Hey guys, just spreading the word here! Aaron Sims, the guy you all love for his amazing work on recent hit movies like 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon', 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' and 'Clash of the Titans' (still one of my favorites) has his new 'Directors' site up, where he shows the projects he directed himself. You should definately check out the trailer of his upcoming short 'Archetype'. On the site you will also be able to watch his full short 'Paralyzed'.
Aaron is a character designer or conceptual artist and digital effects artist. He has worked on all the major Hollywood blockbusters of the last two decades. He worked with Rick Baker'sCinovation Studios and Stan Winston. Working with SoftImage and Photoshop, and combining his knowledge of computer technology with his experience as a sculptor made him the lead character designer on Spielberg's 'Artificial Intelligence', which changed the the industry's design process. He co-created Stan Winston Digital and led the studio, working on films as 'Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow' and 'Constantine'. He now runs the 'Aaron Sims Company', which worked on films such as 'The Incredible Hulk' and '30 Days of Night'. Among his team are Jerad S. Maranz (lead artist), Alex Mandrajiev (concepts/storyboards), Tsvetomir Georgiev (main modeler) and Joel Chang (head environment designer).
If you like to learn more about Aaron Sims or his approach to creature design, you should definately check out the training dvd's he did for Alex Alvarez' Gnomon Workshop. They include demonstrations with Photoshop, XSI (SoftImage), Deep paint and Z-brush. Excellent stuff!
D'Oh! Waiting some time for this, but 'The Simpsons' returned with the first episode of their 23rd season this sunday, Woohoo! The last episode, 'The Ned-liest Catch' aired May 22 on Fox.
As always, this season will see it's share of voice actors doing guest appearances. Among them Joan Rivers, Andy Garcia, Jeremy Irons, Michael Cera, Jane Lynch, and Bryan Craston of 'Breaking Bad'. Kiefer Sutherland appeared in the first episode this week, called 'The Falcon and the D'Ohman' (episode #NABF16). He did the voice of Wayne, the new security guard at the Nuclear power plant where Homer ehm...'works'. Unlike Larry (the previous guard who now resides at the 'crazy house') Wayne doesn't want to fist-bump, which makes Homer go out of his way to befriend him (as you can see from the scene above, Homer had his way in the end!). Wayne appears to have been a secret goverment agent who learned to many secrets, while doing dirty jobs for the powers that be. Something like that will kill your social life, of course. The climax had a nice reference to Robert de Niro's action hit film 'Ronin', in which Wayne and Homer rumble with some figure-skating Russian moguls on the nearby ice-skating rink. (well, it's in 'Little Ukraine'!)
'The Simpsons' is now the longest-running American animated program and since 2009, the longest-running American primetime scripted television series, winning 27 Emmy Awards. Time magazine even called it 'the best television series of the 20th century'!
This season we will also wittness the historic 500th episode, which will air on February 19, 2012! The first full episode aired on December 17, 1989, after creator Matt Groening had previously created a series of shorts, which became part of 'The Tracy Ullman show' for three seasons.
Matt Groening lives in Hell.
Before Matt went into cartoons, he had his own underground comic strip titled 'Life in Hell' in the alternative newspaper 'The L.A. Reader' in 1978. It was based on his day to day experiences in Los Angeles, after Groening had moved their from Portland the year before. Matt also had a music column in the paper, but his reviews were completely made up and included bands that didn't exist or records that were never released! Hilarious!!
Matt´s comic caught the attention of producer James L Brooks who wanted him to do some animation based on the strip for 'The Tracy Ullman show'. Groening decided to create some new characters instead, which became 'The Simpsons family'. Matt's father (called Homer, like the Bart's father on the show) was also a writer and cartoonist. Fifteen volumes have been published so far of his comic, the last one in 2007.
Futurama
Matt Groening also created and developed the animated sci-fi comedy series ´Futurama´ with David X. Cohen, which is set in the 31st century. The first four seasons aired from 1999 to 2003 on Fox after which the show was sadly cancelled.
However, between 2007 and 2009 four straight-to-dvd movies were released: 'Benders Big Score', 'The Beast with a Billion Backs', 'Benders Game' and 'Into the Wild Green Yonder', which were picked up by Comedy Central and chopped up into 16 episodes as 'season 5'. Fox decided to create 26 completely new episodes for a sixth season, which were broadcast in 2010/2011. The season recently ended with 'Reincarnation', the 26th episode that aired on September 8.
