Oh course there are many we left out. Some not mentioned on the list would easily include South Park, Futurama’s many DVD releases, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Blenders “Big Buck Bunny”, Kung Fu Panda, and Corpse Bride among others.

And that’s before we start talking about tv commercials. How could we not mention Red Bull’s wings, Charmin’s bears, or the strangely large number of financial institutions that use cartoons, like Principal. What about UPS’s cardboard world animations? And let’s also not forget about the crazy world of the web. Do yourself a favor: if you want to have your mind blown, surf around on vimeo some.

Bottom line: this is a good time to be animated.

So, we pose this question: what’s on your list?

Enough talk. On to the list..

Our picks for: THE BEST ANIMATION of the DECADE

–Elias Dancey

Decision Virginia from Eastwood Media on Vimeo.

For some added fun, I’ve included the rough pencil test animation below.

You can see how it is not fully smoothed out with inbetween animation. This is for posing and pacing and acting. I enjoyed playing the character of the two, and attempted to make their motions and speech interesting beyond simple mouth movements.

Once the staging was complete I would go on to finish the inbetween frames to get the animation looking smooth.

Then I would go over everything a final time in full color.

After that each character was output in full on it’s own. They would be reassemble later in post production where the whip-pan and other motion effects were added.

-Elias

Decision Virginia – Pencil Test from Eastwood Media on Vimeo.

It was drawn on paper using pencil…. and, believe it or not, at times – straight in ink! How crazy was I?

Some fun facts:

1) I took a generic character design on mine and did a “Reverse Popeye.” Popeye, of course, has tiny biceps and giant forearms. In this case I did pencil thin thighs and giant calf muscles. This made the character design more unique.

2) The project was shot on a film stand. 16mm film stock.

3) Yes, that is a mushroom character that is dragging his sword around as a squire.

Enjoy.

Celestial Knight – Pencil Test from Eastwood Media on Vimeo.

The first thing I thought we would do is post some sketches behind the “Distressed Man” art work that you can find in our portfolio or on our facebook page.

This is interesting for two reasons.

One: This is a fun “before and after” reveal that we hope you’ll enjoy.

Two: You can see the genesis of doing a series of these business man poses. Exampled is some of the variety that was sketched just in discovering this one pose. It hopefully hints at what other potential might exist for other dramatic situations and moods for this character, including: arrogant, suave, victorious, persuasive, proud, intimidated, angry, pushy, etc.

– Elias Dancey