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Nov. 20th, 2009
TheClayman.com featured on 'Working in the 3rd Dimension'

A special thanks to the incredibly talented and beautiful Ms. Liz Lomax for featuring us on her popular 3D blog spot ' Working in the 3rd Dimension'.

Oct. 10th, 2009
Buy a Buddha - Money raised will go to helping build wells in developing countries

Walk into the shop at Burnaby's 3D Custom Foam, and you'll find a two-metre-high garden gnome,
three mummified bodies, a giant pumpkin, a severed torso, an enormous Pegasus and three Buddha statues.

It's the latter in the bizarre assortment that John Mallory is hoping to use to raise money for charity.
Mallory is co-owner of 3D Custom Foam, a company that makes, sells and rents foam props for use in the film industry.

Inspired by a trip his sister took to Uganda, Mallory decided to trade the Buddhas for donations to help others.

In 2008, his sister went to Africa with a girls' soccer team from Point Grey Secondary in Vancouver.
The group was bringing soccer supplies to girls in Uganda, many of whom where orphaned from AIDS.
That trip demonstrated to Mallory how access to clean water was important for community health and social change.

He was inspired to sell the Buddhas with proceeds going to Ryan's Well Foundation, a charity that helps build wells
in developing countries. "When I saw the photographs of the poverty, I thought we have it so good here and these people don't.
I have it within my power to help these people, so why wouldn't I," he said.

July 17th, 2009
One large coffee...to go!
A month or so ago I was contracted by associate John Mallory to help finish this larger than life coffee pot and to go cup for a television commercial for MacDonald's. I just got a photo of the finished piece today so thought to share it and some in progress shots with you. The final pieces were attached to a real street light in Calgary ( pictured below ) for the final ad, what a great concept!

July 16th, 2009
Jammin' gray and The Energy Man, Mr. Josef Tyls
A new character design created for a dear friend Josef Tyls. Knowing Josef is a fan of metaphysics and alternate dimensions, I felt it appropriete to create a new character for him and his Sonic Temple.

Happy birthday my friend.

July 10th, 2009
In Loving Memory of Lady Lisa Jane Gray.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce our sweet friend, associate and co-creator, Ms. Lady Lisa Jane Gray has passed away today.

I will be helping her family with final arrangments, including a celebration of her life event where we will showcase her films, photos and share stories of happier times.

If you have worked with, or knew Lisa Jane, and would like more information, please contact me at paul@theclayman.com

Thank you Lisa for being such a wonderful friend, talented co-creator and for being the best mentor a clay man could ask for. You will live on in my heart, and in my work forever.

God bless you sweet angel.

Sincerely,
The Clayman

July 2nd, 2009
A prayer for LJ!
Sending prayers of speedy recovery out to Lisa Jane Gray, a friend, a co-creator and mentor.

All my love LJ!
The Clayman

June 17th, 2009
3D Resin Printing / Prototyping Now Available!

We are happy to announce a new 3D service now being offered in association with John Mallory and the 3D Custom team.
Resin prototypes from your 3D CG models can be reproduced in exact detail aprx 9 inches in height.

Here is our first sample, with many more coming soon. For more information please email us.

June 6th, 2009
2nd Annual Breathe of Life Animation Festival and Workshop

Another fantastic turnout this year for the 2nd annual Breath of Life Animation Workshop and Festival founded by Mr. Ken Priebe! Always a pleasure for me to help the festival out as the smiles are always plentiful and creativity off the chart!

Here are a few photos from the event, we hope to be posting a link to some of the animation samples soon.

May 28th, 2009
Busy Busy!

Hi all, it's been a while since my last post, I have been super busy with a variety of projects.

We have been developing a line of toys utilizing new state of the art 3D resin printing technology that we are now offering. Due to confidentiality agreements I have not been able to publish these fabulous designs but hope to be posting samples once the products are released. We are currently preparing a new services page outlining the specifics of this new exciting process. ideal for prototyping, action figures and smaller movie props than our CNC 3D foam services.

Also been busy working with our associates at 3D Custom Foam on a number of projects including props and interiors for several huge feature films and some national ad campaigns. Once these films and campaigns premiere, we will be posting samples.

What else is new? Well, we are also in the early stages of developing a new animated sit-com with a team of talented writers and producers which we will be issuing a news release for soon.

Never a dull moment in the land of clay, stay tooned!

January 15th, 2009
Caption Contest!

Thought to start the new year off with something new, a caption contest.

With the world taking a wait and see approach, let's see how this will play out. In the meantime, email us your caption ideas and by the end of January we will determine the most suitable, and send that entry a 8x10 glossy signed print.

December 25th, 2008
The Clayman & Associates wish you season's greetings and a fine 2009!

For your viewing pleasure Lisa Jane, Tamas and yours truly have created a new claymation christmas card;

'North Pole Meltdown'.

November 14th, 2008
The Psychic Highway in association with TheClayman.communications releases 'The Soul Man'
A 60 second animated character and series introduction.

The Soul Man - 3D Animation and Character Design by TheClayMan.communications

Executive Producer - Helen Davidson
Director, Character & Set Designs- Paul Moldovanos
3D Character Models, Sets and props- Brian Uy
Animation & Rendering- Danny Dunford
Original Flute Music- Daiv Giblin
Editing- Tamas Erdesz

November 7th, 2008
VancouverAnimation.com puts TheClayman.com in the spotlight
The popular resource site VancouverAnimation.com spotlights The Clayman and Associates.
Thanks Mario! ( Click here for full story.)

November 5th, 2008
The Clayman and Associates release new stop motion animation & sculpture samples.
We are happy to announce the addition of new stop motion animation samples produced by Lisa Jane Gray.
Our stop motion page also includes sculptural samples of associate Peter Salmon. If you are a fan of clay and stop motion animation, we encourage you to visit this page.

October 20th, 2008
The Clayman teams up with 3D Custom Foam Inc.
3D Custom Foam Inc. hires The Clayman to help with fabricating foam props for 'Farewell Atlantis' currently in pre-productions in Vancouver BC. This feature film is reportedly Canada's biggest budget feature film estimated at $200 million and will be released late 2009.

It's based on the ancient Mayan myth that the world will undergo a catastrophe on Dec. 21, 2012, when it will enter into a new spiritual age.

October 19th, 2008
The Soul Man
We are happy to announce that 'The Soul Man', a short animated character introduction is currently being rendered in HD format and final post production tweaks are nearing completion. Along with client ThePsychicHighway.com, we will soon be introducing this wise and fun new character to the world..

September 24th, 2008
Mainstream Health hires The Clayman & Associates
Mainstream Health offers training and risk management solutions for obstetric medicine designed to give clinicians tools and information for saving mothers and for saving babies.

The presentation we are developing will contain 2D and 3D illustrations and 2 brand new 3D Character designs.

September 11th, 2008
When the student is ready...
...the teacher will appear.

I am thrilled to welcome Ms. Lisa Jane Gray to our network of associates.

Lisa Jane Gray is a veteran stop motion animation master with a career spanning 30 years.
Lisa was also my very first animation mentor who was kind enough to offer me an apprenticeship some 15 years ago.

She has since been traveling the world working with a variety of studios including Aardman and Cosgrove Hall and directing stop motion children series including Fifi and the flowerpots & Postman Pat.

We are busy updating the site with her credits and demo reel so be sure to come back soon for lots of fantastic clay and stop motion animation samples!

Welcome aboard LJ!!!

August 25, 2008
Introducing 'The Green Geezer'
Introducing yet another new character 'The Green Geezer' and animation series outline.
A crotchety old pensioner who by day complains endlessly about the current, social and environmental events.
By night, he sheds his chest high plaid pants, slips on his tights and fights the corporations which he complains about daily. Finally! A hero who puts his money where his mouth is!

August 9, 2008
Introducing 'Kid Clay'
I am happy to introduce my newest 3D design 'Kid Clay' who is the first in a series of characters that will make up The Clay Man Group. A hard rocking group of misfits who tour the world singing songs of Unity!

Move over Bono, Kid Clay is on his way!

August 7, 2008
Web and Network Administrative Associate, Tamas Erdesz joins The Clayman
I am happy to welcome Mr. Tamas Erdesz to our growing network of professional associates.
Tamas bring an exceptional undertanding, and years of network administration experience to the table and is a valuable addition to our team. Visit Tamas' associate page here to review his biography.

June 30, 2008
New Soulman render
Hi everyone, thought I'd post some latest experimental static renders of The Soulman.
A special thanks to Brian Uy for taking my clay sculpt into the world of CG in such an accurate manner.

June 30, 2008
Associate Comedy advisor Dan Joffre gets nominated...AGAIN!
Associate comedy advisor for TheClayMan.com, Mr. Dan Joffre, has been nominated for a 2008 Canadian Comedy Award - Best Male Improviser - Check Out His Nominated Improvised Song!
Voting Deadline is Tonight (June 30th) at Midnight.

This year has marked some big steps forward for Dan and the show, and your support would greatly be appreciated in today’s voting for these awards. Enjoy fabulous Canadian comedy talent by viewing other categories and nominees. What a line up!

TO VOTE:
If you've voted in the past, you should have been sent a voting package on June 17th. ?If you've never voted before, but you're a member of ACTRA, WGC, DGC or CAEA, you can register and vote ?

Just go to http://www.ccavoting.com> .
(Non industry members can possibly vote under ‘Comedy Association’)

June 27, 2008
The Soulman Cometh!
We are making good progress on The Soulman for ThePsychicHighway.com.
With all the elements now modeled, rigged and weighted, we hope to start animating very soon.

June 08, 2008
Breathe of Life Animation Festival
I was fortunate enough to be invited as a guest instructor to the first annual Breathe of Life Animation Festival and Workshop hosted by Event Director Mr. Ken Priebe.

A fun, family event celebrating the art of animation with activities including:
Claymation, pixelation, flip books, cel animation and a wall to wall doodle room followed by a wonderful 2 hour film festival screening some very rare classic animated short films.

May 26 , 2008
The Soulman Cometh! We are making good progress on our latest project for ThePsychicHighway.com.
Here are some preliminary samples of the two new characters currently in development, The Soulman and his trusty pet, the crow. We are just starting on texture maps, rigging and weighting and hope to have some animation samples within a few weeks.

May 23 , 2008
POP goes The Clayman! We are thrilled to introduce our latest associate Ms. Crystal Goodman, owner of Custom Pop Ups Inc. We are now offering 3D Corporate Pop Up Cards. These cards are the ideal direct marketing, promotional and advertising medium for your important campaign.

We have added a brand new extensive sample list featuring dozens of Pop Up Card samples located under our 'Services' section. Feel free to visit and see the affordable 3D marketing solution that we now offer to your company or organization.

May 9 , 2008
Chicken Dance version 3 'Chicken A'la King' is coming soon! We will be launching the newest version of our popular Dancing Chicken game in the next few days so if you are a fan of version 1 & 2, and love Elvis, why you're gonna love this ;O)

April 24 , 2008
ThePsychicHighway.com hires The Clayman to create 'The Soulman':
I am thrilled to announce an exciting new project for ThePsychicHighway.com ® who've secured our services to create a new 3d cartoon character spokesperson for their spirituality portal.

I will be adding updates as work commences and we look forward to breathing animated life into this fantastic new 'communicator'!

April 12 , 2008
Introducing: Mr. Swamee:
I am happy to introduce the second new original character designed for a new collection of communicators.
His name is Mr Swamee and he is the second in a new series of designs inspired by many of the books I've been reading lately. The subject of these books include Quantum Physics, Spirituality, Science, Astrology, Mysticism and Consciousness.

March 29 , 2008
Introducing: Mister Mystic:
I am happy to introduce the first new original character I've designed for myself in well over a year.
His name is Mister Mystic and he is the first of a new series of designs inspired by many of the books I've been reading lately. The subject of these books include Quantum Physics, Spirituality, Science, Astrology, Mysticism and Consciousness.

As a side note, we are also starting on Chicken Dance version 3.0, this time our chicken will gyrate and wiggle around while dressed as Elvis. Chicken A'La King is born and coming soon to TheClayMan.com

March 15 , 2008
Internships:
The Clayman has opened a limited number of intern positions for part-time Maya modelers and animators.

Does your demo reel need more content?
Would you like some industry experience?

Over the past 5 years, The Clayman has provided internships to dozens of aspiring animation school graduates who today mostly work full-time in the animation / gaming industry.

Email us for more information or to arrange an interview.

( Please do not email your demo reel as our email server space is limited.
Ideally, you have your reel posted online so send us a link along with your resume)

March 3 , 2008
The Clayman goes back to high school
Having recently moved back to my old neighbourhood in North Vancouver, I stopped in to visit my old high school, Carson Graham. I had to check and see if my ceramics teacher, Ms. Vernon still taught there but she had since retired. Instead I met the new clay teacher, Ms. Diane Fairey, who showed me some of her students works. It completely inspired me! Upon mentioning what I do for a living, she asked if I would come and do a presentation for some of her students.

Well, today was the day and it was a lot of fun!
Many of the students had great questions and the quality of their combined works was outstanding!
Sooo much talent at such a young age! There is hope for us all afterall ;O)

Thanks for having me Diane, it was great meeting all your kids!
With any luck, maybe we inspired some of them into a life of creativity!
Thanks to you too students, as your creative energy was very inspirational to me!

Sincerely,
The Clayman

February 16 , 2008
Teddyland approves 3D model
Happy to announce another reached milestone with the completion of the Teddyland Inc. mascot design now fleshed out in 3D, including simulated fur. Now we move forward with other props, rigs, weighting and some basic animation.

January 30, 2008
Teddyland approves design
With the design stage of the Teddyland mascot now approved we will now be moving full speed ahead on 3D models and website interface.

January 22, 2008
Presenting; A cheeky monkee!
Happy to announce that we finally shipped the cheeky monkee off to our clients at Two West Communications this morning. We were really happy with how they turned out and wanted to share some of the final photos with you.

January 7, 2008
Presenting; The Burghers of Calais
Well, it was a tough grind for the talented crew who helped fabricate them, but our Rodin reproduction of 'The Burghers of Calais' is now complete. We are happy to present the final product.

A special thanks to everyone who worked around the clock to see them realized on schedule.

January 2, 2008
And then there were three ( Monkee's that is )
Happy new year everyone! With the festivities over, it is time to get back to play!
Here is a sample of the 2nd & 3rd pose on Mr. Monkee. CNC'ing has already begun on the first and we hope to wrap this project up in the next week or two.

December 19, 2007
Monkee update
Little trickier than he looked in regards to balancing for a foam sculpt, but here is pose 1 of 3 total, we will be adding the other two poses soon and hope to start CNC'ing these in the next few days. We'll keep you posted.

December 17, 2007
Rodin's Burghers of Calais Update
We are nearing completion on the Rodin's Burghers of Calais project, they are all assembled now, primed and ready for a faux bronze finish.

I have added a few new photos below of the projects progress, along with photos of some of the motley crew who were involved with seeing it realized.

December 10, 2007
Teddy Land Inc. hire The Clayman & Associates
We are happy to announce our latest project for client Tom Publicover and his vision for Teddy Land Inc.
Teddy Land promises to be a brand new, retail toy shopping experience combining the interaction of online media, high tech retail stores and fun educational touring programs.

This project brings together the talents of Matthew Chitty, Nelson Dewey, Brian Uy, Shannon Ryan, and myself to create Tom's vision of a new online presence and e-commerce website design. We are also planning on adding the talents of John Mallory and Cam Stewart to fabricate fun new larger than life retail store 3D wall murals and props. We are very excited about this project and look forward to helping see it realized!

