Fahrenheit Digital

Nike co-founder Phil knight has purchased 30 acres for a new campus to be built for the growing Laika Entertainment. With Henry Selick at the helm and a handful of productions on the way, Knight promises that the campus will be as unique as the animation created at Laika.

I know of a number of old coworkers from ILM who have made the trek up north to work at this new studio. Hopefully they will produce unique and entertaining animated movies… the more the merrier!

The new campus will include facilities for both computer animation and stop-motion animation. Ground-breaking is scheduled to begin early next year.

Laika news article

Laika Entertainment

Aaron Holly has just been added as a presenter at the upcoming Adapt 2006 Conference. This event, held on September 23 & the 24th, will feature an impressive selection of artists who have worked in both 2D and 3D production. The presenters will range from 2D animation production to production design to CG visual effects & feature animation.

Adapt 2006 Montreal

Although I have never attended this trade show I intend to do so this year. The annual International Makeup Artist Trade Show will take place one June 24th & 25th at the Pasadena Convention Center. Everything from special effects makeup to fashion makeup products & techniqes will be showcased at this trade show. There will be contests as well. Anyone interested in makeup art should attend.

IMATS/LA 2006

Through the months of June and July ASIFA is having an exhibit showcasing the incredibly important and interesting artform of the storyboard artist.

Anyone who has tried to develop a story or who has experienced the clarity of an effective set of storyboards as a part of a story pitch is fully aware of how important this tool is for any form of visual storytelling.

This exhibit will display original storyboards from a number of animated television shows, including “Stimpy’s Invention.”

ASIFA “Art of the Storyboard”

Bill Kovacs, a computer animation pioneer and Academy Award winner, has died. He was 56.

Kovacs died Tuesday at his Camarillo home from complications of a stroke brought on by a cerebral hemorrhage, said his longtime domestic partner, Kathy Salyer.

“He was a brilliant man, I mean totally creative, the absent-minded professor type, a lot of brain power,” she said. “His love of learning and exploration was contagious.”

Kovacs co-founded Wavefront Technologies in the early 1980s, which produced a groundbreaking, off-the-shelf software product that allowed all kinds of firms to create animation.

In 1997, he shared the Scientific and Engineering Academy Award with Roy Hall. They were recognized for their roles in developing Wavefront’s Advanced Visualizer computer graphics system.

In addition to Salyer, Kovacs is survived by their daughter, Savanna Salyer-Kovacs; a daughter from a previous marriage, Christine Kovacs; a son, Paul Kovacs; a sister, Nancy Kovacs; and his stepmother, Helen Benedict.

Original article in the Mercury News.

It’s official and its coming straight from DreamWorks SKG cofounder Jeffrey Katzenberg’s mouth.

“DreamWorks is very much looking at doing business in India,” he told Animation ‘xpress at the Cannes Film Festival where he was promoting Over the Hedge.

Katzenberg said he had been to India twice in the past nine months. “India is a very exciting place and has potential for great animation. We’ve been very impressed with the Indian animation community’s enthusiasm to master the constantly changing tools of CG animation. We believe this eagerness will lead to the development of a highly skilled animation community.”

He added, however, that Dreamworks foray into India would not be in the form of outsourcing. “It will be definitely more than that.

“Katzenberg pointed out that what animation is witnessing is its second renaissance. “The first wave was in the eighties and was more handdrawn,” he pointed out. “Today, animation is digital. Today’s animated movies demand superior technological achievement along with tremendous artistry and storytelling. Now is a great time for our industry.”

DreamWorks Animation produces two movies per year.

Original article posted on Animationxpress.com