Jon Lambe, the younger brother of the character designer/animator Steve Lambe (El Tigre, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi), has been toiling away on a new series concept up in New Brunswick. Kid Odin is an idea that emerged back when Lambe was animating on Skunk Fu at Fatkat, and he more recently dove in to create this one-minute, Flash-animated sample.

Renegade Animation, based in Glendale, California, is loading up on feature-length projects. They’ve got two in pipe, both of which are being produced in their proprietary paperless 2D method, which was developed for their ‘Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi’ production for Cartoon Network.

First is ‘Re-animated,’ a feature-length mixture of live-action and animation. The project marks Cartoon Network’s much discussed foray into original live-action work. ‘Re-animated’ is “about a 12-year-old boy whose life is turned upside down after an accident at an amusement park.” The film features voice work by Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman) and Tom Kenny, who voices Spongebob.

Second is ‘Christmas is Here Again,’ which was formerly named ‘Who Stole Santa’s Sack?’ According to an article at Digitalproducer.com, the 9-month long project is currently in post production. Kathy Bates and Ed Asner provide voices, and Jay Leno delivers the voice over. In the same article, Ashley Postlewaite, Executive Producer at Renegade, offers the perfect quote:

“By applying our traditional training and employing the latest animation tools, we have streamlined animation process and made it more affordable… We believe it is the future of 2D animation.”

Many, including myself, think you’re dead-on, Ashley.

Back in February, Nate Pacheco was featured here on CHF, where some of his recent work for Renegade Animation was featured. He’s since produced what he calls a ‘little spot’ with the amazingly talented Dave Wasson, who recently directed and produced Disney’s Flash-animated ‘The Buzz on Maggie.’ You can watch the Quicktime of the short over at the Renegade site, and then go browse through his great blog.

Nate’s done a fair amount of work on ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi,’ and I want to pass on a few more links for your browsing pleasure. There’s the ‘official’ crew blog, and then Rob Lilly’s blog that features some of his Puffy work.

Anyone familiar with Renegade Animation knows the man behind the creative steering wheel is Darrell Van Citters, a Disney and Warner Bros. vet. But, as with any creative shop, there’s always the men and women behind the scenes making it all happen. At Renegade, Nate Pacheco is surely one of those people. He’s been at Renegade for nearly 8 years now, and he’s one of their Flash wizards that’s ushered Renegade into the forefront of the Flash animation revolution.

Nate’s work was recently highlighted over at Cartoon Brew, where readers were made aware of his blog. Nate’s been kind enough to make available several clips from his own animation reel:

A Target Halloween Spot

A ‘Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi’ music video reminiscent of Chuck Jones’ award winning ‘The Dot and The Line’

Renegade’s classic ‘Diamond Bar’ PSA

And below you can click on the video to watch a stellar hand-drawn Hilton TV spot that was produced entirely in Flash.

Film and Video Magazine recently published an article by Michelle Paster titled ‘Flash Equal Financial Freedom.’ The target of Paster’s article is Cartoon Network’s Flash-animated show ‘Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi,’ which is produced by Glendale, California’s Renegade Animation. The article offers up some budget figures and details why Flash has allowed Renegade to save a heap of money and keep the production stateside.

Darrell Van Citters, Renegade’s supervising director and co-founder, is a big Flash-animation proponent. He’s quoted in the article saying that after looking at alternative software solutions, Flash “…was the most cost-effective solution for what it had to offer, providing for quality control and [prevention from] going off model.”

Head on over to Film and Video Magazine to read the entire article.