Reports on a Fun Event w/ thoughts on a Forgotten Master:

Martha and Sol Sigall graciously made an appearance at Laguna College of Art & Design yesterday. I had a fun time. Sol and Martha are some of my all time favorite people in or outside the animation community. We showed some of the cartoons Martha worked on, she showed some classic Warner Bros. model sheets and art work, talked about lots of great animation stories from the golden age, and answered lots of questions for the students.

Now Martha has worked with all the greats, Chuck, Friz, Tex, Robert Clampett (I knew the answer before I asked her this question which is why I asked it) Just who is your favorite classic Warner Bros. director? The students were a little shocked when she said Frank Tashlin.

It didn`t shock me. I am a big Tashlin fan. But he is the overlooked master. He was the very first to treat animation like film. He brought live action sensibility into animation with really long pans and rapid cuts and cool camera angles and he was the first to break the 4th wall. Something that has become a Looney Tunes standard.

I completely agree with Martha, Frank Tashlin is an overlooked animation master and well worth a lot of study by animation students. You could also learn a lot looking at his live action films, because Frank also brought cartoon sensibility to his live action work.

Enough of the soapbox, lets take a look at some the images from yesterday`s get together with Martha and Sol. Very cool stuff.



Larry Loc (ASIFA Blog Guy)  ¶ 8:09 AM