December 7, 2007
Two West Communications hire The Clayman & Associates
We are happy to announce a new project well underway for Kansas based, Two West Communications.
They have secured our services to fabricate three 2 " tall display pieces of thier cartoon Monkee logo/mascot.

This projects combines the talents of associates Brian Uy, Nelson Dewey, John Mallory, Cam Stewart and Two West's exceptional design team ( and yours truly ) on a smaller, but just as fun project.
The 3D models are being created now, and we hope to start cutting foam by early next week.

December 7, 2007
Rodin's Burghers of Calais Update
Season's greetings one and all!

We are making fantastic progress on the Rodin reproduction and thought to share some behind the scenes photos to give you a sense of all that is involved.

Beginning with a physical maquettes, which were laser scanned, we are now beginning the process on cutting the various pieces on our CNC machine, then the pieces are hand sanded and detailed. Below you find find some photos to illustrate this process to date.

November 15, 2007
Rodin
Hello again, thought I'd share even more exciting news with my visitors. We are happy to announce a new project that will have me working with my associates John Mallory and Cam Stewart at 3D Custom Foam. We have been hired by LA based agency to re-create the amazing sculpture ' The Burghers of Calais (Les Bourgeois de Calais) by Auguste Rodin. This is one of the most famous sculptures ever created by Rodin. Completed in 1888, it serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, an important French port on the English Channel, was under siege by the English for over a year.

(Re) Production on this amazing piece will begin immediately with a tight completion date of early January.
If you are as intrigued with the works of Rodin as we are, here is a wikipedia link explaining all there is to know about this powerful work of fine art! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burghers_of_Calais

October. 28, 2007
Introducing renowned Greek photographer Mr. George Rossidis ( The Clayman's uncle )
I'd like to share the photography of my uncle George Rossidis who I was fortunate enough to spend some time with this past summer. He is an accomplished, published and award winning photographer ( and even took me along to a photoshoot with him...well not the lioness shoot...darn ;O) )

October. 20, 2007
Jeffrey Scott's Dino Squad.
The DINO SQUAD series, developed and written for DIC Entertainment by associate advisor Jeffrey Scott is debuting on CBS Saturday morning next month. You can view the series trailer at www.DinoSquad.com.

October. 6, 2007
The Clayman's News / Blog is back!
After a long hiatus from the blog page, I have decided to re-implement it and bring my visitors up to date.
This time however, I have decided to make it a little more personal, sharing with my visitors more of a behind the scenes look at the life of a driven creator.

2007 has proven to be a turning point in so many personal & life changing ways. About this time last year, a successful and popular internship program was underway where nearly 25 young, talented intern animation artists joined our network of associates to work on a collection of new characters for our up-coming new short film 'Tough Chicken Part 2- Chicken A'la King' . During this time, we were also preparing business plans, and production schedules for a feature film project and brand new studio facility here in Vancouver.

Unfortunately, at the same time all this exciting momentum was moving forward, behind the scenes were some personal situations that ultimately halted all progress. One of these situations was my mother under-going life threatening heart surgery, preceded a few months earlier by my father in-law going thru the same thing. Once they were healed up however, and thank God for their health, the health of my long term ( 20+ year ) marriage became terminal.

Shaken up, feeling un-inspired by this, along with the collapse of the feature film project and subsequent new studio plans, I pressed the pause button on life, sold off all my personal belongings, packed and stored my studio gear and terminated the internship program. Then chaperoned my mom, against her doctors recommendation, on her trip back to Greece and Egypt, where she hadn't been in over 50 years.

The trip turned out to be a journey of a life time, introducing me to a huge family I never knew before. Aunts, Uncles and soo many cousins showed us a fantastic and memorable time. The history in Greece and Egypt is so very rich, along with the traditions. Feel free to peruse through the thumbnail photo montage below.

Many more photo's were taken, but felt this gives my visitors a good overall look at my journey.

I am happy to be back, have a new smaller studio set up and already have several way cool projects in the pipeline. Come back soon and often to hear the latest from the Man of Clay.

December. 15, 2006
The NFB Animation Hothouse is back
for its 4th edition and we are looking for talented up-and-coming animation filmmakers and artists in other disciplines who are about to take a leap into animation to take part in this intensive 12-week program in Montreal. We would greatly appreciate you posting the call (available in full at the link below) or forwarding this email to anyone who you think would be a good candidate.
----------------
NFB Animation Hothouse Call for Submissions: Deadline January 15, 2007

The National Film Board of Canada seeks submissions from emerging filmmakers (young and old), and artists intrigued by animation art, for the fourth edition of the Animation Hothouse. This year’s Hothouse runs from March 5 to May 25, 2007, at the Animation Studio in Montreal.

Six selected participants will direct a 30 second film, from creative inception all the way through final sound mix and video release in twelve intense weeks.

Many thanks,
Maral Mohammadian
Associate Producer, Animation Studio
National Film Board of Canada
514-283-2510www.nfb.ca

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2006
Our friends at JibJab.com release their new Weird Al Yankovic music video!
" Hey JibJabber!
My brother and I are ecstatic to announce our latest JibJab -- a collaboration with 'Weird Al' Yankovic called "Do I Creep You Out".

Watch it for free... send it to your friends... and add it to your blog or MySpace page!'

P.S. Thanks to everyone who voted in our "Great Sketch Experiment"! Voting ends soon, so if you haven't seen them yet, we invite you to watch all six videos and pick your favorite!

Friday , November 10th, 2006
3D CUSTOM FOAM WINS 2006 BURNABY AWARD FOR BUSINESS INNOVATION
The Clayman congratulates our associates John Mallory and Cam Stewart.

3D Custom Foam was awarded the 2006 Business Innovation Award last night at a gala function held at the Hilton Vancouver Metrotown. The event, hosted by the City of Burnaby and the Burnaby Board of Trade featured local T.V. personalities Tony Parsons and Wayne Cox as the Masters of Ceremonies.

The award, sponsored and presented by Vancity, recognized ingenuity and innovation in product design, marketing, science, technology, productivity, commercialization, business planning, employee training and other business activities.

3D Custom Foam Inc. is a Burnaby based company. It transforms 3D laser scans and 3D computer models into expanded polystyrene shapes and sculptures via 3D CNC technology. The company has revolutionized B.C.’s film industry by providing sculpted expanded polystyrene in a quicker and far more accurate fashion.

Shortly after the award presentation, John Mallory (co-founder and Vice President of 3D Custom Foam Inc.) commented “our company is proud to be a part of the business community in Burnaby and truly honoured to be recognized with this award.” He then announced that 3D Custom Foam will soon offer the film industry and other markets “smaller, highly detailed props CNC’d from various dense milling materials.” “It’s just a natural progression of our capabilities” he added.

We are happy to announce the completion of a fun project created excluslively for Houlihan Lokey Investment Banking Services based in Los Angeles, CA. The project was a corporate commission to create three fun 3D characters based on their companies mascot 'The Deutschman'. The original sculpture was created in polymer clay, then silicon molds were made from which 3 polyresin reproduction castings were poured. Here is a sample of The Deutschman.

We have a number of projects in the works including rapid progress on our two short films Tough Chicken, and Tough Chicken Part 2- Chicken A'la King. We will be introducing almost a dozen fun new 3D character designs soon so come back regularly for updates!

Monday, July 24, 2006
The Clayman & Associates featured on Vancouver's CITY TV's Breakfast Television - The Live Eye crew spent the morning with us featuring several different components of the many 3D services we collectively offer. Click here to see the interview online!
Special thanks to the CITY TV crew!

VanArts is pleased to announce that one of its employees has written a new book,
The Art of Stop-Motion Animation by Ken A. Priebe, now available from Thomson Course
Technology!

Features chapters on history, building puppets, animation exercises, interviews with
industry professionals and a foreward by Corpse Bride co-director Mike Johnson!

Ken earned a BFA from the University of Michigan, where he studied art and film and
directed several independent animation shorts. He has worked as an animator for several
childrens' games and freelance projects for Hasbro Interactive and other independent
filmmakers. Ken currently works in admissions and teaches part-time courses in 2D and
Stop-Motion Animation.

The book is available at www.courseptr.com and also at Amazon.ca.

( The Clayman is also mentioned in this book! )

Sunday, June 18, 2006
Mondo Artshow & Sale Fundraiser
Art.Fundraiser.Drinks.Band

On JUNE 21st, come to OPENING NIGHT of the much anticipated second installment of Albert Art's Mondo Mama's series, on display until July at the NELSON CAFE.

High Quality Digital Art inspired by Retro poster pop-art and its affordable.
Wednesday June 21st 7PM
NELSON CAFE (Corner of Granville St. and Nelson St.) Vancouver... CANADA
655 Nelson St. V6B 2E5

On JUNE 21st, come to OPENING NIGHT of the much anticipated second installment of Albert Art's Mondo Mama's series, on display until July at the NELSON CAFE.

Also on sale is the return of the popular Albertart T-shirts! All proceeds from the sale of Albertart T-shirts will be donated to the CARES Foundation for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, a condition Albert's 2 year old cousin was born with.

Other artists showcasing their work are Merritt Wong with his Anime/Manga series:

There will be drink specials and a Live-Band (ASTORIA) will be performing. Admission is FREE!!!

Please come out and show your support for unique local talent, listen to good music and Fundraise for Charity. What better way to spend a Summer night?

Wednesday, June 14, 2006
The Clayman's Dancing Chicken
We are happy to announce the release a fun, new interactive flash time-waster, starring our very own 'Tough Chicken' character.

Monday , May 27, 2006
News from The Clayman

We are happy to release TheClayMan.com vs. 2006, over the past several months I've been working with my exceptional team of web developers in completely re-designing our website. We have also added several new services to our repertoire including 3D Photography Lenticular Printing and 2D Illustration , Character Design and caricatures. We are also creating a fun new interactive flash game featuring our 'Tough Chicken' character.

Monday , May 27, 2006
Animator Patrick Smith and the Breakdancing Worm from the "Life Takes Recycling" Visa Commercial!

My name is Stephanie Holbrook and I am contacting you on behalf of the animator/filmmaker Patrick Smith and Visa, who recently worked together on Visa's popular, new animated commercial, "Life Takes Recycling." You can view the commercial here on Mr. Smith's official Visa page: http://www.blendfilms.com/visa

The commercial is part of Visa's first new brand campaign in 20 years, "Life Takes Visa." After reviewing your blog, I thought your audience might be interested in some exclusive, behind-the-scenes information directly from the creator's mouth.

The "Life Takes Visa" brand campaign empowers cardholders to stand up to life’s challenges, laugh at its jokes, savor its sweetness and continue down its unpredictable path. As a part of this new campaign, Visa is currently airing the TV commercial Mr. Smith animated... which you may recall because of its unique central character, a breakdancing worm. Mr. Smith's work has been seen on MTV, several Spike and Mikes Collections, and in hundreds of international film festivals. He also recently celebrated the official world premiere of his new animated film, Puppet, at The Tribeca International Film Festival.

Mr. Smith's official Web site now features his first Q&A about his work on the new Visa campaign and exclusive (you can't get them anywhere else) instant message graphics and Web site icons that feature the breakdancing worm. Again, you can review all of this information on Mr. Smith's official Visa page: http://www.blendfilms.com/visa.

We invite you to feature Patrick Smith's Q&A (pasted below) directly on your site or link to it on his site (or both). Site visitors can:

* View the "Life Takes Recycling" commercial
* Download exclusive instant message or Web site icons featuring the commercial's star (the breakdancing worm)
* Read a Q&A with Patrick about his experience working on Visa's new brand campaign
* Add the commercial and the breakdancing worm to their own sites or blogs (through YouTube)

Stephanie Holbrook, on behalf of VISA

INTERVIEW Q&A - Artist Paul Smith Discusses His Work on Visa's New Campaign

Question: Your animations are featured in Visa’s new TV commercial "Life Takes Recycling." How did Visa find you? Had you worked with them before?

Patrick Smith: My studio got a call from Visa's ad agency. I imagine they knew of me through my other commercial work, perhaps the Zoloft "Blob" spots, which have a similar, simplistic character.

Q: The commercial, “Life Takes Recycling,” features an animated worm break dancing to a song by hip hop legend Afrika Bambaataa, “Looking for the Perfect Beat.” What came first, the worm or the music?

PS: They kind of evolved at the same time. We were watching the movie "Breakin'" to try to get the right feel and some ideas for dance moves. The idea to use that song came around that time. The Afrika Bambaataa song is just such a classic break dance song.

Q: Can you discuss the creative process and how the final idea for the commercial came about? With the new “Life Takes Visa” campaign a break dancing worm seems a bit unusual. What inspired you to take this creative direction? How long did it take to create your animation from beginning to end?

PS: Not having the need for a checkbook, why not make a flip book out of it?! It's something I would do. And a breakdancing worm is exactly the type of "doodle" I would draw. We had several ideas, all sort of random and goofy, but the idea of having an earthworm breakdancing stood out as something everyone wanted to see.
The animation was done in two weeks. Most of that time was spent trying to translate breakdance moves to a character with no arms or legs. "How would a worm do the windmill? The moon walk? Yes... the robot!!" Fun stuff. We pretty much figured out every move, despite not having any limbs to work with.

Q: What type of reaction has the ad gotten? Have you seen an increased interest in your art since the commercial aired? Any special requests for the worm?

PS: In the first version, the bird grabs the worm and flies away with it in its mouth, but it was a bit sad. Poor guy. If I was going to finish this spot, the worm would get all Bruce Lee on the bird and set things right.

Q: The commercial's message is simple: pay your bills with a Visa check card. What are the benefits of using a Visa check card for paying bills?

PS: It’s a lot faster and easier to pay bills with a Visa card than it is with checks. You can decide to pay your bills that way as a one time thing or set up automatic bill payment. And it’s also a great way to earn rewards points – just for paying monthly utilities.

Q: When did you decide you wanted to be an artist for a living? Can you talk a little bit about your journey as an artist and how you got where you are today?

PS: I originally went to school at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for painting, and got into animation right after college. I moved to New York City and worked at just about every animation studio in town, trying to teach myself as much as possible. My first big gig was directing a show called "Downtown" for MTV. After that I directed the last several seasons of "Daria." Then I began to make independent animated short films, which got me into doing commercials. And here we are, animating dancing worms.

Q: How would you describe your animation style? Do you have any favorite artists? Whose work has inspired you?

PS: I really admire the old Disney artists like Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. I also love Jamie Hewlett, the creator of Tank Girl. Also, Hisko Hulsing, a Dutch animator, is a massive influence to my independent work.

Q: Your new animated film, "Puppet," was premiered at the Tribeca International Film Festival in early May. It’s the story of a young man who fabricates a simple sock puppet that ends up inflicting abuse upon its creator. Any hints at the message behind the animation? How is the new film different from your past work, if at all?

PS: "Puppet" really pushed me as an animator. Creating a real person who thinks, who feels pain, and isn't just a whacky cartoon, can be very challenging. The irony of the story is, of course, that he's beating himself up. This is something that most artists can relate to; a personal creation taking on a life of its own, and beating you to a pulp.

The Meatrix II: Revolting - Online now!
The wait is over! The Meatrix II: Revolting is now live at www.themeatrix2.com - check it out.

