Nelson Boles - "Little Boat" - and a little history

[Charles]

While making my rounds today I discovered a film that was posted on Cartoonbrew. Since the site is run by a couple of animation historians, I thought I'd contribute to the overall knowledge when it comes to Nelson Boles, an emerging filmmaker who is proving himself nothing less than brilliant.

After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in September 2005, I had a student enroll in the Teen Program at my school The Animation Academy in Burbank. He was young man of 16 years, in town with his mother. They were from New Orleans and were refugees from the storm. They were staying in LA and for a few months, Nelson Boles was attending class. Afterwards, when things got back to normal in New Orleans, he returned home after leaving a very positive impression with me.

He was a talented fellow and took to what he was being taught very quickly. It was all fundamentals at that time. His drawing was good, his design skills unique, and it turns out his filmmaking abilities were just as remarkable as I was to learn in 2008 when he became the second student associated with my school to win the Warner Bros Hanna Barbera National Scholarship, which included acceptance into Cal Arts.

I'm happy to say that I had a look at Nelson Boles in his earliest days of his career as a great animator, and I'm happy to share with you his latest work which is getting online attention.

Here's "Little Boat"...

[Charles]

Turns out Nelson Boles’ “Little Boat” won the 2011 Walter and Gracie Lantz Animation Prize at this year's Cal Arts Producers Show in the spring. No surprise there.