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Hola Minions!
On today’s podcast I have a nice long chat with Animation Great Tom Sito! He’s an artist, animator, director writer, teacher and historian! He has more cartoon knowledge and experience in one fingernail than any of us have collectively!
Tom Sito at the Smithsonian
Tom has been in the biz for a long time and is fun as hell! He’s seen and done it all and continues to be a totally awesome advocate of toons!
Tom was trained by some notable animation artists of Hollywood’s Golden Age as well as cartoonist legends like Harvey Kurtzman and Shamus Culhane. He has worked in almost all sides animation production- Feature films, television, titles, industrials and commercial advertising.
Tom was a regular at the Walt Disney Studio during it’s renaissance in the late 1980′s and 1990′s. He works in traditional pencil animation as well as 3D Maya and FLASH.
What a character!
Tom has taught animation at several major universities for over twenty years and has lectured, done seminars and judged festival competitions around the world. He has donated much time to non-profit projects to aid the cartooning/animation community and its workers as a whole, like ASIFA, the National Cartoonists Society, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts & Sciences and the Animation Guild.
Tom’s goals are to keep working on projects that interest him, keep writing and hopefully fulfill the pledge of his generation to ensure the legacy of quality personality animation is passed on from Classic Hollywood to future generations, and not lost due to corporate indifference and slipping standards.
Here is Tom Sito (center) with yours truly (left) when he went to lecture my class during the production of Beauty and the beast!
Holy crap this was twenty years ago! Suddenly I feel very old.
Tom Sito Rules!
You can check out Tom’s website here!
Check out Tom’s Book
click the pic to get your book!
| DRAWING THE LINE: The Untold Story of the Animation Unions from Bosko to Bart Simpson Author: Tom Sito Publisher: University Press of Kentucky ISBN: 0-8131-2407-7 |
As cartoons and animated features became an increasingly important part of the entertainment business, the production of cartoons industrialized to meet growing demands for the new global media. Artists adopted traditional union models to protect their jobs and working conditions, and a unique set of unions was born.
Drawing the Line is the first labor history of an industry whose principle figures–Walt Disney, Chuck Jones, and Max Fleischer–helped define American entertainment. Author Tom Sito, Disney animator and former president of the Hollywood Animation Guild, draws on oral histories, archival information, and firsthand knowledge of the animation process to create an insider’s history of a colorful set of labor unions.
Sito describes the history and fiery personalities behind the formation of the Screen Cartoonists Union, the strikes and walk-outs, the effects of Hollywood blacklisting, and the battles at the bargaining tables. He closes with a look at the changing nature of animation and the way in which current giants Disney and Dreamworks are again reshaping the relationship between studios and animators. Well illustrated with never-before-seen images from the backstage of classic Hollywood, Drawing the Line will change basic assumptions about animation history and its place in the story of American labor.
I hope you guys enjoy my visit with Mr. Tom Sito!
The 2010 San Gabriel Valley Comics Fest
Man I had a blast at this comics jamboree!
The Man at the MAn vs. Art Table!
The Lovely and Vivacious Hortencia rode shotgun on this job!
Occasionally brooding and Lovely and vivacious!
Hortencia and Graciella Rodriguez. BTW Graciella spearheaded this whole event! She did a knockout bad ass job! Way to go Gras!
Sherm Cohen and his wife Doris busting out the Sherm Swag big time!
The Sherminator!
Who would have thought the Lord of Darkness Geo Brawn IV would be engaged to someone named Nancy? What a great couple though eh?
His evil darkness and Nancy.
Javier Hernandez hooked me up with a Citizen Sanchez Doll! How @%#!!ing awesome is this?
Pretty damned awesome if you ask me!
Sanchez Doll by Javier. El Muerto mask by Hortencia.
I even went up and did a half hour seminar on drawing for cartoons! I actually filled up the seating area. Should have charged man!
Me talking about what else? Cartooning!