And don't forget to visit our web site after the film for our animated 360 degree Interactive feature and online discussion forum. www.themeatrix.com/inside

Special thanks to Alfie Lau and the Burnaby NOW newspaper for a nice feature article on our studio;

Paul Moldovanos knew his dream job wasn't in the family restaurant business.
The Moldovanos name is synonymous with restaurants that formerly operated in the New Westminster area, but while his father still runs the family restaurant at the corner of Hastings and Boundary in North Burnaby, Paul Moldovanos is operating his own 3-D cartoon communications studio in the Edmonds area.

The studio, which is set up in his home, home can easily accommodate Paul and up to six associates he may need to sub-contract for the animation work. Moldovanos, trained as a cartoonist himself, takes care of most of the illustrations.

"I started this as a hobby in the late '90s," Moldovanos said, adding he had previously worked with a Victoria-based company that was doing some work in the animation industry. As he got more interested in the creative side, he started his own company and moved back to Burnaby and thus was born The Clayman and Associates Studio.

His studio now specializes in dimensional clay illustration, three-dimensional stop motion and computer-generated animation production. And from this work, Moldovanos has partnered with John Mallory at 3D Custom Foam Inc. to work on a couple of large foam sculptures that are based on Moldovanos' smaller clay creations.

Some of Moldovanos' big-name clients include the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - a project in which he developed the posters for their national water safety campaign - Pfizer Pharmaceuticals and AtomShockwave, which is currently distributing one of The Clayman's short animated films on the Internet.

Moldovanos emphasized that his business does not finance third-party properties, nor does it accept unsolicited scripts unless somebody is looking to hire him for production services.
What the Clayman will do is provide anything from detailed illustrations to computer-generated animation on a variety of platforms, from television to Internet to short movies.
And while Moldovanos is trained as an artist, he knows that he'll get better results on the computer animation side by hiring associates for particular jobs.

When projects outgrow his home based studio, Moldovanos has been known to rent out studio space but, by keeping costs low, he hopes to get more contracts.
"We believe in putting (our) dollars where they belong: in the hands of our experienced crews and in the hardware we need to create amazing images," Moldovanos says on his website. "We couple the 'outside the box' low-overhead thinking with years of experience. Projects are completed on time, on budget (and) by artists who know how to do it right the first time."

Working out of his own home wouldn't work without the cooperation of his wife Tana Lynn, who is a makeup artist for the movie industry. "My wife is very supportive," said Moldovanos. "She works with real actors and I work with clay ones. Though the two jobs are very unrelated, we have quite a harmonious relationship."

While Moldovanos is always looking for new associates to work with him, he does have some words of advice for people interested in pursuing a career in clay animation production.
"You (need to) fully understand what kind of patience is needed for this kind of work," Moldovanos advises. "The style of animation is secondary to first knowing and understanding the basics of traditional, classical animation. Those who are flexible and fluent in all styles of animation are in high demand internationally.

Moldovanos himself has gained worldwide recognition, having been interviewed by local television outlets and also by NHK Japanese television.

Blue Ridge Film Festival's ANI-Visioneers! School ANI-Teams Competition deadline extended!

Submissions accepted in these Formats:
(Which we are also calling reels);
DVD VIDEO, 2 copies (Which play on a standard DVD Player.)
Website URL, (where animation is stored, for judging!) Fee $25.00 School animation teams of 3-6 student members
The ANI-TMS is a THEMED competition, made by a team of: 3-6 students.
This Years' ANI-TMS Theme is "A HERO IS MADE"

TRT DVD Reel (Total Running Time) submissions: (The DVD must also be able to be played on a standard TV DVD player!)
ANI-Mini Spot: 20-60 seconds
Individual Categories:
1 - ANI-TMS-MI
Animation for teams of Middle School
2 - ANI-TMS-HI
Animation for teams of High School
3 - ANI-TMS-Coll
Animation for teams in college

We are accepting film & animation
entries now, for professional as well
as independent & student levels. Please
go to : www.blueridgeswvafilm.org
Click on the Vision Film festival logo,
& click on the Call for Entries!

British-made claymation film Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit took eight animated film awards, including best animated film, at the 33rd Annual Annie Awards in Los Angeles.

Wallace & Gromit beat fellow Oscar contenders Corpse Bride and Howl's Moving Castle and digitally animated films such as Chicken Little and Madagascar. Nick Park and Steve Box took home best directing, best music and best writing awards for their work on the film.

The Annie Awards, given Saturday, are presented by The International Animated Film Society, and often predict the winner of the Academy Award's best animated film category. Park created the cheese-loving Wallace and his dog Gromit for a film school project and introduced the characters in TV shorts in 1989 to 1995. Park and Britain's Aardman Animations were also behind the 2000 animated film Chicken Run. In Curse of the Were-Rabbit, they track a rabbit that is stealing from local vegetable gardens. An award for voice acting went to British actor Peter Sallis, who has been the voice of Wallace since the show's inception. The film picked up further awards in character animation, effects, storyboarding and production design. Unlike many modern animated movies, Wallace and Gromit are crafted of clay and moved one frame at a time with stop-motion action, enhanced by computer animation. Aardman Animation produced in association with U.S. animation firm, Dreamworks.

Animated television production: Star Wars: Clone Wars II, Cartoon Network Studios. - Animated video game: Ultimate Spider-Man, Activision/Treyarch. - Voice acting in an animated TV production: Seth MacFarlane, the voice of "Stewie" in Family Guy. - Best home entertainment: Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch has a Glitch.

The Clayman invited as a judge for the 2006 Vision Film Festival- Ani Visioneers

The Clayman writes: I am happy to announce the upcoming 2006 Vision Film Festival- Ani Visioneers presented by the Blue Ridge - Southwest Virginia Film Office who've invited me as a judge for the competition.

The film festival will be showcasing films from around the world, including an animation category.

Walker Nelms, Carol Marlowe Nelms, Jamal Millner, Carolyn Moock, David Brian Baker, Carol Zaronikos, Robert Dancik, Ramin Zahed, Editor in Chief, Animation Magazine www.animationmagazine.net & Ryan Ball, Online Editor/Writer, Animation Magazine www.animationmagazine.net

Meyer-Franklin Travel hires The Clayman & Associates to create caricatures for a year long advetrising campaign. This first stage of development will involve the creation of a fun new caricatured mascot who throughout the year will undergo a number of situation and costume changes.

House of Mouse is teaming up with Pixar in a $7.4 billion deal. Steve Jobs to become board member at Disney.

Walt Disney has announced that it is buying Pixar, the animated studio led by Apple head Steve Jobs, in a deal worth $7.4 billion. Speculation about a deal being imminent raged on Wall Street for the past few weeks. Disney has released all of Pixar's films so far, but the companies' current distribution deal was set to expire following the release of this summer's "Cars,"

The merger brings together Disney's historic franchise of animated characters, such as Mickey, Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck, with Pixar's stable of cartoon hits, including the two "Toy Story" films, "Finding Nemo" and "The Incredibles."

From DreamWorks Animation and Aardman comes the computer-animated comedy "Flushed Away." starring the voices of Hugh Jackman and four-time Oscar nominee Kate Winslet. Rounding out the main cast of "Flushed Away" are two-time Oscar nominee Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Shane Richie, Geoffrey Palmer and Simon Callow.

Set on and beneath the streets of London, "Flushed Away" is the story of Roddy (Hugh Jackman), an upper-crust "society rat," who is rather rudely evicted from his Kensington flat when he is flushed down into Ratropolis, the bustling sewer world found under London's streets. There, he meets Rita (Kate Winslet), an enterprising scavenger who works the sewers in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Together they must navigate their way through a busy city filled with dangers for any rat, including terrifying rapids, treacherous whirlpools and, most of all, the villainous Toad (Ian McKellen) and his hench-rats Spike and Whitey (Andy Serkis and Bill Nighy). Though completely out of his element at first, the privileged Roddy finds himself an unlikely hero when he learns that Ratropolis is in danger from the world above. The computer-animated comedy marks two firsts for the multiple Oscar-winning team at Aardman:

While the studio will continue to produce their trademark clay animated films, this is their first computer-animated feature film and is the first film under their banner not to be entirely produced at their studios in Bristol, England. The creative team is split between Bristol and DreamWorks Animation's Glendale campus, while the computer animation will be accomplished entirely in Glendale. The film is being directed by Aardman's Sam Fell and David Bowers, and produced by Peter Lord, David Sproxton and Cecil Kramer. The film will be released in November 2006.

VFXAsia2006 International Visual Effects, Animation & Animatronics Exhibition & Conference

Tony Hayman from the VFXAsia2006 International Visual Effects, Animation & Animatronics Exhibition & Conference writes;

VFXAsia2006 International Visual Effects, Animation & Animatronics Exhibition & Conference Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at the ultra modern KL Convention Centre 22-25th March 2006 Innovators, designers, producers, service providers, media & entertainment firms related to the visual effects, animation and animatronics industries- VFXAsia2006 now brings them ALL together in a single forum of idea exchange and collaboration - the only event of its kind in Asia.

This is the convention to interact with the prominent industry players from around the world.
Meet the estimated 240 exhibitors and over 14,000-strong visting stakeholders, content buyers, high-powered executives and the creative community who are hungry for new technologies, solutions and ideas. This is why VFXAsia2006 is THE strategic opportunity to forge new partnerships, offshoring and international market expansion!

NO MATTER WHAT YOUR INDUSTRY... Special Effects Visual Effects and Animation Animatronics Robotics Motion Pictures Television Video Production Post-Production Games Theme Parks Pyrotechnics NO MATTER WHAT YOUR ROLE... Television Station Owners Studio Executives & Producers Station Managers Directors & Cinematographers Special Effects Make-up Artistes Video & Film Editors Programming Executives Animators & Visual Effects Artists Content Developers Cameramen & Videographers Prop Makers Video Production Professionals Advertising & PR Executives Systems Integrators & VARs Media Consultants & Analysts IT/IS/MIS Managers YOUR BUSINESS GROWTH STARTS AT VFXAsia2006. Copyrights VFXAsia 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Contact SMARTravel to arrange airport pick-ps, hotel accommodation, entry tickets,city tours, arrangement of business meetings, extension tours to beautiful tropical resorts etc We specialize in everything to make your visit enjoyable & successful.

Please contact: tonyhayman@businesspeoplesearch.com or visit our website and complete an enquiry form: http://smartravel.businesspeoplesearch.com

Come to KL (it's a great place to visit & has some of he best & least expensive shopping in the world!) and take the opportunity to visit some idyllic resorts before or after the show.

The Visual Effects Society (VES), the entertainment industry's only organization of visual effects professionals, today announced the nominees for the 4 th Annual VES Awards recognizing outstanding visual effects in twenty (20) categories of film, television, commercials, music videos and games. Nominees were chosen on Saturday, January 7, 2006 by a panel of over sixty (60) visual effects professionals, all VES members, who viewed hundreds of entry submissions at the screening facilities of FotoKem in Burbank.

The announcement was made by Eric Roth, VES Executive Director, who said "We received
over 200 submissions from over a half dozen countries around the world this year, which mirrors
the kind of growth we're experiencing as a global organization. With that growth has come
greater diversity, complexity, and creativity - hallmarks of the best and brightest the visual
effects field has to offer."

The awards process continues with a special annual event on January 21- the VES SHOW
AND TELL EVENT 2006- which will afford an opportunity for VES nominees to demonstrate
the secrets behind the visual effects "magic" that earned each artist a place for this year's
awards. "This year's work is truly amazing. Showcasing 'before and after' material and having
Q & A for each of these different categories allows the nominees to highlight the various
techniques and artistry in much more depth than any other awards competition," explains Tim
McGovern, VES Awards Co-Chairman.

The SHOW AND TELL EVENT 2006 is free to VES members and is also open to the public at $20 per ticket. Tickets to the event, which will be held at the Skirball Cultural Center, are available by calling the VES office at (310) 822-9181 or may also be purchased at the door.

Final voting for all categories will take place between January 25 and February 12, 2006.
Winners will be announced at the 4th Annual VES Awards gala on February 15, 2006 at the
Hollywood Palladium.

Academy Award - winning director John Lasseter will receive the VES
Georges Melies Award for Artistic Excellence Award.

Jim Morris, the founding Chair of the VES, will receive the Board of Directors Award.

A complete list of all the nominees for the 4th Annual Awards follows and is also available on the
VES Awards website at http://www.vesawards.com

Happy New Year!

The Clayman writes: Wishing my visitors all the best for 2006! Hope you had a delightful holiday season! Watch for many new projects and changes coming to TheClayMan.com this year. We are making notable progress on several short proprietary films including 'Tough Chicken' and ' TC-2 Chicken A'la King'. We are also in the midst of a complete website redesign and will be introducing a new flash navigation option for those with a broadband internet connection. May 2006 see all your dreams come true! Sincerely, The Clayman

VFX ASIA2006 INTERNATIONAL VISUAL EFFECTS, ANIMATRONICS & ANIMATION EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE

VFX ASIA2006 INTERNATIONAL VISUAL EFFECTS, ANIMATRONICS & ANIMATION EXHIBITION AND CONFERENCE 22 - 25 March 2006 - Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia

EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS IN THE WORLD'S FASTEST GROWING ECONOMY - ASIA
The growing market for high-quality visual effects in movies, TV programmes, commercials and game development has challenged the Asian entertainment & media industry to outsource international visual effects companies, animation studios and post-production houses for new ideas and solutions.

According to a Straits Times report on December 6, 2005, the Singapore government is investing S$1 billion to boost the digital media industry in Singapore (see attachment). Companies supplying these products/services will now have the opportunity to meet film makers from all over Asia, television producers from 200 Asian TV stations and creative directors from more than 1,500 international and regional advertising agencies in Asia Pacific region when they gather at VFX ASIA2006 - the First International Visual Effects, Animatroncis and Animation Exhibition and Conference.

Here's a great opportunity to expand your business by exhibiting your products and/or services at the only event of its kind in Asia. Book your space now and secure your choice location immediately! More than 45% of the floor space has been reserved. For more information on exhibiting at VFX ASIA2006, contact Talib or Jon Tan at email: jsppics@singnet.com.sg or six@streamyx.com or visit our website: www.vfxasia.com

Share Your Knowledge At VFX ASIA2006 By Speaking At The Conference VFX ASIA 2006 International Conference Asia's leading visual effects, animatronics and animation event is inviting all industry professionals to be a part of the event by speaking at its International Conference. If you would like to share your knowledge & expertise with the industry, submit an abstract to us now. Closing date is January 15, 2006

Logline for script: An absolute quirky and offbeat "tail" of adventure in which a mis-guided blues-singing reindeer is detoured from the road of love in quest of his musical destiny. The madness of his manager's sinister plan to take over the world leaves the hoofed hero in a pickle with the most outrageous characters, including "Big Red" him self, tailing him in hot pursuit.

JibJab's Got a New Political Cartoon!

Gregg Spiridellis from JibJab.com writes:

From the sick and twisted minds at JibJab comes a year end roundup starring a beleaguered President and the laundry list of problems he's faced in 2005...

I recently completed a new private commission sculpted caricature for retiring HCareers.com CEO David Curry, The polymer clay sculpture stands aprx. 12 inches tall and was completed in under 14 days. Props were constructed using a variety of materials including brass, foam and wood.

Comedian Richard Pryor died Saturday of a heart attack, his wife told CNN. He was 65. Pryor had been ill with multiple sclerosis. Pryor became a legend of comedy by tapping his rage and agonies for laughs. He was the biggest name in standup comedy in the 1970s, winning Grammy awards for his comedy albums. He also appeared in nearly 40 films. Pryor had long been in fragile health. He suffered a massive heart attack and underwent triple bypass surgery in 1990.

