Weebl and Bob is one of the most successful online Flash-animated series, and in 2004 the project spawned a DVD. In the run-up to the release, Jonti Picking and his team temporarily changed the name of the series to Wobbl and Bob, to steer clear of any legal collisions with Hasbro, who own the Weebles franchise. Accompanying the DVD is a 13-minute documentary, narrated by Brian Blessed, which illustrates how Jonti met his collaborators, who does the voices, how pie came to mean so much to them and the big question – “does Bob exist?” It’s now available for the price of one mouse click:
Han Hoogerbrugge, the Rotterdam-based digital artist, is the subject of a new book – Modern Living: The Graphic Universe of Han Hoogerbrugge. The 200 page book (which comes with a DVD) opens with a multi-panel comic of Han commenting on the book itself. It’s only fitting, as Hoogerbrugge has made himself the subject of the balance of his popular work (the interactive, Flash-animated series Modern Living/Neurotica, Hotel and Nails) but not in a self-obsessed way. The stark, often whimsical renderings of himself are more of a diary of his take on pop culture or simply what he observed during the day. In this way, Hoogerbrugge’s work is surprisingly accessible for, what most would describe as, surrealist material. In fact, Han drops the veil completely near the end of the book and offers a step-by-step instruction of how, with the help of a green screen, he digitally produces his work.
Speaking of his work, here’s 20 of Hans’s Flash-animated shorts assembled into a 7-minute clip:
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The coffee table book, which sells for €39.00 (approx $50 USD), reads like a graphic novel for the post-modern digital art aficionado. Essays on Hoogerbrugge’s work, life and interactive pioneering are interspersed between large comics, prints of his work and stills from animations. We also learn that Hoogerbrugge, dubbed “The Fellini of Flash,” has produced in nearly every medium imaginable; sketches, paintings, installations, music and of course his 10-years of interactive, online animation. And somehow, a book, a medium that has existed for almost 4,000 years, manages to capture the essence of this dizzying array of Hoogerbrugge’s progressive artistic outlets.
Remember last year when we posted Mark Gervais’ sinister Halloween animations? He calls the project Hallowindow, and it’s unique in that he projects his work in the front window of his house. It’s quite clever, and this year Gervais has produced a new, ghoulish installment of his animations, which he is offering for sale on DVD. Here’s a small taste of what Mark has in store for us this Hallow’s Eve.
There’s heaps of new Flash-animated DVDs on the market….
First we have Pucca: Spooky Sooga Village, that features 77 minutes of spooky, Halloween-themed shorts. The series, as you may know, started out on the web and graduated to a Flash-animated TV series in 2006.
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! A Tale of Tails arrived last week, featuring 8 episodes of the series created by Bob Boyle. The show is aimed at the 3-7 audience. In honor of this release, let’s watch a promo for the Wubbzy Dance Contest.
If you missed King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters last year in theaters, you should seek out the DVD, which is being released on January 29th. This documentary about a pair of Donkey Kong experts fighting for the all-time high score is both inspiring, hysterical and heartbreaking.
The DVD is shipping with a handful of featurettes and a bonus short titled A Really, Really Brief History of Donkey Kong, which you can see below. It was written by I Am 8-bit’s Jon Gibson and directed by Flash-pioneer Gabe Swarr, a Spumco vet with heaps of TV animation experience at Warner Bros. Animation, Disney and Nickelodeon.
The VO was provided by El Tigre voice actor Eric Bauza and the character design was led by Swarr and Steve Lambe. Tony Mora (another Spumco vet) provided the animation and the After Effects artistry was handled by Matt Gadbois.
There’s heaps of new Flash-animated DVDs on the market…. 
