aimeekitty

NOTE: I found some more of my 09 sketchbooks while cleaning, so I have a few more! See this post for details


( Barber of Seville thoughts, photos and info. )

After the Opera, we went to see Disney's The Princess Frog with Crisso and Derek. I'd heard it was charming,... but you know,... I'm a bit cynical with animation at this point, so I guess I wasn't expecting much. I was expecting things to be watered down. I was really pleasantly surprised. It was CHARMING with some amazing animation! GO SEE IT.


( Thoughts on the Princess and the Frog (no spoilers) )

NO CUT FOR YOU.
Mite bit stressed,... but mostly ready for battle!
I have some preview images from some of my friends, too, so please read this post!

(SIDENOTE: I'll be going to the Kanon performance tomorrow night 6:30 PM at Royal/T (see Kanon in this youtube vid SHE IS AWESOME.)


------Comic-con--------
I'll have this new sketchbook for sale (24 pages with 15+ new not-see-before drawings .... including several preview images from "Cosplay Ai" my next book due out this spring!) The new sketchbook is LIMITED TO 50 COPIES

---- and as always I'll have copies of Japan Ai and my previous sketchbooks for sale. If you buy something, I'll do a sketch for you!

IMPT. INFO
MY SDCC BOOTH IS G-9 (row 800...go towards the back of the convention center, right across the aisle from Missmonster). You can see my banner on the right here. :) I'll be at the convention for the entire time (including preview night), but due to the Doctor Who shenanigans on Sunday, you're unlikely to find me much at the booth on Sunday except a couple hours before dealers' room close. Other than Sunday, if you come by and I'm away from the booth, my fellow booth mates can try to txt me to bring me back. I'll do my best. <3

I'll also have some artwork of Felicia in the Udon Darkstalkers Tribute Book which will be sold at SDCC booth 5112 and online.

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MORE AWESOMENESS YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT AT SDCC::::

MIYAZAKI/PIXAR/DISNEY:
FRIDAY: 12:45-2:15 Animation Panel — Walt Disney Pictures, Disney•Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios present a director panel with previously unseen footage from its upcoming animated slate, including Toy Story & Toy Story 2 – Double Feature, Beauty And The Beast, Toy Story 3, Prep & Landing, The Princess and the Frog and Ponyo. Special guests include Lee Unkrich, Kirk Wise, Ron Clements, John Musker, and Hayao Miyazaki. John Lasseter hosts the panel, with Patton Oswalt moderating. Hall H
(For more ANIMATION goodness, please see the bottom of this post for stuff from Eric Goldberg.)

FUTURAMA:: will be having a panel on SATURDAY 1 pm Ballroom 20 (with the Simpsons immediately following) (I'll be working on the new Futurama as an Assistant Director! I probably will not be attending the panel as I'll need to be manning my booth, but go check it out and support the show! Crystal or Derek may go (also D, A.D. on Futurama))

TORCHWOOD/DOCTOR WHO:: SATURDAY 7:30-10:00pm Key talent from introduce the last episode of the five part series Torchwood: Children of Earth and an advance viewing of Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead, the first of four specials starring David Tennant. Room 6A

SUNDAY: 10:00-11:00am Doctor Who: actor David Tennant, writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, director Euros Lyn and executive producer Julie Gardner discuss their creative process and experiences working on BBC AMERICA's Doctor Who with exclusive clips and a Q&A session. Ballroom 20

Immediately following the panel, Tony Lee (IDW Doctor Who comics) will be having a signing (SUNDAY 11.30-12.30) at the IDW booth #1705

SUNDAY 2:15-3:45pm Being Human/Torchwood: Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and cast members Russell Tovey, Lenora Crichlow and Aidan Turner, are on stage to give an inside look at BBC AMERICA's U.S. premiere sci-fi drama about the lives of three twenty-somethings and their secret double-lives – as a werewolf, a vampire and a ghost. Following that actor John Barrowman, creator/writer/executive producer Russell T Davies, executive producer Julie Gardner and director Euros Lyn talk about the making of the epic five-night television event Torchwood: Children of Earth as well as take questions from the fans. Room 6BCF

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Also at my booth (G-9) my friends Derek and Crystal will have new stuff this year!
Crystal has a new exclusive DEVILED stuffed Haminal! And she'll also have regular Haminal and Musubis.
Derek has a new Marishi10 book out this year, too! What can I tell you, it's a female ninja comic drawn by a real ninja.


