If they call you 'butt' over there it means they like you, I recently learned

It's Friday! We made it to the end of another week! Go us!
That means there's now a mere six days to go before Cardiff Animation Festival kicks off and I'm very excited to be heading over there alongside Skwigly brethren and animationey pals alike.
There's a packed schedule of amazing events from Thursday 19th through to Sunday 22nd and while it's worth taking the time to peruse the full programme here are a couple I'm involved with:
As part of the Industry Day on the 19th I'll be on the 2pm panel Getting To Market with Helen Brunsdon, Adam Bailey and Huw Walters where we'll be discussing "the fine art of promoting and selling your work, from TV ideas to short films, at markets around the world". You can pick up an Industry Day pass here if you've not done so already.

Kim Keukeleire

On Saturday 21st I'll be chairing the Q&A session Making Isle of Dogs at 8:45pm, which will directly follow a 6:30pm screening of the film itself. This will be a great opportunity to learn about the crafting of the exceptional new Wes Anderson film from artists Joshua Flynn (puppetmaker), Kim Keukeleire (lead animator) and Kerry Dyer (puppet repairs), so you won't want to miss it.
I'll also be speaking with some of the attending filmmakers in competition for the Animator's Brunch Q&A sessions that will take place on the 21st and 22nd at 10:30am. Not only will you be able to meet/grill these splendid folks but you'll get to do so with coffee and croissants to hand - plus both sessions are free to attend, so treat yisselfs!

Other festival highlights you'll want to check out include a festival-long exhibition and Friday night special presentation for Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, the spectacular stop-mo feature I contributed some VFX bits to last summer, as well as a talk by all-around top bloke Grant "Hey Duggee" Orchard, a writing for animation panel, the official launch of Anim18, life drawing, a Bring Your Own Animation session (at which I may attempt a sneaky preview of my latest film Sunscapades), screenings and Q&As for recent features Early Man and The Breadwinner - not to mention a heap of parties and networking events you can get sauced at. Then there's the official selection itself, which as a member of the jury I can assuredly say is packed full of absolutely top-shelf work. Say hello* if you're there!
*Not an obligation. In fact an across-the-room-half-nod is already above and beyond.

Voyeurism

'Chick' (Dir. Michał Socha)

Following the success of our first showcase evening, in two weeks we have a new Skwigly screening event here in Bristol. This time around we're teaming up with James Ewen of CineMe and Tobacco Factory Theatres to present Love, Lust and Libido. As the title indicates, the focus of the screening is themes of relationships and sexuality, so things are bound to get a little risqué.

Flier design by Sereena Knapp

Spanning all forms of animation and storytelling styles, the event is the brainchild of Laura-Beth Cowley and it's been a joy to curate it with her the past few weeks. Some of the international filmmakers involved include Skwigly favourites Ruth Lingford, Signe Baumane and Grant Orchard as well as a bumper crop of both established and up-and-coming talent. For a mere £5 (£3 with concessions) it's sure to be a fun evening out, so swing by and enjoy the ribaldry!
Love, Lust and Libido takes place Monday March 17th, 8pm at the Tobacco Factory Brewery Theatre. For more info and tickets click here.

Not about me for a change. Just kidding, I totally make it about me...

"Damned" (Dir. Richard Phelan, ©2011 NFTS)

This month's main Skwigly feature is now online, so why not give it a gander? It's a double interview with two of last year (a particular strong crop)'s NFTS grads Richard Phelan and Francesca Adams. Their films have the shared traits of being traditionally animated and having all-animal ensemble casts, though in every other respect they couldn't be further apart.

"Bertie Crisp" (Dir. Francesca Adams, ©2011 NFTS)

Phelan's "Damned" is a sweet-natured tale of a beaver with ambition whose grandiose plan to convert the forest into a giant dam goes awry, while Adams's "Bertie Crisp" is a brutally adult story of an emasculated bear whose vicious wife send him to steal the baby of their neighbour (who's already burdened with a quadriplegic, possibly vegetative husband). In their own vastly different ways they're both pissingly funny and are two of the more standout student films doing the rounds this year, so I was really glad to get a chance to chat to both filmmakers.

Animal Instinct - A Conversation with Richard Phelan and Francesca Adams

"A Morning Stroll" (Dir. Grant Orchard, ©2011 Studio AKA)

On that note it was fantastic to hear that Grant Orchard, who I'd interviewed last year, won the Short Animation BAFTA last night with "A Morning Stroll", which has been doing brilliantly and is also up for an Oscar. It really is a great piece of work and most inspiring of all is how it came together without funding, pretty much as a labour of love the studio crew contributed to in their spare time over a two year period. So mazel tov again to Studio AKA and kudos to their modus operandi!
If it's of interest you can read my interview with Grant here (I'm a coattail rider, I admit it unabashedly, but it's a darn fun ride) for some backstory on the film and his prior work to date.