In March it was announced that a 7th season with 26 more episodes will be produced, thirteen of which will be broadcast in 2012, the second half will be broadcast in 2013. Fox will release the sixth season on Blu-ray and DVD just in time for Christmas, on December 20th. Check Matt Groening 'My wasted life' for a nice chat with Matt on watching TV all day (which he called 'doing research'!)
Digital animation
Since season 14 of 'The Simpsons', traditional cel animation was replaced with digital inks and paint, while season 20 in 2009 was the first in HD format. As of 2010 the series is produced by Film Roman with overseas production handled by Nelson Shin's AKOM productions in South Korea. The animation of the series is done using Toon Boom software. Click the images below to check out some of 'The Simpsons' model sheets!
In June, Marvel announced that issue #544 of their long running comic 'Uncanny X-Men' (out October 19th) would conclude the series after Adam Kubert's five part 'X-men: Schism' would tear the X-Men apart. But now it appears that Marvel will be 'regenerating' the title and introduces two new series: 'Wolverine and the X-Men' and an alternative version of 'Uncanny X-Men' (lead by Emma Frost), splitting the original series in two.
Above: cover for the last issue of the original run. Artwork by Greg Land and script by Kieron Gillen. While the current artists of the original series will continue working on the new 'Uncanny X-men #1' (out in November), writer of 'X-Men Schism' Jason Aaron will team up for the 'Wolverine and the X-men' series with artist Chris Bachalo. The first issue will be out October 26th. As you can see from the artwork for both covers beneath, the members of both teams are still cloaked. Marvel will also publish a 'X-Men: Regenesis' one-shot, penned by Gillen with artwork by Billy Tan.
While the original 'X-Men' comic book series was created by the legendary Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, the series changed into the 'Uncanny X-Men' in November 1980 with issue #139 with the numbering continued. Although hugely popular now, the series initially failed to succeed and was even cancelled between 1970 and 1975.
Below left: Cover for Stan Lee's first issue from September 1963 with artwork by Jack Kirby with inks by Paul Reinman. Right: The Uncanny X-Men #139 from November 1980 carried the story 'Something wicked this way comes' by Chris Claremont and John Byrnes.
The real succes for the X-Men came when Chris Claremont took on the job of writer and introduced all kinds of new characters and stories, which he continued to do for 17 years, from 1975 until 1991! A spin-off series was introduced in 1991, which was just titled 'X-Men' again. Claremont also scripted it's first issue (with artwork by Jim Lee), which is still the best-selling comic book of all time! Below: Artwork by Jim Lee (pencils) and Scott Williams (inks) for the four variant covers of 'X-Men' #1 from 1991.
If you are going to buy only one comic this year, than make your way to the nearest comic shop right now and enlighten yourself, because Image Comics showed balls of steel publishing Rick Veitch' 'The Big Lie' this month, right before the tenth anniversary of September 11th!
Veitch's artwork, with inks by Gary Erskine and cover by Thomas Yates, tells the provocative and compelling story of the 9/11 attacks, and shows they've done an excellent job researching the cold hard facts. I know there are a lot of people out there that have genuine feelings about this, but if you're going to listen to a story, wouldn't you rather hear one that has the facts straight? Here are some bits and pieces from the comic, showing you why I think this may well be the most important book out this year.
Rick Veitch modeled his story after the Twilight Zone episode "No Time Like the Past," from 1963 in which a man uses a time machine to try and stop the bombing of Hiroshima and also attempts an assassination on Hitler before WW II.
Veitch and Erskine start it off pretty basic by introducing us to the protagonist. She's a scientist working on the highest-energy particle accelerator in the world and found a way to travel back in time. She finds herself in New York City an hour before the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11th, 2001. Of course she's trying to warn the people working in the buildings and save their lives, especially when one of them is her husband, who she lost that day. She's got an Ipad with her, and tries to convince everybody what's going to happen soon, by showing them footage of the attack.
...But people don't believe her. Surely US government agencies would have been updated with the latest intel to prevent the attack and save everybody's lives, right?
Fiction trades for facts as Veitch and Erskine confront the reader with the reality of the actual situation. As Sergeant Joe Friday from 'Dragnet' would say...'Just the facts, ma'am'!
To go deeper into the situation as it took place that day, Veitch and Erskine introduce an employee that has first hand experience with jet fighters and knows all about the US air defense system. Don't start telling him a couple of boxcutting Arabians would be able to overcome all the power of the US air force?? His information shows us how it takes NORAD less than eight minutes to intercept an airliner and that pilots are permitted to shoot them down if neccesary.
