buck Bunny
* Nine Lives and Counting
* Presto
* There She Is
* Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death
Best Novel (Written works of 40,000 words or more. Serialized novels qualify only for the year that the final chapter is published.)
* Iron Kissed, by Patricia Briggs
* Ratha’s Courage, by Claire Bell
* Stick and Bones, by Phil Geusz
* Thousand Leaves, by Kevin Frane
* Waterways, by Kyell Gold
Best Short Fiction (Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry and other short written works.)
* Earth Rise by Ivor W. Hartmann
* Candy and Music (in Heat #5), by K. M. Hirosaki
* In Between by Kyell Gold
* It’s a Beautiful World by Kyell Gold
* Secrets by Kyell Gold
* Third Date by Kyell Gold
Best Other Literary Work (Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books.)
* Alone in the Dark, edited by Will Sanborn
* ANTHROlogy TWO, edited by Quentin Long
* Behind the Sofa, interview conducted by Phil Geusz
* Dog’s Days of Summer, by Blotch
* Sabrina On-Line: The Story, by Chris Yost
Best Comic Book (Traditional comic books, one-shots or ongoing series, printed or online.)
* Finding Avalon
* Gargoyles
* Heathen City
* i.s.o.
* Sandman: The Dream Hunters
Best Comic Strip (Internet or regular newspaper strips.)
* Faux Pas, by Robert and Margaret Carspecken
* Freefall, by Mark Stanley
* Fur-Piled, by Leo Magna and A. Husky
* Housepets!, by Rick Griffin
* Lackadaisy, by Tracy J. Butler
Best Magazine (Professional magazines, amateur zines, fanzines, internet-only magazines.)
* ANTHRO (#15, January-February to #20, November-December)
* Heat (#5, June)
* New Fables (Summer 2008)
* Softpaw Magazine (#3 & #4)
* Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe (#44, January to #45, September)
Best Published Illustration (Illustrations for books, magazines, convention program books, cover art for such, coffee table portfolios.)
* Blotch: Suhl, cover of Eurofurence 14 program book, August
* Heather Bruton: “Slumber Party, cover of ANTHRO #16, March-April
* Dark Natasha: Centerfold of Eurofurence 14 program book
* Kacey Miyagami: Cover for “More Terrible Than Chains”
* John Nunnemacher: Cover for “Waterways”
Best Game (Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games.)
* Kung Fu Panda The Video Game
* Mouse Guard roleplaying game
* Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
* Sonic Unleashed
* Spore
