FX Work from The Iron Giant
I
often get emails from people asking what scenes I animated on
The Iron Giant. There must be something special about
that film because I hardly ever get enquiries about any of the
other movies I've worked on.
My
work on The Iron Giant consisted of 2 months of FX design
and 10 months of FX animation. Like most of the animators, my
work is peppered throughout the film. Still, there are two sequences
that I really sank my teeth in: "The Lake Tidal Wave"
and "The Dome of Doom".
To
learn more about these, click on the icons below.
May
24,
2004
Job
Shadow
A
couple of weeks ago, I got the following email:
My name is Henry Aesoph and I am an 8th grader at Coupeville Middle
School in Coupeville, Washington on Whidbey Island. The school
is participating in an annual "Job Shadow Day", in which
students spend about four hours with someone who works in a profession
that the student wants to pursue.
I
would love working with you because I love drawing horribly malformed
animals and flora, and I love your comic, "Zed".
I
responded that I would be happy to do it. And so, last Friday,
Henry's parents dropped him off at my house which also happens
to be my studio. The captive youth spent a few hours looking over
my shoulder while I was working on my latest projects. He got
a sneak peak at some of the pre-production artwork I'm currently
doing for Disney and Cartoon Network as well as a special preview
of my upcoming book Odd Numbers.
Henry
seems determined to have a career as an artist and his work (see
photo) looks promising. I'm convinced he was really jazzed by
the whole experience.
May
20,
2004
Freaky
Flora: From A to Z is Now Available!!!
Hooray!!
It's here! My latest (11th) hardcover book just arrived from Hong
Kong and it looks awesome. We tried a new printer for this one
and we're really pleased with the results. They did a superb job
at matching my color proofs.
Freaky
Flora: From A to Z is a sort of sequel, or companion if you
will, to Frenzied Fauna: From
A to Z, which was released in 2002. If you've enjoy any
of my previous art books, you'll love this one, I'm pretty sure
of it.
Freaky Flora will be available in bookstores and comic
shops around mid-June, but you don't have to wait. You can order
your copy from our site right now! ...at a nice discount too!
As usual, every book ordered from us is signed! Click
here for more info.
Check
out some of the inside images by clicking on the icons below.
May
15,
2004
Images
of Sculptures Added to the Gallery
Between
1997 and 1999, I did several wood constructions and shadow boxes
which were exhibited and sold in art galleries. I was honored
to have my work shown at Beverly Hills' famed Morpheus
Gallery (H R Giger, Yerka, Beksinski, etc), among others.
Click on the icons below to see images of some of the work I did
during that phase.
May
8,
2004
Flight
Last
March at the LA Wizard World Con,
I was approached by Kazu Kibuishi,
the engineer behind the upcoming Flight,
which is being published by Image Comics. He asked
me if I'd be interested in doing a piece for the second volume.
He showed me a mock-up of volume one (coming out in July) and
I was blown away by the quality and imagination. Needless to say,
I was very flattered by the offer and gratefully accepted. I just
hope that I can do something that will live up to the high standard
that has been set.
Flight
is an anthology of short stories by some of the best talents in
the animation and comic world. I highly recommend that you check
it out. The list of artists includes: Bengal - Bill Mudron - Catia
Chien - Clio Chiang - Chris Appelhans - Derek Kirk Kim - Dylan
Meconis - Enrico Casarosa - Erika Moen - Hope Larson - Jake Parker
- Jen Wang - Joel Carroll - Kazu Kibuishi - Kean Soo - Khang Le
- Neil Babra - Philip Craven - Rad Sechrist - Vera Brosgol.
Click
here to visit the official site.
May
6,
2004
An
Insanely Twisted Rabbit by Jose Saenz
Those
Insanely Twisted Rabbits just keep on coming. It's an
epidemic! Check out the Fan
Art Gallery if you don't believe me. Here's the latest one
I received with the following email:
I
wanted to do my part as your biggest fan and give you this rabbit
-You know that last line would have sounded very odd in any other
context.
Please
accept this as a token of my never ending admiration for your
work. Keep up the amazing work Mr.Gagne.
Sincerely,
Jose
Saenz
Animator/Designer
Miami, Fl
You
can click on the image for a larger view.
May
1,
2004
Some
Good Quotes