We were already impressed. Tom Neely didn’t need to go become an award-winning graphic novelist, or launch an amazing gallery show. His self-published graphic novel The Blot was received with an abundance of rave reviews, and his gallery show at the Black Maria Gallery was packed with 34 new paintings and scores of people at the opening. But now we’re more impressed.

Neely at the Black Maria Gallery

Before all that, Neely wowed us with his film Brother, Can You Spare a Job?, which resulted from the success of his entry into the 2003 Bush in 30 Seconds contest, where he placed as one of 4 finalists in the Animation category. His follow-up was an eye-popping music video for the band The Muffs - again in the Fleisher-style. In this Radiohead Contest interview below, Neely details the production of this video as well several other projects he has his fingers in now.

AARON: Why are music videos often so “experimental?”

TOM: I guess there’s just more freedom because it’s film done on a small scale with fewer people involved. I think that’s the best way to get really creative ideas made. Music often lends itself to more abstract ideas, so experimental visuals work well with that. It’s more accessible for a short video to be abstract or experimental for some audiences because the music gives them an anchor to help understand the film. Looking at music videos on TV these days, I think we need a lot more experimentation to come up with some better ideas.

AARON: How is the process of directing a music video different from other animated work you’ve directed?

TOM: Well, I’ve only really done 2 cartoons. Stylistically, my two cartoons are very similar, but the differences between The Muffs video and Brother, Can You Spare a Job? were pretty significant. For Brother… I animated the whole story without sound. When it was near finished, Greg (co-writer on this cartoon) picked out a lot of music that he thought would fit. In many cases we were amazed that some musical cues just fell right in place perfectly. Others had to be edited, or the animation would be tweaked to fit a little better. With the music video, the music came first and was the inspiration for much of it. When I heard the opening chords of Don’t Pick On Me I immediately saw the opening scene of the Villain tying Kim to the tracks while a train was chugging along in time with the music. The whole idea came to me pretty easily the first time I heard the song. Brother… was my first cartoon, and the animation is much more limited and relies heavily on Flash tweens and symbols. I think I made some significant improvements when I did The Muffs video. But looking back at it a few years later, it looks a little too “Flashy” to me… Not that there’s anything wrong with Flash, but when you’re using it to make something that looks more like old animation, the limitations become obvious.
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Several folks in the Flash community have been making headlines in the last month or so.

Joel Trussell, the brilliant designer and artist from Tennessee was featured in the Metro Pulse, the Knoxville weekly. They discuss his recent short for Yo Gabba Gabba!, his rise to web fame with War Photographer, and his fear of Flash games. Click here to read.

Tom Neely, who was featured here in 2005 for his Muffs music video, has been having one helluva year. His graphic novel The Blot has found a great deal of critical success, then the Black Maria Gallery in Glendale put on a one-man show, titled Self Indulgent Werewolf, of his painting and sculptures. Even in his still work, Neely can’t help but animate. Click here to read his interview at the LAist.

Gene Fowler, the top dog at Fatkat, won BDC’s (Business Development Bank) Young Entrepreneur Award for New Brunswick. The press release features a brief interview with Fowler. Click here to read.

There’s also been some echoes of a Flash-related dust-up that started over at Cartoon Brew.

Pete Emslie continues to berate Flash as the cause of bad animation.

And John Kricfalusi posted a thoughtful reply to Emslie and claims that if it’s Overseas vs. Domestic Flash - he’ll take Flash any day.

Check out this new Flash-animated music video by Tom Neely. It’s for ‘Don’t Pick on Me,’ a track by The Muffs, an LA-based band. You may recognize Tom’s throw-back animation stylings. He was one half of the duo that brought us ‘Brother Can You Spare a Job’ back in 2003 - the Flash-animated “tribute to all those who have fallen through society’s cracks due to the negligence of leaders who are too busy patting themselves on the back for being “optimistic” than paying attention to how the economy is really doing.” The short was created for the ‘Bush in 30 Seconds’ project, and a full version of the cartoon is now available on DVD.