I am happy to introduce three new intern CG modelers and animators to our big happy family.
Mitch Leathem, Bernadeth Senarta and Kris Pestano are graduates from the Art Institute of Vancouver's and CDIS comprehensive 3D Animation program. We currently have them assisting us in the creation of several new animation properties and look forward to releasing progress samples shortly.

Amelia from CreditCardReform.com writes:

Paul, Last winter you posted on the comical animation The Drugs I Need about the paisley pill Progenitorivox which was the brainchild of the activists at Consumers Union.

They have just released another one --it's about ruthless credit card companies and the way they suck our wallets dry. Everyone should see this one before whipping out their plastic for the holiday shopping.

Your readers are sure to get a kick out of it while also speaking out about abusive credit card practices. Click on the link below to see the animation: www.CreditCardReform.org

Friends, Filmmakers, Animators, Fans, Avoid Eye Contact, the Best of NYC Independent Animation DVD, Volume 1 and 2 can now be purchased together for a special price. For more info, visit http://www.avoideyecontact.com

Each DVD contains numerous animated shorts, together with extras such as pencil tests, commentary, art galleries, and more! Also now available, individual DVD compilations from animators like Bill Plympton, Nina Paley, Patrick Smith and George Griffin. Thank you for your support of Independent Animation!

Fran Krause Bill Plympton Mo Willems Patrick Smith Alex Budovsky Bill Plympton John Dilworth John Schnall Signe Baumane Christy Karacas Jesse Schmal Nina Paley George Griffin Michael Overbeck Chris Conforti Rohitash Rao PES Square Footage Films is a cooperative group of artists that self publish the DVD collection "Avoid Eye Contact".

For more information, please contact info@squarefootagefilms.com, or to contact a specific Animator, go to http://www.avoideyecontact.com and select "artists" from the menu.

Dan Joffre's Crazy Comedy Christmas Tour!

We are proud to announce a hilarious new show being produced by associate Dan Joffre- That Improv Guy!

H. R. MacMILLAN PLANETARIUM UNDER MARTIAN ATTACK!!!

H. R. MacMILLAN PLANETARIUM UNDER MARTIAN ATTACK!!!

Thursday thru Sundays at the H. R. MacMillan Space Centre Oct. 27th - Nov. 20th, 2005
- TheWarOfTheWorlds.ca

We are happy to announce the release of our latest educational poster design created for the
The US Army Corps of Engineers of Engineers 2005 National water safety campaign.

This years theme was ' Life Jackets for Life' and we've created a charming new design featuring a Grandfather swimming with his Grandson. both wearing brightly colored life jackets.

The new poster design can be viewed by visiting our Educational Cartoon portfolio page here .

The science of Stop Motion by The American Institute of Physics

Martha Heil from The American Institute of Physics writes;

Hello Clayman, Here's a feature article on the science of materials in stop-mo animation.
Please feel free to post it to your website.

With Halloween coming up and two new dark animated movies in theaters, Inside Science delves behind the scenes and straight into the polymeric goo that make these movies ooze off the screen.

For more information, contact Chris Rowe,
crowe@aip.org American Institute of Physics 301-209-3136

One of my favorite websites, JibJab.com has done it again with their release of Big Box Mart.

A new age of interactive internet entertainment is born!
Check out this new film!

BRISTOL, England -- The company behind the new "Wallace and Gromit" film said Monday its "entire history" has been destroyed in a fire at a warehouse containing props and sets.

The roof and three interior walls of the Aardman Animations building in Bristol, west England collapsed after the blaze tore through the Victorian building, fire officials said

The fire broke out at about 5:30 a.m. (0430 GMT), with flames reaching 100 feet into the air. The cause of the blaze was being investigated.

Festival du nouveau cinema - Montreal

Julie Cuisinier, Relations Presse, Festival du nouveau cinema - Montreal writes:

Hi Clayman, thank you very much for relaying the information about our festival.

Hi Clayman, after reviewing the entries of your Corpse Bride contest we have decided on a winner...

And the winner is...
Joe Schmidt! (He had the very punny entry- creative and cute)

I'm DYING to win The Corpse Bride Contest, so I'M DIGGING DOWN into my BRAIN for ideas, with GRAVE FEAR that it might be my FUNERAL, a real NIGHTMARE. To cause those DREADFUL thoughts to DECEASE, make no BONES about it, I will GROOM my BODY of writing, with MONSTEROUS effort, to come ALIVE... although I'm working in the DARK.

First, I must BURY MYSELF with DECOMPOSING my life's OBITUARY into a SKELETON OUTLINE, then FLESH OUT the BODY of text so it won't be too STIFF and STOPMOTION.

First place GHOST to me because I KILLED MYSELF to create this. Have a HEART so this wasn't all in VEIN. I'm COFFIN and TOMB sick from writing to even go to the wedding reHEARSEal.

I'll be a ZOMBIE before this WEDDING OF IDEAS comes to a FINAL REST. I'm DEAD on my feet and EYE MAGGOT behind, but AISLE be as fast as I can. I VOW to e-mail this........so, don't expect a RING from me.

5. It's probably the closest I will ever get to Johnny Depp.
4. I'm a big Tim Burton (and Johnny Depp) fan
3. I collect pop culture toys & anything Corpse-related would fit right in
2. If I win I would be so grateful I'd post it on my web-site

1. It would make up for the fact that I will likely be a corpse before I am a bride again!

We are happy to release our newest 3D foam samples currently in development. Beginning with some original 3D cartoon sculptures, our associates at 3D Custom Foam Inc. used state of the art 3D scanning and CNC milling technology to recreate new, larger replica's. The new samples can be seen on our new 3D Foam page located here.

Thanks to everyone who entered our 'Coprse Bride' contest.
The contest is now closed and we are reviewing the overwhelming number of entries we've recieved.

The Clayman writes;
Warner Bros. has supplied us with a prize package of some dreadfully cool stuff to give away from Tim Burton's highly anticipated release, The Corpse Bride.

All you have to do to win is this:
Write an email to paul@theclayman.com let us know why you should win! The word Bride must be put in the subject line! Entries must be submitted by no later than September 26, 2005. All winners will be notified via e-mail.
Good Luck!

Actor Bob Denver, Best Known As TV's 'Gilligan,' Dies At 70
MTV News report:

Bob Denver, the veteran character actor who poked fun at the counterculture with a pair of zany but iconic sitcom roles, died Friday due to complications from cancer treatment. He was 70 years old.

Born in New Rochelle, New York, the spindly actor with the animated face will continue to be remembered in television syndication as both the bumbling first mate Gilligan on "Gilligan's Island" and the clueless beatnik Maynard G. Krebs on "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis." In recent years, the reclusive Denver had retreated from the Hollywood spotlight and devoted more time to his family.

Hi Clayman, wanted to share our latest project with you.
Titled ' Mom and Pop Vs. Walmart!' a toon where Mom & Pop fight back against the evil Walmart.
Take a look it here, and feel free to share it with your visitors :O)

Tim Burton's 'Corpse Bride' coming soon!
Jenna Green from Warner Brothers writes;

Dear Clayman,
My name is Jenna Green, and I'm from Warner Bros. Pictures. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is coming out this September 23, and I'd like to offer you the opportunity to help Warner Bros. rise to the occasion! I think your site, The Clayman, would be a great place to spread the word about Corpse Bride.

Corpse Bride is a movie about death, romance, and optimism, brought to life as only Tim Burton could create. Through the use of stop-motion animation (the same style used for Burton's 1993 hit The Nightmare Before Christmas), Corpse Bride utilizes Burton's unique visual style and dark sense of humor, along with the considerable talents of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, and Christopher Lee.

I'd love to work with you to promote this film, and I think it's something your visitors would really enjoy. I can send you great information, like movie pictures, banners, links to the official site, and other goodies. And if you'd like to set up a contest on your site, I can supply some fun movie prizes for your winners. I've included a link to the official site and a more detailed summary of the film at the bottom of this e-mail to give you a better idea of what Corpse Bride is all about.

Please let me know if you're interested in this movie, or if you have any questions. Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear from you soon!

It all began with a grave misunderstanding...On the way home to his fiancee, Victor (Johnny Depp) stops to practice his wedding vows, placing his ring on a stick poking out of the ground as a joke. He gets more than he bargained for when the stick turns out to be the finger of a dead woman, and now the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter) is after him, claiming to legally be his bride and intent on showing Victor the time of his after-life.

Film Synopsis: Corpse Bride carries on in the dark, romantic tradition of Burton's classic films Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Set in a 19th century European village, this stop-motion, animated feature follows the story of Victor (Johnny Depp), a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to a mysterious Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham-Carter), while his real bride, Victoria (Emily Watson), waits bereft in the land of the living. Though life in the Land of the Dead proves to be a lot more colorful than his strict Victorian upbringing, Victor learns that there is nothing in this world, or the next, that can keep him away from his one true love. It's a tale of optimism, romance and a very lively afterlife, told in classic Tim Burton style.

The Clayman writes;
The Clayman's 3D Cartoon Communications is happy to announce a new strategic association with Vancouver based 3D Custom Foam.

We now offer of variety of additional services including Lifesize 3D cartoon and realistic foam core sculptures for use in:
Displays
Signage
Movie Props
Theme Parks ( and other family entertainment venues
Trade Shows
3D Billboards
Exhibits and Events
Store and RestaurantScaled Product Replication for Point of Purchase

Gumby stages a comeback!

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Five decades after Gumby first captured the nation's imagination, the little green guy and his chums are starring in a new art exhibit - the first in a series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the television icon's creation and launch his comeback.

We are a sculptural foam company in Canada that can turn 3D computer files into real life replications out of expanded polystyrene. We use hot knife, hot wire, laser scanning and 3 axis router technology to replicate objects to any scale in foam.

We are new but are gaining popularity quickly and have recieved many thousand hits on our website www.3dcustomfoam.com due to our aggressive marketing. We would be interested in linking to your website and vice versa for a win-win situation.

I would be interested in hearing back from you soon as we have a links page on our website and would like to include you.

2005 Ottawa International Animation Festival

2005 Ottawa International Animation Festival writes; SEE THE NEWEST AND MOST INNOVATIVE ANIMATION from around the world including 16 world premieres and the Canadian premiere of Henry Selick's Moongirl. Also great special programming such as Pee Wee's Playhouse Animation, the Pink Panther, Slovak Animation, Paul Bush and more.

Published: August 14, 2005

CASUAL viewers may find little to connect the egotistical lion and hip-hop zebra of the DreamWorks computer-animated "Madagascar" with the macabre stop-motion puppets of "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride," to be released next month by Warner Brothers. But animation aficionados will see in both the fine hand of Carlos Grangel, a Spanish artist whose designs are coming to define the cutting edge of big-studio animation.

Virtually unknown to the public, Mr. Grangel, 41, is a highly respected artist among animation professionals. While still a teenager, he worked on comic strips for Disney, and got a job at Steven Spielberg's Amblimation studio in London in 1989, working on "We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story" (1993) and "Balto" (1995). When Amblimation closed, Mr. Grangel (pronounced grahn-JELL) came to the newly established DreamWorks SKG as a designer for its animated features, beginning with "The Prince of Egypt" (1998). "I've never met a designer who thought more like an animator than Carlos," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, chief executive of DreamWorks Animation. "He's always thinking not just 'how will this look,' but 'how will it move.' That may seem like the obvious aim of designing for animation, but very few people have that gift."

Mr. Grangel typically divides his time between the Glendale, Calif., campus of DreamWorks and the small studio he and his brother, Jordi, run in Barcelona. But he has devoted much of the last two and a half years to "Corpse Bride," Mr. Burton's mock-Victorian tale of a romantic misunderstanding between a fishmonger's son and the cadaver he accidentally jilts.

Mr. Burton first saw Mr. Grangel's work at the model-making studio Mackinnon & Saunders Ltd. in Manchester, England. He was working on his 1996 film "Mars Attacks!" and noticed drawings Mr. Grangel had done for the puppets in Steffen Schaffler's stop-motion short "The Periwig-Maker," which would be nominated for an Oscar in 2001.

National Film Board of Canada's In Vivo competition

Jason Lee from BigCityLights.com writes;

Hey Paul, Just a little update: the National Film Board of Canada's In Vivo competition has now chosen the finalists so people can go watch the final entries and vote for their favorite emerging Canadian animator and also get a chance to win 1 of 5 SanDisk MP3 players until August 19th.

Over the past year the Illustration Growers of America have worked with Leo Burnett USA, Inc. to create an advertising campaign, for the benefit of all professional independent illustrators, by promoting the positive virtues of original commissioned illustration. Ads have already run in Communication Arts, American Illustration's Selected publication and the Society of Illustrators, Illustrators Annual. We have more ads scheduled. We also have created 6 new ads that will also be produced as posters for our direct mail campaign.

The Illustration Growers of America are asking you to visit our new information website. This website has been designed to explain to you the illustrator and artist rep our ad campaign, our mission, our goals and how you can help make this campaign grow beyond what has already been accomplished.

To date all creative and fund-raising efforts have been donated. Every dollar raised has gone and will continue to go to ad space purchasing and postage for our direct mail campaign. Continued support is needed to spread this campaign to a larger audience and give it sustained life. We are asking for your support.

The Illustration Growers of America
CF Payne - Illustrator
Larry Day - Illustrator
Terry Brown - Director S.I. serving Treasurer
Chrisina Tugeau - Artist Rep
Stewart McKissick - Artist/Educator

Avoid Eye Contact Volume 2, the best of NYC Independent Animation is Available Now!!

The official release of the DVD happened at the Annecy Animation Festival, France, June 6, 2005. Audiences were treated to a theatrical program of animation, all in their native film format. Animators Bill Plympton, Patrick Smith, Fran Krause, PES, and John Dilworth held several DVD signing sessions during the festival.

The self-distributed DVD Avoid Eye Contact Volume #1 has sold thousands of copies worldwide. Avoid Eye Contact Volume #2 continues the tradition, offering a new program of independent films and animators spanning the last five years. Young animators join seasoned masters in a show that is sure to become another important part of the animation enthusiast's library.

All films are international award-winners, each with a distinct look, united only by genre and the gritty soul of New York City. Please visit http://www.avoideyecontact.com and purchase your volume today! Thanks to everybody for their continued support of Independent Animated Filmmaking.

Signe Baumane
Bill Plympton
Christy Karacas
Nina Paley
Patrick Smith
George Griffin
Fran Krause
Jesse Schmal
PES
John Schnall
Mo Willems
Aleksey Budovsky
John Dilworth
Michael Overbeck
Chris Conforti
Rohitash Rao

The Simpson's Safety Posters!

Karen Ferguson from Victor House Publications writes;

I visited your site as part of my research and discovered you have a site link to TheSimpsons.com.

As licensees of The Simpsons, I am respectfully writing to ask you to link to our site, at www.safetyworld.com, as well. It shows our new line of The Simpsons safety products featuring Homer and many of the other characters. We are very proud of the quality of these products and the fact that the posters are original and unique to us!

There was so much interest at our recent product launch I thought I would look for sites about The Simpsons like yours and make this link request. As your site is part of the community of sites that cater to the fans of The Simpsons, we would appreciate your link to us. Such a link would enable your users to see the new posters and images as they are released over the next twelve months and give them an opportunity to provide feedback and ideas.

Any link on your site to our home page at www.safetyworld.com similar to the one you have to TheSimpsons.com would be really appreciated. Thank you again for considering the link.

