Disney veteran Jason Peltz has a Kickstarter campaign that every hand-drawn animation fan should join in on. He created a “Miniature Animation Desk/Stylus Holder”. I know many of you have switched to digital, this will be a good reminder to never forget the roots of animation.

Jason’s campaign was fully funded within 1.5 days that’s almost 200% within 3 days! Congratulations Jason!

If you own a tablet or Cintiq, this holder is right for you. It will definitely make a great addition to your work area. If you wish you could one day own a full size animation desk like this, this will be a good starter desk until that day.

Contribute to Jason’s Kickstarter here:

http://kck.st/2xj5VWV

stylistholderdisc

We did an interview with Jason Peltz to find out more about him and his new product:

You hit your Kickstarter funding goal! That must feel great, did you expect to hit your goal so fast?
Jason: This was my first outing with a Kickstarter campaign, so I really had no idea what to expect! I kept my expectations low, incase it didn’t resonate with the Kickstarter community. I’m glad it struck a chord with the fans, and I know it’s something I’d want on my desk!

Can you tell us a little about your animation career?
Jason: Growing up, I knew at a very young age I wanted to draw Mickey Mouse for a living! I went to college to study illustration- but while in school, Disney was promoting/recruiting for Beaty and the Beast, showing us a work-in-progress reel. I had never seen anything like this before, and it opened my eyes to the industry. I immediately took up a minor in animation. After several rejection letters from Disney, I took a job in Chicago working on Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. This experience and the right timing, got me accepted into Walt Disney Feature Animation. I worked in the FL studio for almost a decade, on such films as Hercules, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, Princess and the Frog and many others .

How did you come up with the idea for the miniature animation desk?
Jason: I’ve taken up digital sculpting, and heard of a Maker Space in town. They have 3D printers, C&C machines, laser cutters, and other similar machinery. I went with a buddy mostly to check out the 3D printers, but once I saw the laser cutter and it’s capabilities, I thought how cool would a desk sized ‘animation desk’ be? And the blending of traditional desks, and digital drawing tools seemed like a fun juxtaposition!

Do you only work digital or do you still animate with paper?
Jason: I’ve had less animation opportunities lately, but have been doing a lot of illustration/merchandise designing. I still, almost always, start with my concepts on paper, then take them into the digital world for refining/color.

Here is a question from one of our readers:

Brent Forrest asks, “That’s cool does it come with a disc? Can you attach post it note pads to it?”
Jason: Sure can!

postit

Contribute to Jason’s Kickstarter here: http://kck.st/2xj5VWV
Jason’s Portfolio: http://www.peltzproductions.com/

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The Author

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee

Lavalle Lee has been creating animated cartoons online since 1999/2000 for his website flashcartoons.org. Many cartoons on the site have gained viral video status reaching millions of viewers online. In 2009, Lavalle started learning hand drawn animation from Don Bluth in his animation classes, as well as attending his Masterclasses in Arizona. He has also personally studied animation and visual effects from Veteran Disney animators in Orlando, FL.

Lavalle is widely known in the animation industry as the creator of the TraditionalAnimation.com website. After seeing that most animation sites were about all types of animation, not any specific to classical hand drawn animation, Lavalle knew Traditional Animation needed to be represented online. TraditionalAnimation.com has become the leading website and social media account for all things 2D. The website served as inspiration for “The Traditional Animation Show” in which Lavalle was both producer and host.

His partnership with Don Bluth began when he championed the Dragon's Lair Indiegogo campaign as lead project manager, editor, voice actor and in-betweener. The campaign reached $730,000 dollars to produce a 7-minute pitch video. In 2017, Lavalle brought the idea of creating a school to Don Bluth, and Don Bluth University was born. After a decade of learning from Don Bluth and working together on multiple pitches and business ventures, Lavalle accepted the position as Vice President of Don Bluth's new company Don Bluth Studios.

3 Comments

  1. September 7, 2017 at 1:02 am — Reply

    Just placed my order 🙂

  2. September 8, 2017 at 8:21 pm — Reply

    I want one of these!

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