Fierce Creatures

In the ninetieth episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast it's a delight to welcome back previous podcast guest Chris Butler, speaking with Laura-Beth about Missing Link, his latest stop-motion feature with LAIKA.
Chris’s previous work includes his directorial debut ParaNorman (for which he also wrote the original screenplay) as well as his roles as Head of Story/co-writer on Kubo and the Two Strings and story supervisor on Coraline. His prior experience includes design and storyboard roles on a number of high profile projects including Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
This episode also features a recent chat I had with Justin K. Thompson, production designer on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. An Emmy Award–winning artist with over twenty years of experience in television including Star Wars: Clone Wars and feature films such as the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs series, Justin has worked for a variety of entertainment industry powerhouses including Disney, DreamWorks, Lucasfilm, Paramount, Sony, Cartoon Network, the Jim Henson Company and Warner Bros. Click here for more info and to find out how to be in with a chance to win a copy of the film on Bluray.
Also in this episode Steve and I natter about early trailers for Toy Story 4 and Farmageddon: A Shaun the Sheep Movie as well as recent animated series aimed at adults including Love Death + Robots and The Shivering Truth.
As always y'all can direct download, subscribe or stream below:

That Gaston really was a dreamboat

In episode 69 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome back Graham Annable, Oscar-nominated co-director of LAIKA's 2014 feature The Boxtrolls. As well as his involvement with LAIKA Studios, Graham is also the creator of the comic/animation series Grickle, sustained through Patreon. His prior work includes stints at Telltale Games, LucasArts, Nickelodeon and Disney.
Also discussed in this episode: Oscar wins, Beauty and the Beast quasi-controversy, the pleasantly surprising look of the Duck Tales reboot, shows best left forgotten, the cancellation of Tim Minchin’s Larrikins and LAIKA CEO Travis Knight’s surprising new career direction.
Listen to it, gosh darn you:
You may remember a couple years back we interviewed Luc Chamberland about a rather spiffing NFB documentary he made about Canadian cartoon artist Seth. You don't? FFS. Fine, here it is again then:

Anyhoo, it's now out on DVD with some extra bells and whistles. It's a great package, have a read of my full review here and keep your eyes open for it.
If that's put you in the consuming mood here's a spiffy deal to brighten up your impending weekend - from now until the end of March you can nab a copy of my book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films with a big chunky 20% knocked off the list price!

Just order direct from CRC Press and enter coupon code CWR04 at checkout. Free shipping to boot!
'Cause I loves ya so much, thass'why.

String Theory

The indefatigable Skwigly Animation Podcast is creeping up to its sixtieth episode, and I'm stoked that in our latest we welcome back LAIKA President and CEO Travis Knight, talking about his directorial debut Kubo and the Two Strings. Granted it's only a slightly longer version of the video interview I posted earlier in the month, but frankly I'm shouting from the rooftops about this film as much as I possibly can.
Also in this episode Steve and I mull over why the film doesn't appear to have gotten as many bums on seats as it should have as well as the various approaches a film's marketing campaign can take, in particular comparing the approaches of Disney's Moana and Dreamworks' Trolls. I also unearth a buried memory of an old animation I've never been able to track down for decades, so give it a listen (or a direct download for later) and see if you can help me out.
Some more animationey goodness to look forward to is the newly-launched programme for the second Manchester Animation Festival. As with its inaugural edition I'll be helping out here and there for a few of the events but here's an overall preview of their programme as broadcast live from their Facebook page earlier this evening:

Before then it's the Encounters festival here in Bristol this week. This year as part of Skwigly's media partnership with the event I'm doing a series of post-screening Q&A sessions that will start going up tomorrow. If you're in town be sure to swing by Waterside 1 at The Watershed immediately after each competition screening, roughly 1:30pm and 7:30pm each day until the end of the week.

