100 Tutorials

3DTotal and 2DArtist offer more than a hundred free tutorials for Photoshop, Maya, Lightwave, Digital Painting, 3d Studio Max, Softimage

find more tutorials here

Drawing Force

Dynamic Life Drawing for Animators

Drawingforce.com is a school where artists are given the opportunity to experience the ideas of force through drawing. Enrolled students get to view over 30 full video lessons and a forum for critiques and camaraderie. 'Drawing Force' is key to understanding how to capture forceful poses with dynamic drawing. It is informative, concise, and packed full of inspirational illustrations

watch the sample lesson here, buy book at amazon

Call For Entries

d'artiste Digital Painting 2 is the seventh book in the d'artiste Digital Artists Master Class series celebrating the creative talents of digital artists worldwide. d'artiste is the digital art industry's premier how-to series, featuring the world's best artists' own art and techniques.

Ballistic Publishing is now calling on artists to submit digital images for consideration in d'artiste Digital Painting 2. Images can be created in any digital painting application (eg. Photoshop, Painter, or Paint Shop Pro).
Entry Deadline: Monday March 24th 2008

Concept Design Academy

Spring 2008 Courses

Concept Design Academy is an LA based school located in the center of Pasadena. Their goal is to create a generous learning environment and deliver quality classes taught by some of the top professionals in the film & game industry.

The new brochure for Spring 2008 have been completed and is out in local schools and art stores in LA area for distribution.

Find out more about Concept Design Academy at their web-blog, cgsociety and conceptart.org.

www.conceptdesignacad.com

The Marvel Vault

A Museum-in-a-book with Rare Collectibles from the World of Marvel

Roy Thomas and Peter Sanderson tell the history of Marvel, accompanied by reproductions of artifacts. In little plastic pockets reside facsimile Bill Everett sketches, for example, or copies of Marvel Christmas cards or fan group memorabilia or Marvel Stamps (from the comics, not the post office ones). It’s a great deal on a fun coffee table book. Buy at Amazon

fmx/08 - Stuttgart/Germany

13. International Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Digital Media. May 05 to 08, 2008
fmx/08 offers talks, workshops, screenings and much more – covering the creation, production and distribution of the whole spectrum of digital imagery. The main focus lies on the convergence between animation, effects, games and digital media.

fmx/conference includes lectures on varied up-to-date topics ranging from cinema and television to games and mobile entertainment. International speakers will discuss and share artistic, aesthetic and technical visions, opening their digital tool kits, analyzing new developments and debating the future of 3D entertainment.

fmx/forum invites companies to present their latest achievements and introduce new products. Researchers, hard- and software vendors and users can debate new technologies and practical application, whereas graduates and freelancers meet recruiters looking for new talents.

NVIDA - Digital Art Competition

This competition invites you stand on the shoulders of giants like Frank Gehry and gaze into the far reaches of imagination and technology. We challenge you to create the most awe inspiring architecture and landscape - to stretch the envelope of human experience and to dazzle the senses.

What we want: Awe inspiring fusions of architecture and landscape – that simple. The emphasis is on imagination and artistic expression.
What we don't want: Technical marvels that are cold and devoid of artistic merit and beauty.

One image per entry must be uploaded prior to March 10th 2008.
Images must be 2560 x 1600 JPEG images – at least 90% JPEG quality.
Entrants must be members of CGTalk or CGSociety.
visit NVIDA

The Art of Beowulf

Visual effects innovator Robert Zemeckis uses motion capture technology to resurrect the ancient epic poem "Beowulf" for the modern screen. Actors Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie, John Malkevich, and Robin Wright Penn bring to life Neil Gaiman's fascinating redefinition of this macabre dark ages tale. Fans who relish the intense, action-packed film will want this extraordinary hardcover packed with lavish concept art from production designer Doug Chiang's revered studio (responsible for the design of "Robota", "Star Wars: Episode I", and "War of the Worlds"). Quotes from the production designers, artists, actors, and filmmakers, as well as accessible text on the technology utilized in the film, complete this stunning homage to the genesis and visual execution of a unique motion picture.

buy The Art of Beowulf at AMAZON

Paul Lasaine - Visual Development

Paul Lasaine began his career in live-action, primarily in visual effects as a matte painter. After interviewing for a job at Amblimation, he later received a call from startup company DreamWorks to work in visual development. He is now a production designer at Sony Pictures Animation. His credits include titels such as Alien³, Batman Returns, The Prince of Egypt and The Lord of the Rings.

