Google Art Project

Technology is great, thank internet, thank google for Google Art Project!! This is wonderful and amazing!!!

Google on Monday unveiled a new feature called Google Art Project that is nothing short of wonderful and amazing! The project is an online archive of ultra-high-resolution images of great works of art. Google has applied their “Street View” technology, familiar for providing zoomable street-level images within the context of Google Maps, to the display of both the works and the galleries in which they reside.

At the moment they are working with 17 museums, each of which has contributed one or more gigapixel level images to the project; and an impressive start it is:

Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin – Germany
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian, Washington DC – USA
The Frick Collection, NYC – USA
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin – Germany
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC – USA
MoMA, The Museum of Modern Art, NYC – USA
Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid – Spain
Museo Thyssen – Bornemisza, Madrid – Spain
Museum Kampa, Prague – Czech Republic
National Gallery, London – UK
Palace of Versailles – France
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam – The Netherlands
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg – Russia
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow – Russia
Tate Britain, London – UK
Uffizi Gallery, Florence – Italy
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam – The Netherlands

GOOGLE發佈一個新服務「Google Art Project」，讓網友不用出國，在家輕鬆連上網路就可以逛國外博物館，包括知名的法國凡爾賽宮、英國倫敦的國家藝廊、紐約的大都會博物館，目前已經有17間博物館可以線上免費參觀。

Google Art Project將GOOGLE地圖、街景與相簿的技術整合，進入Google Art Project乍看之下，好像是GOOGLE把街景車開到了博物館裡面，利用像是街景的虛擬實境畫面，讓使用者好像是真的在逛博物館一樣，Google Art Project同時也提供了藝術品及作者的簡介，透過網路，逛博物館不用人擠人，也不用拿放大鏡看，動動手就能一覽無遺。

Bakuman

Bakuman is a manga I'm personally very fond of: written and drawn by the Death Note-famous team Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, it focuses on two ninth grade boys who wish to become mangaka.


There are lots of knowledge on manga production, you will know how the industry and mechanism work. The impressed me the most is the how they get through the day-to-day lives challenges to create a pop manga, have their dream come true.... Since I am working on the comic project, I attached itt myself to this subject, I usually have the same problems...so I read it many times to encourage myself. If you never read this, I highly recommend!


The illustration are cool, a very clean and elegant style

These are the Manga created by the authors inside the story.

Bakuman on Shounen Jump Cover

One more good news Bakuman is currently running in Weekly Shounen Jump with five volumes on the market is finally getting an anime of 25 episodes, scheduled to air Oct. 2010. The anime series will be airing on NHK, developed by the studio J.C.Staff.Every time i finished reading that, I feel my body is burning (my blood is boiled !!!)

By the way, It called 食梦者 in China; 爆漫王 in Taiwan; 爆漫 in Hong Kong）.

Salesman Pete

This animation inspire me a lot! The unique style with wonderful combination of 2D and 3d technique. Must check it out!

Salesman Pete from Salesman Pete on Vimeo.

"Pete is a nice and clumsy salesman. But he's also a deadly super secret agent with a microprocessor implanted into his brain by some mad scientists from the government ! He has to secretly stop a bunch of badguys who stole a magic stone that can change anything into seafood!"

http://www.salesmanbuck.com/

Recycled Art, Retro Robot

The following inspiring robots are created by a France Painter and Sculptor, +Brauer. All the materials for his creation are collected from there and here,
"In our modern world, where objects often have a single life, I aim at inventing a new existence for them by diverting them from their initial function. I particularly like the robust appearance of used steel and industrial materials. When I put them together, they start a new life as unique pieces of art, in which each component can tell its own story."

Nice work, really love it!! You can see more art works and know more about him by visiting his website: http://www.brauer.fr/

Amazing Alphabet Pop-up!

If you love pop-up book, typography and Graphic design, you must check this one, Marion Bataille’s ABC3D ! Amazing!! 好堅 !
"Slick, stylish and designerly, it’s hard to capture its tactile, interactive magic in static words — you have to have it in your hands to truly appreciate it."


