The real face of modern China. Photo courtesy of Frank Gladstone.

About two weeks after my return to Los Angeles, Zhu Yongde and Eddie Lee from the Shanghai Film Studio visited DreamWorks. As I showed them around, peeking into some of the traditional as well as CG areas, Zhu Yongde's eyes widened. As we parted he said, with a great deal of enthusiasm, "Now I see. This is wonderful. You are not just involved with the technology here. For you, this is also art!" When China incorporates that kind of thinking into their animation, we should see some magnificent work indeed.

Frank Gladstone has been working as a professional animator, producer, director, writer and teacher for more than twenty-five years. For fifteen of those years, he managed his own award-winning studio and has since worked for the feature animation divisions at Disney, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks SKG. Besides his studio credentials, Frank has taught at animation schools and institutions around the country, in the Caribbean, Europe and Asia, including the University of Miami, VIFX, Cinesite, UNICEF Animation Workshops, Gnomon School of Visual Effects and UCLA. Currently, Frank is the Head of Artistic Development at DreamWorks SKG Animation.