Happy Friday! This week we bring you an award-winning short, a behind-the-scenes look at an upcoming animated feature, an exploration of the dolly zoom, a beautiful film made by some very talented French students, and an illustration by one of our own.

“I am Tom Moody” by Ainslie Henderson

This sweet, surrealist, stop-motion animated film takes us into the subconscious mind of Tom Moody, a musician riddled with anxiety.

Behind the scenes of Ernest and Celestine

Benjamin Renner, the co-director of Ernest and Celestine, has translated his original behind-the-scenes blog into English to celebrate the film’s upcoming international release. The blog is filled with adorable comic strips giving insight into the making of the critically acclaimed feature. Start reading here.

For a first look at the film, check out the trailer below.

Discovering the Dolly Zoom

After Cartoon Brew posted this article about the use of the dolly zoom in one of our favorite animated films, our curiosity was piqued. We then discovered this great compilation of dolly zoom shots in films spanning five decades, entitled “Evolution of the Dolly Zoom.”

“Le Dauphin Dauphin” by Marlène Beaube, Maxime Delalande, Clément Doranlo, Nadya Mira and Thibaud Gayral de Luca

This incredible short was created by five students from Gobelins L’École de L’Image during a summer internship. The title is a play on the French word “dauphin,” which translates to both “dolphin” and “heir apparent.”

Lastly, another fun illustration from our own John McGowan, this time inspired by The Walking Dead.

Happy Valentine’s Day! This week we bring you a sweet love story, a creative new Twitter handle, a stop-motion music video, and a new way to play with Legos.

“Lemons” by Kate Burck

“Lemons” is a cute story of “lemons, love, and leaving the house.”

Sketch Dailies is a twitter handle offering “daily character inspiration” for artists on twitter, with each day offering a different theme. Today’s prompt, appropriately enough, is Aphrodite.

Check out this contribution from our own John McGowan, featuring the theme “Blackbeard.”

A bummed out Black Beard for @Sketch_Dailies. #BLACKSPOT #sketch_dailies pic.twitter.com/zpK6SVn9mt

— John McGowan (@mistermcgowan) February 9, 2014

“Sound of Horns” by Conor Finnegan

Cartoon Brew shared this music video for Candice Gordon’s “Sound of Horns,” designed, directed and animated by Conor Finnegan. Check out their post, along with a behind-the-scenes video, here.

Google Chrome and Lego teamed up to create a new way to build with Legos – in your browser. Build your own creation or check out what others have made. Stumped? Start off at the Build Academy.

Happy Friday! We’ve got some great Favorites for you this week. Feeling like you need to brush up on the rules of football before the Super Bowl this Sunday? Check out Fraser Davidson’s beautiful and informative “Guide to American Football”. We’re also featuring a short about people who live in extreme wind conditions, a great ad for Hive Active Heating, and information about a Boston screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s Oscar-nominated film, “The Wind Rises”.

“WIND” by Robert Loebel

“WIND” is an “animated short about the daily life of people living in a windy area who seem helplessly exposed
to the weather.”

“A Guide to American Football” by Fraser Davidson

Just in time for the Super Bowl, this video explains football in a visually unique and interesting way.

“Hive Active Heating” by Buck

This is definitely one of the best advertisements we’ve seen in a long time.

The Wind Rises Boston screening – Oscar-nominated film The Wind Rises is Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s most recent work, about a man who designed fighter planes during WWII. It is being screened for one day only at the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square.

Happy Friday, everyone! This week’s Favorites are a beautiful short by Charles Huettner, a Cartoon Brew article about Pixar’s new CG techniques, a monthly animation challenge, and a link to Daniel Sousa‘s Oscar-nominated short “Feral”.

“The Jump”

“The Jump” is Charles Huettner‘s contribution to Late Night Work Club, a collective of indie animators. You can watch the rest of the Late Night Work Club videos here.

“Pixar Makes Painterly CG: New Research Could Change The Look of Their Films” – An interesting article by Cartoon Brew about how animators at Pixar are exploring ways to “achieve more expressive rendering styles that disregard the perfect boundaries of computer graphics rendering and mimic traditional painting techniques.”

Chris Pianka’s “Light”-themed contribution to LoopdeLoop.

LoopdeLoop – “LoopdeLoop is an animation challenge. Each month, animators from around the world create looping animations based on a given topic.”

“Feral” by Daniel Sousa – “Feral” is Daniel Sousa’s Oscar-nominated short about ” a wild boy who is found in the woods by a solitary hunter and brought back to civilization.” It is currently available to stream online for $1, or to purchase for $2.

Happy Friday! Our Favorites this week are a beautiful video that combines 3D animation with a handmade look, a nonprofit with a wonderful mission, information about a great event happening here in Boston at the ICA, and (best of all) aliens!

Alameda, “New Leaf” by Legwork Studio – “The goal was to combine the hand-made feel of painting with the perfection of 3D camera movement and environments.”

Animation for a Cause is a nonprofit that creates short explanatory motion graphics projects for social causes that need a voice. Check out their introductory video:

Best of the Ottawa International Animation Film Festival 2013 – If you’re located here in Boston, you’ll want to check out this screening of a selection of audience favorites and award winners from the 2013 Ottawa International Animation Festival, happening this Saturday and Sunday at the ICA.

By Andy Martin

Illustrated Aliens – Animator, illustrator, and musician Andy Martin created a year’s worth of alien illustrations and animations. You can also watch his work on his Vimeo channel, The Planets.