John Lamb (producer)
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John Lamb is an artist and animated film producer/director. From the first animated surf and skateboarding cartoons, to the first American animated and rotoscoped rock n' roll video (before the advent of MTV), to an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement for invention of the Lyon Lamb Video Animation System (VAS), Lamb's work has consistently been in the public eye since the 1970s.
In the mid 1970s, Lamb's animation was seen in many seminal surf movies. "The Forgotten Island of Santosha" by Larry and Roger Yates featured Lamb's first animated film "Secret Spot" [1](1974). "Five Summer Stories" by McGilivray-Freeman Films (1975) "Five Summer Stories" featured Lamb's animated short "Rocket 88".
"Secret Spot" is the world's first known animated surf cartoon, notable for another first on film, the "air" maneuver where the surfer flies out of the wave into the air and lands back on the wave and continues surfing - a trick now standard in the world surf community. "Rocket 88" introduced Lamb's trademark character "Willy Makitt," which also features the first "shuvit" maneuver where the surfer kick flips the board, causing it to spin, and then lands it to continue the ride. Willy Makitt was also licensed by Hang Ten and featured on their first fiberglass skateboards, which can be seen in this 1975 NBC newscast on the new skateboarding phenomenon.[1]
Most recently, "Secret Spot" was honored by the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, CA with a permanent installation. Hand painted by Lamb, with a bigger-than-life wave scene and classic Lamb-style hot rods, tikis, palm trees and jungle scene, the iconic Willy Makitt is featured at the peak of the giant wave. Lamb's "Secret Spot" installation is an outdoor event, host to openings, premieres and surf extravaganzas of all types at the groundbreaking museum. The installation also features the work of Brett Hazzard, who created the "footprints in the sand" and breathtaking beach effect, that completes the installation's unique experience. See the mural's start and sky-bending finish on YouTube.[2]
History
With the success of the Lyon Lamb Video Animation System in 1976, Lamb set out for his most ambitious animation project: "Tom Waits for No One", featuring Tom Waits singing "The One That Got Away". Using the newly invented Lyon Lamb Video Rotoscope, Lamb animated live footage of Tom Waits, creating the first American rotoscoped animated rock video. Released in 1979, and largely hidden from the public eye since, the video went viral on YouTube in 2006.
In 1980, Lamb was honored with an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement for inventing the Lyon Lamb Video Animation System (VAS) - (shared with Bruce Lyon). The VAS is a single frame video device for pre-testing animation art before it's committed to final production.[3]
With the invention of the Lyon Lamb VAS, an animation revolution began. One example, a master animator uses the VAS to make animation history and demonstrate a first human "walk cycle" for his students.[4]
Companies
Lamb is the founder several successful ventures, and has succeeded in widely varied fields, including animation, graphic design, clothing design, licensed apparel, art installations, and most recently printing his "Blast from the Past" images rendered on sheet aluminum, Lamb's work has been featured in many different mediums over the past four decades.
After leaving Lyon Lamb, throughout the 1980s and early '90s, John Lamb Productions merchandised and licensed Lamb's cartoon-style drawings, meeting with wide commercial success. During that same period, Lamb also did clothing and graphic-tee design for international companies Adidas, Nike, L.A.Gear, Puma, Body Glove, Bugle Boy, Jimmy Z, Maui and Sons, and Hang Ten, among others. Lamb's graphic design style can still be seen in the timeless logo he created for "Bear Surfboards".
In the late '90s, Lamb co-founded Bobtown Ink, with veteran Disney director Russ Mooney, producer Brian Ray and award winning director John Kafka. They produced and created many original content shows for clients such as Disney, Universal, Nickelodeon, Sun Woo, Hanna Barbara, Cartoon Network, MGM, and Sony.
Today
Presently, Lamb continues his medium bending ways with "Blast from the Past", a series of 1940s southern California-style images of hot rods, surfboards, classic cars and beach scenes set against the backdrop of one of America's most conspicuous images: atomic plume. Printed on the same material from which the Enola Gay was made, the images represent a wistful, ironic commentary of life after the A-bomb. Linksoul Lab in Oceanside, CA hosted the opening for Blast From the Past" in November, 2013.
Animation or production
Lamb's animated works are now available via YouTube.
- “Secret Spot “ - premiered with “Forgotten Island of Santosha”
- "Rocket 88" - premiered with iconic surf movie classic "Five Summer Stories" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dY_yhnTwKjE&feature=related
- Sesame Street, Electric Company, several educational films
- "Tom Waits for No One"- starring Tom Waits performing live, then rotoscoped into animation –singing "The One That Got Away".
- "Hippy Motors" - with Tommy Chong, converting classic "Hippy" mobiles into green/electric machines. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvaGrXNGeeM