I’m up here in Scotland now, working on a French feature film. I’m living near a beach, which is still a novelty and amazing to be able to walk out and look at the sea…without being on holiday! Dundee is a unique little place, the bane of it being the blooming greenfly everywhere, it’s like wedding confetti at midday!

Unfortunately I can’t post anything I’m working on, but I will be posting some of my watercolour series very soon.

Many of you may not know this, but golf is kind of a big deal to me. Not as much as it once was (it was once my lover, now we have part-time flings) but the sight of an open fairway still makes me want to tee up. Everytime.

The Open Golf Championship has just finished, and much to my cheering, Lee Westwood did not win his first major, but in fact some unknown chap called Oosthuizen. Quite impressively too, by 7 shots. I’m glad Mickelson didn’t win, just because. And Tiger was out of the spot light a little, which is nice for a change.

That leads me on to the reason I most enjoyed the Open this year, John Daly and ridiculous trousers. No, they are not fashionable or in the least bit colour co-ordinated, but they make the time walking between shots much more interesting. You see, as much as golf is a great game, it has alot of ‘downtime’ for spectators. There’s much walking to be done, and standing still, in silence. For the short period a shot is actually hit, golf isn’t actually that exciting to watch if you follow a player.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice day out if you’re there, and if on TV the commentators chat about rubbish it’s mildly entertaining. But for me, the return of people like John Daly and the rest of the old school remind me how much more characterful players were 20, even 10 years ago. They were like cartoon characters, each with their own attributes and temperaments. Now all you get in interviews and on the course is the same rehearsed, professional demenour, making sure nothing is given away, not a single personal emotion.

I like the daft trousers and overswings and beer drinking and jumping up and down like the social reject. I find all this modern play, greens in regulation stuff a bit same-y. So I call to all you budding professional golfers (and pros alike!) – let it all hang out and live it up a little. Even if you blow it, at least it’ll make good entertainment. (But try and get some good golf in there too).

Here’s the short of it…

- Going in with low expectations

- Not so much of the stock animation gags = good thing

- Didn’t rely on comedy one-liners as a crutch for a weak narrative

- Actually had a smart narrative (albeit with many homages to other films)

- Good way to end (please don’t make any more)

- The boy voice acting at the party in just pure class (do the roar)

- Eddie Murphy’s voice acting still adds so much warmth to the appeal (the character design certainly doesn’t…and why can’t anyone acknowledge he looks like Fungus the Bogeyman? He came first! Even one of his kids is called something similar in the film)

Altogether, 8/10 and most of those points go to the writers for making a good film out of old characters. It’ also just proved how good Shrek really is for taking the animated film ideal and carrying it into the adult market. I can’t think of many other animated outings that have adult appeal without falling into the ‘cos it’s so cool’ category (i.e, for the actual story). Pixar’s films are all about morals and teachings, but good films non the less. Many others are not yet hitting the sophistication of storytelling and equal majority adult/kid ratio for its audiences like Shrek has done.

Answer to the future of (respected) animation in films…better writers, brave ideas!

Here’s a cartoon based on 2 random ideas for each character. Warming up the cartooning muscles.

How about this for a variety of toppers? The guy on the left was like Gollum.

Image0150, originally uploaded by adamoliver.

Some quick sketches of students from earlier this year. Have to love white boards!

Did some animation for these guys a few years ago, now they are funnier than ever. Girls and boys will love this alike.

Check out this work! I love it. More here: http://www.andygeppert.com/ or read the full article here: http://www.thefinderskeepers.com/blog/2010/06/featured-artist-andy-geppert/

Loads of updates within this now forum-based site. If you’re interested in animation then feel free to join up and contribute. It has a growing wealth of resources and links to help you on your creative way, aswell as news and general chat. In the future there’s room for other developments, but it’d be great if you only post one of your favourite sites, then everyone can share.

www.britishanimators.co.uk

Feedback is welcome.