We've Accomplished A Lot In Two Short Years!

WARNING! This post contains concentrated cartoon goodness! Link to it from your website or blog. Tell your friends!


THE ARCHIVE IS TWO YEARS OLD
The ASIFA-Hollywood Archive has been in operation now for two years. Every six months, we look back on everything we have accomplished to date and remind you that this is all possible because of your support. We hope that you'll appreciate the work being done here and find value in it. If that's the case, you'll want to contribute, so we can accomplish even more.

To date, we have digitized well over 15,000 images and 2,500 animated films. There are nearly 450 articles available here on the Archive blog covering a wide range of subjects. The blog is followed by readers all over the world. We recently had our 1 millionth unique visitor; and in the past two years, we have served 2.5 million articles. We've mounted several exhibits in the archive space, which has been visited by artists from all corners of the globe. The animation database has now completed its proof of concept phase, and volunteers are working nearly every day to build it out as quickly as possible. What kind of an impact is the Archive having on the art of animation? Read our Feedback and find out!

We're now ready to begin work on the second phase of our project- creating a stand-alone workstation version of the digital archive that can be syndicated to museums, libraries, universities and studios around the world. To accomplish this, we need your help.

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ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive / 2114 W Burbank Bl. Burbank, CA 91506 / 818.842.4691 / Office Hours: Tuesday through Friday 1pm to 9pm

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HOW YOU CAN HELP

There are a few things you can do for us that will help us reach our goal more quickly:

• Contribute
  
  If you have found the posts here useful in your work, please give back to help us continue to bring you more inspiration and information you can use. Please look over the Donor Catagories and help as much as you can.


• Link To Our Posts
  
  In order for this project to succeed, we need as many "eyeballs" as we can muster. Search engine ranking depends on incoming links. If you see a posting here that you think is great, please link to it from your own website or blog.


• Volunteer Your Time And Skills
  
  The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive depends on the generosity of its volunteers to move the project along. If you are willing to help, stop by the Archive offices in Burbank, or contribute to the Hall of Fame over the internet. Every little bit of effort is appreciated and helps us further the cause.


• Share Your Collection
  
  If you have material that would be an asset to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, consider loaning it to us for digitization or contact us for information on how you can digitize it yourself. Everything you see on this blog was contributed by artists and collectors who want to share their treasures with you. Return the favor.

NEED CONVINCING?

Well, the best way to prove the value of our efforts is to show you what those efforts have produced over the past two years. Keep in mind that what you see here on this blog is just a fraction of what we've entered into our rapidly growing database. Click through these links and be amazed at the rich resource we are all working together to build.

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Here are the top ten reasons the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive deserves your support...

10.) Special Exhibits At The Archive



The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has mounted several major exhibits. At our facility in Burbank, you can see a collection of animation drawings from the Fleischer Studios, including Grim Natwick's first character designs for Betty Boop. Also on display is the desk that Les Clark used at Disney's Hyperion studio from 1927 to 1938... from Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to Steamboat Willie to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs... they were all animated on this desk. Come down any day between Tuesday and Friday and take the tour...

DISNEY DRAWINGS

THE ART OF THE STORYBOARD
(See also... John K's Stimpy's Invention Part One and Part Two, Ren & Stimpy in Big House Blues Part One, Part Two and Part Three; Alvin Show Pilot Board and Alvin Show: The Whistler)

THE GOLDEN AGE OF MEXICAN LOBBY CARDS
(See also... Ernesto Garcia Cabral Part One / Part Two / Sci-Fi and Horror Lobby Cards / Mexican Lobby Card Fiesta)

Another special event... An Evening With Andreas Deja and Follow-Up

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9.) Features On Playboy Cartoonists



In the 1950s and 60s, Playboy magazine employed many of the most talented cartoonists of the day. There's a lot to learn from these beautiful and deceptively simple cartoons. Many of them are models of color harmony, composition and staging. There's also a wide variety of styles, from the fast watercolor washes of Eldon Dedini to the carefully rendered airbrush work of Alberto Vargas. Style is something sadly lacking in theatrical animation today. These cartoons have style in abundance. We were lucky enough to be able to digitize a collection of vintage magazines courtesy of Archive supporters, Mike Fontanelli and Chad Coyle. Here are some of the artists we've profiled so far...

