Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition 2021

The Young Cartoonists of the Year Competition is back. 

Hosted by the Cartoon Museum, now re-opened after its long Covid-19-slumber, the annual competition seeks to reward rising cartoon talent. 

Judges include leading cartoonists such as Martin Rowson (The Guardian), Christian Adams (Evening Standard), Banx (FT), Peter Brookes (The Times), Nick Newman (Private Eye), and Matt from the Daily Telegraph. 

There are two categories: Under 18 and Under 30; the deadline is 5 January 2022, and entries can be mailed in (old school Royal Mail) to the Cartoon Museum, or emailed to hello@cartoonmuseum.org.

Laughter Lab Opens at the Cartoon Museum

Last night was the opening of a new exhibition at London's Cartoon Museum, titled Laughter Lab: What’s So Funny?, which seeks to "uncover the science behind funniness".  

The exhibition invites visitors to contribute to a science experiment which hopes to find out what makes a cartoon funny. 

The experiment is being conducted in collaboration with Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Psychology at the University of Oxford. What makes us laugh? It's a complex question, with some surprising science behind it. 

Meet "Mr Buttons"

Mr Buttons

Meet Mr Buttons, the cartoon cat created by veteran animator and rigger Keith Osborn, who has made his cute orange cat available for free download.

Mr Buttons is a fun, quirky rig, suitable for broad cartoony character animation.  Mr Buttons is the star of Osborn's book "Cartoony Character Animation with Maya", which we recommend for all our students.

We also have a series of tutorials with Mr Buttons (see below) on how to plan cartoony animation.

Sesame Street Sounds Archive

For animators looking for inspiration for some cartoony animation with dialogue, one great place to search is the Sesame Street Sound Archive, which you can find here. 

The Sesame Street Sound Archive is full of cartoony audio clips, which work well with cartoony characters such as Mr Buttons and also the Willy rig.  

To get started, try picking a very short line of dialogue, download it and then drag and drop it into your timeline in Maya. To see more about how to use audio files in Maya, follow this link.  To see more about how to use the "Willy" rig, see this blog post.

Leopard Animation by Alex Southcombe

Animation Apprentice student Alex Southcombe did this excellent piece of animation above, as part of studying for his Online MA in Animation at Buckinghamshire New University, our academic degree-awarding partner.  The animation was completed as part of Module DA703 "Animals and Creatures", in which our MA students tackle the art and craft of animal and creature locomotion.  Alex used the Leopard Rig by Truong, available for free download at Gumroad, which we recommend for animal and creature animation. 

Why Animators Need a Good Silhouette

One of the most important things that an animator needs to get right is to learn how to create great poses. Part of this is learning how to create a great silhouette, one that reads clearly. 

The image on the left is taken from Eric Goldberg's book "Character Animation Crash Course", a copy of which we have in the library, one of the best books on character animation.

Eric shows how a single pose can get an instant "read" from the audience. Even though the images are shown blacked out in silhouette, we still know exactly what the character is thinking and doing.

Always make sure your poses, whether drawn or digital, communicate exactly what the character is thinking, feeling and doing. 

Early Bird by Dan Fitzgerald Wins Multiple Prizes

Earlybird from Noad Animation on Vimeo.

Congratulations to Animation Apprentice graduate Dan Fitzgerald who has been experiencing festival success with his short film "Early Bird" (above).  So far Early Bird has received awards from the Berlin Flash Festival, The Halicarnassus Film Festival, The Vesuvius Film Festival, The Art Film Awards and the Onyko Film Awards, as well as Honourable Mentions at the London and Tokyo International Monthly Festivals.

BAA Awards Ident Challenge 2022

BAA - British Animation Awards

The BAA Awards are back next year, celebrating the best of British Animation. 

This year the BAAs have offered our students a unique opportunity - the chance to animate a "sting/ident" for the Awards Ceremony.

This brief is a perfect opportunity to help out one of the UK's biggest animation festivals with some fun animation.

Float Folks Wins Best Trailer at Halicarnassus

Float Folks wins Best Trailer at Halicarnassus

Congratulations to the makers of "The Float Folks", the short teaser/trailer made through our animators' co-operative Nano Films, which has won "Best Trailer" at the Halicarnassus Film Festival. 

The Float Folks is a TV Series created by Ian Foyle and directed by Monika Dzikowicz, currently in development.