Clayton Dunn from New Media Strategies writes;
See below new information about the updated CHICKEN LITTLE website.
CHICKEN LITTLE opens in theaters nationwide on November 4, 2005.

Wanna see a Dancing Chicken?
The Official Movie Site for Walt Disney Pictures' new 3-D animated film Chicken Little received a major update last week.

Now on the site's homepage you can select a variety of dance moves ranging from a break-dance to a hoedown and watch Chicken Little shake his tail feathers. Enter the town of Oakey Oaks to meet the rest of Chicken Little's friends -- including Ugly Duckling.

Fish-out-of-Water and Runt-of-the-Litter.
In this new section, you can explore an entire street in the world of Oakey Oaks in a 360-degree environment, and discover fun downloads, trailers, photos and other film info along the way.

On November 4, 2005...the sky will fall
The truly brave should find their way to the new Chicken Little sister site, The-Sky-Is-Falling.com, where Chicken Little's prophecy is historically and scientifically examined.

Photos, news and research findings inform the public of the pending danger above us.
Included is a downloadable "Sky-Is-Falling Survival Handbook" so that everyone will know exactly what to do when the sky falls on November 4, 2005.

We are happy to announce the completion of our latest project for Monkey Doodles - Play and Learn Children's Educational Center.

The project included the creation of an educational hand / mouth puppet based on an original design provided by the client.

Visit our 'Educational Cartoons' page to view the finished cheeky monkey puppet.

I am happy to announce news of our latest project for Monkey Doodles- Play and Learn Ltd.

We have been contracted to develop a new educational faux fur hand / mouth puppet for this new up and coming pre-school franchise and will be releasing the fun new puppet design in the coming weeks.

They send us free beer and they let us animate our all time favorite mascots, 'Frankie and Louie'.
It don't get much better than that...

It's a long time since I sent out an e-mail about all the exciting goings-on, but now was the time to drop in with some news.

My first book, "Don't Eat This Book'" hit stores nationwide yesterday. The book picks up where the movie left off by diving even deeper in to the fast food culture that is America by examining some of the issue's biggest problems.

No taco is left unturned, from the federal school lunch program to the government's influence to lobbyists to doctors to manufacturers to advertising to diets...I don't pull any punches. In fact' the book is so chock full of delicious info that you'll just want to gobble it up.

"Spurlock is surprisingly optimistic about the future, and his book is a powerful tool in his rip-roaring campaign to turn around America's love-hate relationship with fast food." - Publisher's Weekly

" Like a funnier (and thinner) Michael Moore, he seems to enjoy getting his gross-out on when describing microbes, food-borne diarrhea, E. coli, and, of course, the rest of your balanced breakfast." - MAXIM

"Other books have examined the global effect of fast food...But Spurlock's humor and the film cachet of Super Size Me make this the perfect introduction to "Big Food" and its effect on health." - USA Today

The full trailer for Disney's highly anticipated, first all-CGI animated movie, CHICKEN LITTLE, will have its world premiere on Monday, May 23, at 12:01 am, exclusively on Disney Online and Movies.com.

It will be available on Disney Motion and Movies Motion high-quality broadband video.

Free Range Graphics, the makers of The Meatrix, are back with two new videos that we wanted to share with you -

StoreWars - http://www.blogger.com/www.storewars.org
Forget Star Wars - watch as Cuke Skywalker, Ham Solo, Chewbroccoli, and other heroes of the Organic Revolution undertake an epic struggle against Darth Tader and the Dark Side of The Farm in this clever animated parody of the Star Wars films. Unlike Star Wars, this battle isn't being fought in galaxy far, far away. It's happening right here, in our local grocery stores, every time we choose between organic and non-organic foods.

The True Cost of Food - http://www.truecostoffood.org/truecostoffood/movie.asp
Produced for the Sierra Club's Sustainable Consumption Committee, this film takes viewers on a trip through a supermarket where we learn how much our food really costs. Definitely worth a watch!

You can either download the film or watch it directly online. http://www.blogger.com/www.truecostoffood.org
And thanks to all of you who voted for The Meatrix at the Webby Awards! We're delighted to announce that we won the award for Best Web Site in the Nonprofit Charitable Organization category. We actually won the official award from the judges - and we know that all your votes and kind comments on the site helped immensely!

Friday, May 13, 2005

The Clayman and Associates complete the 1st phase of 3D prototyping for C4 Innovations Inc.

The Clayman and Associates are happy to announce the completion of the1st phase of 3D prototyping for C4 Innovations Inc. These prototypes we're constructed physically in poly-resin, and virtually in CG for future autocad tooling, and animation requirements.

C4 Innovations Inc., a marketing company based in Toronto, Canada are currently developing a new line of computer related toys. The 'Click 4's' product line prototyping phase is now complete and we are happy to showcase them on our CG animation page here.

The next phase will include a several minute music video featuring the 'Click 4's' who will be showing us all how to make life a little easier!

From May 12 to 15, this year's digifest will unfold with a series of events taking place at the Design Exchange, Harbourfront Centre and the Ontario Science Centre.

An extraordinary lineup of designers and artists will participate in this year's digifest, a celebration of design and digital culture. It all starts on Friday May 13 with a stellar public panel of speakers at the Design Exchange.

The keynote speaker is Andreas Broeckmann, Director of Germany,s renowned Transmediale festival. Joining him in a panel discussion are architects Oliver Lang of Vancouver-based Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture, and Lars Spuybroek of NOX Architecture, Rotterdam.

This event takes place on the Trading Floor of the DX. Tickets for this May 13th event are $20 and may be purchased from the DX by phoning 416-216-2138

Following the panel presentations there will be a Gala Reception at DX.
The festival continues on Saturday May 14, with a series of workshops at Harbourfront Centre. This includes a video installation by NY Based Eunjung Hwang. It will also include 'Destructive Architecture', a sculptural installation by Roman Milo.

The day will feature Post-Audio Net Lab, a sound/space installaion by Agence Topo. This is accompanied by the ongoing exhibit, WILD, in the Case Studies hall at York Quay Centre.
On Sunday May 15th, digifest moves to the Ontario Science Centre for a day of interactive art installations such as The Smile Project, a series of robotic sculptures, and Hidden Connections: Patterns in Nature, by Elaine Witmer. Also on May 15, the OSC will host a panel featuring Stephen Marshall of the Guerilla News Network.
digifest is Canada's annual festival showcase of design and digital culture.

Established in 2002 by the DX, the aim of this festival is to present digital media culture and design as part of the country's economic and cultural future. A complete list of all digifest programs will appear in the Toronto Star's What's On edition on May 5th, or visit www.dx.org/digifest.

Digifest is presented by Design Exchange in partnership with Harbourfront Centre and the Ontario Science Centre, with the generous support of Telefilm Canada, Department of Canadian Heritage, Ontario Arts Council, Young Canada Works, the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Goethe Institut - Toronto, Istituto Italiano di Cultura - Consolato Generale d'Italia - Toronto, UK Trade and Investment -Toronto, CCR Solutions, Teknion, and industry partners.

The FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA - MONTREAL (FNC) launches a call for projects
for the 34rd Edition of the Festival, which will be presented in Montreal, CANADA, October 13 to 23, 2005.

In keeping with its aim of promoting cinema d'auteur, independent video, and creativity in new media, the FNC is constantly on the lookout for new and original works.

The FESTIVAL OF NEW CINEMA is currently seeking features, documentary, shorts and new media works. All genres and formats are accepted.

Tickets on Sale Now for Canada's Biggest Digital Content Event!
JUNE 15th - 17th, 2005
Vancouver, BC
www.vidfest.com
Business Partnering
International Leaders & Digital Visionaries
Screenings & Interactive Gallery
Vancouver's Biggest Party for Digital Media Aficionados!
Creative Exchange Features 5 Content Streams:
Animation
Video Games
Mobile Content
Interactive Design
Digital Film

* Heather Armstrong, Blogger, Dooce.com (US)
* Chris Bartleman, CEO, Studio B Productions (Can)
* Beau Buck, CEO, BigDigit / Founder, mFlix - The Mobile Entertainment Channel (US)
* Dr. Ron Burnett, President, Emily Carr Institute / Author, How Images Think (Can)
* Marc Canter, CEO, Broadband Mechanics (US)
* Malcolm Garrett, Creative Director, AIG (Applied Information Group) (UK)
* Maks Giordano, Founding Partner / Director of Strategy and Services, Icon Mobile (Germany)
* Chris Harvey, Character & Visual Effects Technical Director, Frantic Films (Can)
* Paul Hibbitts, Principal, Hibbitts Design & Associates (Can)
* Madeleine Levesque, Director of Original Production, Teletoon (Can)
* Ken Lobb, Studio Manager / Studio RX, Microsoft Game Studios (US)
* Victor Lucas, Executive Producer, Electric Playground (Can)
* Rob McLaughlin, Executive Producer, CBC Radio 3 (Can)
* Meredith Metz, Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs, Walt Disney Television Animation (US)
* Rick Mischel, CEO, Mainframe Entertainment (Can)
* Katherine Monk, The Vancouver Sun (Can)
* Emma Payne, Get Your Vote On.org / Mobile MUSE / President, At Large Media (Can)
* Ted Price, CEO, Insomniac Games (US)
* Larry Schwartz, Founder, Animation Collective (US)
* Sander Schwartz, President, Warner Brothers Animation (US)
* Weston Triemstra, New Media Producer, CBC ZeD (Can)
* Mika Tuomola, Artistic Director & Lecturer, Crucible Studio, Media Centre Lume & Media Lab (Finland)
* Catherine Warren, President, FanTrust Entertainment Strategies (Can)

MATZAH!
Yeah yeah! It's Passover home-slice and we've put together a hip hop homage to the hebrew treat "Matzah!" that will have Jews, Christians and Muslims tapping their feet and singing along...

ANIMA 05 - 111 CORDOBA ANIMATION FESTIVAL
Cordoba, Argentina, April 27th through 30th, 2005

The number of entries quadrupled those of ANIMA'03.
After an exhaustive selection process, 169 animation shorts from 41 countries were selected.

Animators Irene Blei (Argentina) and Pablo Rodriguez Jauregui (Argentina), along with animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi (Italia), will integrate ANIMA'05's Jury.

"Diversity in Animation". Speakers: Caroline Leaf (USA - Canada), Giannalberto Bendazzi (Italy), Gustavo Blazquez (Argentina).

"How to animate (employing any technique)". Lecturer: Rodolfo Saenz Valiente (Argentina).
"A TV screen: introduction to broadcast design"..Lecturer: Javier Mrad (Argentina).
Stop Motion Clinic: Coordinated by Walter Tournier (Uruguay).
"Animation as a tool for change in education". Lecturer: Irene Blei (Argentina).

Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, The triplettes of Belleville, Waking Life, Kirikou and the sorcerer, La table tournante, Le Roi et l'oiseau, Caroline Leaf's retrospective.

ANIMA '05 is organized by the Centro Experimental de Animacion (Universidad Nacional de Cordoba) and the Centro Cultural Espana - Cordoba (AECI).

Back again, in its 3rd year, The NYC Underground Comedy Festival
is the largest in the country with over 100 events in all five boroughs.

The festival features over 350 comedians from all over the country
for 7 nights, Including One Person Shows, Improv, Sketch & Film.

Venues include: The Gotham Comedy Club, The Laugh Factory,
The Laurie Beechman Theatre, The Arthur Seelen Theatre,
The Bitter End, The Comic Strip Live, Boston Comedy Club,
The Improv, The Duplex, The Producers Club, Stand-Up NY
and many more...

Plus free shows at The NY Public Library and most of its branches, Hospital Shows, Homeless Shelter Shows, Five Charities, Numerous Seminars, and a million laughs.

Freddie Roman, Dean of The Friars for hosting our benefit for the troops at The Bitter End.

Hi Clayman, I am putting together a Stop-Motion screening in October - if you have a piece you'd like to submit, please do so.

If you know of someone who might be interested, please forward this e-mail. The title of the screening is "Stop-Motion Subversions".

The Clayman's Studio in association with The US Army Corps of Engineers wins for best poster design!

Just wanted to let you know that I entered your "Nature's Call" poster in the International Boating and Water Safety Summit media contest last week (in Newport Beach, CA) and it won first place in the poster division. Good job!

I wanted to share the good news! Your stuff keeps us all smiling and hopefully will save a life!

The Swedish owned company GeniMator AB is selling the rights to its revolutionary 2D animation technology.

GeniMator (tm) is a system for applying real-time human motion to hand-drawn 2D cartoon
characters.

The technology, which makes this possible is new and has never before been put to commercial use.

GeniMator can provide cost reductions of up to 75 % and production time can be cut by up to two thirds.

Dear JibJabber,
As you may know, we don't typically publish anyone's work other than our own, but when this gem was brought to our attention, we had to share it with you.

Click here to see it and laugh! Then you can visit the folks at Consumers Union who commisioned this incredibly irreverent and biting video on the prescription drug industry.

We don't endorse "issues" here at JibJab, but we do endorse comedy and this piece is brimming with it!

Please join us for the launch of the results of a national study on Canada's digital broadcasting enterprises. The report provides an overview of the emerging technologies being used to deliver television and video content via digital and wireless networks.

This first-of-its-kind study, directed by NRC IRAP, looked at 185 companies from across the country engaged in various aspects of interactive digital delivery, with a particular focus on proprietary technology and intellectual property. Results appear on two graphical maps (available at the launch), charting the interactive technology landscape along company and product lines, such as software, hardware, transmission and display.

Launched in Vancouver, this Canada-wide NRC IRAP initiative was undertaken by IRAP Pacific Asia, through New Media BC and At Large Media.

Presenter: Bruce Pridmore, NRC-IRAP Executive Director Pacific Asia
Date: Tuesday, March 15th, 2005
Time: 4-6 PM (*presentation at 4:45)
Place: The Media Club, 695 Cambie Street (at Georgia)

Thought Leaders Lunch Series
Guest Speaker: Rick Mischel
CEO, Mainframe Entertainment

Mainframe Entertainment, a leading CG animation company responsible for bringing such brands as SPIDER-MAN, BARBIE, REBOOT and POPEYE to life in CG animation, has overcome financial challenges to emerge as a profitable and creative force in the worldwide animation marketplace.

Rick Mischel, CEO of Mainframe, will discuss how that turnaround came about, and what Mainframe's plans are in the television, DVD, gaming, and theatrical market.Prior to his position as Mainframe CEO, Rick Mischel served as President and COO of The Harvey Entertainment Company in Los Angeles. At Harvey, Rick was in charge of managing the business and creative affairs for some of the most lucrative intellectual properties in the family entertainment world, including "Casper The Friendly Ghost" and "Richie Rich."

Rick began his career as an entertainment attorney with O'Melveny & Myers in 1987. Two years later, he joined Electric Pictures Corporation as a Vice President and was responsible for the development of feature film projects. Most recently, Rick served as an independent producer in Los Angeles, developing and/or producing projects for Nickelodeon, Fox Television Studios, F/X, and Canal Plus.

Date: Thursday, March 17th, 2005
Time: 12 PM - 1:45 PM (registration/lunch from 12 - 12:45 )
Place: The Media Club, 695 Cambie Street (at Georgia)
Cost: $20 for members; $40 for non-members

We would like to invite you once again to participate in the Canadian Interactive Media Producers Survey. If you participated in last year's survey, thank you very much for your input. If you did not get the chance to participate, we invite you to be a part of this year's survey. It is now time once again to find out what is going on in the Canadian Interactive industry. This is the 6th year that this survey has been conducted and last year over 600 companies from across the country provided us with their valuable input into the current state of the Canadian Interactive industry.

