Artist Spotlight: The Art Of . . . Christian Lorenz Scheurer

I've previously showcased a few of my favourite pop culture and vintage pulp artists, and each weekend I showcase art from more of my favourite artists.

The art of Christian Lorenz Scheurer.

40th Annie Awards: 2012 Winners

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced the 2012 winners of its Annie Awards last night at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

Multiple wins for Disney's 'Wreck-It-Ralph' and 'Brave', Laika's 'ParaNorman' and Dreamworks' 'Dragons: Riders Of Berk' and 'Rise Of The Guardians'.

The complete list of winners is below:
via

PRODUCTION CATEGORIES:

Best Animated Feature
Wreck-It Ralph — Disney

Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production
Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem – Illumination Entertainment

Best Animated Short Subject
Paperman (Disney)

Best General Audience Animated TV Production For Preschool Children
Bubble Guppies ‘A Tooth on the Looth’ – Nickelodeon Animation Studios

Best Animated Television Production For Children
Dragons: Riders of Berk ‘How to Pick Your Dragon’ – DreamWorks Animation

Best General Audience Animated Television Production
Robot Chicken ‘DC Comics Special’ – Stoopid Buddy Studios

Animated Video Game
Journey – Sony Computer Entertainment America

Best Student Film
Head Over Heels – Timothy Reckart

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INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT CATEGORIES:

Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Andy Hayes, Carl Hooper, David Lipton – Rise of the Guardians – DreamWorks Animation

Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
Jerome Platteaux, John Sigurdson, Ryan Hopkins, Raul Essig, Mark Chataway ‘The Avengers’ – Industrial Light & Magic

Character Animation in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Dan Driscoll ‘SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas!’ – Nickelodeon Animation Studios

Character Animation in a Feature Production
Travis Knight “ParaNorman’ – Focus Features

Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Erik de Boer, Matt Shumway, Brian Wells, Vinayak Pawar, Michael Holzl ‘Life of Pi – Tiger’ – Rhythm & Hues Studio

Character Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Robert Valley ‘Disney Tron: Uprising: The Renegade, Part I’ – Disney TV Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Heidi Smith ‘ParaNorman’ – Focus Features

Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
John Eng ‘Dragons: Riders of Berk: Animal House’ – DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Rich Moore ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Music in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
John Paesano ‘Dragons: Riders of Berk: How to Pick Your Dragon’ – DreamWorks Animation

Music in an Animated Feature Production
Henry Jackman, Adam Young, Matthew Thiessen, Jamie Houston, Yasushi Akimoto ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Production Design in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Alberto Mielgo ‘Tron: Uprising: The Stranger’ – Disney TV Animation

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Steve Pilcher ‘Brave’ – Pixar Animation Studios

Storyboarding in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Doug Lovelace ‘Dragons: Riders of Berk: Portrait of Hiccup as a Buff Man’ – DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Johanne Matte ‘Rise of the Guardians’ – DreamWorks Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Kristen Schaal as Mabel Pines ‘Gravity Falls: Tourist Trapped’ – Disney TV Animation

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Alan Tudyk as King Candy ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Writing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production
Trey Parker – ‘South Park: Jewpacabra’ – Central Productions

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Phil Johnston, Jennifer Lee – Wreck-It Ralph – Walt Disney Animation Studios

Editorial in an Animated Television Production
Hugo Morales, Adam Arnold, Davrik Waeden, Otto Ferraye ‘Kung Fu Panda – Enter the Dragon’ – Nickelodeon Animation Studios

Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
Nicholas A. Smith, ACE, Robert Graham Jones, ACE, David Suther ‘Brave’ – Pixar Animation Studios

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JURIED AWARDS:

Winsor McCay Award – Oscar Grillo, Terry Gilliam, Mark Henn

June Foray Award – Howard Green

Ub Iwerks Award – Toon Boom Animation Pipeline

Book Review: 'The Art Of Rise Of The Guardians'

I loved the film when I saw it at the cinema (well worth your time too), and when I saw some of the concept art from Shane Prigmore online, I decided to splurge on the art book too.

The hardcover book is a guided tour to the behind the scenes development of the film and is filled cover to cover with lots of art, including storyboards, character design, visual development art and effects concepts.

The book is introduced with a forward by Alec Baldwin, voice of North in the film, and a preface from William Joyce, the creator of the books the film is based on and then is split into seven parts. Each chapter looks at each of the Guardians and their realms, from North, the Guardian of Wonder, and the North Pole, the Guardian Of Hope (Bunny), the Guardian Of Memories (Tooth Fairy) and the Guardian Of Dreams (Sandy), plus the worlds of Pitch the Nightmare King and Jack, the Earthbound Guardian Of Fun.

In a foldout gatefold page, there's also a short chapter that goes behind the scenes of one of the scenes in the film 'The Making Of Sequence 1300: The Tooth Palace', where the Guardians discover that Pitch and his army of Nightmares are stealing all the tooth memories. It's a flow chart with contributions from those that worked on the sequence; from the first stages of the story and art, through to modeling, layout, animation effects, lighting and more until the final idea that we see onscreen.

The 150+ colourful glossy pages of this movie art book are packed with glorious illustrations, sketches and more, making it yet another quality hardcover movie art book for my growing collection, and hopefully it will be part of yours too!

**** out of 5

Interview: A Roundtable With Animated Feature Directors

Animation directors Mark Andrews (Brave), Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians), Chris Butler (ParaNorman), Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph) and Genndy Tartakovsky (Hotel Transylvania) talk with Los Angeles Times reporter Rebecca Keegan about the challenges of making feature animated movies and the future of animation.


Via

Movie Review: 'Rise Of The Guardians'

Based upon William Joyce's 'The Guardians Of Childhood' books, Rise of the Guardians tells the story of a group of heroes - each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit, known as Pitch, lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world. 

I really enjoyed this. From the first trailers, I had been looking forward to it. I wasn't disappointed either.

It is your typical heroes join up and save the world plot, think Avengers (and nearly every superhero film for that matter), but I'd say aimed at a younger crowd. Yes it may come across a little cheesy and lightweight at times, but it's still fun and very enjoyable. I (and the rest of the audience) laughed out loud at some parts, mostly some of the reoccurring jokes in the film and the reactions from the yetis and elves.

The animation is first rate, as most animated fare is these days. The battle between The Sandman and Pitch as well as the waves of Night Mares in the battle towards the end, are the highlights and simply amazing and superbly done! I watched this in dazzling 2D, so I'm sure the look of these in 3D would be absolutely awesome.

You can see after watching 'Guardians', that the fingerprints of Guillermo Del Toro are on this film too. Acting as Executive Producer, you can see his influence on some of the sequences, definitely on the Night Mares and some of the darkness of the tone of the film. Generally I don't mind movies that are aimed at an all ages audience, and I'd say you would have to balance the lightness with the darkness to get an all rounded feel. 'Rise Of The Guardians' manages to do this and joins the likes of 'ParaNorman' and 'Brave' that I've seen this year, as top notch animated films for all the family.

All in all, if you want an action, adventure film for all the family then you can do no wrong in settling down to watch this. Definitely recommended.

**** out of 5

'Rise Of The Guardians' Alternative Poster And Concept Art

This alternate poster for the 'Rise of the Guardians' movie was created by Art Director Max Boas and Visual Developer Perry Maple Dixon. The print measures 27" x 18" and is available on preorder at Nucleus for $35 unsigned or $45 signed.

click to embiggen

And still on the theme of 'Rise Of The Guardians', hit the jump for some of the concept art from the movie by Shane Prigmore (click to embiggen).