Published between 1982 and 1995
No strings attached! Martin Cheek Puppet Animation has specialised in stop-frame puppet animation films since 1982. Martin Cheek is a puppet maker and animator who works on commercials while developing children’s programmes for television from his own and other ideas through a new company called “Cheeky Films”, reports David Jefferson. Martin Cheek has a studio … Read more
The Portland Bill scripts were storyboarded and then animated to a pre-recorded sound track. Martin explained this was not as restricting as it sounds because there were plenty of pauses in-between which could be varied in length to suit the action. “John was brilliant, if we had ideas we could ring him up and he’d … Read more
“We started doing models and animation for The Film Garage in 1987 and we have done almost all of their stop-frame model animation since. We did the dreaded Star Trekkin pop video with them, which we can’t say is one of our best things at all but it is one of those quirks of fate, … Read more
Martin’s puppet making commissions included a collection of Beatrix Potter animals to illustrate a Ladybird book. These were photographed against painted backgrounds. When he was making Jemima cat he studied real cats. “If you make a skeleton of the cat in wire based on the real thing, by the time you have foamed it and … Read more
Martin has a large box of oddments used in past productions. He picks out a model of the kind of iris found in a camera lens to demonstrate how replacement animation works. There are a number of models, each with the iris progressively more open. “Replacements are a brilliant method of working, it is very … Read more
Whilst cartoons do not influence Martin in the same way as puppets, they are a source of information. “I don’t get my inspiration from Roger Rabbit for instance. I have to go to see it because it’s my work. For me, the greatest animated film ever made is Pinocchio. It has been with me all … Read more
After having been assigned over the years to seven Roman Catholic parishes in Kansas City, Missouri, I was assigned one year ago to a church in St. Joseph, Missouri. Kansas City, as students of animation know, was the starting point for many animators, not the least of whom was Walt Disney. Following my interest in … Read more
“I had an old friend, Gregory LaCava. I had gone to art school with Greg. He had moved to New York and was working for the Hearst organization. Hearst was crazy about comic drawings. He had his newspapers filled with them. Somehow, LaCava, still in his 20s, convinced Hearst that he was the best animator … Read more
“I also very much admired Marc Davis. He did fine work on Snow White, and was probably the best craftsman in the studio.” After several years with Disney, where he worked on a number of short subjects, Natwick was recruited once again by the Fleischer brothers. For financial reasons, they had moved their studio to … Read more
Animation is being used in a number of ways for diverse reasons: as a therapy, a teaching medium, a hobby, for entertainment, at seminars, in workshops, and in advertising studios. Then there are the Amiga computer owners who are being told by Commodore that such things are available to them. The influence of animation is … Read more
Age no barrier. Animation is now in the hands of children, Stan Heyward tells Ken Clark. Stan Hayward’s original ambition was to become a chemist but when he received his call-up papers to do National Service he had to shelve the idea. He chose to join the Merchant Navy but when they arrived in Australia … Read more
“Using Delux Paint 3 software, colouring is a simple operation with the additional advantage of electronic manipulations. With Lux I can merge animations with live action video, and so many other tricks – a truly multi- media work station. I would like to see many more systems installed in classrooms with a wide variety of … Read more
Three lads most likely to succeed in the field of cartoon art have all appeared in Rolf’s Cartoon Club TV programmes and seem set on careers in the profession. By Ken Clark. In alphabetical order: thirteen year old Christopher Blackwell, who had an exhibition of his artwork displayed in the foyer of Wycombe 6 cinema … Read more
“Ashley Egan and I have something in common,” observed Rolf Harris, “We have both drawn for as long as we can remember.” Before his debut on the Cartoon Club, Ashley had a cartoon strip titled The Little Horrors published regularly in his local paper The Trader. This came about because he won a competition by … Read more
Every week our children are encouraged by Rolf Harris to “join today”, and to date over 90,000 have enthusiastically accepted the invitation, reports Ken Clark. The membership of Roll’s Cartoon Club is growing rapidly and much of its popularity is due to the efforts of the talented and open-minded team responsible for its format and … Read more
Often, parents of sick children will write asking for a special letter of good cheer; while other writers merely want Rolfs autograph. Many letters touch the team’s hearts such as this one from the mother of a handicapped child: “I’d like to say how much Sarah likes your cartoon programme. She is profoundly deaf but … Read more
“As a further encouragement in this series and to involve our audience at home we have organised an Original Character Design Competition. In the last programme the workshoppers animations were edited into one short film by Wendy Keay Bright.” “The cartoons we show are primarily for children,” added Martin Lamb, “therefore it is only fair … Read more
We are seeing films from Russia, Czechoslovakia and animation from countries where it is encouraged and subsidized by the State for the entertainment of adults. In this country we tend to think of animation as being something for the kids, perhaps looked at surreptitiously by adults who feel they should not be looking. But in … Read more
I was standing awkwardly in my little cockpit leaning across because I could not get any closer, drawing off the surface of the screen. I suffered febricities in my left shoulder you wouldn’t believe. Our producer Doug Wilcox stayed behind too, and painted the backs of all the cels so that the detail reflected in … Read more
Animator. Spring 1990. Issue number 26. Front cover illustration: Scene from All Dogs go to Heaven, the latest USA release from Sullivan Bluth. See page 32.
