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Coraline link roundup

CG Society has a long and very detailed article about the making of Coraline.

And a few more links:

1. Chris Turnham posted concept art from Coraline.

2. Coraline nail polish.

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Coraline link roundup

Go here for lots of photos of the Coraline puppet armatures. Via.


Coraline concept artist Stef Choi posted lots of ... concept art, including a photo of a rather adorable Coraline.

And a few more links:

1. Fan made Coraline box.

2. Work in progress button-eyed Coraline doll.

3. And a handy roundup of Coraline concept art links.

*Buy Coraline keys at eBay.

Redesigned Coraline book cover

Redesigned Coraline book cover by Mike Baker. His site is full of delightful illustrations of fairy tale creatures.

*Buy Coraline posters at eBay.

Phil Knight talks about the Coraline ad campaign

Phil Knight talked about Laika and Coraline with Advertising Age. He had some interesting comments about the ad campaign:

The original agreement was that Focus would do the advertising, but in some of the early meetings, it was clear that we had a difference of opinion on the advertising -- "target audience" being one. They were used to doing "data" advertising: They wanted to push this more as a kiddie film, because that's what the data told them. And Nike and Wieden & Kennedy together had grown up with what I call "emotional essence advertising" -- the essence of the product is its emotional core, and you push that. It was two very different approaches, and it kind of became clear in some of those early meetings that we had a very strong difference of opinion. And to Focus' credit, they said, "OK, why don't you guys try it? There's no use in fighting this thing. Let's negotiate a different way to market this thing."

I don't believe there's any mention of what the ad campaign will be like overseas.

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

More Coraline concept art

Dan Krall has posted more Coraline concept art at his site, including a drawing of the "gravy train" and a jell-o lava lamp.

And in other Coraline news, here's some fan art by Tara Billinger featuring slugzilla.

*Buy Coraline Dunks at eBay.

Coraline concept art by Katy Wu

Go here for Coraline concept art by Katy Wu, including the Other Mother in her final spidery form.

*Buy Coraline keys at eBay.

Coraline giveaway at the Carmel Branch Library?

There's no commentary on the photos, but it appears that some place called the Carmel Branch Library had Coraline miniposters and t-shirts to give out.

*Buy Coraline posters at eBay.

Coraline doll by Donna Pedaci

Cuddly Coraline doll made by Donna Pedaci. More photos at the link and here's Donna's Etsy shop.

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Coraline news roundup

I certainly didn't pay it any attention during the movie, but apparently the snow glove that plays a crucial part in Coraline features the Detroit Zoo's Horace H. Rackham Memorial Fountain. The zoo plans on selling snow globes in the near future to capitalize on the exposure. Via.

And a few more links:

1. Coraline made just about as much money in its second week of release as it did in its first.

2. Here's step-by-step instructions for making your own pair of Coraline's orange and green-striped gloves.

3. Go here to sign up for the Coraline mystery box swap.

4. Roundup of Coraline trivia.

*Buy snow globes at eBay.

Video of the Gallery Nucleus Coraline discussion

Here's video of a decent part of the Coraline production artists panel at Gallery Nucleus. I've posted links to many of the artists' sites previously.

Also, here's a some less than glowing comments about Laika (that need to be taken with a grain of salt since the author seems to hope to one day work there again).

Both links via Amid Amidi, so I'll take the opportunity to direct you to my review of Amid's new book The Art of Pixar Short Films.

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Make you own button squid

Go here for instructions on making your own button squid.

*Buy Coraline posters at eBay.

Coraline mystery box swap

Go here to find out how you can participate in a Coraline mystery box swap.

*Buy cigar boxes at eBay.

Interview with Coraline micro-knitter Althea Crome

Knit 1 for the Road has a great interview with micro-knitter Althea Crome, who made Coraline's star sweater. Althea almost failed:

they told me about the magical star sweater they needed—it would have to sparkle. I went on a tireless thread quest for about a month—finding everything from stainless steel thread to paintable sparkles and then set about knitting swatches and sending them to Laika. None of them looked right on screen and because of a time issue, it was looking like my hopes of making something for this wonderful project were fading. In fact, at one point, they told me that they were going to have to start shooting soon and would not be able to wait for me to find the right combo of threads.

Read the entire interview here. It's really a wonderful story about the internet enabling people to pursue their interests.

If you haven't already seen it, here's the Coraline video featuring Althea:



*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Coraline lunch boxes, messenger bags, and journals

Coraline lunch boxes, messenger bags, and journals on sale at Amazon.