As you may know, this is the ONLY survey of its kind in Canada, and your participation is critical because the information and opinions you provide will help to shape provincial and federal government policies surrounding interactive media. Delvinia is once again producing the Interactive Media Producers' Survey.

Along with its partner, Canadian Heritage, they will be analyzing the results to not only see how the industry has performed over the past year, but to forecast some trends for the future. All survey participants will receive a FREE copy of the final report (a $1,000.00 value). It's our way of thanking you for your participation and support.

Ted Doering
tdoering@delvinia.com
Research & Data Collection Specialist
Delvinia Interactive Inc.

In Vivo: A Window on Diversity
Make a digital animated film on the theme of Wisdom of Diversity and win a week for two at Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan and a chance to have your film shown at the Canada Pavilion.

To enter the competition, just make a 30-60 second animated short, without sound, and submit it to the NFB. Five finalists will be selected to work with a professional sound designer and an NFB animation producer.

The films will be judged by a jury consisting primarily of professional animators; members of the public also get to vote for their favourite film among the five finalists.

1. The Festival Goes Annual
The Ottawa International Animation Festival is now annual! We are
taking the successful Student Animation Festival of Ottawa (SAFO) and
incorporating it into the main Festival to create one giant animation
event.

We will once again be running the Television Animation
Conference (September 21-22) at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier, the
Animarket (featuring the Technology Forum, School Showcase and
Recruiting Fair) plus the usual incredible line-up of screenings and
workshops.

2. Call for Entries
Independent, commercial, and now, student animators working in a variety
of media are invited to submit their entry forms by June 1, 2005, under
six umbrella categories, including commissioned films, independent short
films, student films, films for children, school showreel, feature
films, and new media.
"The competition categories," says Festival Artistic Director Chris
Robinson, "remain virtually unchanged except that we have now
incorporated categories from our now defunct Student Fest. The SAFO
categories added to OIAF 05 include: best school, graduate,
undergraduate, elementary and secondary school film.
The OIAF 04 entry deadline is June 1, 2005. Preview tapes or dvds must
be received by June 18th, 2005. An online entry form, plus festival and
Television Animation Conference information, are available on the
animation festival web site at
http://www.awn.com/ottawa/OIAF05/fest_entry.php
Inquiries may also be sent by e-mail to info@animationfestival.ca or by
telephone at (613) 232-8769.

3. Great Festival Merchandise
The NEW Canadian Animation Directory is now available
An accurate and comprehensive guide to the Canadian animation industry
for 2004-2005. Researched and published by the Ottawa International
Animation Festival team, the directory is an excellent resource for
animation professionals, students, independent artists, organizations,
and industry leaders. It covers a broad spectrum of existing and
emerging production companies, funding agencies, schools, and
post-production services. 100 pages, spiral bound.
$30.00 CAN plus shipping. Call (613) 232-8769 to order.
For other great festival merchandise visit:
http://www.awn.com/ottawa/merchandise/images/05%20merchandise.htm
Questions? Comments?

The Ottawa International Animation Festival Ste. 120, 2 Daly Ave Ottawa,
ON K1N 6E2
Phone: (613) 232-8769
Fax: (613) 232-6315

Hey Paul-
I found the your clayman site because have an animation item for sale, and
thought this blog might be a good avenue for advertising it?
I moved away from the Pacific NW a few years ago, though I still have a
bunch of things in storage in Olympia, where I studied animation. I need to
sell it all. One thing is the handmade "Oaksberry" animation stand, built by
two friends (one a cabinet maker & the other an animator for The Simpsons).
It's a pretty, utilitarian, sturdy, functional wooden stand (actually fir,
not oak) that I used in my home studio. Up/down crank, n/s/e/west movement,
backlighing capable, camera mount, etc....nothing too fancy. Surface
equipped with a recessed groove with a standard square lucite acme animation
board with top and bottom registration pegs.
It's still in storage, so no photos at this time. I'll be in the area
beginning on the 27th, and able to take pictures/show it. I'm asking $475
obo.

Today the world lost a comedy icon!
I am really sad to hear the news that Johnny Carson passed away this morning.

His wit and brand of humor worked for all ages and kept us all entertained for over 30 years.
His love for comedy helped launch the careers for so many exceptional talents in that time, and even after retiring he was still writing for Letterman.

From the sick and twisted minds that brought you "This Land" and "Good to be in DC!" comes a new look at the state of world politics.

The Clayman writes;
I'm happy to announce that our studio has signed a development deal for several new 3D characters for C4 Innovations in Toronto. Due to disclosure limitations however you will have to wait for the characters release for the new clay and CG samples.

WomanSavers.com hires The Clayman & Associates for a new 2 minute stop motion animation

We are nearing completion on the setup phase for our latest project for Manhaters.com and will be posting new animation samples shortly.

This project marks a new path for The Clayman's studio in the area of stop motion 3D puppet animation. Teaming up with Stop motion associate producer Michael Edmondson, and Emmy award winning storyboard artist and cartoonist Nelson Dewey, we have helped our client to develop a fun new script, with a cast of 5 characters which will star in a 2 minute internet short film.

The new puppets have been cast in foam and contain machined ball and socket armatures.
We would like to extend a special thank you to master FX artist, Bill Terezakis for his assistance in making these puppets.

Happy New Year!
Wishing you and your families all the best for the new year and years to come!
This is a very difficult time for those hurt by the massive tsunami in the Indian Ocean so please visit the Red Cross, or UNICEF and make a donation today!

We all grow up having a favorite cartoonist.
Well in my case it was legendary cartoonist Dan Collins and I was delighted this morning when I received an email from Mr. Collins who informed me that he liked my work and added my link to his website http://www.dancollinscartoons.com

Thanks to all of you who have helped theclayman.com reach a record traffic year for 2004. We look forward to continuing with lots of fun new projects for the site next year including the release of a fun new stop motion animation short which we are currently producing for a very popular website. This project has had us really busy over the past two months so I extend my apologies for not adding more news and banner entries to our blog and links pages.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
MERRY HANNUKAH!!
HAPPY KWANZA!!
HAPPY RAMADHAN!!
and a super special Winter Solstice!

What a year itâ€™s been! Thanks to you for passing our links all over the Interweb, our election work was seen over 80 million times! This has opened up a number of doors for us, including a deal with Yahoo! to distribute our next two animations.

We are pleased to announce the launching of our latest creation, Santa Claus!, featuring our ornery but loveable Santa coping with a massive financial crisis.

Many an all-nighter has been pulled to get this to you in time for the holidays- our only hope is that you enjoy it. For those of you wondering whatâ€™s next... we're in production on an inaugural piece and we have high hopes that itâ€™s going to make you laugh. Check out our blog in a few weeks for a sneak peek. As always, thanks for your support. Youâ€™ve helped make 2004 the most incredible (and surreal) year of our lives.

Heads up! 3dGspot exposes itself! Take your shirt off and rip off those drawers. Thereâ€™s a new 3d dive in townâ€¦. virtual town that is. Pimping the very best in 3d models and animations, Mind Cutter, Inc. gets it on with the unveiling of 3dGspot.com, its brand spanking new online 3d marketplace.

A global outlet for royalty-free wicked 3d. Available now at a virtual street corner near you, 3dGspot tempts students, indies and 3d users of all kinds giving access to professional quality 3d models, textures, animations and tutorials with streamline precision.

Artistically wicked, technically correct and packed with wholesome goodness, Gspot models will give your projects a leg-up at modest prices.
Spicy contests, sweet opportunities, tasty assets, and tempting prices, 3dGspot is a titillating new way to shop for 3d assets. Organized and maintained by a talented team of industry veterans, 3dGspot.com offers high caliber 3d models, animations and tutorials which have been carefully pre-screened to uphold state of the art quality.

Think your models are 3dGspot quality? 3dGpot.com is always seeking worthy models from external 3d artists, in order to keep the site fresh and flourishing. 3dGspotâ€™s high standards, low prices and exciting promotions - means higher sales, generous royalties, and good exposure.

Needing to take a break from our hectic schedule, I took some time off this weekend and went to a wrap party with my wife Tana Lynn for her latest project 'Deadly Skies'.

The movie stars Rae Dawn Chong and being a huge fan I was delighted to not only meet her, but also pose for a picture together. She is a huge talent and a beautiful lady and hope to have the opportunity to have her voice some of our future characters.

A new 2 minute stop motion animaton short by The Clayman and associates coming soon!

We are happy to announce that The Clayman and associates will be producing a new 2 minute stop motion short over the next several weeks. Come back soon for more information.

I'm contacting you today because I thought you might be interested to learn of our coverage on Bruce Bickford at www.AnimationTrip.com.

For your information, my stop-motion connection dates back to the late 1970s when I produced the world's first 35mm theatrical animation festival, called Fantastic Animation Festival. It featured Will Vinton and Bob Gardiner's "Closed Mondays" as well as Vinton's "Mountain Music" and another clay film from Romania called "Icarus." (Unlike the animation festivals of today, the "Fantastic" was released in first-run theaters nationwide with a full print, radio and TV ad campaign. Also, it's box office success made headlines in Variety.)

My background also includes organizing an 85 year retrospective on stop-motion animation in 1998 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. I have also produced a clay anthology called Feats of Clay that originally screened in Hollywood at Graumans Chinese Theatre as a special event for the American Film Institute's AFI Fest (http://www.afifest.com/fest97/films/featsofcly.html). Bickford created the opening title sequence for this screening and I am presently revising the program for theatrical release next year.

Other efforts include approaching the publisher of Cinemafantastique, Fred Clarke, in 1998 about the idea of an all stop-motion themed issue. He passionately responded to this suggestion by publishing a special double-size issue in 1999, which I helped organize. This issue was to tie-in with an exhibition on the history of stop-motion I was curating at the time. But the gallery it was to appear at had to cancel the exhibition because of scheduling and budgeting problems. I still intend to produce this exhibit in due course. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago flew me out to meet with them about this project. I've also met with the folks at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco and they are of course interested. It just comes down to budgeting and timing issues.

There are many more projects we are planning for our website that will appear in the coming weeks and months. For example, we will be adding The Museum of Animated Commercials, which pays tribute to the medium's best TV spots. For starters, I plan to profile the Chiodo Brothers' Cup O Noodle series.

Please find below links to the teaser for Disney/Pixar's CARS in QuickTime, Real Player, and Windows Media formats.

Also attached is a still from the film. Please feel free to use these items on your site and let me know if you have any questions.

Good morning Clayman!
Please find below links to the Chicken Little Teaser #2 in Real Player, Windows Media and QuickTime formats.

Windows Media
Low Quality (dialup/modem)
Medium Quality (dialup/modem)
High Quality (cable/DSL)
QuickTime
Small Quality (dialup/modem)
Medium Quality (dialup/modem)
Large Quality (cable/DSL)
Full Screen (cable/DSL)

Marketing Seminar Building 21st Century Websites with Weblogs and RSS Weblogs and RSS have emerged as a critical marketing and public relations tool for small business. They enable you to bring your website alive, transforming it from simply an online brochure to an ongoing dialogue with your customers.

Learn what they are, how they work and what tangible business benefits you can realize from these new, easy-to-use technologies. When you leave this seminar, you'll be able to start your own weblog to create new opportunities and promote your organization.

Speakers:Darren Barefoot, Partner, Capulet Communications, www.capulet.com.
Darren has spent the last decade working for softare companies in Canada and Europe. Before starting Capulet, he spent two years in Dublin, Ireland as a technology evangelist for Cape Clear Software. Previously, Darren was Manager of Technical Communication at MPS, and has consulted for EA Sports, Radical Entertainment and sundry start-ups in Canada and Ireland. Darren maintains a personal weblog at: www.darrenbarefoot.com

At Capulet, Darren manages online marketing and technical writing projects. He applies his background as a technologist and technical communicator to provide accurate technical collateral and online presence for Capulet's clients.

Roland Tanglao, Chief Blogging Officer, Bryght, www.bryght.com Roland worked for far too many years at Nortel Networks developing network management software. His last position there was managing internal developer relations which is getting developers to share their knowledge in order to help other developers write software.In June 2000, Roland started Vancouver's first and best food blog, VanEats.com and in August 2004 was one of the founders of www.Bryght.com which offers hosted community sites.

Roland reads hundreds of blogs daily through his RSS reader and updates many blogs. He maintains: www.rolandtanglao.com (a technical blog about blogging!) and his photo blog at: www.flickr.com/photos/roland where he has posted over 3500 photos with more coming every day.

Date: Thursday, November 18th, 2004Time: 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (registration/networking from 5:30 - 6) Place: VFS, 420 Homer Street, VancouverCost: $25 members; $35 non-members.
Light refreshments and snacks will be served.**Special Thanks to Capulet Communications and VFS for sponsoring this event!**

THE INCREDIBLES opens on Friday!
Please find in this email:
New images from THE INCREDIBLES press kit
Links to a new TV Spot: â€œDo the Incredibleâ€

Please let me know if you have any questions or need any other Incredibles items for your site.

Windows Media:
mms://media.vitalstream.com/bvbp_sitestream_com/TheIncredibles/
Incredibles_TV_DoTheIncredible_0056.wmv?media=1878311&package=1832175&event=0
mms://media.vitalstream.com/bvbp_sitestream_com/TheIncredibles/
Incredibles_TV_DoTheIncredible_0300.wmv?media=1878313&package=1832175&event=0

QuickTime:
http://bvbp-qt.vitalstream.com/TheIncredibles/Incredibles_TV_DoTheIncredible_0300.mov
http://bvbp-qt.vitalstream.com/TheIncredibles/Incredibles_TV_DoTheIncredible_1500.mov

Jon Okui from 3DGspot.com writes-
Mindcutter, Inc. has launched 3dGspot.com, an on-line global outlet for royalty-free 3D models and animations. 3dGspot uses the internet as a platform for enabling students, indies and 3d users of all kinds to access professional quality models, animations and tutorials with streamline precision.

Organized and maintained by a talented team of industry veterans known for outstanding quality 3D, 3dGspot.com is a compilation of high caliber 3D models, animations and tutorials which have been carefully pre-screened to uphold state of the art quality. The 3dGspot vision is to emerge as an indispensable resource for instant access to affordable royalty-free 3D models, animations and tutorials -- to anyone.

The 3dGspot team saw the need and has made it their mission to level the playing field by making professional quality assets available to all levels of 3d users. What sets 3dGspot apart? The 3dGspot difference is a high standard of quality. The 3dGspot team is continually seeking out 3dGspot worthy models and recruiting services from external 3D artists, in order to keep the site fresh and growing. 3dGspotâ€™s commitment to high standards and low prices - and strong promotions - means wide spread customer loyalty, higher sales and ultimately higher royalties to partnering artists.

3dGspot Recently launched, October 2004, 3dGspot is an all new 3D model bank organized and governed by industry veterans known as a proven source for outstanding quality 3D. The 3dGspot vision is to emerge as an indispensable resource for instant access to affordable royalty-free 3D models, animations and tutorials -- to anyone. Contact: Jon Okui, Managing Director- 3DGSpot.com

the trailer for Chicken Little premiered today on MSN: http://movies.msn.com/movies/FamilyFilms/ChickenLittle

Next summer the sky really IS falling in Walt Disney Pictures' new computer-animated film "Chicken Little." This epic tale presents a new twist to the classic fable of a young chicken who causes widespread panic when he mistakes a falling acorn for a piece of the sky. In this hilarious adventure, Chicken Little is determined to revive his ruined reputation. But just as things are starting to go his way, a real piece of the sky lands on his head! Suspense, chaos, and plenty of laughs ensue as Chicken Little and his band of misfit friends, Abby Mallard (a.k.a. Ugly Duckling), Runt of the Litter and Fish Out of Water, attempt to save the world without sending the town into a whole new panic. This time, when it comes to saving the world, it helps to be a little chicken.