Again, Veitch and Erskine have done excellent research and show us the cold hard facts from that dreadful day:
Yes, the US airforce couldn't react to the attack because it was too busy training for the unpredictable situation of a hijacked airplane and the very unlikely scenario of them crashing into buildings! Feeling warped yet? Did you know the remaining air defense stood down by order of Vice-President Dick Cheney himself? Strangely enough, he had lunch with Osama Bin Laden's brother on September 10th! As you may know, right after the attacks, no airplanes were given permission to take off in the entire US, except for the personal airplane of the Bin Laden family.
The story continues as the female scientist shows the results of the attacks: An American invasion of the Middle-East and Irac althought any 'weapons of mass destruction' were never found by the UN inspectors. But hold on...Veitch and Erskine thrown another log on the fire: the 'Neo-Cons' ('Neo- Conservatives', a group of American politicians following the philosophy of German professor Leo Strauss) needed another 'Pearl Harbor' to usher in a return to imperialism, known as 'The New American Century', as can be read in their document called 'Rebuilding America's Defences'. It was signed by many of it's followers exactly a year before September 11, 2001, among them Minister of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney! The usefull creation of a myth is endorsed by the philosophy of Strauss, calling it 'the noble lie'. He propagated that citizens needed to be led by the elite and that the use of tactical deception was critical for political leaders seeking to maintain a cohesive society (control the masses), a vision based on his interpretation of Plato's 'Republic'.
Section V of 'Rebuilding America's Defenses', entitled "Creating Tomorrow's Dominant Force" shows it all in advance on page 63. This report from 'The Project for The New American Century' was written in September 2000, a year before the attacks. As you may know, the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese was what lead the American people into WWII. (Rumsfeld said on September 25th, 2001: 'Sometimes the truth is so precious it must be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies' (quoting Churchill, who said this in regard to the invasion of France in 1944).
In the story the feeling of betrayal is personified by the scientists' husband, who tries to prove his wife is an imposter. The guy actually has a masters degree in structural engineering and goes on to explain more details about the WTC: The towers were actually built to withstand the crash of fully-loaded Jetliners. He's even written a thesis on it. This set up introduces us to more details about the actual towers and how there could have been only one way to bring them down:
The scientist explains that the dust, that everybody saw that day when the buildings came down is actually typical for such demolitions. Again, the creators give us more information, that was left out of the commisions report, after the investigation following the attack:
A third tower, called building 7, actually known as the 'Salomon Brothers building' had never been struck by any airplane! Still, it collapsed like a pancake just the same that morning. A situation that cannot be explained by normal physics! Did you know that reporters of the BBC received an official press release that building 7 had collapsed an half hour before it actually did? As such, they reported it half an hour 'too early' on TV.
Did you know that the Twin Towers became the private property of Larry Silverstein just before the September 11th 2001 attack and that he had insured the towers against a terrorist attack seven weeks before the planes hit the WTC? He made a total of $4.55 billion profit of the 9/11 attack. Also, Silverstein used to have breakfast every morning in the restaurant on the top floor, but on that very day, he couldn't because of a docter's appointment. Surprisingly, his daughter, who worked at building 7 of the WTC, also couldn't come to work that day...
The 'invisible Boeing' that struck the Pentagon.
The storyline of 'The Big Lie' sticks with the planes that crashed the WTC in New York. Flight 93 that crash-landed in Pensylvania and American Airlines flight 77 that hit the Pentagon are not part of the story. Remember that the plane that hit the Pentagon was a Boeing 757, a plane 150 feet long with a wingspan of 125 feet wide. The official story still claims that the fires that followed the crash were of such a high degree that the plane just vanished from existence. Sure there was some debris, they even found the drivers license of one of the muslim terrorists among it, but the Boeing 757 had completely vanished! For Europeans: that's a plane 54 meters long, with a wingsize of 38 meters wide! Anyway, the 84 tapes that could shed some light on that mystery are not released to the public by the FBI. Not even a picture of the plane. What could there be that they don't want you to see? I mean, we all know what the building looks like from the outside, right?
There's also the awkward situation that minister of defence Donald Rumsfeld made an announcement on September 10, 2001, that his department had 'lost track' of $ 2.3 Trillion Dollars. They simply couldn't find it anymore. You know what that looks like folks? A trillion is a million times a million dollars, and has 12 zeroes to the left of the decimal point! And the amount he couldn't find anymore was more than twice that! He was never fired, nobody was, 'cause come next day nobody ever talked about it anymore...the money was never found again. Here's a nice video of Bush, being asked how he feels that some are saying he had advance knowledge of 911, remember, this man received the finest education money can buy and should be outraged with such a statement.