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Gary

Gary from Gary on Vimeo.
This short inspired me a lot! Very unique style with well combination of 2D and 3D. Directed by Clément Soulmagnon, Yann Benedi, Sébastien Eballard & Quentin Chaillet - Copyright Supinfocom 2008 - Gary-lefilm.com. You must check One of the Creator Bened Yann's blog, there are lots of concept sketches and illustrations there.

The art of Alberto Cerriteño

A Mexican illustrator & designer Albert Cerriteno who lives in Portland amazes you with his artwork. He’s strongly influenced by urban vinyl toys, alternative cartoons, and the pop surrealism movement. Like it!

http://albertocerriteno.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/acerriteno/

Brilliant Negative Space Illustrations by Noma Bar

I love how graphic designer Noma Bar play eith the negative space on his clever illustrations. These are some examples of his new book Negative Space. In this book Bar focuses on subject matter ranging from sex, global warming and nuclear warfare to religion, crime and corporate greed. Recommended!!

Noma Bar Bios: "Born in Israel into a highly artistic family, Noma Bar, graduated in 2000 from the Bezalel Academy of Art & Design with a B.DES Bachelor of Graphic & Type Design. Now based in London he describes his craft as visual communication, combining the skills of artist, illustrator and designer. His two stunning and highly acclaimed books, The Many Faces of Noma Bar and Negative Space have become a must have for design school library's and tutors.

Noma's development process takes place in the sketchbook, going on to digitally produce finished work on the computer once the idea is fully conceptualized. The duel strategies of his practice, efficiency and humour, come from a keen understanding of how the brain accesses and understands imagery.

With a limited pallet he subtlety and precisely manipulates shape and form where familiar symbols and pictograms evolve to form new meaning. Negative and positive spaces tessellate creating several images in one, that sometimes need a few moments to see the embedded, sometimes poignant, message. Noma uses this technique to its best effect when dealing with social and political issues. Subjects such as nuclear warfare, corporate greed and national identity are illustrated with a hidden twist of humour. His portraits merge the subject's features, with images that epitomise their fame, to form an instantly recognisable face.

“I am after the maximum communication with minimum elements”

Noma's ingenuity in turning complexity into simplicity exemplifies this idea and his dedication to his own principles means Noma continues to achieve his personal challenge, time and time again, with universal elegance."

IOC | All Together Now

CM of ICO, produced by Nexus Productions, I like the concept and nice character design!

今天出喇 !!

超期待的《武道狂之詩》卷三《震關中》 今天出喇!
又有食糧... Nice cover illustration!

The Making of PlayStation

above you see the development of PS logo, I always interest to see any "the making of" stuffs, where is the original idea and how thge final design was developed etc. Edge Magazine has an retrospective up for the PlayStation, from its early break with Nintendo to its current struggles to for market share; cool logo and controller prototypes, etc. a interesting article.
Read the full article at edge-online

Beautiful Medical Animation

Look at these!! Such a beautiful medical animation! How amazing how they combine the medical knowledge and artistic together. I just like how play with the color and layout, just like a fantasy world... check their website Hybrid Medical Animation to see their demo reel, so cool. There are also lots beautiful medical illustrations.

"Gotham Knight" Anime

期待!!!

Title: Batman: Gotham Knight (IMDb)
Starring: N/A (Animation)
Released: 8th July 2008 (US)
SRP: $29.98 (2-Disc)

Further Details: Warner Home Video has officially announced 1-disc ($24.98) and 2-disc ($29.98) releases of Batman: Gotham Knight in which six interlocking stories reveal how Bruce Wayne became Batman. The film will be released to coincide with the theatrical release of The Dark Knight, on the 8th July. The full details have yet to be revealed, although we can confirm that the 2-disc release will include an audio commentary, a documentary, featurettes, and a sneak peak at the upcoming Wonder Woman film. A Blu-ray release will also be available for $34.99 with all of the 2-disc features.
BTW, when will we have Region 3 DVD ??