Vocal Talent: Zach Braff, Garry Marshall, Joan Cusack, Don Knotts, Amy Sedaris, Steve Zahn, Wallace Shawn, Harry Shearer

Thursday October 28th @ 8:00 p.m. in Portland AND Seattle!
FREE for ASIFA members; $3 non-members

In 2002, the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA) launched itsInternational Animation Day to commemorate the first public performance of Emile Reynaud's Optical Theatre at the Grevin Museum in Paris in 1892.

Come celebrate animation with your friends and neighbors at ASIFA-NW's simultaneous Animators' Socials in Portland and Seattle. These popular, casual events are part Open Screening, part Anijam and all fun for everyone.

Come by to see and show some local animation, and participate in spontaneous animation creation. Animators' Socials are always a wonderful time with new animators coming along every year!

On the program for this event is a newshort film from Happy Trails Animation, entitled "Winter" as well as other Northwest area animators' new works in computer, clay stop-motion and 2D cartoon animation.

Bring your DVD or VHS tape of recent or in-progress work to share ( max 10 minutes each ).

Animation USA Gallery
409 1st Ave S
Pioneer Square, Seattle
Washington 98104
Tel:(206) 625-0347

Portland: Will Vinton Studios Screening Room
1400 NW 22nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97210
Tel: (503) 225-1130

ASIFA-NORTHWEST
PO Box 4752,
Seattle, WA 98194
http://www.asifa.net/usa-northwest

With special thanks to long time friend and associate Shane Birley, of ShanesWorld.ca fame, The Clayman's websites gotta brand new blog! Shane spent a couple days re-organizing over a years worth of posts into this swanky organized informational resource. Feel free to look around as there are plenty of gems in all this hullaballooo!

Hello Clayman,
Please know that you can register your work (NO FEE) at:
http://www.imagina.mc/layout.php?id=14

IMAGINA Festival is the largest 3D and visual effects international competition in Europe.
For more information: www.imagina.mc

Ballistic Publishing and CGNetworks is proud to announce EXPOSE 3, the third in its series of critically acclaimed EXPOSE digital art books celebrating the creative talents of digital artists worldwide. Following its legacy, EXPOSE 3 will be the unprecedented premium publication featuring the finest digital artwork the world has ever seen.

The EXPOSE 3 Awards will celebrate the highest artistic achievement in a diverse range of categories and styles.
We are now calling on artists to submit digital images for consideration in EXPOSE 3. Images can be created in any 3D or digital illustration application. Photoshop and digitally manipulated photography is also welcome. We are interested in digitally-created fine art, whether it be 2D or 3D, for commercial use, or personal satisfaction.
The editors and distinguished Advisory Board members will select images for inclusion in

EXPOSE 3 along with images worthy of receiving special recognition in a range of categories.

Dan Curry, VFX Producer/Supervisor, Star Trek: Enterprise
Eric Hanson, Senior Producer, The Gnomon Workshop
Jeff Mottle, President, CGarchitect.com
Kim Larsen, PLACEBO Effects
Lorne Lanning, President/Creative Director, Oddworld Inhabitants
Scott Robertson, Design Studio Press
Stephan Martiniere Concept/Production Artist
Syd Mead, Visual Futurist
Tim McGovern, VFX Producer/Supervisor.

The deadline for entries to be considered for EXPOSE 3 is 28th February 2005. Due to the rush at the last minute, we ask that artists with existing works submit their entries as quickly as possible to avoid any technical difficulties or mail system failures. The publication of EXPOSE 3 is scheduled for release in August 2005. There is no cost (or limit) to enter and the artists who have work selected for inclusion in the book will enjoy worldwide exposure in the worldâ€™s premium collection of digital artwork. We look forward to seeing your work featured in EXPOSE 3!

This year's festival was a huge success. We had over 1200 industry passholders, and 115 screenings and events. The inaugural Television Animation Conference completely sold-out.
The Ottawa International Animation Festival is now an annual event with our next festival running from September 21 to 25, 2005.

The link below includes a set of making-of images for THE INCREDIBLES you can use to build an Incredibles Progression Gallery on your site.

The five images detail how Pixar takes a shot from the film from start to finish and includes explanatory captions you can use.

3D Buzz will soon be launching a newsletter system, keeping all our Members up to date on new events and announcements from the 3D Buzz Crew. These emails will include EXCLUSIVE Video Tips, which will ONLY be accessible from the email itself, for a limited time, and your unique download link will only work the one time. To initiate the new system, we have created three Video Tips that you can download by following the links below!

Wanted to let you know that ANIMAX just animated a series of webisodes and created a website for the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. The "Coping with Chemo" shorts are aimed at helping teens cope with the physical, emotional and social impact of cancer and chemo treatment. Mixing storytelling and humor to communicate serious messages, the animated shorts reach out to teens using their language and on their own terms.

It's been a crazy few months. Thanks to your passing our link around the planet, THIS LAND became an international phenomenon. We didn't spend a dime promoting itâ€¦ we just sent it to you. You did all the rest. As a direct result of your efforts, Jay Leno invited us to make a second election animation for the Tonight Show. Despite the fact that we were terrified of following up THIS LAND, we dove in head first. The new piece is called "Good to be in DC"!

We hope you like it, we hope it makes you laugh, and we hope you send it to every liberal wiener and right wing nut job in your contact manager!

I'm happy to announce the completion of our newest water safety poster design for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

This years theme deals with the problem of falling overboard while answering nature's call and sadly the number of these drowning incidents are on the rise.

Please find below link to the latest trailer for THE INCREDIBLES as well as four new images from the film.

The images are available at the following URL and can be individually saved or downloaded via zip file.

Wow, just found out that Robert Crumb added my link to his website! I'm totally honored!

Category 1: best film (not longer than 7 minutes)
Category 2. best stop-motion character

I've added a new page to the site which features a portfolio archive of past clay character designs. ( Some dating back to 1995 )

If you are a TV animation producer or want to be a TV animation producer, register now for the Television Animation Conference at the OIAF. Sponsored by the Ontario Media Development Corporation and Foreign Affairs Canada.

Passes Available at: http://www.awn.com/ottawa/fest_passes.html The TAC pass is $400CAN and includes 2 breakfasts at the Chateau Laurier, all TAC panels, a free listing in the TAC Delegate Guide and the special TAC reception. PLUS all the benefits of an AnimaPass.

Don't miss this new business oriented event that will help you connect with broadcasters, buyers and other producers in the industry. Register by August 27th to be included in the Delegate Guide.

10:00 am Panel:
The American Market - Meet the Makers
The American market remains the most competitive and sought-after in the global marketplace. This panel will give delegates insight into the current state of the marketplace, outline the kinds of properties broadcasters are currently interested in and explore where panelists believe the market is going in the coming years.

Speakers:
Peter Gal - Director, Development and Animation, Nickelodeon
Linda Simensky - Senior Director of Children's Programming, PBS
Heather Kenyon - Director of Development, Original Animation, Cartoon Network
David Wiebe - Director of Development, The Kids' WB!
Moderated by Dan Sarto - Co-Founder & Co-Publisher, Animation World Network

1:00 pm
Panel: Atomic Betty - A Case Study
Having gone from being the third most screened property at MIPCOM 2001
Atomic Betty has developed into one of the most talked-about North American Properties in recent years. A co-production between Breakthrough Animation and Atomic Cartoons in Canada and Tele Images Kids in France, the series has been sold to more than 40 territories worldwide including the U.K., Australia, Italy, Southeast Asia, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Learn how this exciting new series was made from start to finish.

Speakers:
Rob Davies - Co-Creator, Atomic Betty, Co-Founder, Atomic Cartoons
Kevin Gillis - Executive Producer, Breakthrough Films and Television
Joy Tashjian - President, Joy Tashjian Marketing Group
Virginie Jallot - Tele Images Kids France
Athena Georgaklis - Supervisor, Original Production, Teletoon Canada
Moderated by Peter Vamos, Editor of Playback Magazine

3:00 pm
Panel: Chinese Co-production and Co-venture Opportunities
Chinese animation is exploding. With every national network launching
a channel devoted solely to animation, studios are gearing up to provide 1000's of hours of new work. This burst in market growth is creating new opportunities for co-production and co-venture while also introducing a shift in the roles of partner companies: a growing demand for creative development for internal consumption along with a need to collaborate with international partners for worldwide sales. With a detailed look at the business structure and approval process in the Chinese screen industries you can get ahead on learning the fine art of collaboration.

This panel will focus on overcoming cultural and industrial challenges and will look at the art and the business of animation in China.

Speakers:
Hanqing Wu - Vice Manager, 3rd Production Company, China Film Group Corporation
Zhansheng Chen- Project Manager International Relations, China Central Television
Brigitte Monneau - Director, Coproductions Department, Telefilm Canada
Joe Chang - Chairman & Associate Professor, China Academy of Fine Arts
Lesley Taylor - Cookie Jar Entertainment
Moderated by Jacques Bensimon - Government Film Commissioner, National Film Board of Canada

5:00 pm Reception and Cocktail Party
An opportunity for delegates to meet and speak more intimately about
projects in development.

10:00 am Panel: Branding, Licensing and Interactive
Developing a new property? A panel of experts will start you thinking about how you can widen your revenue potential in today's competitive market.

Speakers:
Susan Miller - Founding Partner, Mixed Media Inc.
Joy Tashjian - President, Joy Tashjian Marketing Group
Fred Seibert - Executive Producer, Frederator Studios
Moderated by Rita Street - Editor, Animation Magazine

Since Siggraph is coming up I would like to invite interested parties to stop by our booth to view the new feature in the next Generation of
Turtle and sample some Swedish candy. See below for more information.

* Turtle for Maya is a radically faster renderer for complex scenes with advanced lighting. If you use raytracing and Global Illumination on large models â€“ you will want to use Turtle for Maya. Illuminate Labs are demonstrating Turtle for Maya and giving previews of coming Turtle features during SIGGRAPH 2004.

Visit Illuminate Labs at booth #1031 to see the demonstration and meet the team. Best

How are you? I hope all is well. We have a new Warner Bros. movie coming out on August 13. It's called Yu-Gi-Oh! and it is a Japanese anime film. I was wondering if you were interested in being a part of the banner promo program again, since it is an animated film. Here are the links to the website
(trailer) and our WB pub site. http://yugioh.warnerbros.com/

Lily Yang and Yuhua Xie from The organizing Committee of the 6th World Cartoon Conference writes:

We are the European & American Contact Department of The Organizing Committee of the 6th World Cartoon Conference which is considered as the summit of animation and comic industry and art of the largest scale in Asia. During 3-6 October 2004, the 6th session will be staged in Beijing, China. The theme of the exhibition is â€œComic and Nationality Nature in 21st Centuryâ€, we genuinely invite your company to participate in the conference. This is a good opportunity to enhance product image and enlarge the market in China. The brief introduction is as follow:
Date: October 3-6th, 2004
Place: Beijing International Conference Center
Website: The organizing Committee of the 6th World Cartoon Conference

Organizations
Ratifier:
Ministry of Culture of PR.China
Organizer:
China Association of Oriental Culture Studies
Undertaker:
Beijing Green Century Culture Co., Ltd.
Hebei Neon Advertising Co., Ltd.
Events:
Theme Conference of the 6th World Cartoon Conference
2004 Animation and Comic Industry Exposition (hard core)
International Master Cartoonistsâ€™ Original Artwork Exhibition and Tour Exhibition
2004 International Animation and Comic Creation Competition
The 4th China Prize-winning Cartoon Artwork Exhibition
World Cosplay Show and other related activities.

Please link to the web address below for further information of each event: http://www.wccchina.com.

European & American Contact Department for Booth Application and Media Cooperation:
Tel: +86-10-51736057, +86-10-51735691
24-hour hotline: +86-13311263509
E-mail:overseascartoon@skytranslation.com.cn

5DT (Fifth Dimension Technologies) will release their new 'ULTRA' Series of Data Gloves and Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) in Booth # 1062 at Siggraph 2004 from August 10-12 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California.

The 5DT Data Glove Ultra Series (data sheet attached) has been designed to satisfy the stringent requirements of modern Motion Capture and Animation Professionals. It offers comfort, ease of use, a small form factor and multiple application drivers. The high data quality, low cross-correlation and high data rate make it ideal for realistic real-time animation.

The 5DT Head Mounted Display Series (data sheet attached) offers the user a wide field of view, high resolution, a crisp image, a long cable and
superior sound quality packaged in a sleek, comfortable and extremely light headmount design. The series also includes Virtual Binoculars, Virtual
Laser Rangefinders, Virtual Night Vision Goggles and Monocular Displays.

If you are fortunate enough to attend Siggraph this year, please pay us a visit at Booth # 1062. We would be happy to demonstrate the 5DT Data Glove
Ultra and the new 5DT HMD to you.

The 5DT Data Glove Ultra 14 (14 sensor glove) will be demonstrated with Kaydara MOCAP (Motion Capture application). The 5DT Data Glove Ultra 5 (5
sensor glove) will be demonstrated with Discreet 3DS Max (Puppetteering application).

The new 5DT HMD 800-40 (40 degree field of view) will be demonstrated with 5DT's Street Luge Entertainment application. The HMD will be interfaced
with a 3 degree of freedom (3-DOF) head tracker.

If you get the opportunity to visit Southern California we would like to invite you to our offices for a personal demo. Our contact information is
as follows:
5DT Inc.
15375 Barranca Pkwy, G-103
Irvine, CA 92618
Contact: Jared Baer
Tel: (949) 450 9044
Fax: (949) 450 9045
E-mail: jared.baer@5dt.com

I am happy to announce the acquisition of the 'cg-animation.com' domain name. It currently points to our cg animation page, but watch for a fun new internet portal coming soon!

You are invited. Please come out and view the students work from our January to August group from the Post Grad Computer Animation program here at Sheridan College. We have 45 students graduating this summer.

We decided, once again, to hold the Industry screening in Toronto. I hope you can join us.
Please pass this email on to anyone else that might be interested in coming to our screening. The screening will be held at the NFB
Mediatheque in Toronto on August 18th, 2004, a Wednesday night.

The address is 150 John Street (at the corner of John and Richmond Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.)
There will be two screenings of the students work. The first screening will be held at 4:00pm and then the work will be screened again at
6:00pm for all those who can't get out of work early.

Here is the phone number of the NFB if you need to call for directions (416) 973-3012 and if you need to get a hold of me either email or call
Sheridan College at (905) 845-9430 ext. 8724.

On behalf of the students I would like to thank you for your participation in this event.

Ken Walker
Summer Coordinator / Technologist
Computer Animation Dept.
Sheridan College

John Della Contrada from the Virtual Reality Lab at the University at Buffalo writes:

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Researchers from the Virtual Reality Lab at the University at Buffalo have developed a new tool for transmitting physical touch to the virtual world.

Their virtual clay sculpting system enables users to replicate in real time on a personal computer the physical act of sculpting a block of clay or other malleable material. The resulting 3-D electronic shape shown on the computer screen then can be fine-tuned for product design using standard computer-aided design/modeling software.