More samples of his work can be seen on his blog: http://paullasaine.blogspot.com/
Further you'll find his tutorial about creating photoshop brushes here

Shaun Tan - Illustration

Shaun Tan is the illustrator and author of award winning children's books such as The Red Tree and The Lost Thing. He has received numerous awards for his picture books, including the CBCA (Children’s Book Council of Australia) Picture Book of the Year Award for The Rabbits with John Marsden. In 2001 Shaun was named Best Artist at the World Fantasy Awards in Montreal. He has recently worked for Blue Sky Studios and Pixar, providing concept artwork for forthcoming films.

visit Shaun's website
read the interview
Mr.Tan at wikipedia

Syd Mead on DVD

VISUAL FUTURIST: The Art & Life of Syd Mead,

contains exhaustive interviews with some of the greatest minds in design. Sharing their experiences working with Syd Mead in automotive, industrial, and film design. Listen to Syd Mead recall his influences and life tales of working on some of the largest projects the world has ever undertaken. Travel through the film projects such as Blade Runner and TRON with those who made the dream a reality behind the scenes. Director Joaquin Montalvan has created a brilliantly crafted documentary of Syd Mead that has left audiences all over the globe celebrating his crowning achievement.

buy the DVD here
visit Syd Meads official website
a gallery at the gnomon workshop
on-line gallery of his artwork

Revelations

Conceptart.org & Massive Black Inc.

The North American Art and Design Workshop: An event of 2D and design inspiration and a learning evolution which will fuel your creative fires this winter and beyond!
from January 4th till 7th, 2008
SEATTLE, WA USA

The Structure of Man/Anatomy

On 5 DVD Volume Set

The lessons presented in ‘The Structure of Man’ with its 227 videos, contain 20 years of research and development into helping Artists rapidly grasp the complex structure of Human Anatomy for all areas of today’s Art fields.


http://the-structure-of-man.blogspot.com/
http://aboutthestructureofman.blogspot.com/
http://inventiontocompletehumanbeing.blogspot.com/

Rockwell vs. Leyendecker

J.C. Leyendecker: America's "Other" Illustrator
October 8-December 31, 2006
This illustrated presentation was given to The Haggin Museum's docent council by Director Tod Ruhstaller on Wednesday, Sept.27, 2006.
1:02:50 | 63.7MB | Requirements: Broadband, QuickTime |15 seconds to load

source
more about J.C.Leyendecker here

Craig Mullins: Gunman

STEP 1

Here is an excellent look into the early stages of Craig's work, beginning at how he establishes a loose sketch and progresses into how he lays out broad areas of light and shadow.

Draw your outline or silhouette in a mask channel so you can use it as a selection to paint through and behind throughout the process of painting.

STEP 2

Now go to your RGB color channel and make a gradation like you see here. I have in mind a dark green picture with a diffuse overhead source. Keep in mind the type of lighting when you make this grad, as it will direct everything you do from here on out. Don't go from very bright to very dark, you can do that later if needed. Of course you can experiment. Have fun, it can work, this is only one way.

Load your silhouette mask channel so that your figure is selected. Use the levels or curves to darken this area. Since you are darkening a range of pixels, you still have a nice grad in the figure, it is just on a lower scale.

