During a re-read of A Song Of Ice And Fire, I wanted to the a better sense of the scale of the world. There are some great two dimensional maps out there, including an interactive map at http://quartermaester.info/ that shows character paths over time, but I was looking for something more visual…
Read MoreA video project called “Danielle”, released by filmmaker Anthony Cerniello attempts to portray the effects of aging on the face, and does so to good effect, but it also reveals something I personally found more interesting. I’d recommend watching the video before reading the rest of this article, as there are some spoilers ahead. Danielle from Anthony Cerniello on Vimeo. First, a little background. Last year, Cerniello went to his friend Danielle’s family reunion, and took photos of many of her extended family members. From there, he selected the photos of members who had the most…
Read MoreWerner Randelshofer, a visual computing student at ETH Zurich, has taken it upon himself to archive digital artwork from early computer systems that are no longer with us, such as the Commodore Amiga, IBM clones, the Atari ST and many more. The site does a great job of archiving systems by type, and artist. Beside the abundance of game stills and animations, there are some classic demos on display, converted for modern viewing, including an old favourite of mine, Automated Light by James M. Robinson. Randelshofer took the time to…
Read MoreThe always wonderful to read “Art of the Title”, which focuses on the craft of creating effective title sequences, generally using film and TV, has posted its first game sequence, with Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Included is an extensive interview with both Paul Furminger from Goldtooth Creative (director of the sequence) and Jean-François Dugas from Eidos-Montreal (Game Director).
Read MoreIt’s that time of year again, when nerds and geeks of all stripes descend on Toronto and congregate at the shrine of pop culture known as Fan Expo. To alleviate the major congestion problems of last year, the expo is returning to the larger South Building of the Metro Convention Centre, and has added a fourth day to the event.
Fan Expo 2011 runs from August 25th to 28th, and you can catch all the details in the press release below…
Read MoreIf you haven’t already seen the HBO series Game Of Thrones, which airs in the US and Canada, I can’t highly recommend it enough. Based on George R. R. Martin’s fantasy series of novels, the setting is more medival earth in a lot of ways compared to most sword and sorcery fare. It also has an amazing title sequence which stands as a work of art in its own right.
Read MoreIf you like animation, but haven’t heard of Spike & Mike, I’d be surprised. Their Festival of Animation has been running in various formats since the mid 1970’s, and has introduced animation fans to a number of artists that later went on to bigger things, such as Mike Judge, who’s “Frog Baseball” featured an early version of Beavis & Butthead, Bill Plympton (a personal favourite), Trey Parker and Matt Stone and many others. In short, Spike and Mike know good animation, and love sharing it. In the past, the touring…
Read MoreFor a while before it’s announcement legendary game designer Warren Spector – who has worked on classic hits such as the Ultima series, Thief, and Deus Ex – was rumored to be working on a new franchise with a new team. That game turned out being Disney Epic Mickey for the Wii. For a licensed game with a big name behind it there has been a lot of high hopes that this would add to the list of great exclusive 2010 releases for the console. Unfortunately, after spending quite a…
Read MoreWhile attending the Disney Epic Mickey event, we had the opportunity to talk to the developers, including Warren Spector, whose interview is coming up tomorrow. That’s not what this video is about however. At the event, they had artists on hand doing paintings and sketches, and while going through the footage I found this video of one of the artists doing a sketch of Jessica Rabbit, which he cranked out in under two minutes. Unfortunately, as of this writing we don’t have the artist’s name, and we’ll update this as…
Read MoreThe folks over at Bedlam Ink, who are charged with doing additional storytelling for the new Showcase series Lost Girl were at the Fan Expo booth this year. This included both a printed comic, which is a standalone story, as well as a motion comic that works as a prequel to the TV series. Jessie, Navid and Tigh from Bedlam Ink were kind enough to take some time to talk with us about how the comics tie into the series, and some of the process of developing the comics for…
Read MoreBlu-Ray Release by Funimation Directors: Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki, and Hideaki Anno (Supervising) Writers: Hideaki Anno, Yoshiki Sakurai So, I recently picked up the blu-ray release of Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone, and realised that not nearly enough people know about this thing. More than a few of you are probably familiar with the original Neon Genesis Evangelion, but for those who aren’t, here’s a primer: Shinji Ikari, an introverted teenaged boy with obvious family issues, on top of the usual “bundle of hormones and crazy”, has just arrived in…
Read MoreNewtek has long been one of the most innovative digital content creation companies out there. Originally an Amiga based company, with products such as DigiView, the first colour digitizer for a computer, and the Video Toaster which gave users the power of a live switching studio via an add on card , they’ve continued to innovate through the years. This year at SIGGRAPH is no different, as Rob Powers, VP of 3D development took the stage to demonstrate the virtual cinematography capabilities of Lightwave 3D 10, the latest version of…
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