Eldon Dedini Part One / Eldon Dedini's Satyr's & Nymphs / Early Erich Sokol Cartoons / More Erich Sokol / Jack Cole And More Great 50s Playboy Cartoonists / Doug Sneyd - Phil Interlandi / More Phil Interlandi Playboy Cartoons / Alberto Vargas / Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder's Little Annie Fanny Part One and Part Two (See also... George Petty's Ridgid Tools Calendars & his 1947 Calendar / John Held Jr's Flappers)

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8.) Art Instruction Materials



Founded by Norman Rockwell in the early 1950s, Famous Artists had three courses... Painting, Illustration/Design and Cartooning. Each course consisted of 24 lessons in three oversized binders covering a wide variety of subjects. To design the courses, Rockwell brought together the top artists of the day... Albert Dorne, Stevan Dohanos, Rube Goldberg, Milton Caniff, Al Capp, Willard Mullen, Virgil Partch, and Whitney Darrow Jr, among others. The result was a correspondence course that puts many current university programs to shame. ASIFA-Hollywood has been digitizing these powerful lessons and sharing some of them with you on this website. In addition, we have provided a wealth of educational material written by top cartoonist educators like Grim Natwick and Gene Byrnes; as well as invaluable articles on art theory.

Chad's Design For Television / Willard Mullin On How To Draw Animals / Clair Weeks' Disney Animal Studies 1940 / Fundamentals Of Composition: Part One and Part Two / Carlo Vinci: The Training of a Golden Age Animator / Willy Pogany's Drawing Lessons Part One and Part Two / W. L. Evans Cartooning & Caricaturing Course Part One / Bill Nolan: Cartooning Self Taught / Grim Natwick on Animation Design / A Drawing Lesson From Walter Lantz / Ralph Bakshi Speaks To CGI Animators Part One and Part Two / Owen Jones' The Grammar of Ornament Part One, Part Two and Part Three / Musical Timing Rediscovered / Originality vs. Imitation: Chaplin's Shadow / Incorporating Natural Forms: Haeckel's Art Forms In Nature / Nat Falk's How To Draw Animated Cartoons Part Three: How Cartoons Are Made, Part Four: How To Draw Animated Cartoons and Part Five: How To Animate / John K Advice and Eddie's Boney Finger and John K on Character Design / 1938 Disney Artitst Tryout Book / Gene Byrnes' Complete Guide To Cartooning Part One: Newspaper Strip Cartoonists, Part Two: Studying Comic Strips, Part Three: Single Panel and Sports Cartoons, Part Four: Editorial Cartoons and Comic Books, Part Five: Sketching, Part Six: Magazine Cartoons

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7.) Classic Cartoons To Study



Through our Film Preservation Program ASIFA-Hollywood has rescued dozens of cartoons in danger of being lost to nitrate deterioration. The volunteers at the Animation Archive are hard at work digitizing cartoons for inclusion in our database. This will allow students and cartoonists to instantly access animated films that are not available commercially. To date, we have digitized over 2,500 cartoons... Fleischer Popeyes, Bouncing Ball Cartoons, Terrytoons and many more that haven't been seen in decades. Here are just a few of the cartoons in our collection...

Fleischer Studios: Swing, You Sinners, Mariutch, Betty Boop in Snow White & You're Driving Me Crazy / Van Beuren: The Little King in On The Pan 1933 / Famous Studios: Chiquita Banana / Terrytoons: Barnyard Actor, Farmer Al Falfa's Prize Package, Pink Elephants, The Temperamental Lion (1940), Gandy & Sourpuss in Aladdin's Lamp & Catnip Capers, Bill Tytla's Mighty Mouse Meets Jekyll & Hyde Cat / H-B's The Bodyguard and Avery's Bad Luck Blackie / Uproar In Heaven (China/1961) Part One, Part Two / Ruff and Reddy and Pinky the Pint-Sized Pachyderm, Tex Avery's KoolAid Spots: UPA Done Right

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6.) Golden Age Illustration



One of the goals of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is to gather together the material that provided inspiration to animators in the 30s and 40s. Artists like Kay Nielsen and Gustaf Tenggren made the trip to California and ended up working for Disney. These books contain a wealth of inspiration for color, design and technique. We are also archiving the work of great illustrators from the 40s and 50s, like Arthur Szyk and Boris Artzybasheff. Click on a few of these links and be amazed at what you see...

