Pixar Artists Masterclass in Toronto
June 21st, 2010
This weekend, VanArts hosted a 2-day Masterclass in Toronto, Ontario with animator Andrew Gordon and story artist Matthew Luhn from Pixar Animation Studios. Over the same weekend, Pixar's new movie Toy Story 3 grossed $109 million at the box office!
The sold-out event in Toronto allowed for animation students, working professionals and enthusiasts to gain in-depth knowledge and inspiration, participate in interactive workshops, win special prizes, and network with each other.
Present to host the event were VanArts' President Alan Phillips and Head of Animation Wayne Gilbert, who is giving an Information Session in Toronto on June 22.
VanArts will be hosting another Masterclass with Pixar Artists in Vancouver on September 24th & 25th. Click here for registration information.
New Stop-Motion Book by Ken Priebe
June 10th, 2010
VanArts' stop-motion instructor Ken Priebe has written his second book, The ADVANCED Art of Stop-Motion Animation, published by Course Technology and due for worldwide release June 23, 2010!
This new book goes into more detail on the art & technology behind stop-motion animation, including amazing photos and interviews with some of the best and brightest in the field.
Available NOW at Amazon.com & Amazon.ca
Actors and Photographers Unite for Headshots
June 3rd, 2010Last week was a busy one at the studio, with students from our Acting for Film & Television and Digital Photography departments working together in a joint Actors' Headshots workshop. Ross den Otter and Sarolta Dobi of the successful Pink Monkey Studios are experts when it comes to actors' headshots. Ross works mainly with the photography students on lighting, posing, and creating depth in their images, while Sarolta (also a photographer in her own right) coaches the actors on how to connect with the camera and sell themselves as marketable performers. Make-up students from Blanche MacDonald volunteer their time to provide the hair and make-up styling, making for a great team and a fun couple of days.
Fashion Week in Digital Photography
June 3rd, 2010The senior Digital Photography students have just finished their Fashion Photography course with some really great results. Students had 4 full-day workshops where they had the opportunity to photograph some beautiful models from the Lizbell Agency, Mode Models and Next Models. Professional hair and make-up for every shoot was provided by Ashley Gesner, Negar Nooshmand and Marlayna Pincott, with every look styled by professional stylist and instructor Heidi Farnola. Photographer Greg Swales guided the students in capturing contemporary and marketable images.
Student photographer Madhava Musterer did such a great job during the workshops, his best image is now on the Lizbell Agency models homepage!
www.lizbellagency.com/models/index.htm
New Instructors join Entertainment Art Program
June 1st, 2010VanArts is proud to welcome Heber Alvarado and welcome back Tom Johnson to our staff of industry professionals in our Entertainment Art for Film, TV & Games diploma program.
Hebert Alvarado has been working actively in the gaming industry for over 5 years, as a character artist for such companies as Electronic Arts Canada, Propaganda Games (Disney Interactive), Rockstar Games, and United Front Games. His game credits include FiFA 2006, Turok, Max Payne 3 and True Crime 3 for XBox360/PS3. Hebert's work has been featured in CGTalk, 3DTotal, 3DUser Mag, 3DCreative, and SIGGRAPH/Pixologi.
Tom Johnson has 14 years of experience as a professional artist for the entertainment industry, at companies such as Electronic Arts Canada, Square Pictures, Digital Domain, Simex Digital, and Warner Brothers Animation. His film and game credits include Batman Forever, The Fifth Element, Final Fantasty: Spirits Within, Skate, Need for Speed Underground, World Club Soccer, FiFA 07/08, and SSX 3 Snowboarding.
VanArts acquires New Campus
May 27th, 2010VanArts has moved!!! Ahead of schedule, we are in our new space and preparing to ring in the Fall term with our new campus. VanArts has acquired over 22,000 square feet of the top three floors at 570 Dunsmuir Street. The building is conveniently located in the heart of Downtown Vancouver. Every program now benefits from new classrooms, labs and support facilities. Stay tuned as we will be blogging the updates on all renovations to our new space throughout the summer. Better yet, come join us for the Grand Opening in September!
View of the new Dunsmuir Campus (Photo by Jeff Bell)
View of the new Dunsmuir Campus lobby (Photo by Janine Armstrong)
Panoramic view from the new Dunsmuir Campus (Photo by Janine Armstrong)
Entertainment Art graduate joins Electronic Arts
May 19th, 2010
Congratulations to VanArts Graduate Rick Van Stee on his position at Electronic Arts Canada. Rick started at VanArts in the Summer Intensive Course and then moved on to the Full Time Entertainment Art Program where he graduated with flying colours. We're proud of you Rick!
Animation Graduate featured on Cartoon Brew
May 18th, 2010We spotted a post on Cartoon Brew about one of our animation graduates Javier Badillo, who wrote and storyboarded the following animated sequence for a short film he produced. He assembled a team of animators directed by Atomic Betty director Jeff Agala to produce the sequence. Javier is originally from Venezuela, graduated from VanArts in 2003, and is now based here in Vancovuer as a director/producer.
Henchin' - Animated Opening Sequence from Javier Badillo on Vimeo.
Chilton Crane directs "The Woolgatherer"
May 17th, 2010The Woolgatherer
Chilton Crane, head of film and television in the Acting Dept. at Vanarts, is very proud to have directed past graduate Leslie Brownlee and past student Simon Hussey in William Mastrosimone’s “The Woolgatherer”. The performances are phenomenal by both actors and should not be missed. The theatre is quite small and it is suggested you reserve ahead.
Use the following link to reserve tickets on line: https://ca.brownpapertickets.com/event/111131 or e-mail guestpro@spectraltheatre.com for more information.
Shows are: May 28, 29, 30 and 31st and June 4, 5, 6 and 7th
Show times are 8pm doors open at 7:30pm.
Tickets: $15.00 Sunday performances are “pay what you can”
Spectral Theatre is located at: 350 Powell Street. Vancouver
VanArts presents Canadian premiere of the play "Nobody's Lunch"
May 12th, 2010The William Davis Centre at VanArts is proud to present the Canadian premiere of (I Am) Nobody's Lunch by the The Civilians.
Nobody's Lunch is a dark ride through the landscape of American public culture. This latest creation asks the thorny question — how do we know what we know when everyone in power seems to be lying? Is it possible to know what's really going on in the world when information is manipulated to serve particular interests? Does anyone really care?
Directed by Greg Kean with musical direction by Jesse award winner Ross Douglas.
Where:
1212 Commerical Drive, Vancouver
When:
Performances from Thursday, May 13th to Saturday, May 15th at 8:00PM with a Saturday matinee at 2:00PM.
Cost:
$12