I heard Eric Goldberg (master animator of the Genie and Fantasia 2000's Rhapsody in Blue, etc...) was going to be doing a lot of stuff this year at SDCC and asked if he'd give us some details::

"Thought I would pass along a pre-San Diego Comic Con plug for my various attempts to become the world’s most hard-to-avoid animator. First, I will be part of the panel discussion, hosted by the illustrious Don Hahn and sponsored by AnimationMentor.com, celebrating the teachings and years of inspiration to Disney artists by Walt Stanchfield, whose class handout sheets are now lovingly compiled into a two-volume tome, Drawn to Life: 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes. Alongside me on the dais: Glen Keane, Tom Sito, and Ruben Procopio.
Thursday, July 23, Room 32 AB, 3:00 – 4:00 PM (Note the time change from previously published posts)

Then, my new collection of sketchbook cartoons, Enjoy It While You Can, Kid, is debuting at the Con, courtesy of Stuart Ng, who also happens to be the publisher. (What a coincidence!) I will be shamelessly signing and plugging it, as well as copies of Character Animation Crash Course!, at these times and locations, all a hair’s breadth away from Stuart Ng Books at Booth 5012:
Thursday, July 23, 4:30 – 6:30 PM, Booth 5022, hosted by Creative Talent Network
Saturday, July 25, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM, Booth 5022, hosted by Creative Talent Network
Sunday, July 26, 12:00 – 2:00 PM, Booth 5019, hosted by Flesk Publications

Thanking you for your kind indulgence,
Eric"

Pink Panther 2 OPENING CREDITS (click on "play movie" to see it run).

Roger Ebert said: "I was smiling all the way through the opening credits of The Pink Panther 2. They made me miss the golden age of credits."

Some of the parts I animated on:

Brad Bird's interview Re: Ollie's passing
FPS' tribute to Ollie.

ANIMATED SHORTS
I borrowed dvds of the oscar-nominated short animated films and sat down and watched those, plus some old personal favorite shorts, and whatever interesting ones I could find on youtube.

Peter and the Wolf... (one of the oscar films this year) again visually stunning. I really liked the personalities of the duck and the bird in it... but I really want to see something more exuberant right now.

Madame Tutli Putli (another one of the oscar nominated films this year) was stunning and definitely provoking. But it hurt my heart due to recent events... I actually couldn't watch parts of it. All the same, I drew a quickie of madame while watching it:


There's much beauty and many really fascinating ideas in nominated films... but I don't see many that have really that give me that warm feeling I like. So many of them are so serious or so dark. I'd like to see more films that are uplifting and have more traditional animation. Many uplifting or funny films don't have the style of animation that I like. It's rare to find one that has everything I like... but here's some examples
two of my all-time favorite shorts:
Eric Goldberg's Rhapsody in Blue
and Miyazaki's On Your Mark

Another film I've always adored is Labyrinth (from the "Neo Tokyo" dvd release) This is the kind of exuberant animation I love. It's a darker story, but I never get bored of watching these characters move.
..... if you are aware of more films in this vein, please let me know. It's hard to find really neat short films. I'm tempted to ask a few of my friends for Calarts Producer's show favorites, there's always a couple interesting ones in there. The trouble is going through all the not so great ones to get to the few gems. You come out feeling ragged after watching so many different films.

I'm going to go watch some more films now and do some drawings.


I will leave you with some uplifting films... with the hope that you will send me some.
Wake Up Cat
and Mitten: