Covid Lock Down Art

 Well, I've fallen behind on my Innovations in Animation articles for my blog. But here's a side project I did to help with morale in my neighborhood during the Covid-19 lock-down this year. These painting were done on bathroom tile for a community art project set up by a neighbor a couple of streets over from my place. It was fun, if a little weird. My neighbors put some heart and soul into this display to cope with the crisis brought on by our worse than worthless administration.

Toluca Lake resident Rick Garman let us place our art in the flowerbed in front of his building. Part of the challenge was making the art waterproof to stand up to the lawn sprinklers. This was my final entry. I call this one "The Show Must Go On!" It was meant originally for Halloween, but it took longer than I thought, so I adapted it for the celebrations we needed after the election. And hopefully when we bring the Covid outbreak under control. Toluca Lake Magazine has a nice article here:

https://tolucalake.com/2020/05/spreading-happiness-one-tile-at-a-time/

 

(artwork copyright various neighborhood artists)

And of course there were a few rules-

So far, I think the reaction has been positive. One of my pieces was either taken, or thrown away. I'd like to think someone enjoyed so much that they swiped it, even though it ticks me off a bit if they did. At least I made something worth taking! I didn't think this one was that good.

"Quiet cabin in the woods." We missed out on it this summer.

A couple months later this summer, someone did a curation, and lifted some tiles to a more notable place above the flowerbed: A couple of my pieces were "Ride the Dragon" and "Masked Heroes".

(artwork copyright various neighborhood artists)

 

(Rocket and Groot copyright Marvel/Disney. 

All other artwork copyright various neighborhood artists) 

Had fun with this guy. Dragons were on my mind this year, even though it's the Year of the Rat.

(Rocket and Groot copyright Marvel/Disney)

I have to admit, I got a bit carried away with this over the summer. I think I put in 8 or 9 pieces! But I wanted to pay tribute to the front line workers whose jobs have been made more difficult due to the pandemic. My curse for cuteness and whimsy dulls down the message a little bit.

Of course, there's the mask message. I'm still infuriated with neighbors who still think the virus is not a hazard, or that wearing a mask is a big infringement on their rights. I guess they don't wear seat belts either. I'm old enough to remember when that was a big issue!

On top of the Covid-19 crisis, we had another brutally hot summer, more record setting forest fires across the west, and unprecedented civil unrest due to police violence nationwide. Besides following the rules of the lock-down, these pieces were the least I could contribute. I'm very grateful to Rick Garman for this opportunity to let me present my art. We all need to pause, and appreciate small acts of kindness in the face of all this suffering and loss. As we head towards a shaky Holiday season, I hope these little bon-bons helped brighten someone's day.

Spidey's mask covers his entire face, so I guess he's okay.

 

(Starting top clockwise, art copyright Lucasfilm/Disney, DC comics, Time/Warner and Marvel/Disney)

Lightbox Expo photos

Some snapshots from the first Lightbox Expo held at the Pasadena Convention Center. They had a good sized crowd on Friday. It looks like ProCreate from Apple was a major sponsor. Fun time, lots space, many demos going on. The hosts went all out for a big convention. This may be a rival to the CTN Expo this year.

The burning question: who are the organizers of Lightbox?

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/artist-centric-lightbox-expo-debut-september-2019-1155037  

Jim Demonakos, founder of the Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Washington, and Bobby Chiu, who set up Imaginism Studios in Toronto (Ontario, Canada)

https://www.imaginismstudios.com/

https://www.emeraldcitycomiccon.com/

 

I thought this was going to be a much smaller venue, but animation artists, students, schools, studios and vendors were all in attendance. Good mood, lots of energy there. And I only heard about it through Facebook. This event seemed to be arranged and promoted solely through social media. I was just used to the buzz generated around CTN.

Procreate from Apple had the largest display, promoting their artistic app for the iPad.

 Alan Bodner had his table there with his original art, and art from his time as art director at Warner Classic Animation.

Almost continuous demos going on in the hallways...

 Wacom, with their latest Cintiq tablets...

 Sony pictures, with their Oscar winning
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse!

 

 Warner Brothers Animation Group, and their beloved heroes of old...

 ASIFA-Hollywood had a good position with their table...

Netflix, looking for talent, and/or pitches...

 And an amazing amount of crowds in the other hall, waiting for demos and lectures!