Bland Tomtar Och Troll: John Bauer 1915 / Einar Norelius 1929, Einar Norelius 1934, Bauer & Norelius 1944/1949 / Kay Nielsen: East of the Sun and West of the Moon, Twelve Dancing Princesses & Hansel & Gretel / Gustaf Tenggren: Small Fry And The Winged Horse, D'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, Good Dog Book, Heidi - Wonderbook - Juan & Juanita & Grimms Fairy Tales / Edmund Dulac: Hans Christian Anderson, Poe's Poetical Works & Tanglewood Tales / Maxfield Parrish's Arabian Nights (1909) / N. C. Wyeth's Legends of Charlemagne / Frank Reynolds Paints Pickwick / Monks By Eduard von Grutzner / Artzybasheff: Neurotica, Machinalia & Diablerie / Arthur Szyk: The New Order / WWI Propaganda Posters Part One and Part Two / Mid-1930s Colliers Illustrations / Late 40s Colliers Illustrations / Coronet Magazine / Lawson Wood- The Monkey Painter Part One and Part Two

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5.) Historical Info & Interviews



We are in the process of publishing an important interview with three of animation's pioneers... Bill Hanna, Joe Barbera and Friz Freleng. Interviewed by cartoon director, John Kricfalusi, they speak with candor about their careers and the state of animation in the modern age. The interview is illustrated extensively with pictures and videos of cartoons so you can instantly see what they are talking about. This sort of interactive presentation takes full advantage of the power of the internet as a learning tool. There are two installments now online, with more to come in the near future. We also posted an interesting audio clip of Grim Natwick discussing his friend and former boss, Ub Iwerks, a fascinating article on Bill Tytla by animation historian John Canemaker, and a documentary on China's pioneer animators, the Wan Brothers...

Bill-Joe-Friz Interview Pt. 1 / Bill-Joe-Friz Interview Pt. 2 / Natwick on Iwerks / Three Interesting Documents / Berny Wolf (1911-2006) Terrytoons Studio Tour 1939 / Louise Zingarelli: Cool World / Biography: The Wan Brothers- Cinese Animation Pioneers / Nat Falk's "How To Make Animated Cartoons Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four and Part Five / Life Magazine: Disney Studios at War / John Canemaker on Bill Tytla / Lotte Reiniger's Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) Part One and Part Two / Clair Weeks' Goodbye Book (Disney/1952) and Pioneer of Indian Animation / Bob Clampett's Swimming Pool 1962 / Ward Kimball: Escapader Cum Laude and Will Finn's Letter From Ward Kimball / Building Of The Disney Studio In Burbank / Dispatch From Disney's 1943 Part One and Part Two / Milton Caniff: A Remembrance

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4.) The Cartoon Hall Of Fame



ASIFA-Hollywood has been recognizing the important figures in the history of animation for over three decades with the Annie Awards. We continue that tradition with our online biographical wiki, the Cartoon Hall Of Fame. Thanks to the hard work of the students in Charlie Lawing and Larry Loc's animation classes, the Hall Of Fame is beginning to take shape. We still need volunteers to help us edit and format the entries, as well as people to draft the biographical sketches of their favorite artists. If you would like to help, please email me at sworth@animationarchive.org. In the meantime, check out the wonderful biographies of these greats...

James Stuart Blackton (See also... Animation Centennial 1906-2006) / Carlo Vinci / Art Babbitt (See also... Pencil Test of Art's Best Scene) / Shamus Culhane / John Kricfalusi / Ralph Bakshi (See also... Mel Blanc on Advertising / Milton Caniff and Norman Rockwell in Coronet / Bakshi Phone Doodles) / Oskar Fischinger / Ollie Johnston / Osamu Tezuka

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3.) Classic Golden Books



We've collected and digitized an amazing library of images from the classic Golden Books of the 1940s through the 60s. Some of the finest artists in the business worked for Western Publishing on this series, including Gustaf Tenggren, Mel Crawford, Mary Blair and J.P. Miller. We are still working on digitizing the collection donated to us by John Kricfalusi, but so far, we have scanned the following books...

Tibor Gergely: A Day In The Jungle / Gustaf Tenggren: The Little Trapper / Mary Blair's Baby's House, Little Verses Part One and Part Two, The New Golden Song Book Part One, Part Two & Part Three / Al White: Rocky & His Friends & Huck Hound Builds A House / Mel Crawford: Rootie Kazootie Joins The Circus / 50s & 60s Album Covers Part One and Part Two / Early 50s Disney Christmas Cards / Disney's Uncle Remus Stories Part One and Part Two / Rojankovsky's Frog Went A-Courtin'

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2.) Vintage Newspaper Cartoons And Comics



Along with our Archive Alliance member, Digital Funnies, comic collector Kent Butterworth and the Milton Caniff Estate, we've brought you some wonderful newspaper strips, magazine cartoons, and comic books, many of which have never been reprinted. Here is just a small sampling of the material we've added to the archive database...

