A.Alvarez
08-03-2006, 17:55 PM
In June The Gnomon Workshop presented our third workshop weekend, June 24th and 25th. We assembled another great line up of instructors, featuring speakers in and out of the Gnomon Workshop library. These artists presented on subjects including character and concept design, comic book penciling, modeling and animation, game production pipeline, Photoshop, Painter, Maya and Max.
Our schedule included such 2D artists as Justin Sweet, Vance Kovacs, Stephen Platt, Hong Ly from NCSoft, and Vyle and Barontieri from Ubisoft. Our 3D schedule included Jerry O'flaherty and Kevin Lanning from Epic Games, as well as Ed Quintero from Massive Black, Robert Coddington from EA Los Angeles and Pascal Blanche from Ubisoft. These artist's work has been featured in films such as The Matrix sequels, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Hellboy, The Mask 2, Blade Trinity, The Fog, and in games such as Gears of War, Prince of Persia the Two Thrones, Unreal Championship 2 and the upcoming Gears of War.
The recruiting room held representatives from Blur, NCsoft, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Ensemble Studios, Rhythm and Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Zoic. This was again a great opportunity to meet supervisors and art directors in the entertainment industry.
Saturday:
Justin Sweet and Vance Kovacs really inspired the audience with a tour de force of digital painting skill, banging out beautiful paintings from scratch in under an hour. Being witness to such talent was an amazing experience not to be forgotten.
The intense vibe started with Justin and Vance was then loosened with the post-lunch presentation by Vyle and Barontieri. Sharing their Photoshop custom brush techniques, they tag-teamed the creation of a landscape with a massive portal and several dropships/fighters. Their constant banter and harsh critiques of each other created an atmosphere of hilarity as the audience regularly broke into laughter.
Next was Stephen Platt, breaking out the old school paper and pencil. On a 10x15 comic sheet, Stephen executed a beautiful image of a battle worn hero while sharing non-stop personal experiences with the comic book and concept design industries. Being the only traditional media presentation that weekend, it was cool to see Stephen swarmed with attendees after his demo. He probably had forty people crowding around him to see the drawing up close and ask him questions. And I have to say a big thanks to Stephen for surprising me at the end of the swarm, by offering me the drawing. Thanks man...
On an aside... funny story of how I met Stephen. Back in July of 2002 at Comic Con in San Diego (where I've been going religiously every year since I worked in comics back in '93), while checking out all the amazing original art for sale at the many many booths, I found a beautiful X-men cover by Stephen. I'd admired his work for years (but had never met him) and this cover was too cool to not get... so I broke out the check book. Fast forward about three months. I'm sitting at the computer in the reception area at the Gnomon School when this guy walks in. He asks me if Feng Zhu is around... Feng was teaching his production design class in our auditorium, so I directed him there. Half an hour later Feng walks out with the guy and says "Hey Alex, this is my friend Stephen Platt.. he's a big comic guy." So of course... that was weird. I'm like.. "Dude, I just bought one of your covers three months ago at Comic Con!". Anyhow... thats my story. Thanks for listening.
Ok, so after Stephen was Hong Ly. Hong shared his theories regarding the elements of shape, silhouette, color, detail and posing that contribute to the creation of a strong character design. Hong has a beautiful portfolio of killer character and creature designs and it was fascinating to hear his thoughts on design. Check out his resource site: http://www.characterdesigns.com for more inspiration and tips.
With the presentations for the day finished, we once again had a surprise event planned for Saturday night. In the Gnomon Workshop parking lot we setup a full stage for Mistress of Reality, an all girl Black Sabbath cover band. The music was loud, beer was flowing and the cops showed up (only to say... 'we don't really care, but your neighbors do'). So the band still got to finish their set. Good times.
