Computer Animation Arts

As Kong: Skull Island roars onto cinema screens everywhere, a timely reminder of the enduring appeal of a certain over-sized gorilla and his kin... 1933 1949 1961 1962 1967 1976 1986 1998 2005 2017

VFX Games - The Art of Compositing from Roy Peker on Vimeo .

Some of you may recall how, as a child, I was fascinated by prosthetics, creating my own blood and gore effects, and faking my own gruesome death... Looks like I'm not the only one! THE SQUIBBENING from Jay Cheel on Vimeo .

Enjoy! (And hang around for the credits 'wig' scene too). M.A.M.O.N. - Latinos VS. Donald Trump from Aparato on Vimeo .

Every Best VFX Oscar Winner since 1927 until 2014! How many have you seen?

"Phil Tippett is the Oscar-winning stop-motion animator and designer behind some of the greatest fantasy creatures and sci-fi set pieces in cinema history. From his humble beginnings as an alien patron in the iconic Cantina sequence from 'Star Wars: A New Hope', to pioneering stop-motion techniques used throughout 'Empire Strikes Back' and 'Return of the Jedi', to seamlessly merging practical animation and CGI in Jurassic Park and beyond..."

The CAA Cinema slot continues its theme on the contribution of practical effects to cinema - and their especial qualities in terms of making us believe the impossible.

A nice 'behind-the-magic' featurette from the dinosaur-makers of Jurassic World : "It's a puppet!"

Go here for a nice behind-the-scenes article about the VFX of X-Men: Days Of Future Past .

'In 1977, a specific award category for visual effects was reintroduced with the current name, "Best Visual Effects"...'

Some top-notch smoke and mirrors from Blur Studio , as seen in the recent Thor sequel. Blur: Thor: The Dark World VFX Breakdown from Blur Studio on Vimeo .

As you watch this incredible showreel of Gustav Hoegen's animatronic work for the movies, keep a tab on the number of times you think to yourself, 'f**k me, I thought that was cgi...'

On November 9th, the documentary Ray Harryhausen: Special Effects Titan is released - promising to be the definitive profile of the man who inspired pretty much everyone in terms of fantastical spectacle and amazing stop-motion monsters.  Go here for a great article in today's The Guardian that examines Harryhausen's massive influence.

Something for all those people who believe that corporations and ad agencies are the real threat to human existence... This looks a bit like John Carpenter's They Live   (1988) on some serious VFX steroids.   Branded looks like another sci-fi swipe at the shiny surfaces of hyperreality and critique of consumerism-as-modern-utopia.  I'm intrigued - and those tentacle things are satisfyingly squirmy!  In common with Invasion of the Body-Snatchers , it would appear the threat is already among us!

Maybe it's the quality of the dark or the size of the spiders, but for whatever reason I find my Summer holidays in rural France fire my imagination and turn my thoughts to phantasmagoria.  The photographs that follow in this home-grown Supplement were taken in the Summer of 2011 and 2012 using 35mm film of varying speeds. Using very primitive kit - an ancient Praktica, a household torch, LED camping lights, a mosquito net, bamboo canes, plastic water bottles, vine leaves, recycling sacks, a paper lampshade, a green football, a hurricane lamp - I set about formulating some kind of creative response to the primal dark and cinematic expanses of stars that characterise this location. There is something properly magical about long exposure photography. I am entirely absent from these images (the one visible figure is none other than 'Photoshop Phill' ), and yet I am nonetheless in all of them. It was me whirling those comet trails through the night. It w...

Following yesterday's Jordu Schell showcase, more monsters now - courtesy of fx artist and sculptor,  Francesa Dalla Benetta ... "My work is about the sensations suggested by grotesque anatomies. I want people to be intrigued by the possibility of impossible bodies, I want people to imagine the feeling of touch skins and textures. My attention goes to the topics of hybridization, transformation, self identity and the bizarre. I'm inspired by the unusual, by what is behind the first impression, in shapes and meanings. I believe that Art is Beauty, but to me it means neither harmony nor balance. It rather implies the capacity of seeing beyond the appearance, the tenderness in an ugly body. It is finding something very special, maybe inexplicable, that makes feel attracted to the unconventional. My art intends to give a different perception of Beauty, to force paradigms to look at things in a new way. It's about feel pleasure in see unpleasant forms. That is w...