Rest in Peace Ollie

Well it's been a couple of days now so I suppose I should chime in about Ollie Johnston. After reading all the heart felt stories and personal accounts that so many artists and animators have had with Ollie, it makes me sad. I loved reading Brad Bird's story of Ollie's desk, and pencil shavings. That's exactly the sort of thing I would have done. Unfortunately I have no interesting personal stories about Ollie, just complete and utter respect. I've only been aware of the Nine Old Men for the last few years. But I remember being happy when I found out that one of them was still alive (Frank was still alive when I was getting into animation, but I didn't know of him until after he died).

I've always hoped the old boy would hang on a little longer so that I might get the chance to meet him (That sounds horrible, but I don't mean it that way). If only for small talk, I'm sure he would have imparted something on me that would have stuck to me throughout my future years in animation. But I guess it's really time for the new generation to step up and prove to the world that that level of skill in animation didn't just die with Ollie two days ago. I think it's fitting that we seem to be approaching a second renaissance of traditional animation. I must be a part of it, so I must get back to work. But I will leave you with this:

For the past two years I've been slowly, in my spare time, compiling data for a tribute site to the nine old men. I secured NineOldMen.com so that I could create a site about those guys for two reasons:

1. I couldn't believe there wasn't an ultimate resource on the internet dedicated to these guys
   
2. To self-educate myself about each and every one of them.

I think Ollie's passing might give me a kick in the butt to get more work done on the site. This type of a site is needed now their era has concluded. So if anyone out there has any information, pictures, videos, or anything they would like to share for the site on any of the nine old men, that would be greatly appreciated.

I also think it's about time I give the Illusion of Life another read, but that will have to wait another month until after school.