Animating a Walk Cycle

In the old days of animation, everything was "hand-drawn". If a character was walking, every different pose was made as one drawing. Now we are in the digital age, and there are lots of short-cuts. One of them is, to build the character as a cut-out puppet, and move the different pieces, in order to create the illusion of animation. This is what is called "Flash" animation, because users of Flash kept their data files small by using this method.
Although Animan doesn't really like this style as much as as the hand-drawn way, it's great for making characters walk, run or whatever. The way a person walks tells us a lot about what kind of a person they are, or how they're feeling. Making walk cycles with cut-out puppets allows the animator to keep tweaking the animation until it has just the right feeling. Here's a video showing how it's done!

Italian Beefcake, Anyone?

This is Rossano Brazzi! He co-starred in the movie "South Pacific" (1958). Unfortunately, there were no scenes like this in the movie! This was a publicity shot, probably taken at Hanalei Bay in Kaua'i. All Animan can say is, "Hubba Hubba"!
My dad had a stack of old Playboy magazines from the '60's. I used to "borrow" them--not for the photographs, because those didn't do a thing for me--but rather for the full-color illustrations and comics which were magnificent.
One day, I ran across a series that spanned several issues, "Sex in the Cinema", and this picture was in it. I just flipped out! This is a pretty daring publicity photo for the '50's--a handsome male movie star in a skimpy little swimsuit, with plenty of body hair.
One day, Dad gave away his Playboy collection and I was crushed. I should have kept that one issue! I searched all over the web to see if anyone had posted this photo. Nope. Finally, I located some old Playboy magazines on Ebay, and at last found my beloved picture. Now he is here in all his splendor, so the world can enjoy this gorgeous man.

Popeye and Bluto

Here is a screengrab of Popeye and Bluto in a dance pose from "Morning Noon and Nightclub", which I found on YouTube. It's nice to imagine what a pose like this could lead to....! 

Sexy Bluto

In the beginning days of the old Popeye cartoons, Bluto looked like a big, round mountain with a little head on it. As long as he was always standing up, then there were no problems. But as the stories developed more, Bluto had to be more flexible, and so his body was modified accordingly. Here are two poses that look like something out of an Animan cartoon!

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IF YOU'RE NEW TO ANIMAN'S WORLD, YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK OUT

THE FREE VIDEOS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD HERE:

http://animancartoons.blogspot.jp/2012/03/download-freebies.html

By downloading these videos, you warrant that you are of legal age to view sexually explicit material.

Cool Animation!!

I just can't resist sharing this with you. Here is an animated commercial from Germany, probably made in the 1950's. It may have been shown in theaters. It shows how even the most exquisite music gets destroyed when your radio has bad tubes! Just change to Telefunken tubes and all will be well. Great, classic, carefully done, hand-drawn animation, with a great soundtrack. All RIGHT!!!

My Shot in the Arm

Last year, a dear friend of Animan sent me a link to this video. I had always known the name Rita Hayworth, and that she was a great film actress in the golden days of Hollywood. What I didn't know is that she was one of the finest dancers ever captured on film. (Just see for yourself!) When Fred Astaire danced with Ginger Rogers, it was magical; but when he dances with Rita Hayworth, it's two great dance masters dancing side by side!
Some video genius has taken clips of her most wonderful dances, and cleverly and masterfully edited them together here so that they fit the Bee Gee's' song "Stayin' Alive"to perfection.
Every time I watch this, my body gives me a charge of adrenalin. The dancing is spectacular in itself; and the visuals match the song perfectly. So it's two types of delicious entertainment at the same time.
Even Animan feels a little blue sometimes, and when he does . . . this video makes him smile again.! =D

Welcome to the Pool

Friends of Animan know that I insist on never posting sexually explicit pictures on this blog, because all too often, blogs that do that can easily end up on the cyber-trash heap. Today however, Animan is going to bend that rule just slightly. 
On the left half of this picture, is an old 1949 magazine ad for an autombile as big as a Sherman tank. (It's amazing, all the great commercial art to be found on the web...) So, I decided to "Animanize" it--and the result is on the right half. The "improved" part of the picture is so small, you'll probably have to look for it.  I wasn't able to completely remove or cover up all the horizontal color stripes that appeared on the original scan, but I did freshen up the color a bit, turning this luxurious but rather dull location into a "swimsuits-optional" resort, guaranteeing that Dad gets all the attention he deserves!

JIMIPARADISE interviews Animan! Click here!

Check Out This Cool Site!

Have you ever watched a Disney animated film and thought, "Boy, I wish I could save this moment! I'd frame it and hang it on my wall...."  Well, with the digital technology available, it's no longer a dream. Of course, going through a whole movie and saving all the frames is a bit tedious. Or....you can simply go to http://disneyscreencaps.com/  and you'll find thousands of frames from all the Disney (and lots of non-Disney) animated feature films.
Here's one of my favorite moments from "Sleeping Beauty". The screencap was a bit dark, so I boosted the exposure just a little, and increased the sharpness. I love the way the prince has been drawn--he's a bit angular, but he blends right in with the style of the movie. The colored lines delineating the characters have been executed with the usual Disney panache and flair. If you have a favorite moment from a Disney animated feature film, I suggest you check out this site!

