ASIFA-Colorado News

April 22, 2004

Volume 2,  Number 2

New & Noteworthy

Scott Burroughs

ASIFA Northwest Reel

Board Excerpts

Upcoming Events

May

Thereafter

Festivals & Conferences

Ours/

Others

Non-Sequiturs

Member Profile:  Evert Brown

Parents!

Web Site:

http://www.asifa-colorado.org

ASIFA-Colorado Children's Workshop Web Site:

http://www.imagescribe.com/awg/awg/

International Web Site:

http://asifa.net

ASIFA/Colorado Volunteers and Board

Dan A. Seely

President                              

kitchen@pkinc.com

Carmella Rodriguez

Treasurer and Business Manager

cmr@cinetek.com

David Mesple        

Emissary to Secondary Education                      

davidmesple@earthlink.net 

Kevin Ryan           

Vice President of Marketing

yellowjacket1@mac.com

Evert Brown

Membership Chair

evertbrn@comcast.net

Judy Gardner

Publicity Coordinator

jgardner@gasanim.com

Todd Debreceni

Vice President of Allied Fields

debreceni@paradigmranch.com

Tom Ward

Director of Communications

tomward@mac.com

Ed Desroches

News Letter Editor

ed@imagescribe.com

Mission Statement

“ASIFA – Colorado was established in 2001 as a non-profit corporation devoted to cultivating and promoting the art, craft and profession of Animation.

Together, our membership and Board of Directors are developing a far-reaching range of programs and special events to meet the following goals:

Ø      Stimulate discussion among professional and non-professional animation enthusiasts about concepts and technologies evolving in the industry.

Ø      Increase the visibility of Colorado Region animation companies available to serve the growing demand for commercial animation productions across the nation and around the world.

Ø      Establish a tradition of local, public events including seminars, panel discussions, special screenings, festivals and workshops devoted to more broadly acquainting the population with the power, diversity, and application of animation in all media.

Ø      Increase the connections between animation education programs and professionals in the industry.

Ø       Enrich the experience of animation students by bringing the diversity of the international animation scene to their doorstep.”

To join ASIFA-Colorado:

go to http:/www.asifa-colorado.org

or send a check; $30 for Students, $55 for Professionals (payable to ASIFA-Colorado) to:

ASIFA-Colorado

6585 W. 62nd Place

Arvada, CO 80003

include your Name, Address, and phone number. Student include a photocopied id.

To find out more about the Animator's Workshop Group (AWG) for children contact:

 Ed Desroches

eMail: ed@imagescribe.com

To contribute or volunteer contact:

Evert Brown

eMail:asifa-colorado@comcast.net 

Comments, questions, articles and suggestions are always welcome. Reply-To:  asifacolorado@yahoo.com

New & Noteworthy

·        Scott Burroughs - Scott, recently departed from Disney's Florida studio came in to show us some of the projects he had worked on while at Disney.  He had some sample work to show.  Then he talked about the last few days at the studio before its closing. Scott packed the house with standing room only for his talk.  Good luck with future endeavors, Scott!

·      ASIFA Northwest Reel - The US  northwest chapter of ASIFA allowed us a screening of their recent DVD.  Very impressive art!  It included works by famous animators like Bill Plympton and work created at the Will Vinton studios.

·     During the most recent local board meeting there was much discussion about almost everything that is ASIFA-Colorado.  The Children's Animation Festival was brought up and the venue options - we have a lot of content to show but currently no definite venue. The Children's workshop is still ongoing and we are currently looking for venues to continue the workshop.  Visit http://www.imagescribe.com/awg/awg/  for more information on the workshop. The Friday Afternoon Committee kicked off recently - more on that next newsletter. The ASIFA-Colorado Reel was discussed - but not much went on there.  ASIFA-Colorado sponsorships have moved along but now it is a matter of finding out whom to target for possible sponsorships.

Please note that if any of the projects that ASIFA-Colorado is working on interests you, feel free to contact any board member listed in the left hand column and let them know you'd like to help out! After all, this is about you!

Upcoming Events       

·        May 6th, 2004

Don't miss the 3d Studio Max and Combustion get together at GW Hannaway.

·        May 26th, 2004

MEMBER'S ONLY! Join us for a ASIFA-Colorado member's only event at the D-Note in Arvada.  More information to follow.

·        July 2004

SummerFest and SummerToast happening this month.

·        August 2004

Don't miss the Children's Summer Animation Festival! Two possible dates to be announced.

Festivals & Conferences

·        Moondance 2004
Boulder, Colorado 
May 28th-31st, 2004 
·       Human Engine Animation Festival
Cambridge, Massachusetts USA
March 01 - April 30, 2004
·        Hidden Agenda Gaming Contest, World Wide Web 
June 1, 2004 
·        Taiwan International Animation Festival 
Taipei, Taiwan 
May 1, 2004 
·        Anifest 2004 Trebon 
Trebon, Czech Republic 
May 3rd-8th, 2004 
·        Cartoons on the Bay 2004 
Positano (SA), Italy 
April 21st - 25th, 2004 
·        Annecy International Animation Festival 
Annecy, France 
June 7th - 12th, 2004 
·        Zagreb Animation Festival 
Zagreb, Croatia 
June 15th - 19th, 2004 
·        3D FESTIVAL 2004: EUROPE'S LEADING VFX EVENT. 
3D Festival 2004, Copenhagen, Denmark 
May 3 - 6, 2004. 