STEP 3

Inverse your selection so the BG is selected. Using a paintbrush se to low opacity or using a wacom, make a few abstract shapes behind your figure to suggest something behind. I varied the color a little here and there. Keep the shapes big and general, no rendering yet. You can see that I made a lighter warmer grad at the bottom to indicate light hitting the floor. A soft blob for the shadow from the figure. I put in a vertical circular step to add a little dimension

STEP 4

Inverse your selection so the figure is selected again. I was losing the outline of the figure at the top, so I lightened it up a bit with a big soft brush. It is not really needed, but I thought it might help.

Now the form definition begins on the figure. You have the middle tone created by the initial grad, so now you have to go up in value and down in value to show the form as revealed by the overhead light. So the logic here is a surface that is horizontal is in halftone and will be left alone. The darks are surfaces that face downward or are recessed in between objects or anything that is in shadow. Block these in with nice big general shapes. Do not make them black, remember, we are working from the middle values out, we have not gotten to the dark darks yet.

STEP 5

Now go a little lighter than your midtones and any surface that faces upwards gets a lighter tone. I also added a few more darks here and there. Sometimes going lighter suggests where your darks can be refined a little more and vice versa. Work them back and forth. I also changed the basic tone of the weapons, as the would be of a different material from the armor suit. A little darker and a little cooler. Then do the darker and lighter block in procedure on the weapons as well.
Now you can make your darkest darks. The real darks come where surfaces come together and shade each other from all light, both direct and ambient. Also dark surfaces in shadow can go very dark.

STEP 6

Now go up to your lighter lights and you are about done. Now that all your major values are about where they should be, you can go on and render till you drop. I added a little definition of material to the floor. Keep in mind that you can keep any and all steps on separate layers if you want. Don't be afraid to work slowly at first. The better your block in the less noodling it will require later, and if you do detail it out, it will be on a solid foundation.(for more tutorials go to gfxartist.com or click here)

vistit Craig Mullins' website: goodbrush.com

WACOM challenge

The Wacom Challenge is about creating and sharing a skills-video that demonstrates your skills to achieve impressive results with a Wacom tablet. It provides an opportunity to showcase your innovative and original tips and tricks to a large audience, particularly when using a Wacom pen tablet in different applications and with other tools. Your skills-video can be about any application like for example digital photo, digital arts, manga, office or gaming.



for WACOM CHALLENGE click here,
to visit Wacom Europe's website click here

Shadowline: The Art of Iain McCaig

McCaig is best known for his work as a principal designer on the three Star Wars prequels, including the iconic characters Queen Amidala and Darth Maul, as well as his work on many major motion pictures, television, and video games. His work can be seen in such acclaimed films as Terminator 2, Hook, Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Some examples of his work are published on the Gnomon Workshop website.

The Book includes the following special features:
* A rare portfolio of more than two decades of McCaig’s masterful concept designs and storyboards
* Iain McCaig's private sketchbooks, personal paintings and more!

Order the book at AMAZON

Ryan Larkin †2007

Ryan Larkin was a Canadian animator who rose to fame with the psychedelic 1969 Oscar-nominated short Walking and the acclaimed Street Musique (1972).

At the National Film Board of Canada, Ryan learned animation techniques from the ground-breaking and award-winning animator, Norman McLaren. He made two acclaimed short animated films, Cityscape and Syrinx, before going on to create Walking and Street Musique.

In recent years Ryan was plagued by a downward spiral of drug abuse, alcoholism and homelessness, but recently found himself back in the limelight when a 14-minute computer-animated documentary on his life, Ryan by fellow Canadian animator Chris Landreth, won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film and screened to acclaim at film festivals around the world. Alter Egos (2004), directed by Laurence Green, is a documentary about the making of Ryan that includes interviews with both Larkin and Chris Landreth as well as with various people who knew Ryan at the peak of his own success.



Ryan's Website, at Wikipedia, at CBC News

Tech 5 Engine

As an introduction to Tech 5 Carmack shows a quick demo loop of Rage in action, showcasing the texture work and graphical direction created entirely with Tech 5. The program, which is being developed hand-in-hand with Rage, focuses on what Carmack calls a "megatexture," which is essentially a term for the ability to mask an entire world with a unique, non-tiled texture system.