Read more: screenshots + introduction + Sneak Peek Preview

AstroBoy World

AstroBoy world, that's all about Astroboy. The very informative and entertain site is created by Ninjatron, and dedicated to everything AstroBoy, the works of Osamu Tezuka, and other related anime & manga. It covers all facets of the AstroBoy legacy and Tezuka's characters. Expect articles, pictures, artifacts, humor, videos, and more.

The above title images appear randomly, those are very cool, aren't they? Ninjatron will add more eventually. I am so glad to have someone create this site!

蚊張的【現礦施時騰】

老友"蚊張"，真正的熱血漫畫人繼"神拳圭介"之後最新的個人作品集【現礦施時騰 · INCONSISTENT】即將推出。你將會見識到最偏鋒又最抵死的繪本漫畫...百多頁全彩色印刷絕對是超誠意之作。想見識一下大蛇呵尿的利害，一定要買來看 !

現正接受私人預訂....可電郵至 mon.cheung@yahoo.com

Batman Chapter 01 Help Me!!!

This is the First episode of Isaak Fernandez Rodriguez short film.
Very moody and fun, it is a very good example on playing with moody lighting with simple shapes , cool!!
http://www.isaakfernandez.com/
You can see his introduction and more good short films here:
http://www.animwatch.com/

Burning Safari

很喜歡的一條短片，不論設計及技術都有很高的水準。包你看得開心 !
他還有個網站，有很多 concept art 及 making of 的圖片及片段。
www.burningsafari.com

Imagi：Challenging Pixar from China

一篇關於Imagi的有趣文章：Imagi：Challenging Pixar from China，以下是轉載自Ming在動畫筆記本內的翻譯版本：

一年前，Tim Cheung 在人人夢想的地方 -DreamWorks Animation 製作 Shrek 系列長片，不過今天，這位35歲從德州來的美裔華人在香港郊區一棟舊倉庫中教新手如何製作電腦動畫，手下這54個動畫師中，有些之前作推銷，有些之前是工程師，還有一個之前在7-Eleven工作。香港或許是中國電影的中心，不過據 Cheung 指出，這些員工大部分缺乏經 驗，顯然香港並非製作動畫的理想環境，不過 Cheung 和其他從Imagi過來的人才將改變這樣的狀況，他們一直從好萊塢業界中延攬知名老將，其中許多來自 DreamWorks，這些人都將擔任領導的腳色，訓練 Imagi 的員工如何製作電腦動畫。

不過這不是個簡單的工作，Imagi 在 2000年時創立，它曾經是一家製作塑膠耶誕樹的公司，不過2002年時，工廠賣給了 Carlyle Group，並且將經營重心放在動畫上頭，之後在2004年他們替NBC製作了一齣叫作 Father of the Pride 的電視卡通，不過NBC數月後取消了這個節目。至此之後，Imagi 將目標放在大銀幕上，並在今年3月時推出了他們的首部動畫長片－忍者龜 (TMNT)，影評有好有壞，雖然上映首週登上美國票房冠軍，不過這部影片迅速地流失掉它的觀眾，目前為止票房94 million，一家跨國投資集團－ Goldman Sachs 在 4月的一個研究報告中指出，票房急遽下跌可能是因為影片是在香港而非好萊塢製作，因而犧牲了該有的品質。

在Imagi的首部 電影上映之前，投資人將它的股價往上膨脹，期望電影能夠因此獲得大勝，不過之後電影雖然表現不錯，卻不如預期中的優秀，股價應聲下跌。Douglas Glen，之前在Mattel當副總裁，目前擔任 Imagi 的 Co-chief Executive Officer和 Executive Director，他說，影片首映之前股價是有一些非理性的上揚，雖然之後股價下跌，不過TMNT還是可以稱作一部成功的電影，更何況它是第三部在美國票 房冠軍的亞洲電影。

有著製作預算上的優勢，Imagi打算贏得更好的成績，上個月底，Imagi 宣布與 Warner Bros 和Weinstein 的合作關係，在 TMNT 總製作預算的32.5 million中，這兩家好萊塢發行商就提供了27 million，他們宣布將發行另外兩部Imagi即將推出的影片，兩部均由非常知名的日本動畫改編而成，分別是 Gatchaman 和 AstroBoy。