Again, to me, this convention seemed to come out of the blue.
And yet, it got some decent media coverage:

https://variety.com/2019/artisans/news/lightbox-expo-spotlights-industry-artists-1203325672/

https://www.animationmagazine.net/events/lightbox-expo-brings-the-ultimate-art-celebration-to-pasadena/

Some more fun stuff:

 From left to right, artwork above by Tuna Bora and Pernille Ørum.

 And from left to right, artwork above by Robert Kondo and Stephen Silver.

Why the giant pug means death, maybe because Hasbro has aquired Death Row Records. 

Whatever you do, don't stare into its eyes too long!

Good mood, and a great creative vibe!

I applaud Jim Demonakos' and Bobby Chiu's success, 

and looking forward to next year.

The first LIGHTBOX EXPO Pasadena 2019

I may check it out...

https://www.lightboxexpo.com/

(copyright LIGHTBOX EXPO)

(from their website)

LIGHTBOX EXPO

SEPTEMBER 6-8, 2019 

"Over 250 of the best artists from the ANIMATION, LIVE-ACTION, ILLUSTRATION and GAMING industries coming together for the ultimate celebration of art."

LOCATION: PASADENA CONVENTION CENTER

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/events/the-first-lightbox-expo-is-taking-place-this-weekend-in-pasadena-179111.html

The CTN animation eXpo 2016

 Here we go again-

http://www.ctnanimationexpo.com/axFaq.php

Behind the Scenes of Zootopia: Gnomon Alumni Panel

It was a packed house in the old Quonset hut auditorium as the Gnomon School of Visual Effects hosted five Zootopia artists, sponsored by Walt Disney Animation Studios. While the buzz for Zootopia may have cooled off a bit, the advances Disney has made should give them quite a lot of momentum at the box office for a while.

https://www.gnomon.edu/community/events/behind-the-scenes-of-zootopia

 Alberto Abril (Animator), Chika Saito (Modeler), Diana Zeng (Lighter), Dylan Ekren (Modeler), and Tyler Bolyard (Look Development Artist) each spoke about their time working on Zootopia, and their learning experiences at Gnomon and the other schools they attended.

They all seemed to have enjoyed working at Disney, and I must admit, I kind of envy their talents and the opportunities that they have had.

Studies of animals in the wild were shown, along with a pencil test of Walt Disney's Robin Hood. Special plugins for Maya, such as Xgen were discussed, along with lighting strategies, not to mention good old-fashioned hand drawn art for development.

Just the development of fur and hair seemed to consume a lot of time and resources. There was some "recycling" as one basic species model of a gazelle/deer was tweaked with different horns, fur color and different outfits to create extra background crowd characters.

(my photo from CTN 2015, copyright Disney)

Unfortunately, there will be no streaming of this presentation due to copyright issues. 

However, I did do a little digging to bring some examples of their work.

Here is Chika Saito’s Modeling Demo Reel 11/30/12

https://vimeo.com/55329417

 Alberto Abril's reel,

 http://www.albertoabril.com/

 Diana Zeng's blog,

 http://dianajzeng.blogspot.com/

 Dylan Ekren's work,

https://www.artstation.com/artist/dekren

And Tyler Bolyard's Facebook,

https://www.facebook.com/tyler.bolyard 

Just being on the grounds at Gnomon is always interesting. Their campus is the old Television Center Studio lot in Hollywood. The buildings are characters in themselves. There's a mixture 1930's and 1940's architecture that has a "Diesel Punk" feel to it. Add in the extra plumbing and cables with Gnomon's high tech interiors, you have some cool, gritty movie exteriors right there.

I'm trying to find out more about the history of the place, but it's past seems kind of murky right now. Which makes it that more interesting. UPDATE:

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/16421261/6311-Romaine-St-Los-Angeles-CA/

The original home of Technicolor, set in a 1920's Art Deco style. There has to be more than a few ghosts haunting that building.

Teachers as Performers NPR

This a bit off the track, but I agree with the premise: While we need rubrics and learning outcomes, students also need the intangibles.

http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=343729767

I would quietly quote Mr. Incredible to myself before I would walk in the classroom:

 (copyright Pixar/Disney)

"It's Showtime!"

The Hive Gallery & Studios presents “THE SECRET ART OF ANIMATORS”

Check it out, great work by L.A. animation artists -

http://hivegallery.com/honey/exhibitions/sept-2014-the-secret-art-of-animators/

Memorial Day commemorative dog-tag art

Artwork I did for one of my first clients in LA: commemorative dog-tags of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. I appreciate the sacrifices made by all soldiers. The decisions made by our politicians, not so much.