Nick Cross and Adam Phillips are two of my favorite animators, regardless of which software they choose. Cross has brought us wonderful eyecandy like Waif of Persephone, Yellow Cake and his latest endeavor The Pig Farmer, which is still in production. Phillips is the grand master of Flash animation, King of Newgrounds and a wizard of effects. His Brackenwood shorts series seems like an impossible achievement for one animator, and to blow our minds further, he’s got a feature in the works.

This month, Cross and Phillips have both revealed some of the secrets behind their work. Phillips has moved almost exclusively over to Toon Boom Animate, while Cross is pushing through The Pig Farmer in Flash. Below we’re treated to a glimpse into their production process:

Nick Cross’ Flash clean-ups – visit his blog for the full 9-step process

Adam Phillips – illustrating his rigging process in Toon Boom Animate – visit his YouTube page to see the full series

Jamie Gallant has been helping character design rock-star Jessica Borutski with her upcoming animated short, titled The Good Little Bunny With The Big Bad Teeth, and here’s a teaser shot below. There’s also a shot over on Jessica’s site:

Only two days left in this month’s 11 Second Club competition, which relies on dialog from the football film Rudy. Dublin-based animator Chris O’Hara need not worry about the deadline, ‘cuz he’s done. O’Hara has finished in the top ten 3 of the 4 times he’s entered, and I’m guessing he’ll crack the top 5 with this Flash animated entry.

The talented and industrious Steve Smith has given birth to a new animation studio in London called Beakus. Smith has brought in 3 other directors so far to help him round out the team, and since announcing the studio just last month, they’ve already got a project to crow about. Stuffed is a new Flash-animated series produced by Richard Barnett at Trunk, written and directed by Smith, for BBC Comedy Extra that features a brat named Brat and a sympathetic bear named Bear. All animation was produced in Flash (at Trunk), but CG backgrounds were added afterwards to give the series a rather unique production design. Sam Cundell and Max Eldridge were at the animation controls. Keep your eyes out for 4 more episodes, coming soon.

Felix Massie, a director at ArthurCox, animated this new promotional piece for the Music Matters campaign, which urges music fans to value music and stay away from illegal downloads. The piece is set against one of my favorite Sigur Rós tracks, and tells a short story about the band’s musical adventures.