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

Some well-known popular 2D animations include: Looney Tunes (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd) Classic Disney (Snow White, The Jungle Book, The Little Mermaid) TV shows (The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Rick and Morty) 2D animation is a traditional animation method that has existed since the late 1800s. It is one drawing followed by another in a slightly different pose, followed by another in a slightly different pose, so on and so on, at 24 frames per second. Traditionally, these drawings were put together in an amazing process where artists drew pencil drawings of every frame of film, then these images were painted onto clear plastic sheets called ‘cels’, and each of these thousands of hand-drawn and painted cels were photographed one at a time over a hand-painted background image, and those thousands of images compiled to run as film at 24 frames per second. Today, most 2D animators use computer software to one degree or another, with applications ranging from digitally coloring the cels to be photographed in the traditional method, to composing every single animation element in the computer interface. Some popular 3D animations include: Pixar (Toy Story, Frozen, The Incredibles) Dreamworks (Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon) Feature Film CGI (the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, the robots in Transformers, pretty much everything in Avatar) 3D animation (aside from stop-motion, which can actually be either 2D or 3D animation) is completely done using software. Anything created in a 3D animation program exists in an X, Y, Z world. That means instead of a flat drawing of a globe, 3D animation produces a sphere that can actually rotate 360 degrees. 3D animation allows animators to create things that are impossible or extremely tedious within 2D animation. For example: 3D-animated objects, once modeled, can be treated almost as physical objects. You can light them differently, creating different shadows, and move

Surprised at the title? In my quest to advise collectors on how and what to buy, I also want to highlight reasons NOT to buy a piece. These are to be on the basis that these reasons are taken on their own. Jennifer’s Don’ts 1) Never, ever buy a piece for investment purposes only. As I have said before, it is unethical and potentially illegal, for art to be sold strictly on this basis. You may be in for a nasty surprise later. Rather, trust your own instincts. Buying a piece that you like is always the smarter move. Some of these pieces certainly do increase in value, but not until you’ve sold them. In the meantime, you have to live with them. 2) Do not buy a piece for the sole reason that it is signed. In some cases, the inside joke is that pieces NOT signed by certain individuals are more rare than signed ones. A piece signed by Walt Disney is certainly a rare occurrence. Pieces that are being “mass-signed” by animators at the moment do not have the same rarity consideration. 3) Don’t buy a piece because it’s the end of an edition, and it’s likely to be sold out soon, and thus “rare, hard-to-find, etc.” If you are truly interested in a piece, then you may need to make up your mind quickly. But not for any other reason. 4) Don’t be blinded by a great colour laser or hand-painted (hand-prepared) background. They look great, and really add to the aesthetic value of a piece, but take into account the cel that you are buying. That’s where the value of your purchase is. Same logic applies to a nice frame. 5) Don’t buy a piece because you feel that you have no other choices. You

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,

The joys (and perils) of buying on-line… Before I start, I do wish to say that I think the internet is the wave of the future in terms of buying just about everything. I also think that overall, the internet is an excellent place to buy animation art, but a few precautions never hurt anyone. The joys 1) Most importantly, never has it been easier to comparison shop. Both against other galleries on the internet and local storefronts. You can visit a few galleries, compare images, prices, and selection. You can also get a feel for the gallery by reading about them if they have a page about themselves, and by looking at their presentation of the site. Are they friendly?, are they helpful? are they looking to educate visitors? what is their return policy? do they ship overseas? Also notice how often the site is updated. The best pages update daily. Before the medium of the internet, you had to physically travel to each gallery, or order loads of out-of-date catalogs. What a nightmare! I know, I did it for the first 6 years of my collecting life. But now, buying art couldn’t be easier. Bet you didn’t know you could order a cel on-line and receive it in England within a week! 2) You can shop anytime you like. If it’s 3 am (what a loser!), you can order a cel. If the gallery is across the world and you cannot or do not wish to make a long-distance phone call, you don’t have to! If you’re at work and don’t have time to take lunch, a few minutes are all you need. It’s also good to quickly buy surprise presents while the other person is out of the room! 3) No crowds, no hassle. All you need