Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Great Acting: Interview with Sir Laurence Olivier (1966)


The office of drama is to exercise, possibly to exhaust, human emotions. The purpose of comedy is to tickle those emotions into an expression of light relief; of tragedy, to wound them and bring the relief of tears. Disgust and terror are the other points of the compass. - Sir Laurence Olivier











Tuesday, August 23, 2016

The Iron Giant Crew/Gag Reel (1998)


Great to see this footage of Warner Feature Animation taken during the production of The Iron Giant. The animation tests are a lot of fun! Adam Dotson animator extraordinaire who was a CG Animator on the film was kind enough to upload it!








Friday, August 19, 2016

Cartoon Legends Speak: Diversity and History of Animation SDCC 2016


A panel featuring great artists including Disney Legend, and first African-American animator hired at Walt Disney Studios, Floyd Norman (The Jungle Book, Monsters, Inc), first African-American animator to get a screen credit and award winning illustrator Ron Husband (The Rescuers, The Little Mermaid), Japanese-American and Inkpot winner Willie Ito (Lady & the Tramp, The Flintstones), Jane Baer (Sleeping Beauty, Roger Rabbit) and Emmy Award winning Mexican-American Phil Roman (Sleeping Beauty, The Simpsons) discuss their careers, their futures, and how diversity has played a role in their artistic lives. Moderated by Leslie Combemale of Animation Scoop.


Thursday, August 18, 2016

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Aaron Blaise: Horse Run Cycle Breakdown


Aaron Blaise posted this excellent horse run cycle cheat sheet today on his Twitter feed. Great reference! Also, checkout the animated cycle below.

You can follow him on Twitter here: @AaronBlaiseArt




















































Thursday, August 11, 2016

Tuesday, August 09, 2016

PetaPixel: Understanding Basic Compositional Elements




Check out this great article on PetaPixel featuring basic composition elements and staging. It's a short and simple breakdown with solid examples and commentary.

// Understanding Basic Aesthetics in Photography




Wednesday, July 27, 2016

An Afternoon With Legendary Illustrator Jack Davis



Sad to hear the news about Jack Davis. Such an amazing talent.


// Mad Magazine And EC Comics Artist Jack Davis Dies At 91



An Afternoon With Jack Davis





Jack Davis Interview for Book "Drawing American Pop Culture"





Jack Davis Commercials





Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The Wyeth Legacy: A Family of Artists



This is a great lecture by Joyce Hill Stoner who is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Material Culture at the University of Delaware. She compares the three generations of Wyeth artists (N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth) and delves into the history and inspiration behind their work.



Monday, July 25, 2016

Making of Movie Titles: Interview with Designer Dan Perri



Title designer Dan Perri explains how he designed movie titles for films such as "Star Wars," "The Exorcist," and "Raging Bull."



Thursday, July 21, 2016

Finding Dory Q&A with Pixar Co-directors and Producer




Co-directors Andrew Stanton and Angus MacLane and producer Lindsey Collins discuss the challenges of making a sequel 13 years after Finding Nemo and explain the inspiration behind both films.

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Monday, June 20, 2016

Neuroscientist and the Art of Filmmaking

Update: New 'Rock Dog' Trailer and Posters




Some interesting character movie posters for Rock Dog have been released. Looks like the film will be opening in Chinese theaters on July 8th. 
 



Here's the new Chinese trailer for the film. I have a couple of shots toward the end with Bodi and Linnux.



Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Yasujiro Ozu: Quiet Cinematography


Here's a short case study featuring cinematographer Yasujiro Ozu that focuses on his use of depth, composition and pillow shots.




Monday, May 23, 2016

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Angela Duckworth, PhD, is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. In her new book, GRIT, she explores the science of why some people succeed and others fail, and why talent alone doesn’t guarantee success. She shows that perseverance and passion matter at least as much as talent and intelligence.



// What Is Your GRIT Score?






NPR: Human Brain

// The Power And Problem Of Grit











Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Art of the Heist: The Lady In Gold


Fantastic documentary and unbelievable story about Maria Bloch-Bauer Altmann's battle with the Austrian government to regain possession of her family's famous painting  Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by master painter Gustav Klimt. The painting was originally stolen from the family by the Nazis at the outset of World War II.

Art of the Heist: The Lady In Gold

















Thursday, May 12, 2016

The 80 Best-Directed Films According to the Directors Guild of America


To commemorate the DGA's 80th anniversary this year, members decided to put together a list of the '80 greatest directorial achievements in feature films since the Guild’s founding in 1936.' How many have you seen? Thanks to @vrenee_nfs over on No Film School for the heads up!






The 80 Best-Directed Films
  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
  2. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
  3. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
  4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
  5. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
  6. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
  7. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
  8. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
  9. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
  10. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
  11. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
  12. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
  13. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
  14. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
  15. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
  16. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
  17. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
  18. The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
  19. Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977)
  20. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
  21. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
  22. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
  23. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
  24. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
  25. Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998)
  26. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
  27. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
  28. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
  29. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
  30. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
  31. To Kill A Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962)
  32. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
  33. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
  34. Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
  35. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952)
  36. 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
  37. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
  38. The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
  39. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
  40. The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)
  41. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
  42. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975)
  43. The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)
  44. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
  45. Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
  46. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
  47. Amadeus (Miloš Forman, 1984)
  48. Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)
  49. West Side Story (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 1961) 
  50. Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
  51. Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
  52. Fargo (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 1996)
  53. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
  54. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
  55. Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
  56. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
  57. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
  58. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2014)
  59. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
  60. The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
  61. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
  62. The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973)
  63. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
  64. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
  65. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976)
  66. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)
  67. Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982)
  68. The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
  69. Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
  70. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
  71. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
  72. All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976)
  73. Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
  74. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
  75. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
  76. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
  77. The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)
  78. Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
  79. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
  80. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)