"This technology will give product designers, or even artists, a tool that will allow them to touch, shape and manipulate virtual objects just as they would with actual clay models or sculptures," says Thenkurussi Kesavadas, director of the UB Virtual Reality Lab and associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

"We believe this tool will be a valuable first stage in the sculpting or molding of complex shapes, leading to the design of a variety of products for a variety of industries," Kesavadas adds.

Kesavadas developed the tool with Ameya Kamerkar, a graduate student in the UB Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. A provisional patent on the technology has been applied for by the UB Office of Science Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach.

The technology utilizes a ModelGlove developed by the researchers to record the force exerted by hand when depressing and shaping a block of clay. This force-feedback information, as well as information on hand position and speed of fingertip motion, is instantaneously communicated to a personal computer where a virtual block of clay -- possessing characteristics mimicking the physical properties of the clay -- is shaped precisely to the contouring of the actual clay.

In tests conducted in the UB Virtual Reality Lab, the researchers have used the technology to sculpt and then design a prototype car hood, for example.

The technology improves upon existing freeform NURBS (Nonuniform Rational B-spline Surfaces) modeling techniques, the researchers say, because it is the only technology capable of transferring touch directly from the user's hand to the virtual object. Other technologies on the market require users to shape a virtual object via mouse and keyboard by clicking on selected points on a virtual object and then inputting data to change its shape.

One such haptic (touch-based) modeling system called FreeFormâ„¢, which uses the Phantomâ„¢ haptic device, is expensive and is limited in its ability to provide multiple points of contact on its sensing tool, thus making its use rather tedious and non-intuitive, Kesavadas says.

"Our technology is far more intuitive than click-and-drag virtual prototyping tools currently in use," he explains. "The most natural tool for a designer is his or her hand."

Currently the ModelGlove is equipped with a single touch sensor on the tip of the index finger. On the computer display, the user's finger is represented as one of three virtual tools: a sharp tool for making small deep holes, a medium size for gauging or molding the clay and a large diameter tool for rough shaping of surfaces.

The next generation of the ModelGlove will have sensors on all fingers and on the palm of the hand to give users full finger control of virtual clay. This will enable users to perform complex touch actions -- such as kneading the ball of clay -- in the virtual environment, according to Kesavadas.

Eventually, the UB researchers hope to develop an array of sculpting tools using the technology.

"Anything used by hand in an artist's shop can be converted into a virtual tool, even a potter's wheel or chisel," Kesavadas says. "The whole purpose is to translate the natural feel of working with clay or other material to the computer, and to have the computer understand what the designer or artist is feeling and doing."

Kesavadas and researchers from the UB Virtual Reality Lab are leaders in the development of haptic technologies that bring a sense of touch to virtual reality. They also are working on touch systems with medical applications, including technologies to transmit the feel of a patient's abdomen over the Internet and a system to capture and replicate the force exerted by a surgeon with scalpel.

"Touch is the next frontier in the evolution of virtual reality," Kesavadas says. "Most virtual-reality technologies to this point have focused on 3D visualization, but the sense of touch may be the most powerful way to make virtual reality more real."

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 27,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Read more here:

SIGGRAPH 2004 brings nearly 25,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Los Angeles for the week-long conference, 8 â€“ 12 August. Leave LA with new insights, enhanced skills, deeper understanding, more earning power, powerful partnerships, fresh inspiration, and valuable memories. Youâ€™ll be totally prepared to create important work, collaborate with colleagues worldwide, and share some great stories.

Conference
Experience the SIGGRAPH 2004 Computer Animation Festival showcasing the world's most innovative, imaginative works in animation, visualization, simulation, visual effects, and technical imagery produced by adventurers who blend art and science into unique visual experiences.

SIGGRAPH 2004 offers the most intense week of education available anywhere for animators. Learn the newest techniques in SIGGRAPH 2004 Courses include Acting and Drawing for Animation; Augmenting Three-Dimensional Vision With Three-Dimensional Sound, Real-Time Shading; Facial Modeling and Animation; Art-Directed Technology: Anatomy of a â€œShrek 2â€ Sequence; and Crowd and Group Animation.

Realize
Realize the latest advances in computer graphics research and the impact they will have on your future work. Among the SIGGRAPH 2004 Paper topics are Identifying & Sketching the Future; 3D Texture; Smoke, Water, & Goop; Data-Driven Character Animation; and Shape & Motion.

Discover
Discover how your talents can cross over to the web in the Web Graphics program. Learn by seeing works in-progress and novel applications in animation and special effects in the Sketches program.

Exhibition
Learn what you need to know at the conference that delivers serious insight in nearly every sub discipline of computer graphics and interactive techniques. Try the tools you need on the worldâ€™s biggest and best CG & IT show floor.

Register
For the first time, SIGGRAPH 2004 offers a One Day registration option in which you can access all the programs and events of one action-packed SIGGRAPH 2004 day. For all registration information, see the SIGGRAPH 2004 web site or contact SIGGRAPH 2004 Registration Management, 11212 Waples Mill Road, Suite 104, Fairfax, Virginia 22030, +1.703.449.6418, +1.703.631.6288 fax, and registration@siggraph.org email.

ACM SIGGRAPH, the leading professional society for computer graphics and interactive techniques, sponsors SIGGRAPH 2004. Information on ACM SIGGRAPH membership and other conferences and activities can be found at www.siggraph.org.

The new studio is even larger than I had anticipated, and I look forward to all the new creations that will be conjured up in this space! Come back soon as I will be posting photos of the new studio shortly.

Moving day is upon us tomorrow... Vancouver here we come!
A special note of thanks to the City of Victoria, and all of those who are lucky enough to call it home.
Thanks for all your help and support over the years!
I will remember the Island fondly!

Paul, on behalf of New Media BC, I would like to extend my personal VIDFEST invitation to you. This is the first time Vancouver has hosted a digital event of this stature. We are thrilled with our guest speakers, all of the sessions, and the networking events that are the foundation of this festival. I hope you can join us from June 25 to 26. www.vidfest.com

I am writing to introduce you to Pipelinefx, producers of qube! Remote Controlâ„¢, the most powerful next generation renderfarm management software available for the feature film and game industries. The Pipelinefx technical team designed and built the first version of qube! for Square USAâ€™s groundbreaking Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the first fully animated feature film. This effort required more than twelve man years and $2 million of investment. The software embodies several patent-pending techniques for queuing, process control, and renderfarm management. These techniques increase production throughput significantly reducing the amount of time it takes to render frames for animation in movies. qube! has also supported game makers with compositing, movie compression, data format conversion for geometry and animation, batch processing of textures, as well as supporting the distribution of game builds.

Optimizing your investment in server farms and assuring the best use of expensive staff resources are the main benefits derived from using the companyâ€™s proven software. Our software is operating system agnostic, has application program interfaces or APIâ€™s for common programming languages and is compatible with all graphics animation tools available. The software is scalable to server farms of any size and can readily adapt to changing environments. qube! is highly customizable, extensively scalable and can be integrated into any production workflow. qube! operates in Linux, Windows XP/2000, OSX, and IRIX. qube! comes with a Maya job type that contains everything necessary to submit and execute batch Maya jobs. qube! supports Gelatoâ„¢, Renderman, Shake, Softimage, Mental Ray and any job that can be submitted as a command line.

We will be exhibiting qube! at SIGGRAPH again this year in Los Angeles, CA, August 10-12, 2004, booth #1152. Please come by and say hello. If you are interested in qube and want to explore it further, please visit our web site, http://www.pipelinefx.com where we have a live web based version of qube! that allows you to submit a job to a 15 CPU render farm.

Just a short e-mail to let you know that there is a new book on character animation about to be published.
It is titled "Character Animation in 3D" by Steve Roberts.

Steve has over 20 years experience working in the animation industry and teaches at Central St Martins College of Art and Design on the Post Graduate Diploma in Character Animation (also known as The London Animation Studio. www.londonanimationstudio.tv).

At last! A definitive work on the principles of 3D animation, from a highly experienced traditional animator. Steve Roberts brings his substantial knowledge of teaching the fundamental techniques of animation to this essential reference work - anyone who wants to make a career in CG animation needs this book!- Dr. Mike Milne, Director of Computer Animation, Framestore CFC

A fantastic, comprehensive, but above all practical guide to character animation. The well-pitched progressive exercises at the
core of this book make it a must have for all serious animation wannabes.- Andrew Lindsay, Senior Animator, Lionhead Studios

'Finally! A forthright approach to a complex art form. An inspired text that fuses an essential understanding of fundamental traditional methods and technology' - Rita Osei, Animation & Graphics Producer, Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Toonami

It was surely a matter of time before a publication like this emerged. An understanding of basic animation principles is often
overlooked in 3D computer animation. This book will do much to put that right; it is an essential source of knowledge, which will enable 2D and 3D animators to understand each other's purpose.- Daniel Greaves. Tandem Films.

There's lots of free stuff to download on the website including tutorials, movies and 20 fully rigged models built in 3DS Max,
LightWave, Maya and SoftImage XSI.

It's official, my wife and I have been mulling it over for some time now, and finally decided to move back to Vancouver.

It is looking like a July 1 move, so hold on to yer bootstraps Vancouver... The Clayman's coming home!

Hi Clayman, I am selling the entire remaining contents of the late Foy E. Brown's hand puppet, marionette and ventriloquist wood carving shop. He created fine basswood figures from 1939-1989. This link will take you to my offering.

If you know someone who may be interested in this collection, please feel free to forward this email to them.

CG Modeler Steve Noble has been busy working on The Clayman's Robot character design. Visit our Digital Clay page to see his latest animation test using an interesting compositing effect.

After careful review, your site has been selected to receive HindSight Charter's World Class Website Award. As a website designer, you have met or surpassed our criteria of excellence for: concept and design, rich content, and easy navigation.

Hi Paul, thank you very much for participating in this marketing opportunity with Warner Bros. and helping us to promote Looney Tunes Back in Action and Scooby Doo 2.

Monsters In Motion a Southern California Online Store & Retail gallery has been the largest retailer of Ray Harryhausen collectibles for over ten years. On April 17 2004, Mr Harryhausen will be making an appearance at our gallery to promote his new book "Ray Harryhausen an animated life", he will appearing in person to meet the fans and sign the book, Monsters In Motion will also be preparing special surprises only at this event. As you may already know Mr Harryhausen has seen very little revenue from the characters he created for the studios, and we would like your support to promote his book.

I am currently bidding on several projects and hope to release more news soon. Stay tuned!

Strategic Media Inc. releases the second commercial featuring "The Chevy Giant".

Wishing you all the very best for the Holidays, and for 2004! Thanks for helping to make The Clayman's website one of the top ranked animation websites online today. Watch for lots of fun, new projects coming this year!

Hi Clayman, I came across your website and see that you discuss claymation. We have just acquired an incredible collection of Will Vinton Claymation figures and are offering them on ebay this week. We thought that the people who visit your site might find this of interest and were wondering if it was possible for you to link to our site.Check out our website, take a look at the figures, and let us know what you think.

I had a little time on my hands, so I thought to add a little more artistic dimension to the site. As an artist it is often difficult to limit yourself to one particualr style, so I decided to add a new page which showcases photo's from my wider portfolio.

I am writing as a classroom teacher at Monterey Elementary School in Victoria BC. Earlier is 2003, my Grade 5 class had the wonderful experience of a visit from clay animation artist Paul Moldovanos and Ali Foord from the Greater Victoria Film Commission who provided the learning resources for an extra exciting learning event, Clay Animation Day.

My class of thirty-two students was completely engaged by Paul Moldovanos' presentation. In the course of one afternoon he not only demonstrated for the children the basics of clay animation but inspired and excited them to create their own clay characters. Mr. Moldovanos and Ms. Foord brought animation clay and tools for working the clay for each child in the classroom. They also brought posters, video examples of animations and other learning materials to stimulate the imaginations and creativity of the students. These practical helped greatly aided the learning experience. Mr. Moldovanos also brought to the class his excitement, creativity and enthusiasm. It was infectious!

As well as introducing the field of animation and its potential, Clay Animation Day helped the children realize they had the creative ability to make their own stories come alive. Clay Animation Day added a great deal to our Art curriculum and to the children's understanding of media. The day also widened the children's understanding of possible types of work and careers in the future. I'm sure many of the students will remember and be inspired by the generous visit to our class.

As a testament to the success of the Clay Animation Day, rather than sending a typical thank you letter, the children voted to thank Mr. Moldovanos by putting his creative lead into practice. The class worked to thanks Mr. Moldovanos by creating and sending him their own drawings and art work.

I am grateful to the Victoria Film Commission and its representative, Ali Foord, for its generous interest in our school and our class. Clay Animation Day was an event that all of us will remember.

Steven Toleikis B.Sc., Dip. Ed., M.A. Teacher, Monterey Elementary, Victoria School District #61

Hi Paul, finally... it's here... The official Hockey Night in Victoria 2003 Photo Website! Thanks for your part in making the event such a huge success.

Website features a photo journal of "Men's Health Week" sponsored by Pfizer Canada and The Well Foundation

I have searched high and low for a claymation feature which I saw ages ago I believe on HBO called Animals at the Zoo or something like that. The art is so much like Wallace and Grommet that I believe it is your work but I didn't get the credits. Meanwhile I have off and on again searched for a copy of this film but can't seem to find it anywhere - in the stores or on the net. Is this your work? And if it is, is it available on film/CD/internet for download?

PS - My son, a first year college art major, has made a couple of very short (and yes, very amateur) stop motion films and this is where his real interest lies. Is there any advice you can pass on to him? He has read your resume so he knows it's not an easy road. Any advice on what courses would best be suited to this arena? I know you can't endorse any particular school but he is thinking of continuing his education at VanArts in Vancouver. Is that the right direction? Thanks again.

The only animation that features clay zoo animals I know of, is Creature Comforts by Aardman, the original was a short film many years ago that went on to win the Oscar, but they have recently further developed the concept into a new series. You can visit their site here http://www.creaturecomforts.tv/

As for advice, I have heard good things about VanArts, VFS and Capilano College's animation programs. Clay animation is fun, but sadly, the high budgets required to produce stop motion is making it a rare choice considering the price advantages that CG animation provides. There are far more career options if your son starts with the solid classical animation training, including traditional styles like drawing and clay, then using that knowledge as a foundation on which to build a solid CG demo reel.

This is way cool! My USACE client emailed me today with news that my clay illustrated Lewis and Clark posters will be made into billboards in conjunction with upcoming commemmorative events in June 2004. Watch for these new billboards along Missouri and Kansas roadways next Summer!

I was able to get to the Hillside Mall today and was taken back with the number of people who were in line for Men's Health Week's free PSA screening tests! Pfizer Spokesperson, Mr. Guy Lafleur, was on hand to sign autographs and even posed with me in front of my poster for a few shots! With Mr. Lafleur being one of my all time hockey hero's, this was a real thrill to meet him and have him compliment my work! I was also happy to hear that the number who attended far surpassed last years turn out!!

Welcome to the newly redesigned Funhouse, over the next few days I will be making some final adjustments to polish it up.

Wonderful news, my Army Corps of Engineers client, Lynda Nutt, just emailed me to let me know that the National Safe Boating Council just ordered 60,000 prints of my Lewis and Clark posters as promotional give-aways. Lynda also ordered a whole bunch of temporary tattoos of my Gator and Frog characters, I look forward to slapping one on my arm soon!