Pixar?

For anybody wanting to get into Pixar Studios, you should really visit Spline Doctors. This site features great interviews from the top people working there. These interviews offer great insight into what it takes to work there. One example is an interview with Ricky Nierva, production designer for the film UP, who talks about portfolio reviews. According to Ricky, when submitting anything such as drawings, polish and good draftsmanship is great to have but ideas are the priority. One can have well-polished drawings but the ideas can be uninspired. For more of the interview, go to Spline Doctors.

Ricky makes a good point about portfolio pieces that I believe every student should keep in mind. It's important for someone to have the technical skills to execute and embellish their ideas, but the ideas always come first. Ideally a person should both have well-polished craft and inspiration so that they will not be limited.

Sculpting

As someone going into animation, and who occasionally paints from time to time, I have always wanted to break out of my comfort zone and tried my hand at making sculpts. Every time I see one, I imagine myself literally bringing something in the 3rd dimension rather in a make-believe space. When sculpting something, your creation is in the round, as opposed to the illusion of depth created by paintings.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=10

Above is a link to sculptures that I've found on ConceptArt.org. These are not necessarily meant to be fine art pieces, but rather intended for the entertainment industry. To be honest, if I were going to make a sculpture, it would most likely be within the realm of the fantastic, instead of being created for gallery spaces. I've always wondered how certain characters were brought to life in movies and games alike. For animated films, sculptures were made of the characters to give the animators a better idea of what they looked like from all angles. In films, sculpts were embellished with paint and other textures to make them real enough for the screen.

MUTO

I was shown this video by a good friend a while back and I always like to come back to it. This is an short animated film called Muto, done by Blu, and is one of those animated shorts that can be read into in different ways. It isn't necessarily meant to be a linear narrative at all but rather leaves the viewer to make his or her own interpretations of the animation's meaning.
Apart from what the short means, I simply marvel at the skill it takes to make this in the first place. Having to take a picture at every frame of these wall paintings can be tedious, not to mention the process of actually making every drawing and erasing.

Muto has opened my mind to the possibilities of where animation can go. One doesn't always have to make a stop-motion background or produce it on the computer. Instead, we can use different surfaces and mediums to keep the art of animation fresh. Everyday environments become a canvas for movement.

Kseniya Simonva

Above is a video that shows artist Kseniya Simonva using sand as a medium. Apparently, this is for a talent contest, which may very well dissuade some art enthusiasts who are purists in the sense that the artist would never be on reality television. Aside from that, I could be wrong, and accept the art for what it is and forget the circumstances that make for its creation.

Unlike a lot of ambiguous fine art pieces, this work seems to work as a narrative, more in line with animation. Simonva lets the audience observe individual images for an instance, then quickly manipulates the current image into another one. Transitions are smooth, and the skill is undeniable. The audience reaction is interesting to observe, since quite a few of them are in tears. This shows that Simonva is not merely doing this for show, but genuinely wants to tell a story. The music may seem a bit much, but it complements the act nonetheless. The biggest criticism I have is that it seems over-dramatic in some parts, and that kind of detracts away from the piece. Other than that, it was enjoyable to watch.

Halo Concept Art

http://www.bungie.net/projects/halo/asset_thumb_viewer.aspx?at=51&cc=25
http://halo.bungie.org/conceptart/

I wanted to analyze the inital drawings that inspired the Halo franchise. From what I've seen on the page, this concept work, which was down by Bungie artist Shikai Wang, is not too far from the final realization of the game. If you're familiar with the franchise,and look at the Elites, you will see that their initial designs haven't changed much as well as the Grunts' designs. Of course, you have noticeable alterations of the suits, but overall, the structure of these characters have remained the same. There are also certain alien characters that were either not included or were altered into the designs they are now in the games.

It's interesting looking at some of the potential looks for the Master Chief. You can tell they went through a lot of drafts to get his design just right. The Marines also went through several drafts from the looks of it. In all honesty, I wish they would have included some of the thrown out alien characters and vehicles, but there always comes a point where the creators must decide what to include and what not to and that's the whole point of the concept stage.

John Cage on a Bus...

I was first introduced to John Cage's 4 minutes 33 seconds last year in Mr. Edward's N100 class. To be honest, I didn't know what to think. Obviously, my first reaction was amusement, since the very idea seemed like a mockery of music. I considered it, and am still struggling to come to any conclusions of what I really think of the work. The idea is clever and presents the nature of silence as music, including any ambient noise. The concept almost runs parallel to the act of taking a found object out of context and calling it art.

The video shown above features a man performing Cage's famous composition. It would have been interesting to be on that bus the moment he announced his performance. I'm sure the people who were unfamiliar with Cage's work were expecting to hear at least "something" conventional. Although you don't see facial reactions, you can almost see the puzzled expressions as the silence continues, only to be interrupted by sirens in the distance and new passengers coming aboard.

Performance Art

This performance art piece done quite a while back. As you can see, the video shows a girl cutting her hair in a public space, while onlookers watch in bewilderment. While watching myself, I had to laugh, not at the girl cutting her hair, but at the peoples' reactions. It's interesting to guess what goes through a person's mind when something out of the ordinary happens right in front of them. Society places certain expectations on situations, and when those expectations are broken, some people don't know what to think.

I think it's great that she did this performance. It obviously goes against what is normal. Many people will not consider this art because it doesn't involve difficult craft skills or technique. There are no evident aspects of design or composition in the act. However, the purpose of art is not strictly for "beauty". Art also asks questions and forces others to do the same.