Animation Nation

Now that 2011 is coming to a close, let's take a retrospective look at all that transpired in this momentous year through the eyes of the JibJab crew.

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Five years in the making and only 1 Week to go for the online release of "Devils, Angels & Dating". Directed by animation veteran Michael Cawood, the computer animated short is the work of a worldwide team of Artists and Animators. Developed entirely online, it's become a fantastic learning tool and a source of inspiration for students and professionals alike. You're invited by the DA&D team to follow the film on Facebook. Here's a look at the trailer.

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While exploring on YouTube, I discovered this commercial as it ran prior to a video. A clever reworking of the Blue Sky characters from the animated feature film "Rio" as they do their thing in a spot for Kia's Rio. Posted by KiaMotorsAmerica earlier this month. 

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Mad Artist Publishing is a not for profit company that promotes global creative talent and assists artists in employment opportunities. They create books and magazines with lots of rich content involving artwork, animated shorts, employer and resource directories and creative workshops. They sell and distribute via the Web and several channels across the world. Among them are Sketchozine.com and  Sketchoholic.com.

In the last few weeks, they asked their 12 000+ members to send in and vote on their favorite creative resources for inspiration, education and entertainment. I’m pleased to learn that AnimationNation was listed by a majority of their members and as such they’ve added our URL as a resource into the Sketchozine.com sets of books both online and printed versions. They've also added it within their digital version of resources on Sketchoholic.com.

To learn more about Mad Artist Publishing and everything they have to offer, including the innovative methods they use to distribute content, check out this video and visit the topic on the AN Forums. 

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This is the thirteenth Christmas that I've been able to share with our friends and colleagues here on AnimationNation and I am very grateful for the opportunity for another Holiday Season with the great folks that make up our community.

As I've done on Christmas Eve for the past several years, good fortune had me participating in the decoration of St. Charles Barromeo Church on Lankershim Blvd. and Moorpark Rd. in North Hollywood, California. The great benefactor of this beautiful house of worship was none other than Bob Hope and his wife, Delores Hope. They funded the building of the church. It was completed in 1959. On the drive back to Burbank, I passed by Bob Hope's house. He didn't live far from St. Charles Church. I pulled over and got a shot of the nativity scene the estate sets up at one of the gates to the property. Bob and Delores Hope did this every year, and the tradition continues even though they've both passed on. Here's how it looked this Christmas Eve.

There's more to see, including the interior of St. Charles all spruced up for the Holiday and special videos to enjoy at the AN Christmas celebration on the AN Forums.

To people everywhere, we wish you Peace, Prosperity, Creativity and all good things in life. Thank you for following AnimationNation.

If you grew up in the Chicagoland area during the golden age of kids TV on WGN Channel 9, Christmastime didn't officially start until three films were broadcast on the Garfield Goose Show with the stop-motion animated "Hardrock, Coco and Joe" leading the way, followed by "Suzy Snowflake" and UPA's "Frosty the Snowman". Both Hardrock and Suzy Snowflake were produced by Centaur Productions in 1951 and became venerable Holiday classics along with Frosty, and a big part of the Christmas experience for millions of kids.

Here's good ol' Hardrock, Coco and Joe for you to enjoy. To see Suzy Snowflake and the swinging Frosty cartoon, along with several other memorable videos of the season, follow this link.

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Thanks to long time ANer Greg Boone for bringing this important topic to the Forums.

Crowdfunding is a real benefit to artists who petition fans and friends to donate money to get their projects off the ground or completed. In an effort to expand the virtues of crowdfunding to entrepreneurs who can really use this system to drive economic growth, a bill has been introduced in the US Congress that will help give more individuals and groups the opportunity raise venture capital through crowdfunding by allowing equity participation in their endeavor. The legislation is sponsored by Congressman Patrick McHenry of North Carolina. It's called The Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act (H.R.2930) and is being supported by small business people everywhere. Here's the Forum topic where you'll find a series of links I'm posting that  lead to cowdfunding websites that can help you raise funds for your own projects. Check out the video that explains in more detail what this is about.

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Last night as the sun went down, the first night of Hanukkah was observed. Since AN first went online we've nearly 13 years ago we've never missed the chance to wish all our friends who observe the Holiday, peace, prosperity, health and happiness. To celebrate, we have Sesame Street's Veronica Monica to thank for an animated explanation of what Hanukkah is all about. For videos celebrating the Festival of Lights visit the Forum topic.

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A new member on the AN Forums, spencerzc brought this great little film to our attention. I'm not sure who did what on "The Last Train" as there seems to be several players involved, but here's what I can put together. It's from The Animation Hub which participated in a joint-venture between the Irish School of Animation at Ballyfermot Community College of Further Education (BCFE)and Trinity College Dublin’s Graphics, Vision and Visualisation Group (GV2) and the recently established animation studio Giant Creative, which will be launching  their full website in early 2012.

The Last Train is part of a new scheme set up by BCFE and Trinity College to promote working relationships between BCFE’s animation students and TCD’s computer science students.

However it goes, I'm sure you'll enjoy this clever animated film. Congrats to all on an excellent job.

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The Kubert School is renowned for training artists for the comic book industry as well as for animation. It was founded by comic book great Joe Kubert 35 years ago. They've just come out with a promotional video that gives us a closer look at the school.

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