Spectrum Fantastic Art Live - IAIN MCCAIG

Dwight and Swain, the Podmasters at SideBar Nation are at it again with a presentation and interview starring the energetic creator Iain McCaig.



Another power packed event at Spectrum Art Live 2012.



Listen to it HERE!

"Delivery" Premiere's Full Line Up

Our new short film Delivery has some great company! Here are the other intriguing short films that will be screened with us at 4:30pm on Saturday, June 30th, at the Manhattan Film Festival. Mark your calendars and see 6 great shorts on the big screen for one 12 bucks!!! Get your tickets before they run out!

Here is the line up of premiering films, in order:

1) Moving Forward

After years of playing by the rules and getting nowhere, Thomas Adder is about to make a name for himself overnight. Four years ago as young, ambitious strategist at the forefront of a winning New York City gubernatorial campaign, Thomas believed he was working to elect a man that wanted to change the face of the city he loved. All too soon he realized he was wrong. Following the triumphant campaign for Reese Jennings, Thomas was given a swift pat on the back before being cast aside with knowledge that in the political world you are either working to fight corruption or part of the problem. Thomas chose to leave the team and now, four years later, he will face the newly re-elected Governor, he has come to despise. With renewed vigor, Thomas is the only man that still believes in their original campaign slogan, “Moving forward to make a difference”, and is willing to do whatever it takes to remove the corrupt Governor from office. The problem is, has he grown just as evil as the man he has in his sights to take down?

Official Website
Facebook Page

2) Delivery

An engaged couple with a drug problem gets some advice from Tim, an associate of theirs who reluctantly gets involved in their personal lives. An award-winning short film produced, written and directed by our own Princeton Holt.

Official Website
Facebook Page






3) Nora

There is no greater pain than that felt by a parent with a sick child. Even with the love and support of family and friends. Nora who suffers from a terminal illness, is being treated by Ben, a med student who voluntarily checks in on her.





Official Website
Facebook Page


4) A Father's Pride

A series of life changing events catapult a widowed man to enter into a life of uncertainty. While navigating this new reality he is confronted with making a moral decision that will impact the meaning of being a father.




Official Website
Facebook Page

5) Infinity

Elizabeth enjoys the perfect life. A perfect home. A perfect 4 year old daughter, Chelsea. A perfect loving husband, David. Even a kind but quirky next door neighbor, Edith, who keeps apprised of all matters, great or small, in her community. But, something is amiss. David seems troubled since returning from a tour of duty with his guard unit in Iraq. Struggling alone, his resolve breaks as he turns to a higher power for help, leading to a stint in a mental facility. Elizabeth carries on, projecting a brave face, to shield Chelsea from a reality the four year old couldn't possibly understand. But, in Poe-esque tradition, bad things happen to good people as this perfect life unravels in the blink of an eye. This tale spirals downward from the unthinkable to the even darker unknown depths of the unimaginable. What if, the eyes truly are the windows to the soul? Matthew 6:22-23 (King James Version) (selected) 22 The light of the body is in the eye:..... 23 If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

Official Website

6) Bridges

After her employers go through a nasty separation, babysitter Elizabeth finds herself spending most days with baby Julian. Her service is milked dry but she creates a special bond with him - one where she sees herself as the mother. One day, each parent goes a bit too far and breaks her patience - the father even possibly putting both Elizabeth and Julian in danger. She leaves the apartment with the baby in tow, but as they travel further away, it seems like the most opportune time to start their new life together.

Trailer  
Official Website

You can score tickets to all of these short films for one price! Grab your tickets HERE before they are sold out!!!

- Lena

Disney, Brother Bear and the “Bear Necessities”

-Terryl Whitlatch

One of the major divisions of Creature Design is that of depicting real animals, as opposed to imaginary ones. In fact this is altogether much more challenging; on an intrinsic level we are all familiar with living species—we either own them or have ready access to them via farms, riding stables, zoos, museums, or video. We’ve seen, fed, and touched them. This, as opposed to imaginary creatures, where no one is able to stand up and tell you what is wrong.



