Photography Show at Havana by DP7 Students
May 12th, 2010The Digital Photography Department is proud to announce a Group Show at the Havana Gallery by the senior photography students. The Opening Reception is on Sunday May 2nd from 4:00 to 7:00 pm and the show will run until May 15th.
Acting Department Grad stars in new CTV series "The Bridge"
May 12th, 2010 0 comments
VanArts presents Pixar RenderMan Workshop
May 12th, 2010
VanArts students have the exciting opportunity to attend a RenderMan Workshop; they will see how Pixar combines creativity with technology to make feature films during a special presentation of shading and lighting for Pixar's Up, with a focus on Pixar's RenderMan.
THE RENDERMAN WORKSHOP:
Shading and Lighting for Pixar's Up (Part 1)
Dylan Sisson will show how Pixar approached the shading and lighting for "Up," one of Pixar's most visually sophisticated and vibrant works to date. Dylan will explore some of the artistic and technical strategies use to create Up's unique artistic style. With several case studies from "Up," you'll get an overview into how Pixar develops shaders, from initial photo reference and concept art, to the final lit shot. Many strategies will be explored, including Pixar's innovative point based color bleeding methods used so successfully on this film.
Introducing Pixar's RenderMan (Part 2)
In the second half, Dylan will focus on the technology used to render the imagery for Up, Pixar's RenderMan. For over twenty years Pixar has relied on RenderMan as a key ingredient for shading, lighting, and rendering animated features. You'll learn about some of the qualities and features which make RenderMan an exceptional tool for rendering animation and visual effects, throughout the visual effects industry. During a demonstration of RenderMan Studio, Dylan will show how RenderMan can be incorporated into your Maya workflow in a straight forward manner. Many of the same strategies Pixar used to create shading and lighting for Up, explored in "Part 1" of this talk, are available using RenderMan Studio. From feature-length films to small independent animation, you'll see how your own projects can benefit from using Pixar's RenderMan.
Who: Dylan Sisson (RenderMan Technical Artist)
Bio- A passionate interest in art and technology at an early age led Dylan Sisson to join the RenderMan Group at Pixar Animation Studios. Since his arrival at the studio in 1999, Dylan has been engaged in the development of Pixar's RenderMan Products which are used to render high-quality CGI for feature film and animation. Currently Dylan is working with the next generation of RenderMan rendering technologies. Prior to Pixar, Dylan began work in 2D animation before moving into all aspects 3D production for commercials, game cinematics, and independent projects. An active artist, Dylan's digital artwork has been shown at industry events such as SIGGRAPH, and he has also created several award-winning independent animated shorts. Additionally, he is the creator of RenderMan¹s infamous walking teapot. Dylan currently resides in San Francisco.
William Davis at VanArts
May 12th, 2010The William Davis Centre for Actors' Study at VanArts is privileged to have founder William (Bill) Davis teaching a special Acting Shakespeare course to the AFTV4 students. It is a rare honor to have this esteemed actor as a guest instructor.
William Davis is most recognizable from his role as The Smoking Man on the long running X Files series but his career has reached far beyond his work on screen to extensive theatre work, directing, writing and teaching.
Acting grad Lucy Lawless stars in new hit TV series Spartacus
May 12th, 2010Acting graduate Lucy Lawless is starring in the new hit TV series Spartacus: Blood and Sand.
Interviews
Biography
Animation Graduate brings Wonderland to Life
March 8th, 2010
VanArts Animation graduate Rahul Dabholkar, originally from India, contributed his skills to this weekend's #1 box office release of Alice in Wonderland, as a senior animator.
Check out the other films he's worked on at his IMDB profile.
New Part-Time Art Courses
February 24th, 2010
We are pleased to announce a series of new part-time courses starting up in May 2010! All of these courses meet in evenings during the week and are taught by local animator & concept artist Stephen Pearce. Click on the links below for more information.
Intro to Basic Anatomical Drawing
Intro to Basic Color Theory and Painting
Intro to Basic Digital Concept Art
Intro to Basic Digital Life Drawing
Click here to register online today!
Blog Article by DP Lead Instructor David Ellingsen
February 22nd, 2010The newest member of the Digital Photography faculty, David Ellingsen, recently participated in the portfolio review panel for the graduating class and was inspired to write an article about his experience at VanArts. Check out his posting here:
www.davidellingsen.com/blog/2010/02/class-of-2010/
Digital Painting Workshop by Former Student
February 22nd, 2010
Former VanArts student Daryl Mandryk is offering a workshop in Digital Painting through the Daisho Workshop program, on March 19 in Vancouver. Daryl currently works at Propaganda Games (Disney Interactive).
More information at daisho.ca
Digital Photography Students in Action
February 19th, 2010The last couple weeks of class leading up to spring break had DP7 out shooting at some fabulous locations. The first was Britannia Heritage Shipyard - a fantastic location with lots of different spots to photograph our amazing models.
Christopher Morris explains a lighting technique called "key shifting"
Students photograph a model in the dry dock of the shipyard
Our models were troopers, braving the elements to get the perfect shot
The Britannia Shipyard was so accommodating...allowing the students full access to get the shots they wanted.
In the afternoon the rain cleared up and everyone had a really fun day with these awesome models in this inspiring location!
