guru takes on a full 15 episodes of every parent's favourite kid show, The Backyardigans. Now go buy your all the toys so we can make some more for everyone next year!

We did 'em. You'll see them if you watch Jay Leno or Conan. Ok, I guess you won't see them. The orange pastel coloured balloon is a Mrs. She shops and travels and generally lives the good life but then BAM! she explodes without warning. so watch out. I'd feel safer around one of those giant rolling oranges. I won't tell you what we nicknamed Mrs. Balloon but you can call the studio and we'll tell you.

He's trying to find himself. Next year we'll probably see him doing some radical self expression at Burning Man. no biggie there. He's already naked.

weird I know, but the salesdude inside is kind of funny. Plus, the orange is really, really big. Like a Chernobyl orange. You can get a lot of juice from an orange that big and then you can hollow it out and drive it around town bothering people. sweet.

Our friends over at Monkbot called us in to design and animate a sidekick for their hot new action hero ID's for Space Channel. That cute little space-squid might look a sweet and friendly biotech personal assistant, but wait until he gets angry.

Oh, and apparently he tastes good too, but hey, I was always told not to eat the help...

guru and Nelvana Limited/Corus Kids join forces on 5 new full Episodes of the hit Nick Jr preschooler show The Backyardigans marking guru's debut in episodic television. We've assembled a talented crew to create over 100 minutes of performance, song and dance for this wonderfully inventive TV series.

Typical Friday. Bos hired guru to bring to a few grapes to life from Vincor's new Naked Grape collection of wines. These wines bear the distinction of being un-oaked. No wood.None.Zippo. Tree-free. Not bark nor twig in the mix.

That apparently makes the wine better. No more tongue splinters. Or it's easier to drink. Or both. Anyway, watch the spots and you'll know the magic this wine can create on your next dinner date. We recommend the white with a generous portion of Macaroni and Cheese, chili sauce and thinly sliced hotdog.

A mysterious elevator, some shocking off camera hi-jinx, a subway, some violent graffiti, a butt plug (literally), a mug shot, parkour, pigeons, poker and a pinata.

Let us know when you've figure it all out and please tell us what it all means. We can't remember how we came up with this sh*t.

Seriously. We're doing good in this world. Sure they might sit around watching TV, enjoying this ad and eating cheese soaked noodles, but watch them closely. Within seconds of viewing this commercial they're gonna feel the itch to jump up, run outside and play a game or two of football. We guarantee it.

Don't trust us? Try it. Make them watch the Dinosaur. Just make sure you have a few hours to spare and a football helmet at the ready as they tear out the door dragging you to the park.

No really. Go see it in the work section. We're tired of cross posting. This site is going to change.

And he's recording his new hit song. Which sounds alot like the old one. That's what commercial hip-hop will do to 'ya if you're not careful. Next thing you know he'll be poolside with some hot and freaky female 2 foot blinged up birds. It's all downhill from there.

Fire away! No, no, not OJ Simpson. Tropicana. Pure Premium to be exact.

guru recently completed a pair of elegant orange-on-white fully animated spots for the esteemed creative folks at Downtown Partners.

Feeling these oranges desperately needed a voice, we pitched a new art direction for the spots back in December and won the campaign. Then thanks to a licensed 80's classic and the superior efforts of our crack team of pantomime actors at guru, we wound up with a wonderful new society of roly-poly oranges playin' footie against a frightened straw goalie in this match to end all matches. And while the Tropicana oranges prevail, the rest..

...well, they gave it their best shot.

Go ahead, click it. This stuff is Pure Premium man.

D wasn't lookin' but it found him. It looks like scooter-babes click with pug-faced scruffy-looking (and let's face it- a little bit peppy) scooter guys. See how "swm seeks intersection with lambretta-bound swf" and finds a new way to connect on the freeway of ... (I'm not gonna say it ok?)

Take a Detour or click on the spot you want to see above

So what do you love most? cars? speed? chicks? what do you hate even more? Traffic? Road blocks? Robot duck-monkeys?

Yah so does D. Well he loves his robot duck-monkey too. You know how it is; love, hate... it's a fine line. Especially when your PDA/pet helps you keep your wild impulses in check and manages to get you out of some pretty bad scrapes. We got Kid Koala to scratch up some music and sound on this project for Teletoon Canada thru the new branding outfit Fishdog.

Catch a peek at what guru just created for the new young adult prime-time programming block on Teletoon called

It wasn't until we saw an 8 year old tied up in a blue suit and held upside down by two burly Hawaiians that we realized the scope of what we had done.

With all that's going on in the world right now we just couldn't decapitate them and there was just no other way to get 10 children's heads to match the twisted and stretched poses of our new "bendies" characters.

Working for our friends at Riverstreet in West Hollywood and the WB! Kids channel, we created 20 new promotional station ID's for the kid caster over the summer. Take a look at 3 of them below to get an idea of the scope of this CG animation led, live-action mixed media project.

Click here or on the image above to get bent.

In this latest installment of the Planet Snak campaign, our three space castaways are the guests of honor to a civilization of gracious little purple nubbies. However, looking for a place to relax and eat an Oreo proves difficult for Captain Baker.

