animating Penguins

The Annie awards are scheduled for 8pm Friday 8 February (3pm Saturday EST Australia): "Animations Highest Honor".

I'm interested because of penguins. Mark Norman's The Penguin Book is an excellent guide to all the 17 sorts of penguins, and they are wacky and wonderful and ideal for animation.

Both Happy Feet and Surf's Up use the different looks of the different species was used as a basis for the animated penguin' characters.

Surf's Up is up for an Annie and Variety has an interesting article on the challenges of animating penguins. The movie, Mark's award winning book and the animator's comments make a nice combo-teaching tool.

And here are the Annie nominations by category.

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES

Best Animated Feature

Bee Movie – DreamWorks Animation
Persepolis – Sony Pictures Classics
Ratatouille – Pixar Animation Studios
Surf’s Up – Sony Pictures Animation
The Simpsons Movie – Twentieth Century Fox
Best Home Entertainment Production

Doctor Strange – MLG Productions
Futurama “Bender’s Big Score” – The Curiosity Company in association with 20th Century Fox Television
Best Animated Short Subject

Everything Will Be OK – Bitter Films
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater – Walt Disney Feature Animation
Shorty McShorts’ Shorts “Mascot Prep” – Walt Disney Television Animation
The Chestnut Tree – Picnic Pictures
Your Friend the Rat – Pixar Animation Studios
Best Animated Television Commercial

CVS Watering Can – Acme Filmworks
Esurance “Homeowners” – Wild Brain
Idaho Lottery: Twister – Acme Filmworks
Oregon Lottery “Alaska” – Laika/house
Power Shares Escape Average – Acme Filmworks
Best Animated Television Production

Jane and the Dragon – Weta Productions Limited & Nelvana Limited
Creature Comforts America – Aardman Animations

Moral Orel – ShadowMachine
Robot Chicken Star Wars- ShadowMachine
Kim Possible – Walt Disney Television Animation
Best Animated Television Production for Children

Chowder – Cartoon Network Studios

El Tigre – Nickelodeon

Little Einsteins – Disney Channel

Peep and the Big Wide World – Discovery Kids

The Backyardigans – Nickelodeon

Best Animated Video Game

Avatar: The Last Airbender “The Burning Earth” – THQ, Inc.

Bee Movie Game – Activision

Ratatouille – THQ, Inc.

Transformers: The Game – Blur Studios

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES

Animated Effects

Gary Bruins – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Deborah Carlson – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Ryan Laney – “Spider-Man 3” – Sony Pictures Imageworks

James Mansfield – “How to Hook Up Your Home Theater” – Walt Disney Feature Animation

Jon Reisch – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Animation Production Artist

John Clark – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Michael Isaak – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Hyun-Min Lee – “The Chestnut Tree” – Picnic Pictures

Natasha Liberman – “Growing Up Creepie “Creepie & The Candy Factory” – Taffy Entertainment LLC, Telegrael Teoranta, Discovery Communications Inc., SunWoo Entertainment, Peach Blossom Media

Jim Worthy – My Gym Partner’s A Monkey “Meet the Spidermonkeys” – Cartoon Network Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production

Dave Hardin – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Alan Hawkins – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Michal Makarewicz – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Television Production

Elizabeth Harvatine - Moral Orel “Nature 2” – ShadowMachine

Monica Kennedy – El Tigre – Nickelodeon

Eric Towner – Robot Chicken – ShadowMachine

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production

Sylvain Deboissy – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Carter Goodrich – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Character Design in an Animated Television Production

Jorge R. Gutierrez – El Tigre “Fistful of Collars” - Nickelodeon

Directing in an Animated Feature Production

Brad Bird “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Ash Brannon & Chris Buck “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Chris Miller & Raman Hui – “Shrek The Third” – DreamWorks Animation

Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi – “Persepolis” – Sony Pictures Classics

David Silverman – “The Simpsons Movie” – Twentieth Century Fox

Directing in an Animated Television Production

Seth Green “Robot Chicken Star Wars” – ShadowMachine

David Hartman - Tigger & Pooh “Turtles Need for Speed” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Raymie Muzquiz - Squirrel Boy “Gumfight at the S’Okay Corral” – Cartoon Network Studios

