Drop me off in gif city

While the talented members of certain communities such as Vimeo are producing and creating some wondrous and professional quality pieces thanks to the advent of affordable HD equipment and editing software, artist Mark Portillo goes a decidedly opposite direction. On his blog, “Drop Me Off in Harlem,” he shares his animated greyscale GIF sketches that [...]

Death and life of ice cream

This time lapse video of every conceivable type of that summer elixir, ice cream and all its derivatives melting is deliciously contemplative and meditative. This was created by Mind Pie, a video art collective. The segment involving the ice cream sandwich melting would probably however horrify my special lady friend who loves ice cream sandwiches [...]

Choo Choo La Rouge

Choo Choo La Rouge’s fun music video for their song “Here Come the Guns” from their upcoming album Black Clouds (available August 18, 2009) has a decidedly (intentional) low-fi production quality, but is most definitely hi-fi in enjoyment and concept. Greg Condon created this flip book style video using Post-It note pads, and I especially [...]

Breathtaking sand animation by Kseniya Simonova

The winner of Ukraine’s version of “Britain’s Got Talent” is artist Kseniya Simonova who tells stories through sand. The not-to-miss video below recounts the German occupation of Ukraine during WWII. She moves the judges to tears as she subtitles the final scene “you are always near”.

See more of Simonova’s work…

The Ancient Book of Sex and Science

When you, as an adult, spend the majority of your time creating adorable G-rated worlds for kids, that hidden sexual side of you is bound to come out — and probably, shall we say, enthusiastically. (Anyone remember the movie S.O.B. in which squeaky clean Julie “Mary Poppins” Andrews rips her top off and exposes her boobies? No? Good. It’s scarring.) Well, in their spare time, four Pixar animators have been working on a series of cool art books, the second and most recent of which is “The Ancient Book of Sex and Science” (the first was the now sold-out “Ancient Book of War and Myth“).

Malcolm Sutherland, THE ASTRONOMER’S DREAM

The Astronomer’s Dream (2009) from Animalcolm on Vimeo. Malcolm Sutherland’s latest animated short, THE ASTRONOMER’S DREAM is a trippy whimsical space odyssey with a unique art style. When a hungry astronomer falls asleep while working on a problem, he discovers a solution not in outer space, but in the surreal food-chain of his subconscious mind. [...]

Mike Birbiglia’s “Porno for Parents”

We mentioned comedian Mike Birbiglia in passing the other day, but failed to convey just how awesome he is. Someone who can appeal to both the audiences of Comedy Central and This American Life possesses a rare gift. He  covers crass topics without ever crossing the line. He’s the boyfriend you love so much, but [...]

Stop motion BB King

Female street artist Yseult aka “YZ,” pronounced as “Eyes,” created this meditative stop motion video “Still Alive” of blues icon BB King animated from almost 70 street posters. For more information on this artist check out this interview.

Hayao Miyazaki’s PONYO

I’m a big fan of Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, a “modern day Walt Disney.” SPIRITED AWAY and HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE blew me away with their fantastical stories and brilliant animation. So I was excited, along with many others on the Interwebs, at viewing the trailer for his latest effort, PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE [...]

Stop-motion Post-Its

The great stop-motion video below was the senior project of a Savannah College of Art and Design student named Bang-yao Liu. The music is by one of my favorite groups, the Norwegian electronica duo Royksopp:

Maxim Zhestkov’s CG world

Russian artist Maxim Zhestkov creates amazing minimalist CG worlds where walls and floors fluidly shape shift and change. It’s psychedelia in a black and white universe. modul / zhestkov.com from Zhestkov on Vimeo. [Via]

Light stop motion

Let there be light! An opened case unleashes the proverbial Pandora’s box in this video that blends stop-motion animation with light drawing. Relatedly, check out the Flickr group for other light drawings. Light Stop-Motion from Felipe Vincensi on Vimeo.

Evolution of a dance party

Beshart, a visual communication studio, created this stop-motion animation of headphones doing some synchronized dancing in this fun video, which was created with 1500 photographs taken over 3 days.

