GAME OVER is just one of several art projects developed by the French-Swiss artist Guillaume Reymond, working with the NOTsoNOISY creative agency. The piece is a series of short films, each one based on a different early video game. Instead of pixels, we see humans in colored shirts moving from seat to seat in a theater.
Other films in the series include Pole Position, Pong, and Tetris.
John Canemaker interviewed Richard Williams Monday night at MOMA. The event was sold out and the place was packed with students, as Willliam’s book The Animator’s Survival Kit is an essential read for animation majors around the world.
Williams is always an entertaining speaker, fond of leaping out of his chair to act out anecdotes. He presented clips from:
The night was very much a chance to promote the release of a 16 DVD version of his well-regarded Animation Masterclass. The Animation Survival Kit Animated consists of Williams “performing” the class live at Blue Sky Studios (about ten years ago) intercut with animated examples that illustrate his ideas. Okay, so the set costs over $900, but at least most art schools will buy one.
After the jump, some choice quotes from the evening. Also, the Return of the Pink Panther titles in teeny tiny form on the ubiquitous YouTube… [Read more…]
Pikapika is an animation technique that uses flashlights. It’s also referred to as “lightning doodle projects”. The YouTube video above gives a sampling of what you can do with the method. There’s a website here and this video explains it all in robotic English.
Check out a smattering of recent Pikapika videos on this YouTube page. Here’s one:
Not to be confused with what is after the jump: [Read more…]
Animator and software developer Friedrich Kirschner has figured out a way to do 3D scanning with a webcam, some Legos, a plastic bowl, and milk. It’s called Milkscanner. It’s a silly sort of stop motion that actually works!
The Lego structure holds the webcam. Your object of choice is placed in a the bowl of milk (filled up to halfway). More milk is added three teaspoons at a time. Each scan is a “slice” and it appears that you can get a pretty accurate outline from this calcium-rich contraption. (You have to flip the object to finish the scan.)
For the latest version of Milkscanner, go here.
Friedrich Kirschner has his own website here, which spotlights lots of cool Machinima innovation. (Machinima is the process by which movies are filmed using game engines.)
And go to this Vimeo link to see a variation on the technique where people are dipped into a kiddie pool that is filled [Read more…]
This is a great piece of footage. This animatic was done by Phil Tippett and crew for the first “Jurassic Park” film. It’s really cool to see the armature supports and such as well. The personality that Tippett’s crew was able to inject into these characters was incredible. While I can see why CG was chosen over stop motion, that snake like tongue would have been awesome!
Here is the way the sequence played in the final film.
Peter Griffin (Family Guy) by mataleoneBR
Worth1000 is a company that creates web-based internet applications for artists. But what’s really fun about the company is that they’ve decided to generate buzz by hosting a series of Photoshop image manipulation contests. The resulting entries can be astoundingly strange.
The Reality Cartoon Contest asked contestants to “make a photorealistic image which depicts what a cartoon character would look like if they came to life.” See the deeply disconcerting results by clicking on these links:
Beavis by mataleoneBR
Another contest after the jump…
[Read more…]
artist self portrait
You can listen to the interview HERE.
I recently interviewed Oregonian illustrator, animator, and director Ward Jenkins. Ward has worked on both coasts, from Primal Screen to LAIKA House.
Here’s the latest animated video for a They Might Be Giants song: an artsy craftsy, naive-yet-sophisticated interpretation of “Davy Crockett in Outer Space”. It’s a great use of chalk board animation. For insight into this advanced, high-tech process, check out a comprehensive behind-the-scenes page at the Tiny Inventions site.
(I am glad to see that cartoon workers protect themselves from chalk-dust inhalation by wearing stylish mouth masks.)
And these folks are deft with cotton balls, for sure!
Tiny Inventions worked with illustrator David Cowles on this piece. David has worked on animated vids for many TMBG ditties, including “The Mesopotamians” and “Seven Days of the Week”. Links to all his animated videos are here.
The Gnomon Workshop is releasing a new instructional DVD called “Conceptual Storyboarding: Story Telling and Struggle, Storyboarding Techniques with Derek Thompson.“
The DVD will cover topics such as Developing Story Concepts, Sequence Building, Shot Design and Construction, Improving Story through Character, Editorial Thinking, Troubleshooting Story Problems, Action and Movement, Simulating Camera Moves and Sequence Pitching.
Derek’s credits include work on “Men in Black”, “Star Wars: Episode III”, and “WALL-E”.
Sketch Theatre is a great website where you can watch videos of artists drawing in time-lapse fashion. The clip above features Gary Baseman’s hands.
There are 65 videos currently up on the YouTube page, but if you go directly to the Sketch Theater site, you can watch them there and also read about the artists, buy merch, and (eventually) contribute to the forum.
So get on over and check out the cuffs, the wrist hair, and of course…the fabulous artwork!