Oy Veh! Click here or above for mayhem and destruction.

It seems like those chiclets keep working their way into more and more unlikey places. We had no idea that our bumpers would have such a positive response from the festival and competition circuit. We just got the news that Teletoon struck gold again! This time at the Promax Awards in New York!

PROMAX BDA WINNERS 2004

We can also add Anima Mundi in Brazil to the growing list of festivals where our promos have been selected to compete. Who knew that those crazy little animated logos would bring us such acclaim!

ANIMA MUNDI BRAZIL

Who would exercise in the sun on the beach? Only a bimbo you say? Well, yes actually. Thanks to our Midwest rep Hillary Herbst, Legion Advertising in Arlington Texas put their latest animated 15 second spot in the capable hands of guru animation director Bryan Huo.
The spot, with its Spanish dialog track is for Doble Fibra Tostado, a dry toast product made by Bimbo Bakeries of Fort Worth Texas.
The script called for slices of bread getting toasted as they lie on the beach. When the folks at Legion saw our latest C-Rex spot that features a Miami beach locale, they knew that guru would be the right studio to take their Bimbos to the beach.

Uno, dos, vuelta, click!

We're happy to announce that the Teletoon chiclet ID's have won a Gold Remi at Worldfest in Houston Texas. The three winning bumpers were "Chicken" animated by Dave Calder, "Snow Beetle" animated by Tomasz Antos and "Sheep Factory" by Andrew Kim, Jason Carswell and Frank Falcone with conceptual design by Mark Cutler.
The promos won in category # 123 Network / Station / Cable Promotion.
http://www.worldfest.org

Q: How many places can you stick a chiclet in under 10 seconds? Oh stop it and pull up your pants.

A: We're talking about the famous Teletoon chiclet logo and if you want the answer, go take a snoop around here or click on a few of the sample spots below ...

guru wraps up our extended Teletoon project this week as we deliver the last of 25 10 second bumpers for the 'toon caster's on air identity package. As part of the initial creative brief, which evolved during the course of production, guru was asked to create 15 promos that would involve original characters made from of the network's "chiclet" logo. Eventually, Teletoon let guru loose to interpret the project brief and it took off in some strange and interesting new directions. Monkeys get angry, cattle run scared, sheep get shaved, the aged gain youthful vigor, and chickens... well, you'll just have to see what those poor chickens go through

C-Rex guards the coast as his naked noodle minions create havoc once more in this family-friendly beach setting. And yes plenty of surfing, para-sailing, rollerblading and of course break dancing.

To view spot click here or on the image

Yo,homes: When PWLC Leeds was lookin' to create a hip hop rapping size 14 robin for their new Fox's biscuits campaign who ya'll think 'dem UK brothas gone and called? guru. Damn straight.

Ya'll may not realize this, but this suckkha gon' be tha' first time dem homies at guru be steppin' up to tha world ah' hip hop and they doin' it in style: they all sat down, got they snack on, got they drink on, got all blunted an' found 'emselves a wack ah' videos, magazines an' all kinda otha' shee-it so as they could immerse 'emselves in da world ah' bling an booty. It be a fine bidness we in.

Wid nuthin' but a scribble an some props to Snoop Dogg, my man Sir Frankus Falconus (Frank Falcone) took to directin' his crew at guru; A++ (Mark Ainslie), Shawtie Ho (Bryan Huo), Count D-AV (Dave Calder), T-Mak Atak(Taras Primak), Dim Dim Dormy-D (Tim Dormady) and 2-Kan Tizzy (Timmy Kan). Thay started layin' tha' cut on a ghetto-fabulous new 3D robin, he be all decked out in his mink and bling an' shit, yo, straight-up. We ain't frontin' fo' no phoney here. True dat. We here ta' represent. Mad props t'all tha lil' homey juniahs, Rocky R's keepin'it real, yo, but not so that he ain't sho'in respect to all dem parents out there, know what'm sayin'?

And heads up y'all, tha Fox Biscuit Posse gots 'emselves one stone-cold pimp daddy. "Rocky R" got tha' skeelz, he gots tha' show, he got tha honour and he got tha flow. Best step to the link n' check it out!

To view the spizzle, click right hizzle or up above

guru recently moved into their spacious new digs at 110 Spadina suite 500.

The new studio was created by award winning interior design firm 3rd Uncle utilizing some existing elements from the old location. The bright and spacious 3500 square foot studio provides comfortable reparation from the elements for guru's 10 staff and many freelancers. It's also a much better place to rollerblade and hide from the boss.

In addition to all the critters scurrying about on our 8 minutes of tape, guru has also added a new beast: Adbeast. This week we signed onto the popular reel hosting service which will broadcast our latest digitized video demonstration reel over their superior internet delivery system. Pure digital archives of past guru work will remain on the guru website.

Ride the Adbeast!

Check out the latest Planet Snak as Steve takes the lectern while Baker and D'oh get their snack on. Meanwhile C-Rex gets turned around in a helical world of springy madness. Still another crew preps a hip-hop pimp playa bird for his TV huckster debut.

