Steve travels to less developed countries frequently to discover the beauty in the lands and its people. The stunning colors in his photos from Afganistan, Burma, Nepal and India reveal rare sights from these countries that are hidden from the casual tourist and less adventurous individuals.
View his gallery at http://www.stevemccurry.com/main.php
Xia Xiaowan - Return
Inspired by x-ray photography, Xia Xiaowan creates his works on layers of glass while exploring the absurd and strange qualities of realism. As one walks around the installation, the image changes along each shift of perspective, blurring the line between painting and sculpture.
View more of his work at the Galerie Urs Meile gallery.
As real as it gets
Behind the scene process: http://www.flickr.com/photos/18697966@N00/sets/72157608377333404/detail/
While maps have become a common site on the net, who knew they could be used to tell stories too?
How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity was Ed Catmull’s speech at Siggraph 2008, worth a read for anyone in the creative industry.
A few years ago, I had lunch with the head of a major motion picture studio, who declared that his central problem was not finding good people—it was finding good ideas. Since then, when giving talks, I’ve asked audiences whether they agree with him. Almost always there’s a 50/50 split, which has astounded me because I couldn’t disagree more with the studio executive. His belief is rooted in a misguided view of creativity that exaggerates the importance of the initial idea in creating an original product… read full article
Interesting image, good example of how technology can add new dimensions to ‘old’ art: a 3d version of Under the Wave off Kanagawa that Hokusai wouldn’t achieve even if he lived through a hundred (sorry Hokusai =D). See it here, and the original here.
Hokusai's Wave in 3D
For those who have not seen the movie Kungfu Panda, it’s a 3D animated feature about a panda dreaming of kungfu greatness and eventually realizing his potential after going through various humiliation and training. While the film was undoubtedly high in standard, as expected from the producer of Shrek, I was surprised by its well executed opening sequence, which was done in traditional 2D animation.
Barely two and a half minutes long, the audience is treated to a fast paced action sequence with superb timing, color, character, staging, sound effects and narration, and did I mention timing? I feel that although the rest of the elements worked great together, it was the timing and pacing which managed to pack so much back to back action and effects into the 2 minutes yet allowing enough time for the audience to take it all in. Every motion had a purpose and was well planned to carry on the story and pace.
You can download the piece in quicktime format at Art of the Title, and enjoy it frame by frame.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/10/03/kung-fu-panda/