Howy Parkins – The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” - Walt Disney Television Animation

Gary Trousdale “Shrek The Halls” – DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Feature Production

Olivier Bernet – “Persepolis” – Sony Pictures Classics

Danny Elfman, Rufus Wainwright & Rob Thomas – “Meet The Robinsons” – Walt Disney Feature Animation

Michael Giacchino – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Rupert Gregson-Williams – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Amy Powers, Russ DeSalvo & Jeff Danna – “Disney Princess Enchanted Tales” – DisneyToon Studios/Walt Disney Video/Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Music in an Animated Television Production

Alf Clausen & Michael Price – The Simpsons “Yokel Chords” – Gracie Films in association with 20th Century Fox

Evan Lurie, Robert Scull & Steven Bernstein – The Backyardigans “International Super Spy” – Nickelodeon

Drew Neumann & Gregory Hinde – Billy & Mandy’s Big Boogey Adventure – Cartoon Network Studios

Shawn Patterson – El Tigre “Yellow Pantera” – Nickelodeon

James L. Venable & Jennifer Kes Remington – Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends “The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato Power” – Cartoon Network Studios

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production

Doug Chiang – “Beowulf” – Paramount Pictures

Harley Jessup – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Marcelo Vignali – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production

Don Hall – ‘Meet The Robinsons’ – Walt Disney Feature Animation

Denise Koyama – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Ted Mathot – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Sean Song – “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” – IMAGI Animation Studios

Nassos Vakalis – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production

Ben Balistreri – Danny Phantom “Torrent of Terror” – Nickelodeon

Aldin Baroza – The Replacements “London Calling” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Dave Bennett – Tom and Jerry Tales – Warner Bros. Animation

Steve Fonti – Family Guy “No Chris Left Behind” – Fox TV Animation/Fuzzy Door Productions

Roy Meurin – My Friends Tigger and Pooh “Good Night to Pooh” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production

Janeane Garofalo – Voice of Collette – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Ian Holm – Voice of Skinner – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Julie Kavner – Voice of Marge Simpson – “The Simpsons Movie” – Twentieth Century Fox

Patton Oswalt – Voice of Remy – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

Patrick Warburton – Voice of Ken – “Bee Movie” – DreamWorks Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production

Scott Adsit – Voice of Clay Puppington – “Moral Orel” – ShadowMachine

Madison Davenport – Voice of Sophianna – “Christmas is Here Again!” – Easy To Dream Entertainment

Tom Kenny – Voice of SpongeBob – SpongeBob SquarePants “Spy Buddies” – Nickelodeon

Eartha Kitt – Voice of Yzma – The Emperor’s New School “Emperor’s New Musical” – Walt Disney Television Animation

Eddie Murphy – Voice of Donkey – “Shrek The Halls” - DreamWorks Animation

Writing in an Animated Feature Production

Brad Bird – “Ratatouille” – Pixar Animation Studios

James L. Brooks, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Ian Maxtone-Graham, George Meyer, David, Mirkin, Mike Reiss, Mike Scully, Matt Selman, John Swartzwelder & Jon Vitti – “The Simpsons Movie” – Twentieth Century Fox

Don Rhymer and Ash Brannon & Chris Buck & Christopher Jenkins – “Surf’s Up” – Sony Pictures Animation

Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud – “Persepolis” – Sony Pictures Classics

Writing in an Animated Television Production

C.H. Greenblatt & William Reiss – Chowder “Burple Nurples” – Cartoon Network Studios

Gene Grillo – Back at the Barnyard “Cowman and Ratboy” – Nickelodeon

Ian Maxtone-Graham & Billy Kimball – The Simpsons “24 Minutes” – Gracie Films

Christopher Painter – Squirrel Boy “I Only Have Eye For You” – Cartoon Network Studios

Tom Sheppard – My Gym Partner’s A Monkey “The Butt of the Jake” – Cartoon Network Studios


WINSOR McCAY AWARD WINNERS (career contributions to the art of animation)

John Canemaker

Glen Keane

John Kricfalusi