Glen說那些對 Imagi 心存悲觀的投資者應該看看Imagi影片在香港製作的預算優勢，Imagi 就像其他好萊塢動畫公司， 使用一流的好萊塢導演、編劇還有設計師，不過勞力密集的工作都在香港製作，以便達到價格上的優勢，Glen 說，基本上我們是間好萊塢的公司，只是我們可以 付給員工加州一般薪水的1/6。Imagi 不是唯一一家試圖登陸美國市場的亞洲公司，先濤數位製作公司(Centro Digital Pictures) 是另外一個例子，它製作過昆丁塔倫提諾的 Kill Bill 中一些特效畫面，同時也和Disney共同製作長片寶葫蘆的秘密 (The Secret of the Magic Gourd)，這部影片是 Disney 第一部與中國公司共同製作的長片。

還是有人懷疑這些本土 製作是否可以與好萊塢的大公司競爭，David Webb是其中一個，他說，不是每個人都可以成為Pixar，這是個競爭激烈的市場，不是贏就是輸，他之前一直將Boto列為年度最優股，不過最近他發現 Imagi 已經不再賺錢(去年虧損了9 million)，忍者龜的熱潮並沒有持續太久，事實上自從他們結束賣聖誕樹的生意後，就一直在虧錢的狀態。但儘管如此 ，其他人還是對Imagi抱著正面的態度，Goldman的分析報告也說，我們相信Imagi還是可以獲利，只要他們接下來的影片可以達到跟 TMNT 一樣 的成績，關鍵在他們製作預算上的優勢，Imagi 每部影片平均花費35 million，這個價位比 Pixar 的94 million或是 DreamWorks 的130 million都低得多，所以Imagi每部影片應該都可以賺44 million。

Image 在好萊塢召兵買馬，也愈來愈多人加入他們的的團隊，10月時，Imagi宣布之前Mainframe Entertainment 的 Senior Vice-President, Ken Tsumura 將成為新的 Executive Vice-President，掌管製作部門，而 Jakob Jensen，一位在 DreamWorks 及 Disney 的老將，則將擔任 AstroBoy 的動畫指導。另外一個新員工就是 Cheung了，他將擔任 Vice-President for Animation，他說香港公司的氣氛就像 DreamWorks 在作 Shrek 第一集前一樣，在Imagi工作，就像在8或10年前在 DreamWorks 沒什麼差別。

◎閱讀原文︰Imagi：Challenging Pixar from China
◎有關 動畫筆記本︰是近期喜歡的部落格，有很多有關動畫的資料及獨到的分析，喜歡動畫的朋友不要錯過。
◎imagi press release: Tim Cheung's Appointment: VP of Animation
◎imagi press release: Jakob Jensen Named Animation Director on AstroBoy
◎imagi press release: Ken Tsumura to Oversea Production at Imagi Hong Kong

為會考生打氣動畫 !

十幾萬的應屆會考生，星期三便會知道會考成績。由香港藝術中心及可口可樂一起"攪作"，找來多位Artists製作多條短片，為本屆會考生打打氣。當中也有 Stella So、想貓的魚、Peter Ng 等的動畫作品。其中我比較喜歡袁建滔的"疾走森林"及想貓的魚的 "會考實錄"。以上看到的是袁建滔的作品。想看其他短片可以到大會指定網站。

還有也很喜歡MacCann的版頭設計。

Ben Procter

Ben Procter，電影 Transformers 的 Lead Robot Illustrator，他的網站有大量Transformers的作品。製作TMNT時曾經和他合作一段短時間，善長以3D軟件 (XSI) 直接"創作與設計"，超快靚正。TMNT中富豪Winter的豪宅基地便是他的設計。

我隊中的Spencer與 Sang也是這方面的取向，希望他們以超越Ben為目標，期待將來有更出色的成績。努力 ! 努力 !
Ben Procter website
Ben's Bios