One of the tasks I’ve had throughout my career as a concept artist is to supply studies of living animals as reference for various film projects. A case in point is Disney’s 2003 animated feature Brother Bear. This was a film whose overriding sensibility and design was one of extreme naturalism—its closest aesthetic comparison was Bambi, a sublime production produced nearly 63 years earlier.



I was hired to provide the Disney Art Department assigned to that production with as many anatomical analyses and breakdowns of actual bears (as well as moose and other animals) in all sorts of poses—in particular showing how the muscles performed under the heavy fur, and then, breakdowns of the fur itself, showing the blocks, directions, and tracts, for ease in stylizing down for animation.



Fur has weight, direction, and heft, and in healthy Kodiak bears this is multiplied beyond that of most mammals, except perhaps for yaks, musk-oxen, and on a much smaller scale, Persian cats. It takes some in-depth study to understand this, and thus it was my task to supply the production artists and animators with this knowledge in a readily digestible form.



I estimate that close to a hundred of these drawings were produced—from bears fighting, sitting, roaring, hunting, you name it. From there, I went on to do many narrative illustrations, lip-syncing studies (making a moose talk) and further stylizing down to the Brand character. I must say, that is was one of the most satisfying gigs that I’ve worked on, and I was privileged to meet some of the most artistically gifted people that I have ever known, and I’m convinced, ever will know.

The Daisy , Step 2 : Painting

-By Serge Birault

First step here :

http://muddycolors.blogspot.fr/2012/06/daisy-first-step-sketch.html



I'm not a specialist of grayscale. I don't use it very often. I came from traditional painting and this technique is not very « natural » for me. But let's try, I will try to avoid the « washed » effect.

I put the sketch on a « multiply » type layer and I start to work under it. I choose my basic tones and my ambient light, it will be green. Of course, the saturation is not very good.



For the painting-like effect, I don't use airbrush but different Ditlev brushes (once again). You can download the pack here: http://cghub.com/scripts/view/85/

I have to paint over the sketch now. I don't want to change the contrast and the luminosity too much so I create only « overlay », « linear burn », « linear dodge » and « difference » layers.<



The amount of layers is quite ridiculous but I add the tones one by one. I often decrease the opacity of the layers to 0-10%.



The choice of colors is logical … Green and orange. I think you know the complementary tones.

Here's the result. It's not perfect but I'm on the good way.

I merge all the layers.

I add the bag full of daisies. It changes a bit the meaning of the picture but my composition is better now. The « hole » on the bottom-right now longer exists.

I add details and I change the contrast and the saturation a little bit.



I can't if tell I'm totally satisfied by this technique. My palette is very close of the one I used for an old picture, « Sashimi's revenge » but the result is not as good. By the way, I spent 80 hours on that pin up and « The daisy » was done in only 8 hours. I think I can work faster with a bit of training but I'm not sure I will use grayscale again. I go back into the one's old ways now.

Career Education Choices

-By Donato

I just graduated from high school and I'm wondering about college and such. Is it worth attending an expensive university or should I just go to a smaller school? I'm very serious about my art and I'm very dedicated... I want to be an illustrator.  I want to do everything from magazine covers and book covers to concept art for games or movies.  Is it possible to be in debt and be an illustrator?  

college works, 1988-90

These are very tough questions from a young artist that could take a life time to answer. I'll try to provide some insight as to what has worked for me and look back at my career with 20/20 hindsight. To start with, my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Syracuse University (coupled with three previous years at the University of Vermont) was very important in laying the foundation in developing my career, but equally important was the drive to be creative, prolific and open-minded.



Every artist has to seek their individual path to success, no two are the same.  It has taken many long years of practice, patience, and devotion to craft to attain the level of quality now exhibited within my work.  I am sure this advice sounds similar to others before, but it is the truth, practice, and plenty of it, makes for perfection.  Pursuing the arts is an admirable and challenging goal, but you have to be willing to make great sacrifices along the way to achieve those ends.

Creative Impulse,  198

One of the greatest changes I struggled through was learning to detach myself from the hobby work, drawings, and paintings I had loved to create in my youth.  To take art seriously I learned to study and find validation in all art forms.  I am the artist I am today because of my ability to shrug off the old subject matter (comics, realism, science fiction and fantasy) and embrace new aesthetics which teachers and professors were exposing me to: abstraction, post-modern theories, deconstruction, gesture drawing, impressionism, surrealism, cubism, sculpture, print making, digital media, etc...  Without stepping into the unknown, I would have never truly challenged myself nor experienced anything new.  I would have never learned to what it felt like to fly, content to spend my time walking and jumping the distances I knew were 'safe'.  I see many artists who, while technically proficient, are grounded far too much in their youth and the content they find comforting there.



