Visually Speaking: Most Discussed Posts

Is Speed Painting a Sport?

spitzel — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:21:02 -0700

Okay, so maybe it isn't really a full-blown sport, but if the proliferation of these videos of digital artwork screen-captured during the creation process is any indication, it's fast becoming a popular spectator event in any case.

Dark Ages: The Sequel - Is our Digital Art Future-Proof?

spitzel — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:04:15 -0800

During the first Dark Ages, folks living in the shadow of the Roman Aqueduct said, “What the heck is that thing?” They yanked stones from it to build their huts, it became a landmark, but as far as they knew, IT was created by wizards—or maybe the more advanced thought aliens were responsible. The records of what IT was, and how and why IT was built were either lost, destroyed, or irretrievable through the methods of the day.

Production Bloat: How Poor Planning Will Kill Your Project

spitzel — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:46:42 -0800

Even professional productions with big money and all sorts of folks checking everyone’s work can be victimized by poor up-front planning. Don’t make the same mistake on your animation demos! Plan ahead, plan well, and stick to that plan.

Art Takes Courage - Going Digital is Just One More Challenge

spitzel — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:12:45 -0800

No matter how much you think you need a “normal life,” you really don’t have time for one - the earlier you recognize that, the better off you’ll be. You must have the courage to say “I need to do this” and then let the chips fall as they may.

"We Don’t Need Artists Anymore!" - Finding a Place in the Procedural World

spitzel — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:18:32 -0800

I was stunned when I heard an engineer gleefully utter that proclamation. I wasn’t surprised by the sentiment; I know that a certain amount of friction exists between the polar worlds of artists and engineers - mostly, I believe, from the lack of a common language. But is that statement true?

Unifying the Game Production Pipeline - Are We Ready Yet?

spitzel — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 11:54:43 -0700

I remember texturing a character who wore jeans. I’ll never forget the worn-denim masterpiece I’d spent way too long tweaking in Photoshop. You could see every frayed thread on those western-stitched pockets. You could feel the comfy, broken-in fit. So imagine my surprise when the character’s legs showed up completely black in the game engine.

Getting Real…or Not

spitzel — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 14:03:57 -0800

Except for “most” of the actors, there is very little in modern advertising that isn’t the product of long hours of software application coding followed by longer hours of someone pushing a mouse or waving a stylus at some digital display. I’m probably not going to lose too many artists when I say that even some of the people, the “folks” we see in advertising, are not…quite…real. Yes, watching an automobile commercial these days and believing what you see is sort of like being plugged into the Matrix.

What are digital skills and why should you care about them?

spitzel — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 15:09:03 -0700

What are digital skills and why should you care about them? You're an artist, right? Well, if you are and you are reading this from the AWN Web site, you're already tuned into digital skills in a big way whether or not you're aware of them. The truth is, to be an artist today and get paid for it, a working knowledge of computers is a necessity.

Getting Real . . . or Not, the Sequel: Understanding the Codes and Contexts that Trigger Suspension

spitzel — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:45:14 -0800

My last installment dealt with “suspension of disbelief”—in filmmaking terms, it’s that ability an audience has to recognize a fantasy, accept it as such, and let themselves be drawn in anyway. I’d be the last person to suggest we should be happy with blatantly bad effects. What I’m asking is: are we working hard enough to understand the codes and contexts that trigger suspension of disbelief in our audience?