Non-Sequiturs

·        Member Profile: Evert Brown

Evert Brown is one of the founding members of ASIFA-Colorado. He is an Emmy Award winner and has been animating for over 30 years.  He has animated such classics as The Peanuts, Garfield, Cathy, and many more. You can contact him at asifa-colorado@comcast.net

Ed: How did you get started in animation?
Evert: It was a flook. I knew of the company, Bill Melendez Productions, having worked on his corporate design with a designer, Steve Smith. I knew some of the artists who worked at Bill's and one day on the way  back from a job interview I stopped in to say hello. They said that Bill was out of town, and did I want to do a few drawings for a commercial they were working on. Sure, and then I came back and did more, then Bill came back into town and asked if I wanted to stay on and work on the shows. I stayed for 30 years.
Ed: Was working for Bill Melendez your first job?
Evert: It was my first in the animation industry. I went the Chouinard Art Institute and took a lot of drawing classes that led to me knowing how to draw. That ability really paid off in being able to draw the Peanuts characters.
Ed: What type of work did you do there?
Evert: Over the 30 year span, I did every job there was. Story, layout were my real strong jobs, but I did backgrounds, animation, character design, painting. I didn't do to much editing, that was a bit to technical. I did editing on my own films, in super 8 film, the real small, stuff.
Ed: Did you have a specific character you worked on with Peanuts?
Evert: No, I did them all. We weren't a big enough company to split up characters like Disney does.
Ed: Did you work on other cartoons besides Peanuts?
Evert: Quite a few, we worked on many shows where we designed the characters. We did a half hour show that I designed the characters and that show won an Emmy. I also worked on 3 Cathy half hours shows, the first won an Emmy. We did the first two Garfield shows, that went on to become an empire for Phil Roman.
Ed: What brought you to Colorado after working so long in LA?
Evert: The earthquakes. My wife didn't like the earth moving under her. We looked in Austin, but I didn't like the high humidity.
Ed: What type of work are you doing here in Colorado?
Evert: I have done one commercial that came through my website from some folks that I worked with in Hollywood. They were in Florida, and I hired some students to help out because of the low budget. It worked out great and can be seen on my web site, http://www.animationman.com.
Ed: How has the industry changed since you started?
Evert: When I start there was very little 3D animation being done, and today it is out pacing the 2D.
Ed: Do you think there is significant animation in Colorado?
Evert: Unfortunately not. There is very little here in Colorado. I tell my students to be ready to travel. There is a great deal of animation 
being done all over the globe and you have to go where it is being 
produced. I feel that once you get a career going that you can live 
anywhere.
Ed: What would it take to promote Colorado's animation scene?
Evert: We have to work on more venues for animation. An animation festival. It is a very difficult venture to get started, but I think that once it is going it will become an outlet for other animators to show off their work.
  

eD

·        Parents!

It’s kind of funny.

Well, maybe not.

I have an animation workshop group for children. (Maybe that’s the funny part.)  Anyway, I often hear from the parents how their children are really digging the workshop.  Well, “Good,” I say. It’s always nice to hear how children can get focused on an interesting task and enjoy it.  Some of the kids get so focused they don’t even take a break during the 3 ½ hour sessions.  I know they’re having fun, so while it’s nice to hear about it from the parents, it’s not always necessary.

But then the parents continue with their critique.

”You know,” they say, “We’ve tried everything else. We sent Billy to baseball, soccer, science clubs, music classes and drama classes.”

“Okay,” I say.

“Well, he’s always liked to draw. I just never thought he’d want to be doing art.”

That’s when I politely dismiss myself.

What’s going on here?  I can read between the lines, it says art was our last resort to keeping Billy busy. Time and again, art is the ‘last resort.’

Why is that?  Why do parents have no problem dragging their kids to soccer after school and on weekends, but an art class is not typically considered? And if the children aren’t interested in sports – well, then why not try an instrument.

Almost every kid I know likes to sit down with a crayon and create! So why is it a ‘last resort?’ You would think it would be more prevalent as a talent that children want to learn and develop. But again, parents typically shy away from this behavior in their children.  Have art classes in the past failed?  Are they boring? Are they too expensive? Or could it be that if the parent is not artistically inclined then they feel it is not an area into which they want to delve?

Maybe that’s it.  Maybe there is a fear of art and all things creative.  You know artsy-fartsy stuff.  But what is the fear in art?  Is it the image of the poor, starving artist? So, how many kids playing soccer make it professionally as soccer players?

Art builds creative minds. Animation will typically work both sides of the grey matter. This will fuse more of those synapses required to make the brain more useful.  Animation is also a group activity leading to enhanced socialization.  What could be better?

Please, if anyone can tell me why art is considered second class in our society I’d be interested to know. 

eD