If you’ve been glued to your TV watching the 2010 Winter Olympics, American viewers may have spotted the NBC promos featuring the cast of DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming CG feature How to Train Your Dragon. Here’s two of my favorite:

Medal Ceremony

Speed Skating

Up in chilly Vancouver, the Winter Olympics start today, and it’s high time we give a shout out to Meomi. They’re the team that designed the Olympic mascots, Miga, Quatchi and Sumi. Here’s a short animation featuring Quatchi, and there’s a great video interview with Meomi founders Vicki Wong and Michael Murhpy over at the official Olympics site.

The 2010 Winter Olympics start up in Vancouver on February 12th, and the BBC has ordered up a little animation to help kick it off. Marc Craste at STUDIOaka crafted this powerful short that features Akiak’s “quest to find the missing head of Ilanaaq.” To find out exactly what that means, watch the short, then head over to the BBC website for a read.

FX & Mat, a French directing duo out of Nexus Productions, helmed this new 30-second PSA for the Olympics. The CG characters in this ad titled The Best of Us literally unite the world, well advance of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. The agency overseeing the effort was Cole & Weber United.

BBDO Toronto and Proximity Canada have produced an energetic spot for the RBC. It’s a hybrid of 3d & pop-up book aesthetic,  imparting a very cute and youthful feel. Most importantly, it gives Canadians the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch, if they are lucky enough to win the honour.

In this BBC promotional clip created for the upcoming Olympics, Jamie Hewlett reminds us why he remains one of today’s best animation designers.

And yes, the boys from the Gorillaz did the music.