Richard Williams, best known for his work on “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and two of the “Pink Panther” films, has died at the age of 86. 

Williams had a deep love for animation and passed along his knowledge to younger generations whenever possible. He played a key role in honing our skills, and from him, we learned how to study life around us. He was a pillar of inspiration to us and we relied heavily on the lessons that he shared. His highly acclaimed book, “The Animator’s Survival Kit” was one of the biggest foundations of our knowledge.

We wouldn’t have gotten as far as we did on our own without the knowledge shared by Richard Williams. He will live on through our work, as well as the work of his students around the world. 

His daughter, Natasha Williams, told the PA Media (UK national news agency) that her father was writing and animating until 6 p.m. on the day he died.

Rest in Peace, Richard Williams. Thank you for everything.

We’re saddened to hear about the loss a legend who helped paved the way for many, including all of us here at CJC Animation.

Stan Lee was the co-creator of numerous superheroes that inspired us at very young ages to explore our creative sides. We were so in love with these superheroes and their stories, that we eventually started creating our own superheroes and telling our own stories. We started creating our own homemade comic books, which would ultimately segue into our eventual love for animation where to this day, we continue to use our imaginations to bring characters and stories to life.

We owe a lot to Stan Lee for helping to breathe life into some of our all-time favorite characters, which ultimately fueled us to pursue our own dreams. We will forever be grateful for that.

Rest in peace to a real life superhero, and our thoughts and prayers go out to all of Stan Lee’s family and friends.

Every once in a while we come across an animation that not only inspires us, but changes the way that we think about animation. It opens our eyes to fresh new ideas and motivates us to keep experimenting. Disney’s short film “Paperman” was one of those animations that deeply connected with us. It combined 3D animation with 2D methods to create something that was simply a pleasure to look at. One Small Step by TAIKO studios is another one of those animations that has captivated us through its beautiful use of 3D and 2D visuals. The end result is something that we ultimately aspire to reach ourselves. 

One Small Step is a short film about an ambitious young girl who aspires to be an astronaut with the support of her humble father. Andrew Chesworth (Head of Development at TAIKO Studios) refers to the film as a “love letter to everyone who chased that impossible dream, and the family that supported them through it”. This is something that we can deeply relate to, but story aside, the visuals alone have captivated our hearts and inspired us to continue reaching for the stars.

You can check out the official trailer for One Small Step below:

To learn more about TAIKO Studios and One Small Step, visit taikostudios.com

UPDATE: September  20, 2018

TAIKO Studios has just released the full version of their incredible short film. You can check it out below:

Director Allan Ungar and actor Nathan Fillion have teamed up to bring to life what could only be referred to as a dream come true by fans of the Uncharted video games series by Naughty Dog. As massive fans of the series ourselves, we feel similar sentiments.

We’ve been hooked on the epic action and the wise cracking Nathan Drake ever since we stumbled across the first Uncharted game many years ago.  We’ve always referred to the Uncharted games as interactive movies and have talked many times about the idea of an actual live action Uncharted film. There was only one person that we could ever imagine playing the real life version of Nathan Drake, and that’s Nathan Fillion.

Fillion, being a fan of the games himself, was always on board with the idea of playing Drake in a live action rendition; however, the dream just never came to pass. But thanks to this incredible fan film, we get a taste of what that dream could look like.

You can check out the 15-minute fan film below:

Now this is a sight to see.

Courtesy of Disney UK on Twitter, we were graced with a sneak peak image from the next trailer of Wreck-It Ralph 2. In this image we see a gathering of the different princesses from the Disney universe (voiced by the living original actors) all together in what is sure to be an amazing scene. We’re huge fans of Wreck-It Ralph and we’re very excited for Ralph and Vanellope’s newest adventure into the world of the internet!

The latest trailer should be coming soon, but if you haven’t seen the first trailer yet, you can check it out below.

UPDATE: The newest trailer is out now! You can check it out below.