Copyright  Walt Disney Pictures

It's 2013

I hope that all the friends of Animan are enjoying the New Year, and that 2013 will be a wonderful year for all of us!
Here's another background sketch.

Another Video Goody!

I'm always interested in seeing beautiful animation art, and I stumbled on this clip on YouTube. I hope Animan's friends find it interesting and fun!

To All Our Friends

Whatever you are celebrating at this time of year, Animan and his stable of cartoon hunk stars hope that it will be filled with joy, happiness and friendship!

A New Beginning

Animan is still planning the new cartoon. For a cartoon of 13 to 15 minutes, it takes about 2 weeks to plan out all the scenes and how long they will last, as well as the words the characters will speak. Animan has already finished 1/3 of this beginning process, which becomes the animatic. The character designs are still in a rough stage, so no animation can be done yet.

Animan wanted to see what the mood and feeling of the video would be like, so he made the first background, and this is it. It's a typical 1950's master bedroom. There's no TV, but lots of dressers! And since this is the bedroom, the colors can be a little wild. Animan will be posting other backgrounds when they are finished!

A Peek

Here's a preview from the next video!

The First Ever Disneyland TV Show

Welcome again, friends of Animan! Today we have some more YouTube goodies.

The first Disneyland TV Show was broadcast October 27, 1954. Just like Disneyland, it had 4 different sections: Fantasyland, Frontierland, Tomorrowland and Adventureland. Viewers could see scenes from the great Disney animated films, stories about American heroes from the Old West,  predictions for the future of space travel, and documentaries about people and places.

Compare this with the junk on the Disney Channel nowadays, and you'll see that the quality was much higher back in the beginning days of the Disneyland TV Show. 

This show has been divided into 6 parts for YouTube. Each section has something interesting. The show is in stunning black and white!

Part 1: Watch for Fess Parker, the actor who played Davy Crockett for Disney. HOT! 

Part 2: A Bullfight in Portugal--the bull is not killed, but tries to knock down a group of nicely-built toreros, and all of them are wearing nice, tight pants! Me Like-ee!

                        Part 3: A rare scene from "Song of the South"

 

Part 4: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy in "Lonesome Ghosts"

Part 5: Mickey Mouse in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice"

Part 6: Previews of Next Week

Super Hero Does It Again!

Yesterday, I got this e-mail from a friend who bought "Super Hero":
THANKS again dude! These videos are so awesome, Me and a buddy are both home from school this weekend and were drinking some beers and I plan on watching them with him later, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

And today, he wrote to me again, with this GREAT message!

I owe you some thanks for a great evening! A buddy and I stumbled back to his apartment last night and ended up watching Super Hero for the first time, I had it downloaded but hadn't watched it yet. Another Great job! Your videos are so hot and horny you made my 'straight-curious' friend to not only jack with me but we ended up 69'ing and he ended up fucking me while we were watching summer camp! Thanks again, I hope to have more awesome night likes this again. And I'm sure ill be watching your works of art during them!

Who says there are no happy endings??!!

Computer advice needed here!

Whenever an Animan video goes on sale, Animan always receives 2 or 3 e-mails like this one:

"HI I'm having trouble with the video  it downloads but when I play it it's only the first couple of minutes then stops . Thank You" (This was for a WMV file).

So I write back, "I think your computer is timing out before the download is finished--try Googling and see if you can find the solution."

Since I've never had this problem, I don't know what to answer. If any of Animan's pals out there have some good computer advice for this problem, please send it here, and Animan will make sure it gets posted!  THANKS, GUYS!!!

This E-mail Address Doesn't Work!

Of the several orders I get for videos, there are always one or two that bounce back when I try to send the video links. Since I can't use these addresses, the only way I can communicate with the sender is to write it here, like a sort of public bulletin board.

I'M GOING TO KEEP THIS BULLETIN BOARD HERE--IF ANYONE SENDS ME MONEY BUT HASN'T RECEIVED A LINK, I'LL MENTION IT HERE.

BEFORE SENDING MONEY TO ANIMAN, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS ACTUALLY WORKS!  THANKS, GUYS!

"SUPER HERO" VIDEO NOW AVAILABLE!

At last, the long wait is over! "Super Hero" is now on sale for $7 USD. If this is your first time to buy an Animan video, the instructions are here:
http://animancartoons.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-do-i-buy-videos.html

This video was a long time in production, as all of you well know! I hope everyone thinks it was worth the wait. In later posts, I'll talk about why it took so long, etc. As for me? I'm very pleased with it.