Art Inspiration Sources

Finding inspiration and ideas as an artist is critical. Every once in a while when we run out of ideas there are those places we go to refill our visual and creative reservoirs. In an industry as fast growing as ours, keeping up to date with new techniques and practices is just as important. I have ccreated a list of some of the major websites that help me develop and learn as well as build new ideas as an artist. Although this list is not by any means exhaustive, they have formed the foundation upon which I build when in search of new ideas or techniques. 

Fxguide.com

A site dedicated to visual effects and production news for film, with in-depth articles and podcasts covering topics such as camera choices, effects breakdowns, 3D conversion for film, the latests plugins to improve studio workflow and pipeline integration etc. The site is divided into further sections such as fxinsider and fxphd featuring even more in depth analysis and interview with artists, designers. technical directors and vfx supervisors who are at the forefront of the technological andvances and creative leaps in the industry.


Cgsociety.org

From a site that began simply as a forum, it has grown over the years into a hub for CG artists that are seeking advice, inside knowledge and a place to show off their work. With broad articles and interviews featuring current artists doing great work in CG and VFX and how they do it, it is a site I visit everyday. It is also a great place to see work from various artists around the world who showoff their work and to get inspired in my work.




3D World

A magazine style site that features news, tutorials, reviews and forums for 3d artists. It is an all in one place for artist showcasing their work, reviewing the latest animated short films being produced and offering competitions to artist through out the year. It also publishes an offline magazine that features breakdowns, tutorials and the latest news from around the cg world.






Evermotion.org

It is a website agregator for recent news, tutorials, breakdowns, movie and short film trailers and work showcase from the CG and VFX industry. The site offers free and charged 3d and arch-viz models and textures that are ready for production. It also offers news on new and recently releases tools and plugins for artist who want to improve their workflow with new technology and software.




Videocopilot.net

This is the website of Andrew Kramer who is perhaps one of the most talented trainers in After-effects history. His site features indepth After-effects video tutorials suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced users. He also offers stock footage packs, presets and plugins specifically prepared for motion graphics and VFX artist looking to speed-up their workflow. Some of them are Optical Flares Lens Flares Plug-in, Action Essentials II, Twitch Chaos, Evolution and the much anticipated Videocopilot Element 3d.



Other notable mentions include cgtuts, aetuts, 3d total, cgtalk and many others. I will limit the list to this five for now. I will probably add other websites to it at another time.

ILM: Creating the Impossible [Video Review]

 Recently, I finally saw the Encore Special which featured how Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that has set the standard for visual effects. In the process they have created some of the most stunning images in the history of film and changed cinema forever as they continue to break new ground in visual effects.
According to the press release for the feature,

"Industrial Light & Magic: Creating the Impossible" is directed by Academy Award® and Emmy® nominated director Leslie Iwerks and is narrated by Tom Cruise. Encore will also present five ILM-effects films starting at 2:00 p.m. with Jumanji, followed by Hook, Jurassic Park III, Twister and Starship Troopers.
The hour-long special has interviews with filmmakers George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau, actors Samuel L. Jackson and Robin Williams, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and John Lasseter, the chief creative officer at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. Film and television shows featured in the special include The Abyss, Avatar, Forrest Gump, Jumanji, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Robot Chicken, Star Trek (2009), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Transformers, Twister, Young Sherlock Holmes and The War of the Worlds (2005), which starred narrator Cruise.
Leslie Iwerks' documentary takes audiences behind the scenes at ILM with in depth interviews with some of the company's top talent and showcases never before seen footage highlighting many of their pioneering milestone.[1]

For me it was a huge eye opener to the inner workings of a company and group of people who have changed the whole landscape of movie production. The feature revealed in great detail how the company started and how it was influenced by George Lucas and his desire to create never before seen effects for his Star Trek films. It spoke of how the likes of John Dykstra, the assistant of Douglas Trumbull , famous for 2001: A Space Odyssey, put together the team of college students, artists and engineers that became the first VFX department for the star trek movies. It describes the challenges they have faced as they sought to find innovative solutions to creating believable illusions in Hollywood's biggest block-busters including the entire Star Wars saga, The Abyss, the Indiana Jones series, the Harry Potter franchise, the Jurassic Park franchise, the Back to the Future trilogy, many of the Star Trek films, Ghostbusters II, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the entire Terminator sequels, the Transformers films, the Men in Black series, most of the Mission: Impossible films, and also provided work for Avatar, alongside Weta Digital.

Notable names in Animation such as Pixar's John Lasseter also worked for ILM in the early 1980s as a computer animator. It was invariably the computer graphics division of ILM which was eventually sold to Steve Jobs that became Pixar, and went on to create the first CG animated feature with Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995).

I found great inspiration watching the ways in which these men, much in the same way Walt Disney revolutionized animation, revolutionized CG and VFX for cinema and how they have continued to successfully tackle the challenges of creating the realistic illusions that have become a  great influence for my own work. Below i've attached a video of the feature and it can be found on YouTube.



References

[1] io9.com, 2010. The inside story of how ILM changed movies. [online] Available at: <http://io9.com/industrial-light-and-magic/> [Accessed 19 December 2011 ]. 

Toy Story, 1995. [Film]. Directed by John Lasseter. USA: Pixar Animation Studios

Finding Ideas: Animation Inspiration

The concept of finding and using inspiration is one that is common to every facet of creative practice. From fashion to interior design, architecture to web design; the ability to look around at the world around us or the work of others who we admire and receive impetus for our own work is critical. But i have been pondering about what it means to find inspiration as an animator. One might watch an animated feature or a short but how does that translate to inspiration for me on my next piece. I'm going to try and share some of the things I have learned over the past few weeks.

Always Start Here 
If ever I need to look for a place to start looking for what would be called acceptable 3d animation here is where I start.

PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIO . Their blockbuster movies are the Incredibles, WALL-E,Ratatouille,Toy Story 1 & 2,Cars,Finding Nemo,Monsters Inc.,The Incredibles,A Bug's Life etc.

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION owned by Steven Spielberg and his other two partners
Their blockbuster movies are Shrek 1,2&3, Kung fu Panda, Over the hedge, Bee Movie


Ask Why Not How!
Because the field of animation is mostly technical and requires a skilled use of techniques, the error is usually to look at someone else's work and wonder "how did they do that?". I have learned to not just ask how they did something but also why they did it. In understanding why they have used a particular lightening scheme, i have found out about how lighting can affect the mood of a scene and how audiences respond to the characters or the narrative presented. A bluish scheme suggests a horror or sci-fi theme to the scene and bright yellow or orange scheme suggests a happy and fun theme to the scene. Asking why can also give more insight to how and when I should use certain elements in  my animation. From adding more anticipation, to exaggerating weight etc. finding out why, can go a long way to answering how this actions help communicate greater believability in a character and the overall animation.


Observe The Details
I also have learned to look at what additional actions, movements in the shorts or animated features I see help to make the characters more believable. I look at the timing of eye winks, the follow through on limbs and cloth, facial expressions, amount of depth of field in a scene. Applying all these things in my own animation help to improve it. I simply look at something I've seen and liked, comparing whether it would make my own animation look even better and then add it.

This is just a few of the many things that I watch for as i look at other people's work. The aim isn't to copy them or use the same narrative or style they used in hope of achieving the same level of success on a piece. In the end, originality of content while keeping those elements of animation that communicate believability will always produce the best results. In my current piece, I have found inspiration for the character I am working with, in the "Scrat" character from the Ice-Age animated feature movies (Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha, 2002). 

References

Ice Age, 2002. [Film]. Directed by Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha. USA: Blue Sky Studios