THE BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY & ART OF ANIMATION AND VFX May 2021 ™ BAFTA AWARD NOMINEE ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE ANIMATED FILM BEST ANIMATED FEATURE {} “BREATHTAKING” SCREEN INTERNATIONAL “STUNNING” VARIETY FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION SHOW: WOLFWALKERS DATE: 03.30.21 JOB #: APL-1043-5 FINAL THE BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY & ART OF ANIMATION AND VFX May 2021 ™ Nefix Jams with Arlo the Alligator Boy Annie Awards: A Sneak Peek Rising Stars of Animation The Mitchells vs. the Machines Puts the Fun Back in Dysfunction $7.95 U.S. www.animationmagazine.net We Have Issues! Your Number-One Connection to the Global Animation Community www.animationmagazine.net Facebook @animationmagazine Twitter @animag Instagram @animationmagazine THE BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY & ART OF ANIMATION AND VFX May 2021 ™ The Dysfunctional Fun of Mitchells vs the Machines Annie Awards: A Sneak Peek Rising Stars of Animation A Refreshing Bite of Crocodile Rock: $7.95 U.S. Netfix Jams with Arlo the Alligator Boy www.animationmagazine.net Your Number-One Connection to the Global Animation Community www.animationmagazine.net Facebook @animationmagazine Twitter @animag Instagram @animationmagazine www.animationmagazine.net 2 may 21 Volume 35, Issue 5, Number 310 May 2021 Frame-By-Frame Television/Streaming 4 Stuff We Love 36 A Head for World Domination Patton Oswalt and Jordan Blum tell us everything 5 May Animation Planner we need to know about their much-anticipated M.O.D.O.K. show. 38 Sibling Slapstick Features Pencilmation creator Ross Bollinger sharpens his next big toon Gil Next Door. 6 Welcome to the Fun Robocalypse! Writer-director Mike Rianda gives us a special 40 Tales from a Very Cute Friendship sneak peek at his inventive, funny and ultimately Showrunner Jeroen Jaspaert tells us everything 6 poignant family feature The Mitchells vs. the we need to know about Magic Light Pictures/Blue Machines. Zoo’s new show Pip and Posy. By Ramin Zahed 42 Mixed-Media Mayhem 10 From the Swamp to the City Ken Anderson talks about the fun and madness of Ryan Crego, the creator behind Netfix’s Arlo the bringing Liz Pichon’s Tom Gates books to animated Alligator Boy, shares a few secrets about his super life. fun new musical movie. By Tom McLean 44 Palate Cleanser Six Point Harness’s creative director Musa Brooker gives us a taste of his delicious work on Waffes + Spotlight Mochi. 48 Fresh Market Fare 14 Atomic Power MIPTV may be virtual this year (April 12-16), but We check in with the folks at Vancouver-, Ottawa- that hasn’t stopped producers presenting fantastic and LA-based Atomic Cartoons to see what’s cook- 10 new animated content. ing at the creative Canadian hub. 16 Off into the Wild Blue Sky Refecting upon the extinction of the Ice Age studio VFX (1987-2021). By Jake S. Friedman 52 Final Justice Weta Digital’s digital wizards discuss their work on 18 Rising Stars of Animation 2021 the much-anticipated Zack Snyder’s Justice League. One of the highlights of this publication’s regular By Trevor Hogg coverage of the animation scene is our early spring spotlight on the year’s up-and-coming talent. 54 Tech Reviews Blender 2.91, Foundry’s Katana 4.0 and Boris FX’s Mocha Pro 2021. Award Watch By Todd Sheridan Perry 32 Expect the Unexpected! Opportunities Our friends at the Annie Awards give us the scoop 36 on this month’s virtual ceremony. 56 Autonomous Animator The path to feature flmdom. 33 Major Categories at a Glance By Martin Grebing Here are the nominees in some of the major cat- egories of the 48th Annie Awards. 34 Your 2021 Animation and VFX Oscar Day in the Life Ballot! Congratulations to all the talented nominees of 57 Sacha Goedegebure takes us behind the this year’s Academy Awards! scenes of the daily creative grind at Singapore’s Omen Studios. Cover A: Unpack Sony’s The Mitchells vs. the Machines on Netfix this month. Cover B: Arlo the Alligator Boy is ready to conquer the world on Netfix. MIPTV Cover: Canada’s Atomic Cartoons prepares for a very productive year. 52 may 21 1 www.animationmagazine.net Editor’s NotE ANIMATION MAGAZINE May 2021 ne of our favorite annual features here at the magazine is our Rising Vol. 35, Issue 5, No. 310 OStars of Animation spotlight, in which we focus on a group of brilliant [email protected] women and men who have big projects coming up in the near future. Not only did we have a higher number of these talented people to profle this President and Publisher: Jean Thoren year, we decided to put together a video highlighting these 16 cool individu- Accounting: Jan Bayouth als as they tell us a little