A developer can model the world, free-hand an entire massive piece of art, and lay it over the world itself, freeing up the processing power that goes to loading textures and pushing general graphical limits on the fly. From there developers can go into a new id-developed tool and work in a layer-based program to add unique features to their megatexture, clean up specific or entire chunks of the world, tweak bump/normal maps, and improve on the overall graphical output of the game.

Find a high res version of this video at gametrailers.com

Spidey's back

Kids' WB! has provided a first look at artwork from its upcoming The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series.

The series originally had the working title of Amazing Spider-Man, and the official announcement of the "Spectacular" title came the same week Marvel Comics announced the reduction of its Spider-Man ongoing titles to just Amazing.

Spectacular Spider-Man was a title that ran for more than 200 issues.

Here is the trailer for the upcoming Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series from San Diego Comic Con 2007

Alberto Mielgo

Alberto Mielgo lives and works in London. You can find samples of his work published on his website at www.albertomielgo.com or on his blogs at blogspot.com

LE CUEILLEUR D’ASPERGES (graphic novel in development)
ALBERTO MIELGO's BLOG (personal work)

Visual Development/Xiangyuan Jie

Xiangyuan Jie, has been working at the Disney and Fox Feature Animation studios as a background stylist and visual development artist. His screen credits include Mulan, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, Ice Age 2 - The Meltdown.

You can find much more of his visual development work on his blog, including multiple versions of backgrounds, working sketches and color keys.

Xiangyuan Jie's website
and painting blog

Photosynth at TED Conference

This year Microsoft Live Labs Architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas spoke at the TED(Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference in Monterey, CA. Blaise demonstrated Seadragon and Photosynth to an enthusiastic audience and painted a vision for how these technologies will evolve in the months and years ahead. Watch the short video above to see some of the amazing ways these technologies will change the way you interact with your images in the future, and visit the Photosynth site to try the latest collections from the team.



Photosynth is a collaboration between Microsoft and the University of Washington based on the groundbreaking research of Noah Snavely (UW), Steve Seitz (UW), and Richard Szeliski (Microsoft Research).

American Art Archives

American Art Archives is pleased to be hosting the J.C.Leyendecker studies where you can see several examples of how Joseph's mind worked when designing the essentials of his advertising and slick cover work.
There's also a bit of mystery about the works (who doesn't like a good mystery?). Read all about it.

See more of Leyendeckers sketches and studies at illustrationart.blogspot.com

Leyendecker Art Gallery

Favourite Blogs

Claudio Acciari, David Alcarria, Manuel Arenas, Hans Bacher, Pascal Barret, Laurent Beauvallet, Giacomo A. Bevilacqua,Luca Bonessi, Nicholas Bouvier, Laura Braga, Celia Calle, Eric Canete, Massimo Carnevale, Gigi Cavenago, Cristiano Cucina, Davide Decu, Eric Desideriu, Marko Djurdjevic, Benjamin von Eckartsberg, Colin Fix, Nathan Fowkes, Sean Galloway, Vassilis Gogtzilas, Todd Harris, Jesus Alonso Inglesias, James Jean, Xiangyuan Jie, Boris Kiselicki, Thomas von Kummant, Ed Lee, Francesco Lorenzetti, Alexander Lozano,Denis Medri, Alberto Mielgo, Dustin Nguyen, Emiliano Mammucari, Joshua Middleton, Peter Oedekofen, Gabriele Pennacchioli, Sara Pichelli, Peter Popken, Dermot Power, Daniela Raisig, Lou Romano, Neil Ross, Carlos Ruano, Robh Ruppel, Lucio Alberto Ruiz-Diaz, Armand Serrano, Mongsub Song, Silvio Speca,Marco Turini, Francis Tsai, Erik Tiemens, Josh Viers, Shelly Wan, Ashley Wood, Ryan Wood, Nate Wragg, John Watkiss, Wildstorm guys

more here!