The paths I took to become a successful artist are unique and cannot be duplicated - like losing detailed sight permanently out off one eye two weeks before I was to move to New York City to begin my career as a visual artist, or moving to New York City and finding work at the Society of Illustrators as a coat-check boy (ok., maybe not impossibly unique on that last one!).  All of these events, and much more, contributed to the drive and insights I developed to become a successful creative individual.  Each of these experiences  challenged my assumptions about who I was and what direction I was determined to take as an artist.



I can tell you I am very happy with my career and would not trade it for another.  I make a comfortable living in New York City, being able to support my family and travel and vacation when I wish to do so.  But on the other side, if I had know how few artists actually make a living at this, I might of had second thoughts about pursuing this career.  The burdens of financial debt weigh heavier on this new generation than they did on mine.   I teach at schools in New York,  hold annual seminars and lecture at a dozen others across the country.  Throughout all these presentations I stress how the love of your craft must be the one driving force compelling the artist to create their work, for if they are pursuing this purely for financial gain, it will end in abject failure. The visual arts is a highly competitive field with only the most driven and studious surviving to make a career of it.

Joan of Arc, 2011

My suggestions are, if you wish to pursue this career, you must take it very seriously and be willing to work seven days a week. (I’m not kidding here).  You have to love it down deep.  Really deep.  As in the reason for existence is to express yourself through art.  Next is to pursue interests outside of the requirements of the art major - history, philosophy, sciences, sports, etc.... If you don’t learn about life, what will you have to say in your art?  Many of the greatest minds in art were not ‘educated’ in art classes, the schools were a ‘polishing’ wheel to their minds which focused their ability for artistic expression.  This is not to say you cannot learn great things in an Art college, just realize there is a much greater world to embrace than what is in the class assignment.  Most importantly chose a major which focuses upon content, not just technical skills.  While almost all commercial art programs teach worthy technical skills, you can learn much through a few additional classes/courses with hard labor and practice on your own, through an apprenticeship with another professional, or at a multitude of Atelier studios across the country.



Learning a specific technical skill to become an illustrator now is like learning to use a whip and spurs to get around town; the needs of the industry will be different by the time you graduate and in the decades after, change is constant in the freelance marketplace.  What you want are classes and teachers that open your mind to another way of seeing and interpreting the world, these skills can be used across media and fields, not limited to illustration.  Major Universities have programs and offer classes far outside the traditional arts fields and supply your mind with a well rounded and stimulated education.  The art I create stands out because I attempt to bring a different voice to the genre, a new view on the characters or places involved in the stories, a sample from my life experiences, something not typically found in science fiction nor fantasy.



I love what I do and I wish all of you luck in the pursuit of your dreams.   Finally, my studio door is always open to those who wish to visit and learn if you make it to New York (just call first!).



Sincerely,



Donato Giancola

Studio in Brooklyn, 2012

Act Smart! Good Tools for a Great Career

Here is a great article from The Networker for actors! Check it out after the jump:

Act Smart! Good Tools for a Great Career
by Colleen Wainwright | The Communicatrix

Everything I've achieved or changed has been a result of orbiting better/stronger/faster people. What can you get better at? The possibilities are endless...

One of the smartest things I've ever heard about getting smarter is to work towards being the stupidest person in the room.

This does not mean, of course, that you should actively act like a dummy, but that you should take pains to surround yourself with the kind of people who inspire you to become the person you aspire to become.

If we translate this to acting, it's easy to think "Oh, cool—I'll just hang out with better actors!" And hey, there's nothing wrong with that: one of the other very smart things I've ever heard about improving oneself is to watch who you watch; examining (and, to the best of your ability and in your own way, reverse-engineering) what your comedy improv or dramatic or commercial heroes do can be very revealing and helpful.

But since actors are artists who draw on their full selves for their art, I think it's also important to up your game across the board. For example...