Roald Dahl’s best-selling children’s novel, The BFG has been made into a 90-minute animated film to be transmitted on the ITV Network this Christmas. Cosgrove Hall Productions – the Manchester- based subsidiary of Thames Television, have produced the film, which cost three million pounds. David Jason features as the voice of The BEG (the Big … Read more
By David Jefferson The biennial International Animation Festival Bristol took place in November 1989. It is the second time the Festival has been held in Bristol and this year’s event was the best yet in terms of attendance and interesting events. The theme of the festival was ‘Tricks of the Trade’. This central theme was … Read more
A stand representing ASIFA and also John Halas’s video collection of ‘Animation Classics’ was manned by Pat Webb. Pat managed to see a few films in between her stint on the stand and spoke enthusiastically about a programme entitled ‘The UK Corral’: “An excellent batch of new British films in contrasting styles: Richard Ollive’s lyrical … Read more
Since Channel 4 started seven years ago it has funded many outstanding animated films from the popular Snowman to the work of independents such as The Quays and Leeds Animation Workshop. The Bristol Animation Festival held a seminar to look at some of the problems associated with programming short animation films within schedules geared to … Read more
Please write in, don’t phone, because there are so many proposals coming in that if one spoke to everyone on the phone one would never have the time to actually think about them. I would like to see a fullish outline and some idea of what the film is going to look like. If you … Read more
Set against the skylines, streets and subways of modern day New York City, Walt Disney Pictures 27th full-length animated feature, Oliver & Company is a contemporary re-telling of Dickens’ classic story. Oliver follows the misadventures of an orphaned kitten (Oliver) who is taken in by a pack of pickpocket dogs, headed by Dodger, the coolest … Read more
Perhaps the biggest help to the animators in rendering authentic animal movements was the steady parade of dogs that were brought to the studio each week for scrutiny. Dogs of every shape and size were recruited and given free run of the Glendale animation facility as animators feverishly filled up pads with rough sketches and … Read more
In terms of complexity, the most difficult object created for the film was Fagin’s trike, an odd-looking motorized vehicle which is composed of 18 separate moving parts. With each part subject to 15 different motion controls, the animators were able to give the trike a personality of its own even though it was generated on … Read more
He reveals his methods Interview by David Jefferson Bernie Kay has written scripts for a number of children’s animated TV series, including Bananaman, Telebugs, and The Pondles. He came over from America quite a few years ago and got a lob in an advertising agency. That is where he got his training as a writer, … Read more
DJ: I suppose that because a line can change its meaning depending on how it is delivered, you have to make sure the artist understands your intention. BK: Yes, but you have to be flexible as well. Sometimes you’ve written a line, recited it aloud – on your own, of course -and you know how … Read more
There are different ways of achieving this and I think some of it is done on a subconscious level. I mean that maybe as a writer, you translate some of your own inadequacies or characteristics and some people see this as a mirror image of themselves. I think that part of the appeal of Bananaman … Read more
A man with wisdom and experience to guide him By Ken Clark Abroad he is wined, dined and feted. Japan is one of his greatest admirers, with Albania and Bulgaria close followers. In America he excites great respect and where in recent times they have acted as host to his exhibition ‘Art & Animation’. A … Read more
He no longer runs a large studio, although his present offices are quite spacious by any standard. He is now the complete designer, steering projects dear to his heart through the various stages, to the point where he can call on other experts to produce the surplus artwork and attend to the mechanical functions. He … Read more
Films made during the war years helped sharpen the intellect. In order to explain, to educate or to inform it was necessary to acquire in the short term a degree of knowledgeable expertise concerning the subject on the drawing board. From naval manoeuvres, fighting fires, growing your own vegetables, war on waste, post-war explanations re. … Read more
This project is the commencement of a life-long ambition for John Halas, and he is to be congratulated on the successful integration of conventional animation, diagrammatic stylisation, and computer generated visuals. My only criticism is of the scriptwriters. Faced with the monumental task of presenting a large part of the Bible in just half-an-hour while … Read more
The Secret of BLUTH Don Bluth talks with Brian Sibley. DON BLUTH: My personal history of animation goes back a long way. I saw my first animated film when I was four. It created a feeling in me I didn’t understand, I just knew I loved it and I wanted to be part of something … Read more
BS: So that is why on the 13th September 1979 you, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy left the Disney studio and the following day were joined by eleven more animators. The mood at Disney must have been catastrophic. DB: The day the three of us left, which incidentally was my birthday, they called us in … Read more
So the Tail goes on By Stephen Dunne The Sullivan Bluth Studio came to Ireland initially in 1985 and put the finishing touches to the cel painting of An American Tail. In November 1986 they set up permanently in Dublin, and have since made The Land Before Time and All Dogs Go To Heaven, both … Read more
The editorial department itself is equipped with multiple viewing and editorial facilities, including a two-channel Steinbeck, two preview (large screen) Moviolas and standard Moviola equipment. Additional services provided by the editorial department include ‘Close-up reading’ of narration for animation purposes, sound effects and music editing. The studio projection facilities consist of two air conditioned projection … Read more
The job of keeping a look-out for errors goes to the ‘Music Room’. This name stems from the early days of the Walt Disney studio when music was played here, more than likely to soothe the frayed nerves of the people working in this department. Other tasks of the Music Room personnel include supervising all … Read more