Ivan Maximov "Lyuba"

Ivan Maximov's work is always fun, a world of absurdist incident and warmth. Lyuba concerns the eternal story of love as two men chase a receptive if manipulative temptress. The comic tale has the pair on elephant, giant goose, pig, bicycle, balloon and, naturally, femme fatale. Sitting between her admirers the girl has sufficient arms to cope with the exigencies of the situation whilst haystack and bushes afford privacy for their endeavours with the capricious minx. A music video given the Viktor Chaika song, it was made in 2001 and, as one has come to expect from this exceptional director, is beautifully drawn with a distinctive colour palette, delightful caricatures and an overall surreal quality that makes Ivan's work so special.

Hank Friedman - "Care for Some Whiskey" (Leerone)

Care For Some Whiskey has singer Leerone enjoying an alfresco meal with several fluffy friends when she inadvertently falls into a hole where a charmless ogre with knife is busily making mince of several caged furry innocents. Our girl does not panic however and a gift of a flower seems sufficient to dissuade her would-be mincer to give up his day job and prepare to join in a more conventional feast with new found friends. As well as being as good writer, Leerone is no mean actress and director Hank Friedmann embellishes her talents with his well edited stop motion work, to add to his excellent set and models. Strange to see the residents of Sesame Street wielding knives, or minced up and stored in gooey jars. A real fun movie. I love the song. The singer sounds a bit like Tore Amos here, a favourite of mine, so I'll have a look at refilling my iPod with Leerone's album. The live action camera work was by Larkin Seiple and the indispensable DeK from No Fat Clips has a 58mb high resolution version for download (Care For Some Whiskey). Leerone's blog is hundred times more literate than most in the genre and from there I learn that Long Beach born Hank "created the Transdimensional Short Film Festival, and produced and directed the UCLA sketch comedy program Fireside Chats" and currently works for Final Cut LA. A talented man and, I bet, a busy man after this.

Raimund Krumme "Ropedance"

It is instructive to compare Raimund Krumme's 1986 Ropedance with, as an example, his recent ad for women's Levi Jeans for Acme. Ropedance is a witty study in which two tiny male figures struggle for supremacy with a rope. Manipulating perspective and full of comic antics, the deceptively simple animation is typical of a master craftsman and artist at work. It takes the animation genre at face value, a medium able to impose a world of impossible possibilities and entertain into the bargain. Raimund's intelligence shines through in this classic work. His Trading Secrets has that same control of line and figures whereas it adds colour, upbeat music and is altogether contemporary. You might also be interested in his Pangea or Crossroads. Raimund's academic background and commercial expertise is impeccable. He is presently Professor for Animation, Academy of Media Arts in Cologne and has worked in Paris and in 1996 moved to the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.

Acme Filmworks

For an easy life I’m tempted to give up writing my blog in this form and compile the Acme Filmworks blog instead. I would be assured of a seemingly endless conveyor belt of talent from across the world and also be reacquainted with some old friends of the blog. Take Gianluigi Toccafondo, a director with a distinctive blend of live action and animation characters. His Running blends in the sites of Prague and the runners for their International Marathon to stylish effect. Meanwhile in the Bay of Huatulco Caroline Leaf whets one's appetite for the summer vacation with an appealing ad for the tropical beaches of Mexico's Huatulco with her mix of animation and film footage; Erica Russell uses a striking mix of red and black to promote the financial company Instinet in her elegant Bullfighter; and in Books the skilled hand of Sarah Van den Boom has Lilliputians garbed in their academic robes crawling through giant books for the Californian University of Pennsylvania. Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis, Bill Plympton, Joanna Quinn, Danny Cannizaro ....... the fabulous list goes on and on. Thanks to Acme for their comprehensive website and all ads we don't see here in the UK.

Joris Oprins "Wad"

Today's featured animation is another world away from yesterday's and, indeed, tomorrow's scenic extravaganza. The Dutch Wadden Sea is a semi-enclosed area of the North Sea consisting of tidal mud flats and marine life - for which it is internationally well known. It is not a particularly scenic place though I accept beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Wad, directed by Joris Oprins in 2003, is a quirky movie set amongst the mud and sand in which two people and a dog get trapped by the rising water. Thickly drawn in mud and tar on wet sandpaper, the colour scheme must have been easy to assemble, as would the drawings. However it has a comic charm, as the murky figures make sandcastles and, this is guesswork, catch crabs. One is dragged off by the wind though the second perseveres and leaves a touching reminder at the close. Joris graduated from the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2003. His company website does have more orthodox work on it including work in colour!