A Conversation with Grant Orchard

Things that will happen (AKA “It’s the end of the week and I don’t have the energy for a clever title”)

Just in time to hopefully not be too late for Christmas, December 5th is now marked as the official joint release date for my next two books. “My Pretties” is a non-narrative illustration book in the vein of last year’s “Brain Spillage”, this time a full-colour showcase of my character design work over recent years. Its focus is naturally on the projects I’ve taken on since starting out on my animation career, with some early toothcutting endeavours thrown in. “Throat”, which I’ve talked about previously, is my first graphic novel to not be an adaptation or anthology. It’s been a not-so-smooth ride, going on intuition and very little by way of guidance, but after a last minute rewrite I’m really happy with how it’s turned out. There’s the usual dark elements and weird, goofy shit I guess I’m associated with at this point, but it also goes to some places a little more personal and introspective. “Maus” it definitely ain’t, but I’m proud of it all the same.Film news, another upcoming October screening for “The Naughty List” will be at the “Golden Kuker – Sofia” International Animation Film Festival in Bulgaria, alongside some pretty fine films by the likes of Joost Lieuwma, Dmitry Geller, David O’Reilly, Brothers Quay, Grant Orchard, Martin Wallner and Stefan Leuchtenberg. There are lots more, of course, but those fellas in particular I’m a bit of a fan of, so worth a shout-out. The film’ll be shown as part of the Made For Kids competition screening on Saturday October 1st at the Arena West cinema, full programme here.Other confirmed “Naughty List” festival screening times: A week tomorrow (the 24th) it’s being played in the Pyrenees International Short Film Festival Sintetitza’s Animation section from 5pm at the Catalunya Cinema in Berga.
At the multi-regional Shnit International Shortfilmfestival it is in the “Shnit Animates 1” screening, showing at 9pm Friday October 7th and 5pm the following Sunday (9th). I’m not sure if this is the same schedule for all the countries but those are the official times for the Berne edition (Venue for both screenings is the Kino City II).Finally, my Animation MA coursemate Kate has put together an animation showcase that will be part of SAW’s Art Weeks ’11 visual arts festival in Somerset. My first film “House Guest” will be included as part of the daily programme (around 12:25pm) as well as work by such fellow UWE-ites as Laura Ratta, Lucia Morgan, Mark Simon Hewis, Dominique Bongers, and Mel Peck, along with some classic shorts from established directors. The Art Weeks make for a pretty giant event with lots of stuff on for the artistically inclined and goes from tomorrow up to October 2nd, so if you’re trotting about those parts drop in to The Old School and watch yourself some fine toonage. More info at the event website.

Spiffing, Strolling and Skwiglying

After a bit of a hiatus, Skwigly is up and running again with a batch of new features to read on their site. These include the piece I did on "Tales of the Spiffing", the Aardman collaborative graphic novel project I referred to awhile back, wherein a bunch of the book's contributors share their thoughts on how it came together, using sequential art as a storytelling medium and how their skills translate from working in animation. Some interesting insights from some very talented artists, so read, buy, share and repeat!
CARTOON NATION: A chat with the talents behind "TALES OF THE SPIFFING"

Another interview I did is with Grant Orchard, director at Studio AKA and known for his viral shorts such as "Park Foot Ball" and "Paintballing". AKA are probably best known at the moment for their massive Lloyds TSB campaign, the staccato-hummed music of which has been driving the nation mildly insane (they look very pretty though). Other projects include Philip Hunt's spectacularly successful adaptation of Oliver Jeffers's "Lost and Found".Grant's new film "A Morning Stroll" seems destined to fit in with their impressive body of work and is already kicking the festival circuit's ass; in less than a month out there it's picked up awards at nearly every festival it's been screened at. Nice feller too, so give it a read and check out the film when it plays near you:
Studio AKA's Grant Orchard on "A Morning Stroll"

As well as everyone who took the time to be interviewed, special thanks to Ashley Boddy and JP Vine for their help with the "Spiffing" piece, as well as Ren Pesci from Studio AKA who, as well as helping setup the interview, has the greatest name in existence.

Montag

I'm headed back to the UK this evening after a spectacular weekend away. The festival really was a treat and my only regret is that I wasn't able to get to Stuttgart sooner. In all candour, a lot of festivals tend to throw in a hefty percentage of films that really are mediocre at best and leave you scratching your head. Stuttgart however seemed to really keep the quality level of the chosen films very consistent. I'm very inspired but also very humbled and a little intimidated. The bar is friggin' high these days.
Here are some more films that I got a kick out of (look at me with my hip turns of phrase, Christ almighty...):

Others I couldn't find clips for include Matray's "Babioles", Alexandra Hetmerova's "Swimming Pool", Ruth Lingford's "Little Deaths", Peter Baynton's "Save Our Bacon", Magnus Carlsson's "Hon & Han" and Joost Lieuwma's "Things You'd Better Not Mix Up" nearly gave me a hernia.

I also saw "Tangled", which made me feel old. The Disney princesses have now officially stopped infuriating me for being girly and irritating (as when I was a young'un) and instead now infuriate me for being sort of unattainably bangable.

Don't judge me, one of the main plot points is that she's eighteen...

To a certain extent I sort of wanted to have a crack at the guy too.

Damn lovable rogue with a heart o'gold he was...

But as always they threw in enough funny stuff to keep it watchable for a disenchanted old prick like me; the horse did kinda kick ass although he did seem a little borrowed from Ren & Stimpy's Mr. Horse at times.The awards ceremony was last night, I didn't understand a word of it as I don't speak more than seven words of German. Given that the rest of the festival seemed to be predominantly English that was a little odd. They said at one point that we'd all been offered headphones with translations piped through. I don't know if that was a joke or not, but we definitely weren't. Regardless, a lot of great films that deserved to win actually won, which again is kind of a rarity in the festival world. The list of winners can be found here.

Now to see how many bread and sausage-based foodstuffs I can cram into my suitcase without going over the baggage weight limit. Tschüss!