It was really an honor organize our first masterclass with Greg Broadmore from Weta Workshop yesterday at Akiba Hall. 180 artists, students and professional came in attendance.
Greg for four hours discussed about his work journey in concept art which led him to Weta Workshop, the amazing projects he has worked on - some of which has never been seen by the public before----- and what he has planned for the future with Magic Leap. An additional bonus, Greg created an on-the-spot digital painting of an outer world monster for the audience.
Japan is on the cusp of changing it's approach towards concept art. Due to the changing landscapes of our world culture, Japan is moving towards a more "western" approach towards art education for production art and animation.
Big changes are coming.
It was an amazing and informative show and most of all it was fun.
How do these movie titles make you feel? King Kong (2005), Godzilla (2014), The Chronicles of Narnia, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Adventures of Tintin and the Academy Award nominated for Best Picture film, District 9.
If you are at all familiar with the outstanding visual effects of these films, you might know that they were all designed under Peter Jackson's award winning special effects company: Weta Workshop.
You should also know that all these films were all designed in part or directly under the creative direction of Greg Broadmore.
Sunday, October 17th, 2015, for ONE (1) day only next month, Greg Broadmore will be coming to Tokyo, Japan to conduct a concept design masterclass at Akiba Hall.
At the event Greg Broadmore will discuss working as a concept designer on major blockbuster films, his experience with Weta Workshop and do a live demonstration of for all the attendees.
First the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and now THIS! What news to wake up to!! It's official, the Snoopy Museum Tokyo will open in Tokyo's Roppongi district in March of 2016!
Bear in mind despite being around the same time as the first Tim Burton Batman film, comic books had not quite caught on as a viable mainstream commercial entertainment -- much less, successful independent comic publishing (ie. Image Comics) was still just on the horizon.
The interest and curiosity was real and electric and not just around the university but also around the nation. Even Arsenio Hall (late night king for American TV at the time) even gave Brotherman a plug.
The only problem was HOW to get it. Finding a copy of Brotherman was extremely difficult in comparison the monster distribution that companies like Marvel had at the time.
The brainchild of artist Dawud Anyabwile and writer Guy A. Sims. Brotherman's release was a landmark creative work both for the comic book industry but also, American culture. Brotherman chronicled "hard-boiled-hip-hop" urban adventures of vigilante Antonio Valor in his war against urban crime . Brotherman was an "ethnic" comic book right down to the animated, almost graffiti style rendering and and choice of line --- but still accessible to a wide audience. Not a superhero just painted black.
Finally, Brotherman is on the fast track to being reborn in an animated graphic novel and series though an IndieGogo crowd funding project. A new retelling of the Brotherman saga from the talented Guy A. Sims, Dawud Anyabwile and colorist Brian McGee is what many have been waiting for a long time.
The original comic magazine series was a compelling story with amazing artwork that had more to express culturally and personally than anything on the market at that time.
I am confident that the new series Brotherman: Revelations will deliver that and much more. Please go to the Brotherman: Revelation IndiGogo page and support and share within your circles to make this happen.
Funded by CIA, animated in the United Kingdom (Halas and Batchelor). George Orwell's anthropomorphic allegory for the Russian Revolution and the birth of the Bolshevik (Communist) government was brought to life in this powerful and haunting animated film. Part of the USA's cultural offensive during the Cold War. Very much worth viewing at least once. (Link below)
Internationally
renown Disney, Dreamworks and UCLA drawing instructor Glenn Vilppu will be
giving a two day drawing seminar in Tokyo on August 16th and 17th.
As
a premier drawing instructor to the studios in Hollywood, Vilppu has taught the
art of figure drawing for over 40 years and has done workshops around the world
teaching principles and techniques of drawing to professionals in the animation
industry such as Disney, Dreamworks and Warner Bros.
In
each 6-hour seminar, Vilppu will teach participants the master techniques of
drawing the human figure as well as anatomy. It will be an opportunity to receive instruction and feedback
from a drawing master whose instruction has been coveted globally by artists and
illustrators for generations.
Vilppu
does not teach a style but teaches the tools to master drawing so that the
artist to use them in any direction he or she wishes.
The
event will be held at Studio and Space IVVA in Harajuku, 12:00 to 18:00 on
August 16th and 17th 2014.
It would be plain to say the works of both Gaudi and Takahiro Inoue's were impressive and compelling.
The greater thing to come away with from exhibition is the consideration of artistic creation and expression come from. We are moved and compelled by what we observe. Nature served a great part in influencing Gaudi's hand. As for Inoue-san it seems that Gaudi, the man himself has compelled his hand rather than his expressive voice. Indeed he has interpreted Gaudi in his own way -- interpreting his work with Gaudi's voice would be of course, just copying.
"The creation continues incessantly through the media of man. But man does not create, he discovers. Those who look for the laws of Nature as a support for their new works collaborate with the creator. Copiers do not collaborate. Because of this, originality consists in returning to the origin." - Antoni Gaudi
