Tuesday, February 14, 2012

N4YP

Sumo Lake, along with the earlier penguin-noir film "Black and White Red All Over" will be screening 17 February in the N4YP Animation Festival Launch Party. What's "N4YP"? They explain it best on their site:


The goal is fairly simple: provide support, knowledge, means, opportunity and empowerment to young people working to break into the media arts industries. Whether your interest lies in digital media, visual media, journalism, animation or any number of other things, N4YP will aim to provide you with resources to get you going.

Sounds like a good thing, and sounds like a good party. The venue is Jugend Widerstand Church, Berlin, and the event features a selection of international animated films along with reknowned DJs and musicians.
Add Sumo wrestlers and penguins, and you have a perfect night out. 

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Moving Drawings

UPDATE: Well that was pretty underwhelming. 
E-mail if you'd like another chance to add to your art collection while spreading some goodwill and stemming the bitterness of a cranky animator. 

Anyone within earshot of me in early 2011 heard me bang on about Sumo Lake taking 1300 drawings to make and I had the throbbing arm to prove it. (Actually, that's not a lot in animation terms, Ub Iwerks would have cranked out that many by the weekend, but I won't pretend not to be proud of my efforts.)

Most of them are pretty nice drawings if I say so myself. Since there was no digital compositing, everything was done on the paper, and there aren't any incomplete and unsatisfying compositions (like that cel of Scratchy's arm that Bart Simpson buys). All of them are complete, and most of them are for sale.

A few have been sold since the film's release just under a year ago, via this site and e-bay. Not too long after I put the drawings up for sale Japan was hit by an earthquake and subsequent tsunami. We were all struck by a feeling of sympathy and helplessness, and these drawings presented an opportunity to give something back to the nation that has given me such inspiration and hospitality. Half the subsequent sale proceeds have been given to Mercy Corps Artists Help Japan Fund.

However, Japan still needs help and I have a lot of drawings. I'd like to see a lot more people own Sumo Lake drawings, and I'd like to be able to transfer a much larger pile of dough to Japan to assist in a rebuilding effort that will likely take a generation.

So as we approach the anniversary of Sumo Lake's release and the Japan disasters, a lot of drawings are going to be made available. They will be sold via ebay auctions, so there's a chance you might get yourself a bargain. In such case you should buy two, because once sales total $100, 75% of the money will be sent for disaster relief. Should there be enough enthusiasm to take us over $300, then from that point on I'll just cover my postage costs and hand over all that remains to Mercy Corps and Medicins Sans Frontieres.

Remember, all drawings will be signed. Personalized signings upon request - the perfect gift for that special dancer/wrestler/monster in your life.

CLICK HERE (or on your favourite piece below) to get yourself to the Sumo Lake Artwork Auction Page and start bidding. Keep in mind that there will be no additional postage costs for additional drawings. One drawing, or eight drawings, same postage price. (They're not as heavy as they look.)

New pieces will be put on the auction block as others move. If you are after a particular drawing or set of drawings, please e-mail with a screen grab or written description and we'll see what arrangements can be made.

Domo Arigato!