Dear Friends,
Denise and I are co-producing a really fun documentary with director Evan Beloff and producer Frederic Bohbot of Bunbury Films called HEAVY METAL REVISITED, and I just received the artwork for the postcard we’ll be handing out at San Diego Comic-Con Booth #4500 this year, so here it is for your consideration:
Dear Friends,
Like many of you, for me, Wednesday is Comic Book Day. I was very excited to find my friend Craig’s new book today at Dreamland Comics in Schaumburg.
The Art of Craig Elliott, The Newest Edition to My Art Book Collection
Craig is a longtime friend and a gifted artist. I would characterize his style as organic, ethereal and imaginative. His glass jewelry is also beautiful. Many of you will recognize his name from the high-profile visual development work and animation art he’s done for DreamWorks, Pixar and Disney, on films like Enchanted, The Princess and the Frog, Shark Tale, Bee Movie, Mulan, Hercules, etc. To say he’s talented is an understatement. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, I recommend you check out his portfolio at http://craigelliottgallery.com or his IMDB Listing.
As always, thanks for reading,
Dave.
Dear Friends,
I am working on an exciting new project that is so hard not to share with you already. However, there is one aspect to my project that is beyond my capabilities (yet): animation. I am unschooled in animating (but not for long). So, I’m putting it out to you, dear readers (as well as my artist friends who teach or have taught at art schools – Casey Callender, George Pratt, Durwin Talon and Mark A. Nelson).
I would like to provide students and self-taught animators with the following: (a) characters I’ve designed (b) my characters’ voice over files (c) some light art direction and conceptual information. They will use these digital files to compete and create animations for me to use for advertising and social networking campaigns. The potential for a serialized animated show also exists. In the end, I’d like to see some well-rendered :15, :30, :45 and :60 second shorts created to advertise my new low brow art character line, and the winner will walk away with an iPad preloaded with Dave Dorman art or a 4-day exhibitor pass to San Diego Comic-Con.
The idea behind this Dave Dorman’s Big Bowl of Animation Fun Contest is two-fold:
#1. I want to see my vision for my characters morphed into a big bowl of animated fun.
#2. The quid pro quo, aside from the prize is this: I want to help the winning animator raise their public profile and walk away with something professional for their portfolio.
WHAT THE ANIMATION CONTEST WINNER GETS: KEEPING YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE
The winner of Dave Dorman’s Big Bowl of Animation Fun Contest will receive either an iPad or a 4-day pass for San Diego Comic-Con, whichever they prefer. (Mind you, if they prefer to win one of my Comic-Con exhibitor passes, there might be some schlepping of my art to the San Diego Convention Center involved, so the smart winner will probably just go for the iPad).
Dave Dorman’s Animation Street Cred
Some of you may say, “Dave Dorman, who the hell are YOU to judge MY animation?!?” So, here’s my incredibly short and unimpressive list of credentials:
#1. I’ve judged film festival and animation contests in the past, most recently for Indiana University/Purdue University Indiana and the Geneva International Film Festival (Geneva, IL).
#2. I’ve watched animation evolve for the past 48 years.
In short, I know good animation when I see it. I’m always right in my Oscar predictions for animation wins, much to my wife’s chagrin. I watch international animation regularly and I can’t get enough of it.
However, it’s not just me judging these animations. I would like to help the animators submitting to gain public recognition, and to that end, I will post the animation samples for YOUR votes.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If Howard Stern or anyone else decides to get get subversive and start crowd sourcing voting for the worst animation (ala Stern’s modus operandi during American Idol’s “Season of Sanjaya”) I do reserve the right to override the votes. I will smell anything that smacks of animation voter anarchy early on.
So… stay tuned to my blog. We still need my wife to script the shorts and get the voice overs recorded. I’m thinking Jeanie Bonansinga of children’s music group Jeanie B! and the Jelly Beans will be at least one of the character voices–she’s excellent. I’ll let you know when we’re completely ready to start sharing digital files.
In case you ever wondered what I might look like animated, here’s how I see it (and no, this image has nothing to do with the animation contest):
Dave Dorman As An Animated Character
Dave Dorman 