Have just been reading an excellent roundup of the most recent Siggraph Convention in LA at Bill’s Sketch Blog.
He talks about the exhibits, lectures, masterclasses, and the very interesting sneak previews of upcoming films from Disney and other studios.
“I was very interested in what Ian Gooding and Dan Cooper had to say about Art Direction in CG. They took a lot of inspiration from Mary Blair when working on Chicken Little, which you know seems kinda like it would be hard to do in 3d, but they pulled it off. (These guys are incredible…they art directed on Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, etc.) So then Glen Keane talked about the future of Disney animation. This was so much fun to listen to. Glen convinced me that Disney was not simply jumping on the 3d bandwagon when they made the switch, but that they had put a lot of time and effort into achieving a 2d feel with their 3d work. The rigs they use can do just about anything a 2d character can do. Arcs, curves, smears, pulling the joints right off the bones, fully sculptable silhouettes…and Glen was most excited about being able to give a Disney princess freckles in Rapunzel.”
Read the full article here
Siggraph ‘05: Los Angeles
It’s heartening to read his observations of the conference, and of a possible long-awaited renaissance of quality animation at Disney. The complete loss of 2D can never be replaced by anything, I’m sure Walt is spinning in his grave, but quality 3D that observes the traditional aesthetics and principles of animation would be a fantastic start!
Also interesting to hear is the direction Glen Keane is taking Rapunzel Unbraided, (his first film in the role of director – due out in 2008, be patient!). The French rococo painter Jean-Honor Fragonard, is apparently the dominant inspiration for the film’s art direction. This sounds fantastic, an old-fashioned painterly style, perfect for a fairytale! You can check out some of Fragonard’s work here and here.
Let’s hope these promising signs from Disney are accurate indicators of their forthcoming animation! And at any rate, from Bill’s excellent picture of the rest of the industry as represented at Siggraph, things don’t sound to shabby at all! Plenty of exciting new films to look forward to, and who knows, maybe even some awesome employment on a feature or two in the next few years!
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