The Father of Cartooning: T. S. Sullivant / Virgil Partch: Here We Go Again, The Wild, Wild Women Part One Part Two and Part Three, & Man The Beast / Milt Gross: Cartoon Tour of New York, Dave's Delicatessen Dailies, Sunday Pages Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Part Six / Cliff Sterrett: Polly And Her Pals Part One, Part Two and Part Three / Otto Messmer's 1932 Felix Sundays and Felix in Mother Goose Land / Dudley Fisher's Right Around Home / Hanna-Barbera: Huckleberry Hound Weekly / Harrison Cady: Bird's Eye Views / Jim Tyer: Funny Animal Comics Part One and Part Two / Basil Wolverton: Powerhouse Pepper / Chic Young's Blondie and More of Chic Young's Blondie / Boody Rogers: Babe Comics Part One, Part Two & Part Three / George Lichty's Grin and Bear It and Even More Great Lichty Grin & Bear It Comics / Rube Goldberg's Side Show / Milt Stein's Supermouse Comics No. 4 / Harvey Kurtzman's Comic Books / Dan Gordon's Superkatt / Parody: Whack Comics (1953) / Basil Wolverton on Cartoon Sounds Part One and Part Two / Milton Knight's Great Brown-Pericord Motor / Harvey Eisenberg's Foxy Fagan 1946 / Milton Caniff's Steve Canyon and More Steve Canyon Dalies / Walt Kelly's Pogo / People on Paper (MGM/1945)

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1.) The $100,000 Animation Drawing Course



How much would it be worth to you to learn to draw for animation from two masters... one from the "golden age" of animation, and one of the top talents in the industry today? Well, you can do that right here on the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Blog with our online drawing course. Overseen by Ren & Stimpy creator, John Kricfalusi and using the long out-of-print original edition of Preston Blair's handbook on animation techniques, you can't find a better resource for honing your drawing skills. The individual lessons are in the sidebar of this site, but start out with the...

Introduction to the $100K Drawing Course
Preston Blair's Animation 1st Edition Part One / Part Two

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And That's Not All Folks...



Not surprisingly, the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has one of the most extensive collections of animation artwork in the world- material from every studio and era, from the earliest silent cartoons all the way through current television productions. Our focus is on artwork not archived elsewhere... drawings and cels from 1950s commercial animation houses, extinct New York studios and obscure cartoon producers from the golden age of cartoons. Here is just a small sampling of our collection...

Mike Lah and Quartet Films / Ray Patin Studios Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six / Carlo Vinci's Terry-Toons Notes / Vincent Waller Spumco Drawings and Jim Smith Spumco Layouts / Herb Klynn's Unmade Animated Feature / Ralph Bakshi Phone Doodles / Katie Rice's Designs / Chuck Jones Layouts / Grim Natwick's Post UPA Commercials / Early 50s UPA Model Sheets / Reluctant Dragon and Pinocchio Model Sheets / Jules Engel's Alvin Show Color Keys / Model Sheets by Hurter and Thorson, Mice and Duck Model Sheets, and More Disney Model Sheets / Artwork from Disney's Bambi / Terrytoons Model Sheets / Herb Klynn's Pitch For The Shrimp / MGM Animation Drawings / Alex Toth Model Sheets

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Please donate whatever you can to support this important project. Your generosity is what keeps the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive going. If you aren't financially able to contribute or if you already made a donation, please tell your friends about the Archive Project Blog. Link to this post from your website or blog, tell everyone you know about the ten good reasons to contribute to the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive.


It's impossible for me to thank everyone who has helped this project in such a small space. But I'm going to make an effort to try. (excuse me if I don't mention you!) Thanks to the Walter Lantz Foundation for its support of this project from its inception. I'd also like to thank our project sponsors, Sony Pictures, Dreamworks, and The Animation Guild. A big thank you to our celebrity supporters, June Foray, Leonard Maltin, Andreas Deja, John Kricfalusi, and Nancy Cartwright. We owe a debt of gratitude to the schools that have rallied behind us, Woodbury University, Brooks College and LA Valley College. So many people have come forward to share their treasures with us... Jerry Beck, Mark Kausler, Van Eaton Galleries, NoCloo.com, the Vincis, the Milton Caniff estate, Digital Funnies, Mike Fontinelli, Kent Butterworth, the family of Clair Weeks, John Canemaker, Rich Borowy, Marc Deckter, and Marc Crisafulli. This project would not be possible without the support of the Board of Directors and members of ASIFA-Hollywood. My biggest thanks go to the handful of volunteers who patiently work their way through the files day after day, turning bits and bytes into useful information that will make a difference for the better long after all of us are gone. You know who you are. You're all heros.

Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
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