Our warmest festival welcome yet! The 2003 ANIMA MUNDI International Animation Festival of Brazil has accepted "FROSTIES: 'SPACE', 'PLUMMET' and 'HYDE'", TELETOON "MITOSIS, BOBSLED", SKATING DOG, DUNG BEETLE,SHEEP FACTORY", THE YTV PROMOS and PLANET SNAK "LOST CITY" (That's just shy of a 2 year retrospective!). All will screen in competition at the 11th annual Festival in Rio de Janeiro from July 11th to 20th and in S

Next to Disneyland, what was the place you most wanted to visit as a child? Ok, besides Michael Jackson's Neverland, wasn't it a factory! No? How about a crayon factory? Ok, then how about the crayon factory The Crayola Factory!!

Well, that's where Pepe's going to become a nationally reknown box designer - and he's bringing along a whole bunch of suspiciously similar looking friends. C-Rex plays a stoic and supportive mentorship role in this colourful and cheesy adventure.

Curious what this painting has to do with anything?
Click here or on the image above.

guru's Teletoon promotional work has been accepted in competition at the prestigious 2003 Annecy Animation Festival in France.

For more information go to the Annecy Website

The fifth instalment in the popular Planet Snak campaign "Teleporters" was recently completed by guru for FCB Toronto. On board the ship, Baker becomes involved in one of D'oh's latest inventions: a teleporter contraption reminiscent of "The Fly" that will fuse a chocolatey coating with Oreos creating a brand new type of snack.

D'oh meanwhile, snapping at Steve like a mad scientist with an itchy trigger finger, looks like he just might be losing his grip. Stay tooned while the story continues to unfold ... As The Planet Turns...

To view spot click here or click on the image above

This is cheesy advertising at its finest. guru delivered its first national spot for Kraft and the U.S. market. guru brought Cheese-a-saurus Rex to life with a revamped design in a new campaign out of FCB Chicago. An arena rock concert features thousands of noodles, flowing cheese and a montage of classic rock-u-mentary lifestyle intercuts. Now we're just waiting for the follow-up script that lands Rex at the Betty Ford Clinic ...

To view spot click here or click on the image above

mmmm

How do you come up with more than twenty different ideas to animate a cartoon station ID logo? Put four Teletooners and five gurus in one room, add lots of pencils a dollop of sketch pads and lock the door. Although the waste paper basket had to be emptied every half hour the resulting sketches were worth every cent of the recycled paper they were drawn on. The slew of promos are being animated by a dozen animators and directed by Frank Falcone. The goal of the campaign is to retain the mono-chromatic look of the existing on-air identity while introducing a varied ensemble of original characters designed and animated at the studio. For this round, guru brought to life unique characters which incorporate the toon-caster's logo into their story and design. You'll find

guru took first prize Sunday night at the 2002 Ottawa International Animation Festival in the category of BEST STATION/PROGRAMME IDENTIFICATION for the YTV Campaign. guru's work for the Planet Snak Campaign was also selected for screening at the festival.

For more on the Ottawa winners go here

The studio was recently presented with a Silver Promax/BDA award for the YTV promos. This represents the first award won by our young shop and we would like to thank all the artists who were involved in this campaign: Mark Ainslie, Sean Sullivan, Timmy Kan, with Daniel Abramovitch, Kris Howald, Amy Lu, Jamie McCarter, Robert Padovan and Carol Prince, Jeff Bell and Mark Neysmith.
Did we forget anyone?

Bryan Huo just joined the crew at guru. Brian was most recently the animation director of six Pilsbury Doughboy spots out of D'Arcy, NY, and Leo Burnett Toronto through Topix. Bryan is known in the industry for his great technical achievements, acute eye for detail and fearless snowboarding.

The second spot in the campaign features D'Oh airing out his grievances to an empty spaceship ... or so he thinks.

To view episode 2,"A Tale of Two Teddies" click image above or here

Animators, modellers and designers at guru are hard at work on the first of 4 commercials for the Nabisco Planet Snak campaign commissioned by FCB Toronto. The characters Captain Baker, Steve the Robot and D'Oh, initially designed as hand drawn characters at guru's sister company Chuck Gammage Animation will be modelled and animated as 3D computer generated cartoons.

To view episode 1,"Lost City" click image above or here

guru has animated 15 short-short film promos for the fall promotional campaign of YTV, Canada's youth network. The studio has completed the 3 1/2 second promos that are being put in rotation starting the first week of September. All promos feature original 3D characters designed by guru, animated and rendered using Maya. Go to the "work" section to view all 15 of the promos!
See Boards Article

Bad Math was contracted to program and design a custom extranet for guru that will be used for client approvals and work in progress updates.

The website allows clients and production partners to view work-in-progess images, movies and text documents and submit comments and approvals.

Chaos abounds at new animation company guru as unknown hackers post empty, newsless articles

Welcome to the new guru website. Conceived, art directed and written by Dawn Dudek (9 Doors Down) and Travis Sellar (experienceOne). Programming by Stephen Price.
The News section is updated often, please drop by again.