Computer Animation Arts

Check out this beautiful graduate short animation from Gobelins School in Paris. Beautifully created and compelling. 2d animation never loses its magic. WILDFIRE from GOBELINS pro on Vimeo . It comes complete with a great making of video that shows concept art, layouts and line tests. WILDFIRE - Making of from Arnaud Tribout on Vimeo . And in turn, check out some of the great blogs from the creators... Hugues OPTER : huguesopter.tumblr.com Pierre PINON : arkenn.blogspot.fr Nicole STAFFORD : nicole-stafford.tumblr.com/ Valentin STOLL : valentinstoll.tumblr.com/ Arnaud TRIBOUT : triboutarn.tumblr.com/ Shang ZHANG : justicerabbit.blogspot.fr/

Just look at this  - absolutely stunning art direction - and clever use of non-linear story-telling to create an engaging narrative out of a largely unremarkable event.   Hound from Olivia Marion on Vimeo .

"Luhrmann may take liberties with musical conventions in Gatsby, but he and his wife, designer  Catherine Martin , strove for greater period authenticity—a dazzling version, to be sure—in the lavish sets. Over the past 20 years Martin has headed production and costume design on nearly all of Luhrmann’s projects, and as such has been key in fashioning his films’ visual pizzazz (she won two Oscars for her work on Moulin Rouge). For Gatsby, she oversaw 42 individual sets created in and around Sydney, both on location and on soundstages. It took her team 14 weeks just to build, paint, and decorate Gatsby’s mansion, which called for a grand ballroom, library, master bedroom, entrance hall, and terrace, as well as a garden."   Read the full article here .

Animals Real and Imagined: A fantastic visual voyage into the world of animals, both real and imagined. There is no end to the diverse and unique creatures that Terryl Whitlatch creates for us with her solid knowledge of anatomy and boundless imagination. Especially intriguing are the 100s of anatomical notes that are dispersed among her sketches, educating and enlightening us to the foundation of living bodies and their mechanics. Terryl Whitlatch is an accomplished, scientific, and academically trained illustrator who extensively studied vertebrate zoology and animal anatomy. She has worked for various zoos and museums in the US and The World Wildlife Fund as Senior consultant for Wildlife Art and Animal Anatomy. She is considered to be one of the top creature designers and animal anatomists working in the field today. In a career spanning over 25 years, Terryl has many projects to her credit, including Star Wards: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: The Special Edition, Jumanji 1 and 2,...

See above - first high-res image from Pixar's Brave + some character studies too!

I thought this was a really interesting video explaining why amazing graphics aren't as important as a unified visual style: