With a new school year just around the corner, Wacom has announced it has a special treat in store that holds all the excitement and possibility of new tools, friends, lessons and challenges. With the help of Mike Morris, animation all-star and creator of the LightBox Animation Dance Party and Panelpalooza, the tech co is kicking off the school year with the ultimate animation assignment: Cartoon Crunch!
Cartoon Crunch is a reality show-type mini-series about the process, pitfalls and breakthroughs of making cartoons — all in the course of one week. Two teams of four student animators will be selected to take on the task of creating an animated short with the guidance of professional mentors in story, production design and animation (remotely, of course).
The chosen teams will be challenged to create a cartoon that depicts what creative collaborations will look like in the future. The cartoon should be 45 seconds or less. While studio-level sound isn’t expected, participants are encouraged to push their skills to the limit. Each participating student animator will receive a Wacom One and a Wacom-sponsored stipend of $1,500.
Cartoon Crunch is accepting applications from college juniors and seniors in the U.S., Canada and Latin America (excluding Venezuela) looking for their big break into Toon Town. The deadline has been extended to August 21 at 11:59 p.m. PST to allow even more students to join in this unique back-to-school activity. Click here for the full T&C, rules and eligibility requirements.
For those whose animation skills aren’t quite ready for primetime or are simply enthusiasts who want to tune in, Wacom and Morris will be releasing a five-part mini-series over the course of five days, with live watch parties each day. After each episode, a live Q&A with the professional mentor featured in the episode of that day will take questions from the chat and offer general production tips. And for the final celebration: a special Popcorn Premiere Party which will include a short panel with the Cartoon Crunch student animators and the debut of their final animations!
Release dates for the mini-series TBA via the Wacom America blog.
