This past Thursday I had a chance to trek up to Hollywood and visit Gnomon for their “The Making of Guardians of the Galaxy” presentation. Some really awesome artists were on hand to talk about their work and process. I was fortunate to get a great seat and really take in all of the information that Josh Herman, Andy Park, Jackson Sze, Anthony Francisco, Rodney Fuentebella and Charlie Wen shared with the group. Wish I could have taken some pictures. There’s a great recap with some pictures on Gnomon’s site.
After getting home I added a drawing of Groot to my “One Sketch a Day” sketchbook.
Yesterday I had the privilege of chaperoning some students from Valley High Schools New Media Academy to the Sony Studio’s lot in Culver City. Not your normal high school field trip that’s for sure. Day started out with a charter bus ride from Santa Ana to Culver City in a complete down pour. The rain finally lightened up as we arrived at the studio. Upon arrival we were greeted by some staff who brought us into their Digital Motion Picture Center on Stage 7. Here the kids were treated to some plush leather lounge chairs and a presentation on some of the current camera hardware that Sony has been developing for 4k film production. The students learned some of the technical details behind cameras, lenses and image resolution. During this part of the presentation, some of the high end cameras were passed around for the kids to look at. Afterwards, the kids were brought to a test shoot set. Here they were given some insight into how sets were built and some of the tricks used during filming. The kids were surprised to learn that they don’t film inside a real house and that what you see through the windows is really a picture that is lit to make it appear like it’s outside. Next stop, the Sony Store and the the commissary for a snack. Before heading back to the bus we stopped by the Coffee Bean & Teal Leaf that was on the campus. Nice to get a hot drink on a cold, starting to rain again day.
All in all, it was a great field trip and I don’t think I’ve seen high school students so attentive to a presentation. There didn’t even appear to be any cell phone distractions during the presentations. There certainly were many cell phone pictures taken during the day, which were probably posted all over the internet shortly there after.
Earlier in the month, February 6 to be exact I had the privilege of attending the Blank & Bow Premiere at Disney Studios in Burbank. One of my long time friends Whitfield Scheidegger, was involved in the stop motion short … Continue reading →
As the year the new year gets underway I wanted to reflect a little about this past year and where I see this next one taking me…
Life was pretty awesome this past year. Did a lot of learning and networking. Was able to go to some awesome workshops and conferences. I met a lot of really cool people and have been inspired by seeing so much amazing work that it is time to release some of that creative energy. I didn’t do as much art or personal projects as I would have liked, but that is one of the things I’m going to do better with during this new year. Work has kept me busy during the day with a variety of different jobs. Still renders, animation, interactive/game engines, trying to learn how to code, R&D, some CAD basics, teaching, mentoring and sharing ideas and techniques with co-workers. Overall I’ve seen my skill level increase. Of course there is always room for improvement, but my base set of skills has expanded and my core skills have continued to improve.
During this past year I have finally been active with this website. It has taken me a long time to get something up on these pages thanks to laziness and procrastination. My goal is to continue to “blog” and share my work and experiences as well as other things that I find entertaining and inspiring. I’m hoping that I can get at least 1000 views to this site over the next year (hopefully most of them won’t be me checking in on things and making sure they are working correctly). I plan on using as much of this social media stuff as I can figure out to bring people here, help me connect with them and maintain a digital friendship with those that I can’t always interact with in person.
So here is to more art making, movie watching, book reading and video game playing.
Speaking of video games, my son and I work together and play “Clash of Clans” on our iPad. You know, some good old father son bonding in the 21st digital century… We recently saw the commercial for the game and it is pretty awesome. Have a look, enjoy, and Happy New Year!
Just signed up to go to the MB Workshop coming up, December 5-8. Looking forward to multiple days of awesome demonstrations, mind exploding inspiration and more learning and skill development in a couple of days than I might get in a year. I’ve wanted to go to one of these workshops for the last few years, but they have never been close enough to home to allow me to go.
If you have the time to go, you should do it. If you’re already going or plan to go, let me know so we can meet up. http://massiveblack.com/workshop/
My wife and I were given tickets to The Pageant of the Masters for our anniversary. Our tickets were for July 29th (yes, I know this post is a little late). In all my years growing up in Southern California I have never seen the show. I must say that it was absolutely fantastic. The orchestra and the “live person” recreation of famous works of art was a sight to be seen and heard. When I saw the first piece (a sculpture), my initial thought was “wow, they did a great job remaking that”… That was until, the lights went off around it and you saw the dark shadow of the sculpture move and for lack of a better phrase, walk away. Our seats were next to a few other sculpture recreations, and the attention to detail in the costumes was amazing. Its not everyday that you get to see a “sculpture” blink.
I really enjoyed the break down and explanation of the recreation process with the live actors. The use of fore, middle and background elements along with the placement of the actors into the scene was interesting. The forced and distorted perspective to make the images work at a large scale and yet still appear like the original paintings on stage was an effective optical trick for the audience.
If you’ve never seen the show before, I recommend going. It really is an inspirational experience that must be seen in person. I know am already looking forward to attending The Pageant of the Masters again next year to witness another feat of creativity.
I’m up, bright and early so I can make my way up to Hollywood to attend a 2 day workshop hosted by Gnomon School of VFX (Gnomon Live!). It’s going to have 10 instructors and be full of all sorts of awesome learning and inspiration. Looking forward to hearing so many talented folks talk about their work and process while being surrounded by like minded artist and maybe a few new friends.
I’m sure there will be more updates and pictures to follow over the next few days.
Came across a great quote in Computer Graphics World magazine. This month’s issue is a VES Awards Prelude and was covering the work that has been nominated for awards. My current work isn’t in the entertainment industry, but the tools, techniques and workflow my colleagues and I use fall under the VFX umbrella. It is pretty incredible what we are capable of creating.
“Of all the craft areas in moviemaking, the VFX branch can boast the smartest and most highly educated practitioners, the most advanced technologies being applied, and the largest impart on the economics of storytelling in the digital age…”
– Bob Coleman, Owner, Digital Artists Agency