1. Seek out better learners.

Who do you know who's always learning something new? And/or who assiduously works at deepening the knowledge they already have? This could be anything, from a language to a skill, from a sport to book-learnin'. People who are perpetual students will teach you ways of becoming more adept at taking in information, plus you'll be able to learn lots of great stuff from them second-hand. Learning how to learn well is probably the best investment you can make in yourself.

I work my damnedest to spend as much time as possible around people who live this way. My blogroll is rich with resources for online reading, and a carefully curated Twitter feed keeps me in touch with my favorite smart people and what they're learning now. (Okay—there are some people I follow just for their deft hand with a fart joke.)

2. Gravitate toward great hosts.

Civilians are always shocked to find out how many performers are deeply introverted and/or shy. (For the uninitiated, there is a difference. And a famous essay. And a book, and a TED talk.) While there's nothing wrong with either introversion or shyness, each can hamper you in obvious ways when it comes to networking and self-promotion. You may never become a social butterfly if it's not in your DNA, but I believe everyone is well-served, if you'll pardon the pun, when we learn to be better, more gracious hosts. This can be anyone from the person great at throwing dinner parties to someone comfortable at introducing people. Basically, who makes you feel at ease? Spending more time around them should teach great interpersonal skills. Plus, it will be pleasant, by definition!

My friend, Matt Lawrence, who is currently the community manager for Biznik, has taught me volumes about being a great and gracious host, as has my friend and Women's Business Socials founder, Jodi Womack.

3. Align yourself with the business-smart.

Full confession: while I am an excellent employee, I'm a lousy hustler. And yes, hustle is a part of business, as is showing up on time, knowing how to handle money, and generally being organized. It's great if you can meet other actors who are also good business people, but please don't limit yourself to that orbit. You're likelier to find more candidates amongst the civilian population; you can learn just as much from them as you can successful actors.

Some exceptionally good resources on being better at business that are still compatible with an artist's soul are books by a few (better, smarter) friends of mine: Danielle LaPorte's The Fire Starter Sessions, a kind of Artist's Way for the new millenium; and Design Is a Job, by Mike Monteiro, which he wrote specifically for designers but which contains vast riches for all creatives willing to do some mental translation.

And in a stroke of meta-learning, my friend Chris Guillebeau's second book, The $100 Startup, is filled with great, practical information he's culled from thousands of small business owners on creating a successful, fulfilling career. (Remember: as an actor, you are a small business!)

4. Surround yourself with the sane and fit.

As long as we're confessing, there's plenty of room for improvement as far as my mental and physical health are concerned, too. While it's wonderful to have personal examples in your life, this is one area where it's sometimes easier to start with the structured environment of a trusted group, class, or some professional help. In addition to becoming more mentally/spiritually/physically fit as you go, you'll also begin to meet people who are further along the path who can serve as inspiration and encouragement.

My new friend Cheryl Strayed, author and beloved columnist "Sugar" on The Rumpus, is one of the most inspiring people I know; pick up Wild, her lush and compulsively readable memoir about hiking the Pacific Coast Trail all by herself, and you'll see why. And when I need inspiration and guidance about improving my own physical fitness and goal-achieving, I look no further than my friend Jason Womack, a prolific writer and public speaker on the subject (and husband of the aforementioned Jodi!), whose recent book Your Best Just Got Better is crammed full of fantastic tips, processes, and ideas for self-improvement.

By the way, every one of these people whom I now call "friend"—my actual, real-life, hang-out-in-person friend—is someone I initially "met" through their internet presence. Don't let your physical location stop you from broadening your reach and improving your circumstances; start where you are, and build from there.

The people you hang out with will help determine whether you're moving forward or hanging back. So online or off, make sure you're hanging with the right crowd: people who inspire, educate, and uplift you by their example.

Colleen Wainwright is a writer-speaker-layabout who started calling herself "the communicatrix" when she hit three hyphens. She spent a decade writing commercials and another decade acting in them for cash money. Now she uses her powers for good instead of evil by helping creatives learn how to strut their stuff in a way that makes the world fall madly in love with them.

Reel of the Week: Wendy Keeling

Here is our own Wendy Keeling's acting reel!



- Lena