Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:39:57 — 91.5MB) | Embed

Welcome to Man vs. Art! I’m so happy to share with you part 2 of my killer interview with the Great Don Bluth!

Skipper Don Bluth doing what Don Bluth does best!

Hola Minions!

In part 2 of the interview, we get into the nitty gritty of 2D traditional animation. Don talks about the times he got to watch the Great Milt Kahl animate. For those that don’t know Milt was arguably the best of the best. His technique and style have been emulated but never equaled! The funny thing is that according to Don, Milt couldn’t explain to people how he animated. He could only show them.

From "An American Tail" Fievel marching.

Don also mentioned how Frank Thomas explained to him how to show weight in your characters when animating!  Light characters have more drawings in the up positions than the down positions. Light characters such as a mouse don’t have to fight with gravity as much as say a Hippo!  As we all know Hippos are Heavy characters and  are burdened by gravity. So they have less drawings at the top of movements and more drawings on the down part of a movement.

Simple huh?

Don reveals that during the production Dragon’s Lair they had no idea what they were doing!

Dragon's Lair and Space Ace arcade video game machines.

Dragon's Lair Screen Capture.

Don  suggests all animators should take some sort of acting class as well as know how to play a musical instrument. Knowing music will help animators with rhythm.

Don Bluth Dragon's Lair screen Cap. *Note the Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencil Don is wielding! I told you guys so!

In order to help improve your drawing, Don recommends listening to good music, reading classic literature, ignore critics, overcome your fears, and most of all like yourself! If you are happy and confident,  your drawings will reflect that!

Check out Don Bluth’s online animation course!

Web Comics Diva Onezumi Hartstein and Web Developer James Harknell.

For the second segment of the Podcast I had the pleasure of interviewing webcomic creator / illustrator Onezumi Hartstein and her partner in crime, web developer James Harknell.

Onezumi  (Oni for short) lives in New Jersey, loves Heavy Metal, and Disney World.  She writes and draws the web comic Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos.

Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos by Onezumi Hartstein

Oni is one of the most active contributors to and supporter of the webcomics scene:

- She posts art tutorials at Drawpocalypse and makes it a priority to help everyone that she can.
- Her development  team made the Web comics Central App Service. They give free custom iPhone apps to other webcomics.
- She founded an entire webcomics and New Media convention. Intervention is a convention for fans and creators of webcomics who want to learn, have fun, or just geek out.
- She posts random art, more tutorials, and awesomeness in her personal blog Onezumiverse

Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos couldn’t happen without James Harknell. He designed and manages all of Onezumi’s websites!

Intervention Con

September 10-12 2010 Hilton Washington DC/Rockville 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852

After years of attending conventions to promote her webcomic, artist Onezumi Hartstein and web developer James Harknell decided to put on their own – with a decidedly different focus. They noticed that while there were sci-fi conventions, comic book conventions, and anime conventions, there was no Internet Culture convention.

James and Oni wanted to put together an event that would compliment the existing print-centric conventions.  They wanted to showcase the creators who use the Internet as their primary publishing method,  Oni said “I went to conventions for years to promote my webcomic, and was always treated well, but felt that web creators needed their own space. We’re giving them that with Intervention.”

Their goal is to bring together fans and different independent creators to party, educate, and appreciate the opportunities the Internet gives to all of us.  It is  similar to the Sci-Fi/Anime/Other fandom cons  but Intervention is focused on people who use the internet as the primary way to distribute their work.

Intervention is Your Online Life, In-Person!

How much of your day do you spend on the internet–looking at comics, watching videos, reading blogs, connecting with friends, tweeting, or just surfing?

At Intervention you can meet, talk with, learn from, and party with the people you see online everyday.