Welcome to Active Art Animations

Your youngest daughter just graduated and wants to start a 3D animation studio business. However, she doesn’t have the capital required to start, and your older kids can’t help her out with the staggering economic recession. You’ve also checked your pension1savings and investments, and nothing seems to add up to the total amount she needs. You’ve seen her work and can attest to her prowess in the field, so this will be a fantastic investment. After failed attempts at getting the amount required, you suddenly get a light bulb moment – equity release. Equity release mortgage is a financial plan that offers you tax-free cash and allows you to continue living in your home till you pass on or move into residential care. To qualify for this incredible scheme, you only have to be 55 years and above, a UK resident, and own a home worth at least €70,000. Since you’re 60 and own a home in Edinburg, you only have to find out your estate’s worth since the estate market value keeps fluctuating. After some equity release advice from your financial advisor, and a visit from an independent surveyor, you discover that your home is worth €560,000. What’s the Equity Release Process? Well, now, you can start the equity release2 process and be closer to getting the cash to actualize your favourite daughter’s dream. The home equity release process is rigorous and offers you the opportunity to think through carefully about the plan. It involves several steps which vary from one equity release company to another. Nonetheless, the standard process involves: Selecting a financial advisor – Choosing a financial advisor is one of the most critical steps to take. Since you already have an advisor, you can go on to the second step. In case you don’t, you have

You have a small art display show in your gallery and are now looking forward to hosting the annual art show. However, you’ve received complaints of stuffiness and pet hair issues from some of your loyal clients. Since you don’t want to face the embarrassment during the major art event, you’re looking for ways to combat these issues. After reading through some articles, you discover the best vacuum cleaner for pets. However, since you don’t know anything about the types of vacuum cleaners, here’s a comprehensive guide to choosing pet vacuums. How to Choose the Best Pet Vacuum Cleaner When selecting the best vacuum cleaner to get rid of the pet hair issues in your studio, you need to consider these factors: The Type of Vacuum Cleaner You Need You need to be sure if you want an upright, canister, cordless or bagged vacuum cleaner. Upright vacuum cleaners, for instance, are perfect for large spaces, like your studio. What makes them the right fit is that you only have to push the vacuum in front and don’t have to bend down to clean. They also have the best turbo brushes. Bagged vacuum cleaners, on the other hand, capture all the dust in a disposable bag. The hoovers also feature larger capacities, so there’s less maintenance and contact with dust. However, you’ll have to purchase replacements frequently. Your Budgetary Options You might also want to consider your financial situation. How much can you afford to buy a vacuum cleaner? According to most experts, buying a pet hair vacuum cleaner would cost anywhere between $50 and $1000. Cordless vacuum cleaners tend to be more costly, particularly if you want one with exemplary battery life. Extra-Mini Tools You also need to consider the extra tools or accessories that come with vacuum cleaners. These

Short and compelling animated videos can easily explain concepts, products, and services by breaking them down into simple and attractive motion visuals. Animated explainers are also particularly useful for sharing ideas in a world with short attention spans and a craving for flashy images and content. 1. Brief & Research Every marketing video starts with a conversation about an idea. Our team of researchers talks with you to learn as much about your product, service, or issue as possible. The process of research also evaluates the market to figure out the best method for putting out the right message in the best way for your brand. 2. Script & Concept The script is a crucial element in creating a killer explainer video. Before a single image is even put into motion for the explainer video, we talk to you to plan the concept. Our video production creative team puts their heads together for nailing the right concept which is then fleshed out into a full script. The key is to present the message in the simplest, most comprehensive manner to your target audience. 3. Mood Board & Storyboard We will send you several mood boards (a type of collage consisting of images intended to project a particular style or concept) and sketch out a storyboard that shows how the script will play out – scene by scene. 4. Style & Illustrations Next we will send you 2-3 custom, full-color visuals that will give you an accurate idea of what the finished video will look like. Depending on your video, this may include text, characters, backgrounds, icons and more. After you sign off, we will create the full story with the final visuals. This process includes the design of all the characters and the environments in the animated explainer video. 5. Voice Over

If you’re thinking about a career in animation, you’ve probably done some animating. Maybe you’ve always doodled on a flipbook. Or you might have grown up with a computer animation program. In any case, you have a pretty good idea of what is animation, or you wouldn’t be thinking about making it your career! But, no matter what animating you’ve done, you’ve probably only used one of the 5 basic types of animation. For example, your flipbook animations are an example of 2D animation, or traditional animation. The work you’ve done on a computer is probably and example of 3D or computer animation. 5 BASIC TYPES OF ANIMATION Here’s a quick look at 5 types of animation to help you have a better idea of the possibilities for a career in animation. Traditional 2D Animation – One of the older forms of animation, every frame of a traditional animation sequence is created by hand, similar to what you did with with flipbooks. Back in the day, animators used a process called onion skinning. Working on a light table, animators could see previous drawings through the paper so they could draw the next frame in the sequence. Today, even traditional animation is created using a computer. Disney’s classic animated films and the old Bugs Bunny cartoons are examples of traditional animation. 2D Vector-Based Animation – In addition to aiding in the process of traditional animation, computer technology makes it possible to create 2D vector-based animations. In addition to frame-by-frame animation, 2D vector-based animation technology gives animators the option to create ‘rigs’ for a character. This allows the animator to move individual body parts, instead of redrawing the entire character for each frame. Computer Animation – While 2D vector-based animations are created with computer, computer animation refers to 3D animations. Today, 3D animation is the most common