Sunday:
Its always hard to wake up at 9am on Sunday morning, but 300 people managed to do it. One thing is certain, however... the audience was not disappointed! What an amazing two hours of jaw dropping technology and images by Epic artists Kevin Lanning and Jerry O'flaherty. Using the new Unreal Editor in conjunction with hyper detailed characters, Kevin and Jerry discussed their workflow with Max, Zbrush, Mudbox and the Editor. In game and editor demos showed off the amazing realism they are achieving in their next-gen game. The convergence of film and games clearly continues to progress as in game real-time play achieves the look of pre-rendered cinematics. Super cool stuff.
After lunch Pascal Blanche was next, who shared his creative process for developing 3D illustrations using Max, Zbrush and Photoshop. Pascal has been one of my favorite 3D artists for several years, being one of the few artists to have developed a signature style that is recognizable the instant you see a cropped thumbnail plugged, once again, on cgtalk. It was a pleasure to hear his thoughts and experience the efficiency of his workflow.
Ed Quintero followed with a lecture on 3Dpaint using DeepPaint. Designed as more of an introduction to 3Dpaint concepts, Ed discussed various techniques he employs in the creation of high-resolution and detailed textures. Working on a very cool model based on a Pete Konig design, Ed shared thoughts on reference, inspiration and workflow.
The last presentation of the event was Robert Coddington, lead animator from EA Los Angeles. After two days of constant brain input, heads were spinning... but Robert woke us up! This guy has got some serious energy, charisma and no doubt, opinions. All weekend long, instructors sat in their chairs and gave their lecture... but not Robert. He could not sit still, as he gestured, performed and gave an immensely entertaining presentation on character animation and his Maya workflow. Robert clearly holds a deep passion for animation and it came across as he captivated the audience.
So there it is...
The event was a blast and everyone seemed to really have a wonderful weekend. It was great to see how many of the instructors sat in on the other presentations, sharing in the same inspiration as students sitting beside them. Countless people approached me to comment on their experience and enthusiasm, so I'd like to thank everyone involved for making it such a success. From the Gnomon staff to the many student volunteers, and of course all the instructors.... thank you thank you!
We'll be posting images from the weekend in this thread, but of course, feel free to share your own images if you have some. I could only capture my own experience with my Canon, but clearly there are many other points of view!
btw, next live event is scheduled for November...
Stay tuned to the Gnomon Workshop site for info in the next couple months.
-Alex
Our schedule included such 2D artists as Justin Sweet, Vance Kovacs, Stephen Platt, Hong Ly from NCSoft, and Vyle and Barontieri from Ubisoft. Our 3D schedule included Jerry O'flaherty and Kevin Lanning from Epic Games, as well as Ed Quintero from Massive Black, Robert Coddington from EA Los Angeles and Pascal Blanche from Ubisoft. These artist's work has been featured in films such as The Matrix sequels, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Hellboy, The Mask 2, Blade Trinity, The Fog, and in games such as Gears of War, Prince of Persia the Two Thrones, Unreal Championship 2 and the upcoming Gears of War.
The recruiting room held representatives from Blur, NCsoft, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Ensemble Studios, Rhythm and Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and Zoic. This was again a great opportunity to meet supervisors and art directors in the entertainment industry.
Saturday:
Justin Sweet and Vance Kovacs really inspired the audience with a tour de force of digital painting skill, banging out beautiful paintings from scratch in under an hour. Being witness to such talent was an amazing experience not to be forgotten.
The intense vibe started with Justin and Vance was then loosened with the post-lunch presentation by Vyle and Barontieri. Sharing their Photoshop custom brush techniques, they tag-teamed the creation of a landscape with a massive portal and several dropships/fighters. Their constant banter and harsh critiques of each other created an atmosphere of hilarity as the audience regularly broke into laughter.
Next was Stephen Platt, breaking out the old school paper and pencil. On a 10x15 comic sheet, Stephen executed a beautiful image of a battle worn hero while sharing non-stop personal experiences with the comic book and concept design industries. Being the only traditional media presentation that weekend, it was cool to see Stephen swarmed with attendees after his demo. He probably had forty people crowding around him to see the drawing up close and ask him questions. And I have to say a big thanks to Stephen for surprising me at the end of the swarm, by offering me the drawing. Thanks man...