Aardmania

This past Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based industry powerhouse that gave the world Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Creature Comforts and Chicken Run, and that's just barely scratching the surface.
Our team at Skwigly have been paying tribute to the event by writing up some of their own perspectives and personal high-points. Laura-Beth rounds up the studio's own celebratory endeavours as well as picking her top ten shorts; Steve looks back at their various TV series; Wez Allard explores their back catalogue of inventive commercials; Rachel Crook recalls the construction of the Wallace and Gromit theme park ride and Marc Hendry gives some love to the studio's feature films.

For this week's podcast we obviously wanted to pay similar respects, so on top of some fond remembrances of Raymond Briggs (and some overdue Sausage Party bashing) Steve and I wax nostalgic about all things Aardman, digging out interviews with the three studio heads Peter Lord, David Sproxton and, making his Skwigly Animation Podcast debut, Wallace and Gromit creator himself Nick Park! Cracking stuff. Give it a stream or a download, whichever puts more cheese on your cracker.
Also up on the site, Laura-Beth has a nice write-up of the recent Animation Super Grill event whose line-up I was a part of. I also have an interview with Regular Show alum Sean Szeles whose own animated miniseries Long Live the Royals has been showing on Cartoon Network UK this week. Meanwhile I've been pinging all over the place and, midst my travels, got to catch an advance screening of LAIKA's jaw-dropping new film Kubo and the Two Strings as well as meet its director Travis Knight. You can have a watch of our chat in the newest episode of Lightbox below:

Travis previously appeared on Skwigly while promoting The Boxtrolls but this was my first time meeting him. A truly impressive bunch, that LAIKA lot, so I implore you all to see this one in cinemas, you'll be glad you did.

Babble On

This first Skwigly podcast of 2015 is up today!
Be sure to stream, download or subscribe to never risk being out of the loop and, rightly, shunned by your betters.
In this episode we have Julia Young's extended chat with Disney veteran and Duet director Glen Keane; Steve Cav and earnest protégé Fiona Stuart-Clark grill the directors of the Oscar-nominated The Boxtrolls (out to buy next week) Graham Annable and Anthony Stacchi; and I dig out my interview with Torill Kove of the NFB on her latest short Me and My Moulton, which is also amongst the Oscar nominees. You can also watch a bit of said interview and get a glimpse of the film itself in one of my Lightbox docs from last year:

 

Elsewhere Steve and myself keep it real whilst recalling such technological game-changers as the Game Boy Printer. Mmmboy, that's good listenin'!

Trolling

This Friday The Boxtrolls, the latest film from LAIKA will be released in cinemas in the UK. With all of us at Skwigly being massive fans of the visual style of Coraline and ParaNorman, this one's pretty hotly anticipated and we managed to bag some nice coverage in the lead-up to release.

Up now we have the latest episode of Lightbox which features an exclusive interview with LAIKA President and CEO Travis Knight, a pretty huge get and a major player in the uniquely fascinating story of how the studio came to be (detailed very well in this article from a couple months back). Also featured in this episode is actor Isaac Hempstead-Wright (from Game of Thrones, as the EPK informs me) who plays the film's main character Eggs. This one can't be embedded for use of film clips, though they were provided by the PR company for press purposes so I'm not sure what the dilly-oh is, there. At any rate if you're in the UK you can give it a watch by clicking below:

 Many thanks to Tom Sanders for getting the interviews done. You can also have a read of Laura-Beth's review of the film from last week. It looks to be a good'un.

Laura-Beth is also helping out with a new project by armature specialists Animation Toolkit, in which they'll be putting the equipment they sell to professional use in their own short film Pooch Proposal. It's early days yet but we have it on good authority that some serious animation talent will be involved, so follow them on Twitter and Facebook as it'll be one to watch.

Lastly here's a quick chat with JG Quintel, a very nice fellow who gave us some time at this year's Annecy Festival to talk about his series Regular Show which airs on Comedy Central. It's a fun one so if it's passed you by thus far I'd recommend giving it a look if you get a chance.