On a beautiful summer day here in NYC I visited MoMA to talk to curator Ron Magliozzi about his upcoming exhibit: It’s Alive! A Century of Animation from the Collection. It was nice to learn that board members Candy Kugel and J.J. Sedelmaier are involved in the organizing of this epic exhibit, as is Robby…
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Four Animators on Vulnerability, Catharsis, and Reinventing the Form by Robby Gilbert It’s easy to fall into creative fatigue when thinking about the state of animation today. Jobs are scarce, AI looms large, and the broader cultural climate hardly encourages optimism. But this month, four animators offer a counterpoint. In conversations with Mulan Fu, Pilar…
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For the past couple of years our board has been really working hard to get the organization back to providing our members with the events and opportunities that we’ve had in the past. From restarting the aNYmator, to free figure drawing sessions, a renewed International Animation Day celebration, documenting our history online, connecting to our…
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Interview with the author of New York Animation 1966–1999: A City in MotionInterview with J.J. Sedelmaier It’s hard to state the importance of Robby’s book to our community and, luckily, JJ sat down for coffee and animation talk to find out how it began and some of the inside stories that happened along the way.…
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There are giants who walk amongst us here in the northeast animation community and it is my pleasure to share this interview with the irreplaceable John Canemaker with you.. -Douglas Vitarelli John Canemaker is an internationally-renowned animation historian and teacher. A key figure in American independent animation, Canemaker’s work has a distinctive personal style emphasizing…
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You never know what you’ll see when you go to Whitney for free on Friday night. The first was a model we hired for one of our figure drawing sessions at Hornet. The next was the animation of Marina Zurkow. She had 2 installations inside and one outside. Being charmed and intrigued by her work…
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A lot of artists are exploring AI and posting their results all over social media but very few are creating complete pieces. I’ve been following longtime NYC Creative Director’s (https://www.kingboss.tv/) posts on LinkedIn about the progress of his all-AI animated short, The Moon’s Tooth. Being a fan of his work since we worked together at…
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Interview with Douglas Vitarelli Mark Stansberry, the owner of Screen Arts Institute, has been producing traditional 2d animation for over 25 years and has worked on everything from network animated series to television commercials to music videos. He has also pitched his own show ideas face to face with major network execs several times. But…
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By Robby Gilbert Published by Palgrave MacMillan. 366 pages Book ReviewBy Douglas Vitarelli Like many animators, I have a decent collection of books on animation, cartoons and graphic novels. Like many animators, my top two books are Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life and The Animator’s Survival Kit. If you’re reading this, you know who…
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Interview with J.J. Sedelmaier Aaron Augenblick is an animator, writer, director, and founder of Augenblick Studios in Brooklyn, NY. Since opening in 1999, his studio has been influential in popularizing the adult animation genre by producing shows like Ugly Americans, Superjail!, Wonder Showzen, and The Jellies. Alongside his commercial work, his award-winning independent short films…
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