Ever since I interviewed artist Jim Woodring back in 1995 for the bOING bOING Happy Mutant Handbook, I've been enamored with his surreal comix inspired by his childhood hallucinations and "psychological malfunctions." Now, Taruto Fuyama has animated Woodring's Frank character in a beautiful piece that somehow manages to perfectly express the dreamy tone and emotion of the comic. (Someone else's attempt here.) Fuyama won a Prize of Excellence for the work in the Japan Media Arts Festival. The animation is online in Real format. From the "Reason for the Award":
"…the greatest appeal of this work is that it had successfully expressed unique "newness" by combining 3D-CG and classical cartoon-like design. Alien creatures created by pasting comic frames to 3D-CG in a Gothic manner generate uncomfortable feelings, and these uncomfortable feelings that color the entire work feature this work's contemporary sensitivity."
