Sebastian Ramn is a freelance Art Director and Illustrator, operating out of Stockholm. His work ranges from editorial illustration to TV Network identities, animated shorts and graphic novels. Mr. Ramn’s recently established a new website to plays host to much of his current work, but … Read on
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Storyboard and comic artist Vera Brosgol was born in Moscow, but has lived in the United States since the age of five. She contributed to 3 volumes the Flight anthologies and gained broad recognition with her first graphic novel, Anya’s Ghost. Published in 2011 by … Read on
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Hailing from Kailua, Hawaii, Ryan Lang is an artist at Walt Disney Feature Animation Studios. Recently he has worked as a lead designer for Hero’s Duty, and a visual development artist for Wreck-it Ralph, as well as the upcoming Disney/Marvel feature animation, Big Hero 6.
Mr. Lang’s work has only recently come to my attention when his amazing rendition of Goliath (from Disney’s Gargoyles) started to make it’s rounds on tumblr. An incredibly skilled digital painter, Mr. Lang’s styles span from ultra realistic, to simply stylised shapes. However it is his technique that he uses for his character pieces, like the Goliath one, that are truly captivating. I can’t put my finger on what makes them so beautiful, but I get the feeling that it has something to do with a personal connection for these characters. His love for them undoubtedly shines through in his work.
Keep track of Ryan Lang’s work by following his Blog.
Phantom Limb is a short animation created by Australian animation director Alex Grigg, in association with Late Night Work Club. It has done the rounds this year at many prestigious film festivals, including Sundance Film Festival, and the Annecy International Animation Festival, picking up multiple awards along the way. The melancholy, yet enchanting animation is enhanced by its choppy pacing and notable eerie sound design. To find out more about the project, take a look at Mr Grigg’s write up.
Slight tangent from illustration here, but if this animation has made you the slightest bit inquisitive of phantom limbs, and you would like to know more, you absolutely must read Phantoms in the Brain.
This weekend I was in a somewhat nostalgic mood. My mind wondered off, and came to a place it had not visited in quite some time. That place was flash animations, specially around 10 years ago. At that time, sites like AtomFilms and Newgrounds were providing a platform for web animation, enabling and encouraging the medium to grow. Every so often there would be a noteworthy short, but on the whole the standard of work was clouded with exploratory and amateur attempts. Through the fog, however, emerge a handful a of truly skilled individuals and work. One such individual is the focus of today’s post.
Australian freelance animator Adam Phillips originally worked as a character animator and effects director at Walt Disney Studios in Sydney. Many of his project were sequels to hit Disney movies, including Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride (1998) and Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996). Applying the Disney school of thought to his own animated series Brackenwood revealed a glaring difference in the quality to that of most web animations that had come before.
Waterlollies was one of the last animations Mr Phillips released in the Brackenwood series, and it is liquid beauty. Throughout the series’ six-year run, it received multiple awards and Waterlollies, deservedly so, picked up the Newgrounds Tank Award for Best Movie of 2007.
We will be continuing our winsome walk down memory lane, or the period of internet history that I am affectionately dubbing The Web Animation Renaissance. Today’s focus is on Bernard Derriman.
Sharing a similar story to Adam Phillips, Mr Derriman an Australian Animation Director, whom is also a Sydney Walt Disney Studios alumni. He gained his first dose of exposure with his award-winning short animation Chopper, based on the 2000 film of the same name. He also animated and directed the TISM’s music video for Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me, which received a Channel Frederator Award for funniest film .
Arj and Poopy was a 10 episode series created by Bernard Derriman and comedian Arj Barker. The series was consistently funny, with off-kilt pacing that heightened the awkwardness. Though it started strong it definitely got better, scoring itself multiple awards including two Annecy International Animated Film Festival Awards.
The episode, Unlucky in Love, though not as revere as the series concluding episode, still perfectly encapsulates the quality and humour of the whole series. Not to mention, that I can watch Poopy dancing and smiling on repeat and never tire of it.
I have recently taken a strong interest in colour theory, and colourist. Trying to understand why certain pallets work and how to come up them. There is a lot to learn from today’s feature. Presenting the work of Scott Wills, who is among other things, a master of colour.
You may already be familiar with his work, especially if you are a fan of Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars, as Mr Wills worked on many of the backgrounds of those productions. His distinct style really helped set apart Samurai Jack from other animations of the time, something which I remember thinking when I first watched the show.
Scott Wills has also provided background art for The Road to El Dorado (2000), Quest for Camelot (1998), as well as art directing Flushed Away (2006), and Monsters vs. Aliens (2009).
Fascinatingly many of Mr Wills’ pieces are painted small in scale. With acrylic being his predominately medium of choice, he uses a range of techniques to get the look he wants. There are an excellent group of videos over on YouTube, of Mr Wills working on various Samurai Jack paintings. They are short, averaging around 6 minutes each, but long enough to give you some invaluable insight on how he goes about creating such beautiful backgrounds.
You can find more of Scott Wills’ work on his blog, CandyCaneLane.
Mike Yamada is a visual development artist for animation, and concept artist for video games. Some of his feature animation work includes Big Hero 6 (2014), How to Train your Dragon (2010), Monsters vs. Aliens (2009), and Kung Fu Panda (2008).
Alongside his wife, Victoria Ying, he started a design studio called Extracurricular Activities. It houses their beautiful products, such as prints and apparel. They also take their knowledge on the road, holding lectures and workshops. Talking about knowledge, this excellent interview of the couple has back-back great advice any aspiring artist.