Hey, Which Witch is Which? (what the heck should I collect and how should I get started)?! 1) Think about what you like and what your collecting goals are. Who do I want to collect? I don’t think that one should limit oneself, but it’s not a bad idea to have a think about where your collection is going. You can pick studio (Disney), character types (Villains), or movies (Snow White). Or, you can just have fun, and collect any character or pose that takes your fancy! What type of art do I want to collect? Original- cels, drawings, reproduction- limited editions, sericels, etc. Understand what you are collecting first, and it will save disappointments later. 2) Educate yourself to the differences about different kinds of art. As I’ve said before, it’s very confusing in the beginning. Know the difference between original and reproduction art. Know the differences between key master, master, production, hand painted, and colour reproduction backgrounds. Know the differences between vintage, feature, short, television, and commercial animation. Be wary of adjectives such as “mint” and “rare”, they mean different things to different people. Mint has a different meaning for a Snow White cel (1937) than a Little Mermaid cel (1989). Also, “rare” is a Snow White cel from 1937, “rare” is not a sold-out limited edition that was made within the last 10 years. 3) Shop around a little bit for prices. Don’t think so much in terms of “will this be a good investment?”, as much as “is this good value for money?”. Prices vary, and you should expect them to. Galleries get their art from different sources, and the prices are usually never the same for vintage pieces, even for similar pieces. Prices should be similar for newer art – Simpsons, limited editions, sericels, Batman,

This article should save you quite a bit of time and research! (That’s what I’m here for!) I want to discuss which of the main studios released art from which decades, and how easy/difficult it is to obtain pieces. This is meant to be a general guide by studio. The basic rule of thumb is: vintage is hard, contemporary is easy. A specific scene or episode from any era may be difficult to find, so consider being flexible with your collecting. Remember that words like “rare” should be used sparingly. Old art from decades ago is “rare” because a lot of it got destroyed, so not much of it exists. Newer art is not rare, as it still exists, but it might not be easily found! DISNEY Disney fans are very lucky in that there is a lot of terrific art available to collect. Production art Vintage production cels In the late 1930s, Disney teamed up with the Courvoisier Gallery in San Francisco to sell cels from the 1930s/40s. Courvoisier galleries mainly released pieces from Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Fantasia, and some of the shorts- Ugly Duckling, etc. A lot of pieces were sold by the gallery, and therefore escaped being destroyed. A lot of the art has also survived due to Disney employees. Animators were allowed to take art home. That is, those cels that weren’t ruined by the celebration “slide” down the hall that marked the end of a film. I think of it as similar to notebook burning in university. Cels were also given as gifts to other studio employees, visitors to the studio, or friends. Disney also sold some cels in the 1960s at Disneyland. Quite a bit of Sleeping Beauty, Donalds, 101 Dalmatians, etc. were released by this method. Often referred to as a

I think that there still exists a lot of confusion about the different types of animation art. So here is a full-blown glossary that should be helpful. PRODUCTION ART Animation Cel A sheet of clear acetate or nitrate which is hand-painted and then placed over a background and photographed. The outline of the character (hand-painted or xeroxed) is applied to the front of the cel. The colours are hand-painted onto the back of the cel. Nitrate Material of older cels used up until the 1950s (1940s for Disney). Often show signs of aging such as rippling or yellowing. Acetate Material used in the present day. More stable than nitrate. 12-Field Refers to a size of a cel or drawing of 10 1/2″ x 12 1/2″. Is the most standard size of art. 16-Field Cel or drawing of 12″ x 16″. Pan (Cinemascope) Cel or drawing up to 12″ x 30″. Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty used this type of artwork. Sometimes the production backgrounds were of this size as well. One may find art from these films that were once pan size, but have since been trimmed. Courvoisier A Disney cel set-up created and sold by the Courvoisier Galleries in the late 1930s/early 1940s. Characters are most often trimmed to image, glued to the background, covered with a protective top cel. Most vintage Disney pieces from this era are of this nature. In the case of a multi-cel set-up, cels are always from the same film, but may not all correspond to the same moment in time. A number of distinctive backgrounds were used. Wood veneer, polka dots, stars, and hand-painted watercolour backgrounds. The original set-ups were almost always framed in an off-white mat, penciled name of the character written, and a “WDP” stamp. Labels were attached to

What are collector fairs/shows and what do I need to know? Collector shows are basically antique fairs which showcase collectable items. Collectables are deemed to be items made within the last 100 years (as opposed to antiques). Most of the shows I know of seem to have a mix between vintage and newer pieces. You may find some really special old and rare items, or have an opportunity to pick up that recent comic book or limited edition figure you may have missed the first time round. The shows consist of numerous stands of 50-500+ dealers selling everything from comic books, Disney Classics, X-Files, Star Wars, Simpsons, Felix, Bonzo, vintage character china, animation art (of course!), etc. It’s like visiting hundreds of terrific stores all located within the same place. I think that these shows are really terrific and offer collectors a great way to see what’s out there, meet other collectors, and find great stuff! There can also be special apperances by X-Files stars, or film and TV celebrities. There are a few wonderful fairs in England, and you may contact me in New York if you would like details of the ones I attend and think are relevant to animation. Rules of Thumb 1) There is usually a nominal charge of a few quid, which isn’t bad for a whole day of entertainment! There are sometimes gift bags of items worth the price of admission which are handed out upon entrance. 2) Get there early! These shows get crowded, so show up early for the best selection. Also, some shows have early admission for an extra charge. If you’re a serious collector, I recommend getting there early. 3) Bring cash. Some dealers may accept credit cards or cheques, but cash is king. It also increases your odds for