Chuck Jones and the Chuck Jones Gallery have been in the news lately and forthwith are excerpts from these news stories, interviews and press mentions along with links to the complete article:
Timothy Callahan, staff writer and blogger at When Words Collide (Comic Book Resources) interviews up and coming comic book artist and graphic novelist, Jason Latour, who cites Chuck Jones as an influence:
"I think his cartoons were the first time I
noticed a distinct mind at work. They really helped cultivate my
absurdist side, my sense of humor. The stuff he was doing was so full of
character, you felt like his Daffy Duck was a real person. I could
picture Daffy walking off the set after a shoot to go drown his bruised
ego in vodka and cry in a hooker's lap or something. I know he had large
literary influences. Sure the stuff was satirical of its time but you
can really see he was so well read, so smart, but never condescending.
Aesthetically there's such a visceral rawness to it. Like controlled
freedom. You'd have a perfect gestured, supremely well designed
character… but then the freedom to just let his mouth go wobbly and
crudely expressive. My dream is to get away with… to find the place
for in a story for blotches of color for trees, or something like that
Marvin the Martian space base."
Erin Liddell, senior art consultant at the Chuck Jones Gallery–San Diego got some ink this week in an article from the San Diego News Room on the economic impact of Comic Con on local San Diego businesses and the possibility that Comic Con may relocate after their contract with the San Diego Convention Center expires.
“There isn’t anywhere else on this earth
that we would want to be during Comic-Con,” Liddell said. “From
publicity and press to the increase in people coming in to enjoy our
artwork, it’s 100 percent amazing for us. To lose it would have a huge
impact on us.”
To read the complete article, click here.
Chuck Rothman, in his blog Great But Forgotten, talks about the Chuck Jones character, the Mynah Bird, created initially for Jones' "The Little Lion Hunter" but used in subsequent short films by him:
The Bird is introduced with Inki following his tracks into some bushes,
which begin to wave violently. He retreats, thinking it's a larger
animal, but out of the storm** comes a small, black bird, like a crow
only rounder, and with a yellow beak and legs. The bird walks across
the forest to the time of Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave/Hebredes
Overture" in a peculiar gait that part walking, part hopping, moving
in a perfectly straight line until he vanished into a hole or another
bush. He ignored everything going on around him — until the right
moment, when he would wreck havoc on those who got in his way (usually a
lion that was out to get Inki).
To finish reading the article, go here.
One of our favorite animation websites is Cartoon Brew, helmed by authors Jerry Beck and Amid Amidi. They recently posted a note about the upcoming film night at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences that will feature all nine of Chuck Jones' Oscar-nominated (3 wins!) short films. Get the 411 here.
Thrilling for the Chuck Jones Gallery was hosting a reception and art exhibit for famed indie animation creator, producer and artist, Bill Plympton during Comic Con 2010. Plympton, as always so gracious and gentlemanly, mentioned the exhibition at his own blog Scribble Junkies. To catch up with Bill and what he's up to, click here.
Journalist Tom Foreman who blogs on Anderson Cooper's website, AC360°, cited Chuck Jones in an open letter to the president: "Chuck Jones, the famous cartoonist and animator, once told me that when
he was a teenager he enrolled in art school and the teacher began class
by telling the students, “You each have ten thousand bad drawings in
you. The sooner we get them out the better!” As a result, even into
his 80’s, Chuck was still creating up to a dozen drawings every day,
just to keep in practice. No wonder he was a master."
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