A couple years ago, the pair took to Kickstarter to fund their ambitious children’s book Curiosities: An Illustrated History of Ancestral Oddity. As you can imagine it absolute bulldozed its original goal of $4,000 and went on to receive just under $50,000!
Mike Yamada’s blog is filled with his concept art and sketches and well worth a gander.
Ninjai: The Little Ninja will be the penultimate of The Web Animation Renaissance features. Ninjai was created by the Ninjai Gang. Though the individuals that compose the group are unknown we do know, from their YouTube channel, it is “a group of young stuntmen by day and animators, musicians, and artists by night”.
Ninjai completed 12 chapters, and what started as your run-of-the-mill web animation rapidly became something much more. The animation jumped up about 10 pegs, the characters, story telling and voice acting was tightened and gained more depth. It really became a stand-out animation, and accumulated a devoted following.
Due to a disruptive work schedule, fans became agitated when the episode releases were delayed. As happy as fans were when the episodes were finally released, further frustration was caused when the series ended abruptly with an unresolved story line. The series ended in 2005.
The Ninjai Gang confirmed that, the story did not end with chapter 12, and in 2008 announced they were working on a feature length animation. Obviously working with a small team at an incredibly slow pace, the project has been somewhat forgotten by fans. However from the looks of the Ninjai Facebook page progress has been made and the end is in sight. So I, for one, still hold on to the excitement and hope that the feature length will finally see the light of day, and the fans get a conclusion that will satisfy the wait.
With this post The Lounge has reached a rather large milestone, 1000 posts. Thinking about that got me a little nervous. I started to question what illustrator would best mark this milestone. One of my favourite illustrators? One of the greats of yesteryear? One of the ground-breaking new talent? Since this blog is all about inspiration, I asked myself, “who has inspired me most?” Well, that was an easy question to answer. Without a doubt that would be my cousin, and fellow Lounge author, Mr Kyri Kyprianou.
I wont be able to get around the fact that this will be a slightly personal post, but I will try to keep it on track. Kyri is roughly two years older than me, and being older has two years more experience and drawing time than I. Two years that as a child I tried, in vain, to catch up on. We would often draw together, spending whole weekends doing nothing but that, only taking a break to go buy some penny sweets. Kyri always seemed to figure out things way quicker than I could. Whilst I jumped styles with each drawing, Kyri nailed a pretty unique style early on. His work, without a doubt was my yard stick.
Kyri studied animation at the Kent Institute of Art & Design. After three years of disciplined working habits his pencils tightened up considerably. He was using shapes more and his illustrations demonstrated an economy of style. At this point I knew there was no chance of me catching up to his level. But of course that didn’t deter me, it only made me aim higher.
After university Kyri went on to intern at a small London animation studio, called C.H.A.S.E., where he learnt the art of pitching. Not long after we both joined forces, along with Mr Tarkan Paphiti, to create the Illustrator’s Lounge. Effectively a group of illustrators united under one banner. In that time Kyri produced character designs for online video games, web animations, and spear-headed the Paper Project. Kyri has always comfortably jumped between mediums, and though he was a bit of a technophobe at first, rapidly mastered the tools of photoshop and illustrator.
Currently Kyri works as a graphic designer and illustrator for a web development company, where he has picked up new disciplines, such as branding and typography. In his spare time he is also working on a children’s animation pitch along with comic book writer David Berner.
Having an artist to work with, bounce ideas off, and critique your drawings is invaluable. It can often be difficult working and developing your skills in solitude, so I knew how lucky I was to have access to such a great talent. His work has been, and remains, my greatest inspiration.
Thanks Kyri!
Gerhard Human is a Designer and Illustrator currently living in Cape Town, South Africa. He works as a Creative Director for advertising agency Masters & Savant Worldwide. He regularly produces personal work for gallery exhibitions, and in the last three years he has participated in no less than a combination of 20 group and solo shows.
Describing his work as “simplification of a chaotic state” he has applied his artwork to apparel, animation, comics, and skateboards. Mr Human illustrated a short-story called Birdie, written by Lauren Beukes, for the DC/Virtigo anthology The Witching hour #1. He has also provided illustrations for an MTV ident and his excellent contribution to the Radiohead In Rainbows competition earned him a Semi-Finalist position.
You can see more of Gerhard Human’s illustrations on his website and instagram, and follow him on twitter.
Presenting the very sumptuous work of Amélie Fléchais. A French children’s book illustrator and visual development artist. Graduated in 2011, Ms Fléchais earned a diploma in 2D animation from ESAAT (Ecole Supérieure Arts Appliqués et Textile). That same year she interned at Cartoon Saloon, an Irish animation studio responsible for the Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells. There she produced concept art for the feature film Song of the Sea. A couple years later, Ms Fléchais was asked back to do further visual development and background art for Song of the Sea. More recently Ms Fléchais has shared her talents with Dreamworks and Hornet animation studios.
Additionally, since graduating, Amélie Fléchais has worked on three books, Chemin Perdu (Lost path), Le Petit Loup Rouge (Little Red Wolf) and soon to be released L’homme Montagne (Mountain Man). Both Chemin Perdu and Le Petit Loup Rouge are a feast for the eyes. Each page is carefully created. The illustrations are intricate, textured and rich in colour. Ms Fléchais has an incredible talent for the whimsical and joyous, and her talents really shine through in these books.
You can find more of Amélie Fléchais’ beautiful work on her tumblr, blog, and Facebook.