On an aside... funny story of how I met Stephen. Back in July of 2002 at Comic Con in San Diego (where I've been going religiously every year since I worked in comics back in '93), while checking out all the amazing original art for sale at the many many booths, I found a beautiful X-men cover by Stephen. I'd admired his work for years (but had never met him) and this cover was too cool to not get... so I broke out the check book. Fast forward about three months. I'm sitting at the computer in the reception area at the Gnomon School when this guy walks in. He asks me if Feng Zhu is around... Feng was teaching his production design class in our auditorium, so I directed him there. Half an hour later Feng walks out with the guy and says "Hey Alex, this is my friend Stephen Platt.. he's a big comic guy." So of course... that was weird. I'm like.. "Dude, I just bought one of your covers three months ago at Comic Con!". Anyhow... thats my story. Thanks for listening.
Ok, so after Stephen was Hong Ly. Hong shared his theories regarding the elements of shape, silhouette, color, detail and posing that contribute to the creation of a strong character design. Hong has a beautiful portfolio of killer character and creature designs and it was fascinating to hear his thoughts on design. Check out his resource site: http://www.characterdesigns.com for more inspiration and tips.
With the presentations for the day finished, we once again had a surprise event planned for Saturday night. In the Gnomon Workshop parking lot we setup a full stage for Mistress of Reality, an all girl Black Sabbath cover band. The music was loud, beer was flowing and the cops showed up (only to say... 'we don't really care, but your neighbors do'). So the band still got to finish their set. Good times.
Sunday:
Its always hard to wake up at 9am on Sunday morning, but 300 people managed to do it. One thing is certain, however... the audience was not disappointed! What an amazing two hours of jaw dropping technology and images by Epic artists Kevin Lanning and Jerry O'flaherty. Using the new Unreal Editor in conjunction with hyper detailed characters, Kevin and Jerry discussed their workflow with Max, Zbrush, Mudbox and the Editor. In game and editor demos showed off the amazing realism they are achieving in their next-gen game. The convergence of film and games clearly continues to progress as in game real-time play achieves the look of pre-rendered cinematics. Super cool stuff.
After lunch Pascal Blanche was next, who shared his creative process for developing 3D illustrations using Max, Zbrush and Photoshop. Pascal has been one of my favorite 3D artists for several years, being one of the few artists to have developed a signature style that is recognizable the instant you see a cropped thumbnail plugged, once again, on cgtalk. It was a pleasure to hear his thoughts and experience the efficiency of his workflow.
Ed Quintero followed with a lecture on 3Dpaint using DeepPaint. Designed as more of an introduction to 3Dpaint concepts, Ed discussed various techniques he employs in the creation of high-resolution and detailed textures. Working on a very cool model based on a Pete Konig design, Ed shared thoughts on reference, inspiration and workflow.
The last presentation of the event was Robert Coddington, lead animator from EA Los Angeles. After two days of constant brain input, heads were spinning... but Robert woke us up! This guy has got some serious energy, charisma and no doubt, opinions. All weekend long, instructors sat in their chairs and gave their lecture... but not Robert. He could not sit still, as he gestured, performed and gave an immensely entertaining presentation on character animation and his Maya workflow. Robert clearly holds a deep passion for animation and it came across as he captivated the audience.
So there it is...
The event was a blast and everyone seemed to really have a wonderful weekend. It was great to see how many of the instructors sat in on the other presentations, sharing in the same inspiration as students sitting beside them. Countless people approached me to comment on their experience and enthusiasm, so I'd like to thank everyone involved for making it such a success. From the Gnomon staff to the many student volunteers, and of course all the instructors.... thank you thank you!
We'll be posting images from the weekend in this thread, but of course, feel free to share your own images if you have some. I could only capture my own experience with my Canon, but clearly there are many other points of view!
btw, next live event is scheduled for November...
Stay tuned to the Gnomon Workshop site for info in the next couple months.
-Alex