Blog

Check out this cool intro for Pictoplasma this year.

A celebration of all things wacky in the world of character design.

Our sincerest congratulations to our friend Angus Wall for his second consecutive Oscar win for Film Editing! Angus and Kirk Baxter won for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, directed by David Fincher. The duo won last year in the same category for The Social Network.  

I have recently been exposed by my kids to the joys of a very special cartoon. Adventure Time is a newish series on Cartoon Network. It is by far the most inventive and original series I've seen in years. The creator Pendleton Ward has combined a ton of stuff from my childhood into a very surreal setting, a combination of Dungeons and Dragons, Felix the Cat and the humour from the likes of The Simpsons and Futurama. It is a very good watch for geek dads as well as anyone interested in the world of surreal animation.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been holding classes for six weeks already. To celebrate that and the holidays, we had a little gathering of friends, students and colleagues. We appreciate all the hard work that’s gone into getting things off the ground and with the pending holiday season, that’s cause to celebrate. Cheers to all and thanks—it’s truly been a team effort.

Now try to create this in CG, it fills me with hope to see such intrepid human beings, resourceful beyond belief.

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get some time with the Director of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rupert Wyatt to talk about working with CG, character development and the process of working with WETA Digital, the VFX house responsible for King Kong and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I hope you enjoy the interview.

In true Microsoft style here is a video predicting the future use of technology. It's just a shame it looks so dull and Scandinavian! Where's the sci - fi creativity, they should let Steven Spielberg do their videos.

I have recently been talking to many industry people here in L.A., explaining what our plans are and where we’ve come from. This has got me thinking about why we teach the way we do, what advantages it offers and how it fits within a learning styles framework.

Almost everyone has an opinion on National Education Standards. This article in the Washington Post argues that they don't work and won't work, despite the fact that over 40 States in this great country of ours have some sort of set standards.

They gather in spandex and lycra for a cause… It’s for the City of Hope Hospital and it’s a long, long bike ride (550 plus miles) down the coast from San Francisco to Los Angeles. “Who are these crazy people that should choose such pain to raise dollars for a hospital?” I hear you ask. It’s a group of film directors, production, post-production and advertising executives hosted by Rapha, RSA Films and The Mill.

Here's an interesting take on using 3D software to develop something revolutionary. The ongoing question of using sustainable and eco friendly materials in the construction of surfboards has led Mike Sheldrake to innovate on the process of board building. Surfboards that look half way between an aeroplane wing and wireframe computer model certainly are very cool looking, I'd be interested to see how they ride.

I stumbled across this artist's site the other day. For 3d artists these sculptures will resonate deeply - and one of them is almost a real world version of the original Escape Studios logo.

A lot of progress has been made to our Santa Monica campus since the last we reported. Lighting is installed, reception desk is built, glass is in place, walls are up and paint is going on. Next steps after we finish painting the walls are to install the furniture and add the finishing touches with the glass and wall graphic treatments. 

Photographer, Josh Owens demonstrates what you can capture in a month of hotel hopping in NYC in this video, Manhattan in Motion. Owens' city time-lapse differs from most others with his attention to detail where he shows glimpses of people in offices, pedestrians at the Astor Place Cube sculpture, taxi rides and many sunrises and sunsets. This piece highlights his artistic approach and amazing photography. 

More progress has been made this week. The color palette is selected, vinyl graphics are being designed for the glass walls surrounding the staff offices and the reception desk is being fabricated. Our crew is working feverishly to get the space ready for this summer so we can welcome guests to visit for a tour when the doors open to the public. 

I stumbled across this link the other day and was compelled by the clever use of gaming technology to raise awareness about autism.

Mike O'Neal is currently with Rhythm & Hues Studios in Los Angeles, California where he serves as both Digital and Visual Effects Supervisor and is involved in several R&D activities. His recent work includes Yogi Bear, The Golden Compass, Happy Feet, Superman Returns, X-Men II, and Alvin and the Chipmunks 3. Mike recently joined our Advisory Board and will be sharing his insights and experience with us from time to time.

Watching the Oscars last night, I didn’t really need to hold my breath to see what movie would win for visual effects. Each nominated film had amazing visual effects, but it was pretty obvious to me which one was going to be the winner. Inception took the honor with truly innovative and stunning work from Double Negative. Congrats to Paul Franklin, who sits on our advisory board, Peter Bebb, Chris Corbould and Andrew Lockley, who worked on the film.

We’ve made our way to Los Angeles and are finding our way around now. The city is fantastic and the people are interesting and exciting. We have a new campus in the process of being built out and are truly excited to show our new students the finished product.

Here's a great piece of animation which illustrates something I care deeply about, the education system.