Jim Lujan Ghettomation Station!
Jim Lujan at the Ghettomation table.
The white grease board behind Jim is courtesy of me. Every couple of hours or so I changed the image to something stupider and stupider! I called it the evolving poster!
Check out two of the incarnations.
Steve Sievers from the hit animated web series Supa Pirate Booty Hunt was on site too! The guys in the white coats with the net were close behind!
Arrrrrr! Matey! Shiver me timbers!
A couple of my Artist pals decided the time was right to let me have it. With ink that is. And so they did.
Fist up Geo drew me up as a ZOMBIE!!! Niiiiiice!
Raul by Geo!
then Jim Lujan drew me up as his fantasy or something. I dunno. Am I that sexy?
In Jim Lujan's Dreams.
Finally Sherm sketched me while I was sketching.
I was Sherminated!
Looking at these pictures and drawings of myself I realize that I need a freakin’ haircut BIG TIME!
Ciao!
R
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 59:00 — 54.0MB) | Embed
Hola Minions! Welcome to another pencil pounding episode of Man vs. Art.
In today’s podcast I talked about the differences between drawing for Cartoons and drawing for Illustrations. I also offered up a few little exercises for you Minions to help prime your pump when your creative juices are dry. There’s nothing worse than having artist’s block!
Man Vs. Art Minion Jose Gonzalez has been cool enough to bust out his nomination for the Pantheon of Awesomeness!
The OG Mad Scientist Nikola Tesla!
Nikola Tesla by Jose Gonzalez
In his own words here’s why!
Pantheon of Awesomeness Nomination: Nikola Tesla
Croatian born, Nikola Tesla, is one of the unsung heroes of the last century. His name has been virtually buried by those who write history. You know who you are.
Big industry, and money interests had silenced his name, but Tesla will live in history as the man that brought electricity to the world. To Edison’s dismay, after taking Tesla for a “ride” (he didn’t pay up!), Tesla invented an efficient and affordable method to bring power to the households of the world. What we today call, AC (Alternating Current). He was the first to harness hydroelectric power. And get this! He invented radio before Marconi! We can thank him for “wireless” in all its forms! That TV remote control, that cell phone, that wi-fi, your electric shaver, pacemakers, car ignitions, microwave ovens, satellite TV, even that massage thingy in special catalogs and stores, for all these modern conveniences and more, we have Tesla to thank in one way or another.
His work spoke of solar power, wireless energy delivered by satellite, cars powered by antennas, and more. Many of his incredible discoveries and inventions did not see the light of day, but will probably be unveiled by others. Where are all those ideas? You may want to ask Edgar J. Hoover and his boys. It is said they dropped by his place to clean up right after he passed away.
Tesla was an honest man, with the best interests of humankind in mind. He even ripped up his contract with Westinghouse, the only big company that backed him up, when it fell on hard times. What a guy!
But sadly, fearing monetary loss from his triumphs, big companies blocked his progress at every turn. Ask J.P. Morgan. This is history, folks. You can find most of his story on the web. I’m sure his best ideas are still hidden in some archive, being secretly researched. Who knows how many of them have been secretly exploited he passed away.
He died in poverty, alone, and tortured by illness. I believe we owe him more than we can imagine. This is why I nominate Nikola Tesla to the Pantheon of Awesomeness. You may hear from him in the future. He said: “Let the future tell the truth and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs; the future, for which I really worked, is mine”
Keep your eyes open, folks!
Jose
Jose the Animator!
On a side note I just celebrated my 38th birthday on September the 5th and a couple of friends hooked me up with some birthday cartoon love!
George Ward!
Sherm Cohen
z
Sherm Cohen birthday love!
Thanks Guys!
And also special thanks to Yamasaki for the use of his song Switchblade and George Fletcher’s Bourbon Renewal/The Tequila Mockingbirds for their song
Angeline instrumental for themes!
Raul