Quest of the lettermen

Chris Gavin‘s experimental stop-motion film, TXT ISLAND. Painstakingly hand-crafted using hundreds of plastic peg-board letters over several months, this little gem follows the endeavors of a squad of letters, as they delve deep into the jungle of a mysterious island.  Gavin is one of the several extremely talented award-winning directors from TANDEM, an innovative animation [...]

GARY, a short animated film

An animated French short by by Clément Soulmagnon, Yann Benedi, Sébastien Eballard & Quentin Chaillet with a kind of wonderful and magical story. Gary from Gary on Vimeo.

PARALLELOSTORY

Parallelostory from impactist on Vimeo. Kelly Meador and Daniel Elwing who partner under the alias Impactist created this meditative animated short. Spend a couple minutes in the multiverse and you may find it comfortable enough to participate in your own PARALLELOSTORY, which is just hip meta-universe slang for “parallel love story”. But remember, this is [...]

Louis Clichy, A quoi ca sert l’amour

Cute minimalist animated short film, “A Quoi ca Sert L’amour” (To what end is love?) from the ever talented Louis Clichy about a boy who meets girl, boy then loses girl, boy gets girl back, boy then loses girl again, but girl finds boy and finally boy gets girl. Note the visual double entendre in [...]

James Jarvis, ONWARDS

Onwards from AKQA on Vimeo. In collaboration with Nike, UK artist James Jarvis’s short animated film ONWARDS imagines a kind of magical non-linear world through which a funny little stick figure character enjoys running. I thought the evening sequence towards the end was particularly brilliant. Jarvis adds: The film was inspired by certain personal experiences [...]

John Lithgow reads a previously unpublished essay by Mark Twain

In this video for Who Is Mark Twain?, a new HarperStudio collection of previously unpublished Twain essays, John Lithgow reads a short excerpt over lovely animations by Flash Rosenberg: Who is Mark Twain? from Flash Rosenberg on Vimeo.

Sebastian’s Voodoo

Watch “Sebastian’s Voodoo,” an award winning dark animated short about a voodoo doll finding the courage to save his friends. Created by Joaquin Baldwin, a Paraguayan MFA grad student at UCLA. It reminds me a bit of the upcoming Tim Burton animated flick 9. Sebastian’s Voodoo from Joaquin Baldwin on Vimeo. Update: Voodoo has been [...]

Stop-motion 8-bit video game water slide

A fun and well executed stop-motion animation that recalls seemingly every theme from the 8 bit video game era, the pixelation and MIDI electronic music, and blends it with real life locations. It was created by Tea and Cheese for a UK water-slide themed competition. [Via]

Iron Man versus Bruce Lee

Here’s an entertaining short depicting a thrilling grudge match between two pop culture icons, Iron Man and Bruce Lee. The rub? It’s all done in stop-motion animation using action figures. Of course if Aquaman was involved in this fight, it’d be no contest. Actually, this was created by Patrick Bolvin, a self taught director. His [...]

The Journey of a Seed

An impressive animated short mixing cut-paper craft and 2D illustration depicting the journey of an apple seed after an apple is consumed. It really is a lot more interesting than it may sound. The Seed from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo. And watch the “Making Of” video: Making of ‘The Seed’ from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo. [...]

Animation Spotlight: Nicole Mitchell’s ZOOLOGIC

Watch Nicole Mitchell’s amusing animated short ZOOLOGIC about a fussy zookeeper’s comeuppance. It won a gold medal in the animation category at this year’s Student Academy Awards, an annual competition held by the Academy for aspiring auteurs. Notable winners in the past include the unofficial mayor of NYC and the Knicks, Spike Lee; Robert Zemeckis [...]

Amazing Animated Video for Death Cab for Cutie’s “Grapevine Fires”

Death Cab for Cutie’s 2008 album Narrow Stairs didn’t immediately grab me the way their last two discs did, but I’ve come to really like it. The one song I unequivocally loved on first listen was “Grapevine Fires,” a haunting, beautifully paced track about the effects of the 2007 Southern California wildfires. Death Cab’s Ben [...]