Described as one of the culminating films in Versais’ carrer, “Operation X-70″ is a fairly dark story, with minimal animation (a departure) and English voice acting featuring none other than Leonard Cohen. The story revolves around an accidental invasion of a dreamy and peaceful country named ‘Nebelux’, whereby a powerful nation developing a new combat gas, X-70, drops bombs full of the substance, which causes victims to become paralyzed and lethargic. “Operations X-70″ was the winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1972, as well as several other festivals during the same year.

Watch “Operation X-70″ by Raoul Servais after the jump..

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It is a pleasure to see how two different artists are able to encompass a very unique style. Seeing the works of Saul Bass compared to the works of Raoul Servais is a joy and I couldn’t honestly pick a favorite. I can only imagine a project where both of these animation visionaries worked together. 1968′s “Sirene” opens with credits reminiscent to the works of Bass (or shall I say, Bass’ work was reminiscent of Servais, I don’t know), with cranes standing like prehistoric dinosaurs over a decrepit port where ships are rusting and bomb shells escape the bleakness of their environment. Speaking of, “Sirene” is actually seen as an early commentary on the manipulation and abuse of the environment throughout the modernized world.

Watch “Sirene” by Raoul Servais after the jump..

Read more of ”Sirene by Raoul Servais“

Born in 1928, Raoul Versais was the undisputed maestro of European animation during the mid-20th century. Focusing on social commentary and striking colors, Versais’ animation work won prizes at most major Euopean international film festivals and contributed to Versais founding the first department of animation on the European continent. Even though Versais focused more on traditional painting and drawing methods, his 13 animated films will continue to be the work he is most notable for.

This first of a long line of posts featuring Raoul Versais’ work features the 1965 short “Chromophobia”, which follows an army of identical, angular characters, entering a struggles against anything bearing color.

Watch “Chromophobia” by Raoul Versais after the jump..

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Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings have been brought to life via animation as part of a new gallery exhibition showcasing the notebooks of LDV which contained all of his hand-drawn and written research notes. Using traditional hand-drawn and computer generated techniques, choice selections from Da Vinci’s notebooks are brought to life with few compromises. In total there are 9 brilliantly rendered animations, all showing Da Vinci’s brilliant drawings and studies brought to life.

Read more: Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings animated

Academy award winning director and animator Norman McLaren was an early visionary of animation techniques and cinematography, as well as an influence to a young George Lucas, who naturally went on to create Star Wars among many other film properties. McLaren’s masterpiece was an 8-minute short-film named “Neighbours” which was filmed in 1952 and winner of the Academy Award for best documentary in 1953. By animating real-life objects, such as flowers, fence posts, and humans, McLaren was able to make it appear as if he was suspending the laws of gravity, using a technique he dubbed “pixellation”.

Watch the short (hosted at YouTube) after the jump…

Read more of ”Neighbours – Short-film by Norman McLaren“

Going around for awhile but we’re still amazed by them! Artist Michael Paulus has put together a collection of drawings, displaying popular animated cartoon characters from pop culture next to what might be their skeletal systems. The drawings are actual gallery pieces, two-part with a hinged translucent overlay, which when lifted reveal a line drawing of the character’s skeleton underneath. Paulas has begun creating approximations using Photoshop in order to save space for the online gallery. I’ll never look at Charlie Brown the same way.

[Cartoon Character Skeletal Systems]

The geniuses at PES have created a beautifully done stop animation video of classic video games (including sound!) performed using traditional items, such as food, birthday candles, coins, and watch faces (among other things). PES is a highly acclaimed multimedia / animation firm who have also worked on commercials for Nike (highly recommended viewing), MoveOn.org, and Diesel (also highly recommended viewing) while creating their quirky brand of animated shorts. Oh, and they offer some of their shorts pre-formatted for PSP, way to go PES!

[Game-Over | PES PSP Videos]