'The Big Lie' is a one-shot, and if you want to know how it ends, you better get it fast. The book also contains a great section with more evidence and facts brought forth by 1500 architects and engineers that can't be explained away and prove there's a much bigger story here. For more information on this subject go to ae911truth.org or visit http://truthbetoldcomics.com. You can also check out the official Rick Veith site and see some of the artwork that didn't make the cut.
Frank Miller's 'Holy Terror'.
If you like to read some more after this book, you can pick up the Graphic Novel 'Holy Terror' by comic legend Frank Miller ('Sin City'), which will be out September 28th. Part two and three 'Pulp Hope' and 'The Tower Chronicles' will be published this winter. Check out the animated trailer publisher Legendary comics created for Comic-Con International beneath (you can also read the first few pages from it on Legendary's site).
Sad news today. Minck Oosterveer (1961-2011) died this Saturday in a fatal crash with his motorcycle. The Dutch comic artist recently drew the Storm spin-off 'De Banneling van Thoem' for Eppo comic magazine with his pal and writer Willem Ritstier. Oosterveer had received the most prestigious Dutch prize this year for his complete comic work at the comic convention in Gorinchem on March 12.
He was building an international career, working with American writer Mark Waid for Marvel on the comic book 'Ruse' (Which Waid had originally created for Cross Gen with Butch Guice en Mike Perkins), and the Spider-Man one-shot 'Spider Island: Deadly Foes'. He also cooperated with Waid on the mini-series 'The Unknown' and 'Zombie Tales' for Boom! Studios. Oosterveer was fifty and is survived by his wife Tineke and his two children Kirsten and Sven. My deepest condolences to them and respect to all friends and collegues.
You can visit Minck's site here to check out his great work, but it doesn't mention anything about his passing yet, as I would presume.
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While DC Comics released several major issues the last months (Action Comics #900 being just one of them) they decided to recreate history all over and start from scratch: This month DC will reset the clock and relaunch all their current series and release all-new premier issues of their 52 titles: the new 52! The other news is that from now on, the complete DC comics line will also be published digitally, so you will officially be able to get your favorite titles from DC in digital form, the very day the printed versions arrive in the shops!
The First title out was the new 'Justice League #1'. It was for sale on the night of August 31- September 1 at Midtown Comics, the huge comic book store on Times Square, New York, which had a signing session with the title's creators Jim Lee and Geoff Johns!
Waiting, waiting, waiting! With all these people waiting in line for the first issue of the new DC universe to arrive at midnight...
... creators Jim Lee and Geoff Johns were glad they could help out a little, handing out free pizza to the crowds before going on to sign their comics inside the shop!
No, it's not Halloween yet, but some of them were already in the mood to dress up! Jim Lee looks quite surprised while leaving his sketch on the covers of Justice League #1! Check out all photo's by Ron Gejon on the Midtown facebook page.
Some of the other titles arriving this month you might want to get for your grandkids : Action comics #1 (published September 7). The original version from the 1940's recently sold for a million Dollars! Below: original artwork and final cover by Rags Morales for the very first new 'Action Comics'. See anything different? Well, the man from Krypton lost his underpants! (Check out his cool new look from the 'Justice League Sketchbook' section underneath.)
More titles to look forward to: the premier issue of a whole new 'Detective Comics' (out now) and the very first issue of the new 'Superman' series (published September 28th). DC had just released Detective Comics #881 and Superman #714 last August. The first issue of 'Detective Comics' was released in March 1937 (the 27th issue would introduce us to 'Batman' for the very first time in May 1939). The original premier issue of 'Superman' was a spin-off of DC's popular 'Action Comics' which had introduced us to the Kryptonian flying man. It marked the first time a superhero had it's own series and dates back from June 1939.
The new 'Detective Comics' series will start off with story and artwork by Tony Daniel, while the new 'Superman' series will have artwork by one of my favorite DC artists George Perez! (cover above is by Jesus Merino). Check out the video beneath and see what the guys at DC Comics have to say for them selves about the complete new DC Universe!
The focus of this phase is determining the qualitative and quantitative aspects of a home. Each team located and compiled information to describe psychological, physiological and anthropometrical aspects of a home.
