Month: November 2011
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The Elements of Drawing: John Ruskin’s Teaching Collection at Oxford
I’m most familiar with Victorian writer, art critic, draftsman and watercolorist John Ruskin for his critical defense of the fledgling Pre-Raphaelite group of painters, vital at a time when their ideas and approach were at odds with the prevailing values of the Royal Academy and the British art establishment in general. His defense of their…
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Olivier Tossan
Olivier Tossan is a visual development artist who grew up in Paris, lived an worked in Berlin for 12 years, and is now established in California where he is working for DreamWorks Animation Studios. Tossan has a springy, lively style, particularly in his character designs, that he embellishes with a dark palette accented with highlights…
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Ingres at the Morgan
Throughout my life I’ve been fortunate to experience a series of wonderful “Ah-Ha!” moments when I’ve come across a new genre or artist that made me feel like I was opening my eyes on a new world. Discovering the graphite portrait drawings of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres when I was an art student was one of them.…
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Edward Sorel: Nice Work If You Can Get It
Edward Sorel: Nice Work If You Can Get It is a 20 minute documentary about the well known cartoonist and satirist filmed by his son, Leo Sorel. In it the cartoonist discusses his career, his freeform, direct-in-ink drawing process and his degree of self criticism. There is also commentary from some of his famous contemporaries…
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Dinotopia 20th Anniversary Edition
Originally released 20 years ago, Dinotopia: A Land apart from Time was the first of artist/author James Gurney’s acclaimed and popular illustrated adventure story books placed in the same mythical land. Presented as an adventurer’s sketchbook, which the author has “found”, the story resonates with some of the sense of wonder and discovery to be…
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Pythagasaurus
Pythagasaurus is a wonderfully realized CGI animated short about “…the Mighty Pythagasaurus, the fabled tyrannosaurus practiced in the skills of trigonometry and long division”. The short is directed by Peter Peake and animated by Pascale Bories, with wonderful voice characterization by Bill Bailey, Martin Trenaman and Simon Greenall. Not exactly what you would expect from…