about their career and offer tips to future stars. I am sure you will enjoy watching our group of super-achievers, so make sure you EDITORIAL [email protected] visit our website this month (www.animationmagazine.net) to enjoy this fun Editor in Chief: Ramin Zahed video. A big thanks to our events director Kim Derevlany for producing this Multimedia Editor: Mercedes Milligan piece for us. Webmaster: Steven Dietrich One word that we keep hearing every day Asst. Webmaster: Matthew Keable from everyone we talk to in the animation community is “optimism.” Tech Reviews Editor: Todd Sheridan Perry As more people get vaccinated each day, everyone seems to be Contributors: Jake S. Friedman, ready to put the gloom and doom of the COVID months behind Martin Grebing, Trevor Hogg, Tom McLean them. One piece of good news that we’re glad to share with you is that we are hoping to have our annual World Animation & VFX Summit in person, Nov. 7-10. We’ll have more news for you as we ADVERTISING SALES frm up the location and guest list for this unique event and can’t [email protected] wait to see all of you back in Los Angeles for this fun confab. Sheri Shelton This month, we have two beautifully crafted and original ani- mated features gracing our special covers. We are so happy that The Mitchells vs. the Machines EVENTS director Mike Rianda’s much-anticipated movie The Mitchells vs. the Director: Kim Derevlany Machines (formerly known as Connected) will fnally make its debut on Netfix this month. We’ve [email protected] been following this highly creative, fun and charming movie for a few years now, and were sad- dened when it’s theatrical release kept getting bounced around due to the pandemic. Hope we CREATIVE can all see it on the big screen at some point in the near future. [email protected] The second cover feature of the month is Ryan Crego’s super-fun musical movie Arlo the Alliga- Creative Director/Production Manager: tor Boy, which also debuts on Netfix in April. I defnitely recommend Tom McLean’s in-depth look Susanne Rector at the making of this movie (which will also lead to an animated series). Crego and his team have created a really snappy and delightful world, populated with unforgettable, original characters. So, CIRCULATION make sure you put both movies on your must-see list in April! [email protected] We have lots of other fun features prepared for you this month: You can catch up with the team Circulation Director: at Canada’s go-to animation studio Atomic Cartoons, which has lots of interesting projects in the Jan Bayouth works. We’ve been writing about this innovative company for over two decades now, and I’m sure you will enjoy fnding out about their upcoming toons and all the colorful ingredients that go into TO ADVERTISE: keeping Atomic on the list of our favorite studios around the world. Phone: 818-883-2884 Fax: 818-883-3773 Also, don’t forget two of the biggest awards shows of the year are taking place this month! By Email: [email protected] now, you should have seen all the big Academy and Annie Award contenders in the animation and Website: www.animationmagazine.net VFX categories. We can’t wait to see what the organizers of these big kudos fests have planned List Rental for this very unusual, virtual year. We know one thing: Like everything else that we’ve witnessed Quantum List Marketing (480) 860-6036 in the past 12 months, they will be different than what we have seen before. Hey, maybe they’ll ANIMATION MAGAZINE even be better. Hope springs eternal! (USPS 015-877/ISSN 1041-617X) Published monthly except for combined issues of June/July September/October, by Animation Magazine 24943 Kit Carson Road Calabasas, CA 91302 Ramin Zahed Periodicals postage paid at Woodland Hills Post Offce CA, Editor in Chief And additional mailing offces. [email protected] POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO MAILING ADDRESS: ANIMATION MAGAZINE 26500 W. Agoura Rd. Ste. 102-651 Quote of the Month Calabasas, CA 91302 TO SUBSCRIBE: “I’m French Canadian, and like most francophones around the For the U.S., the rate is $60 for 1 year or $95 for 2 years. Rates for Canada and Mexico are US$75 for 1 year or US$120 for 2 years delivered by foreign airmail. Foreign rates are US$90 for 1 year or US$145 for 2 years delivered by foreign airmail. world, I grew up with Asterix … If you’d told the eight-year-old Please allow six to eight weeks for initial delivery. me that one day I’d help bring these characters to life, I wouldn’t Also available in a digital version for $36 for 1 year or $60 for 2 years. Animation Magazine have believed you!” © 2021 Animation Magazine Prior written approval must be obtained to duplicate any and all contents.