Craig Kausen (center,) chairman of the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity along with Linda Jones Clough (Chuck Jones' daughter) welcome Warner Bros. animation director Matt O'Callaghan (far left,) Katherine Concepcion and art director Alan Bodner (far right) to the offices of the Center in Tustin, California.

O'Callaghan is the director of the most recent Warner Bros. theatrical short cartoons (in 3-D!) "Coyote Falls" and "Fur of Flying" (with a third one in the can and ready to be released with an upcoming Warner Bros. feature!)  If you haven't seen the cartoons yet, they are excellent.  Working within a 3 minute time frame, O'Callaghan and his crew created a modern, yet traditional animated film that was long on laughs and short on, well, it was too short, it was that good!

Alan Bodner, Matt O'Callaghan and Craig Kausen pause for a photo-op in front of Chuck Jones' custom animation desk at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity in Orange, California.  (And yes, that's a life-size cut-out of Chuck Jones on the left.)

Chuck Jones 'draws' Matt O'Callaghan.  "Animation is life." –Chuck Jones

Alan Bodner takes inspiration from Chuck Jones' animation desk at the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity.  The Center is located at 131 W. Chapman (just a 1/2 block west of the Orange Plaza) in Old Towne Orange, California.  Drop-in & Draw classes are held most Saturday mornings from 9 AM to Noon. Materials charge is $10.00 for children 10 & under and $15.00 for everyone else.  Call 949-660-7793 for more information or email [email protected].  

Photos courtesy Katherine Concepcion.