I know Wybie was supposedly added to the story to give Coraline someone to talk to. But her scenes with him really didn't do much to advance or reveal the plot. They mostly just added an extraneous detail to the story - - one of the ghosts was his grandmother's sister. However, he would be a great source of merchandise. I look forward to seeing a Wybie night vision welding mask.

*Buy Coraline toys at the Big Bad Toy Store.

Even more limited Coraline Nike Dunks; Coraline maquettes

15 shoe fanatics received Coraline Nike Dunks in fancy wooden boxes, complete with button keys and button boxes. Nice gallery of images here.




The movers shown briefly at the beginning of Coraline are based on Joe and Jerome Ranft, who you can read about here. I believe I've mentioned it before, but sculptor Damon Bard has posted lots of photos of maquettes and Coraline puppets, including quite a few of the Other Mother's final form, at his site.

*Buy Coraline Dunks at eBay.

"Yes We Did" Coraline poster

"Yes We Did" Coraline poster by Jeremy Spake. High-res image here. It's an homage to Shepard Fairey's poster celebrating Obama's win:



*Buy Coraline posters at eBay.

Button Donuts (and more)

Button donuts, found here along with button glasses and button hubcaps.



And a button light.



And a large gallery of Coraline toy photos.

And finally, a charming Coraline drawing.

*Buy Coraline keys at eBay.

Coraline art roundup

Chris Appelhans posted quite a bit of Coraline concept art here.

And here's Coraline and the well and the three ghosts by Dan Krall.

Finally, here's Coraline and the Other Mother starring in ... massage certificates?

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Thumbs down for the Coraline soundtrack

In a nutshell, the Coraline soundtrack is a perfect example of why people started illegally downloading mp3s. The list price is apparently $18. That gets you a cover featuring the bland poster art, a few stills, and the songs from the movie. Nothing else. No words to "Other Father Song," no desktop wallpapers on the cd, no concept art, no photos of the musicians, no heartfelt words from anyone about the creation of the music. And the cd itself looks more like a cut open kiwi than a button:



Thankfully, nowadays you can buy single mp3s. So if you just want Other Father Song (and alas, the version on the cd is just as short as the version in the movie), you'll find it for a dollar at iTunes and Amazon.

If you just want a Coraline keepsake, you're better off spending the same amount of money to buy Coraline keys at eBay or Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Primitive Coraline, perhaps? (plus more)

This is the logo for the 11th annual BAMkids film festival. Primitive version of Coraline, perhaps?



And Michelle made a t-shirt starring the kindly version of Coraline's Other Mother.

*Buy "Tease: Inspired T-shirt Transformations by Superstars of Art, Craft, & Design" at Amazon.

Coraline's plush button squid (link roundup)

One of Coraline's magical stuffed animals is a button squid. Becky made her own.

And a few more links:

1. Erin McCauley made a few Coraline-inspired illustrations with button frames. Maybe she'll squeeze a few buttons into the tarot card set she's working on.

2. In my humble opinion, the 3D elements are not very important to the movie. Don't hesitate to see it on a regular screen. (Also, I liked the book's ending more. I prefer my heroes to win by cleverness.)

*Buy Coraline keys at eBay.

Another Coraline giveaway

Premiere is giving away six Coraline prize packs.

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Coraline link roundup

1. Lots of great photos of the Coraline premiere and after party here, including the glowing button bags used to light the way.

2. Incomplete, but already terrific-looking homemade Coraline doll.

3. Handy summary of Wieden + Kennedy's Coraline ad campaign, as well as a list of the people who worked on it.

4. And, in case you're curious, early indications are Coraline is doing well at the box office.

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.

Coraline desktop wallpapers

Shane Prigmore posted some of the wonderful concept art he created for Coraline here. I took the liberty of cropping two of the images, of Coraline's Father and the three ghosts, for use as desktop wallpaper. Wide screen and full screen. Enjoy, and then go look at the rest of Shane's art. If you're in Los Angeles, you can see Shane and several other Coraline artists at Gallery Nucleus tomorrow.

Coraline Art

Shane Prigmore posted several desktopwallpaper-sized images he created for Coraline.


Character Design interviewed Damon Bard, who sculpted several maquettes for Coraline. Here's something I didn't know: "The original clay sculptures are destroyed in the mold process but the casts of the maquettes are either stored, on display at the studio, or go on tour."

*Buy Coraline toys at eBay and Amazon.