Join us Friday, March 2nd for the third official Los Angeles modo User Group (LAMUG) meeting. This meeting will feature presentations from Andy Brown of Luxology and Gary Fitzgerald, formerly from BMW Designworks. Gary will be discussing concept car design in a modo-based workflow.

This user group is a collection of various artists that share a common interest in 3D, specifically in Luxology’s modo. This meeting will allow artists to share techniques, experiences and talk about the usage of modo in a variety of disciplines. LAMUG members range from amateurs to long time professionals in various fields such concept art, television and film productions, visual effects, photography and games.

Schedule
Friday, March 2nd
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.: LA modo User Group meeting

Where
Gnomon School of Visual Effects
1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90038
View Map

Instructor: Rob Nederhorst
Format: DVD-Rom, Digital Download, Online Subscription

Instructor: David Lesperance
Format: DVD-Rom, Digital Download, Online Subscription

Today, The Gnomon Workshop announces the release of the second volume in the foundational drawing series from Jack Bosson. In Drawing the Figure: Volume 2 Form and Structure, Jack explores how a series of primitive 3-dimensional forms can be used to represent the major structural elements of the human form. He demonstrates how to translate the complexity of the human figure into its most basic structural forms. He also demonstrates how to maintain the gestural qualities of the figure by assembling the forms in a sequential manner, focusing on the overlap of the forms and drawing through the forms to maintain the gesture or intent of the figure.

Read the Press Release
This title is available as a digital download and is also featured in our training subscription plans.

The Muppets a visual effects movie? Were there CG puppets? No, but there were over 350 visual effects shots. In this case, the work done by the VFX artists gave the puppeteers additional freedom to make the Muppets do things they’d never been able to do in the past.

VFX Supervisor and Producer Janet Muswell will talk about the pre-production planning, working with puppeteers and puppets on-set, walking the line between campy and realistic and juggling the rolls of supervisor and producer. LOOK Effects’ in-house supervisor Max Ivins will discuss what they did and how (and why) they did. LOOK’s in-house producer Jenny Foster will be on-hand to explain the roll of a facility vfx producer in moving shots through the post-production pipeline.

Unfortunately Kermit will NOT be able to join us.

When:
Thursday, February 23rd, 2012
7:00 p.m. — 9:00 p.m.

Where:
Gnomon School of Visual Effects
1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90038
View Map

Registration:
RSVP here

Guest Speakers from Look Effects

Janet Muswell
Visual Effects Supervisor and Producer

Janet Muswell’s career in Visual Effects has spanned over two decades. Before “The Muppets” she served as Visual Effects Producer on the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz feature “Knight & Day” for 20th Century Fox. Janet has produced VFX, CGI and Animation for theatrical features, IMAX, television, commercials and Stereoscopic Special Venues. On the management side she has overseen and managed VFX companies both large and small such as Todd AD Digital Images, Hollywood Digital, Simex DS and eight companies within the Ascent Media group. She has also built and managed 3D pipelines for Simex and Hollywood Digital. Janet is one of the
founding members of the Visual Effects Society and has been very active within the Education committee.

Max Ivins
Visual Effects Supervisor

Max is a co-owner of LOOK Effects. As senior visual effects supervisor, Max is responsible for on-set supervision, as well as overseeing LOOK’s 3D animation and compositing efforts. He has worked on features and TV projects for clients including Warner Bros, Disney, Universal, Fox, Sony Pictures, Revolution, and Lions Gate. Prior to joining the company, Max spent four years on staff at Blue Sky|VIFX as a digital effects supervisor and 3D animator. Max also worked at Rhythm & Hues, Digital Domain and Stargate Films as a visual effects supervisor, 3D animator and compositor. He has truly developed personal expertise in nearly every facet of the visual effects profession and leverages this knowledge and experience to solve a client’s problem and create artful effects on numerous major projects. Max followed up his work on The Muppets with supervising Underworld Awakening.

Jenny Foster
Visual Effects Producer

has over 40 feature films and 70 television episodes under her belt. Her film credits include Spiderman 3, The Fountain, Blood Diamond, Apocalypto, Get Smart, Fame, Avatar, Limitless and The Muppets. He tv credits include Life (for which she received a VES Awards nomination), Las Vegas, Bones, Malcolm in the Middle, Criminal Minds and CSI:NY. She is an active member of the VES and PGA. Jenny holds a BA in Film from Occidental College and an MFA from Art Center.

Creature designer Neville page and director J.J. Abrams discuss the conception of the monster in Super 8.
via wired.com

We’re excited to release our new 30 second commercial for Gnomon, directed by Meni Tsirbas of Gnomon Studios and MeniThings Productions.

Join us for a special lighting panel and technology presentation on Thursday, February 16th, starting at 7:30 PM. Moderated by Rob Bredow; artists Josh Mossotti, Kevin Souls, Alessandro Jacomini and Andy Lomas will share a panel discussing how they approach their work by presenting examples of their CG lighting techniques.

Stick around for a technology presentation after the panel, hosted by Andy Lomas and The Foundry. This is a special glimpse at the new look development and lighting tool called KATANA, currently in use at Sony Imageworks, ILM and Digital Domain.

Info and schedule at www.gnomonschool.com

Sensitivity in art is vital, especially when women are involved. Join concept artist/pinup enthusiast Paul Richards and veteran model Stacy E. Walker as they guide you through the do’s and don’ts of portraying the female form.

Schedule

Thursday, Jan. 26th
7:00 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.: Meet-and-greet with Paul and Stacy
7:15 p.m. – 9:45 p.m.: Sensitivity Training (Lecture)
9:45 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.: Life drawing session

More info at Babe Lab.

Where

Gnomon School of Visual Effects
1015 N. Cahuenga Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90038
View Map

Guest Speaker

Paul Richards
Concept Artist/Pinup Enthusiast

Paul Richards is a concept artist and drawing junkie based in Irvine, CA. Paul has worked at Powerhouse Comics, ION Storm, id Software, 3D Realms, Ritual Entertainment, Raven Software, Vigil Games and Blizzard Entertainment. View Paul’s work at autodestruct.com.

Check out “Syd Mead – Progressions” traveling art exhibit premiering January 26th, 2012 at the Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale, California.

Revolver Magazine voted Puscifer’s “Man Overboard”, directed by Meats Meier, Best Music Videos of 2011.

Raphael Lacoste, Ubisoft Art Director, featured on G4 and Wired online, showcasing his amazing work on Assasins Creed Revelations. To learn more about how he creates his beautiful worlds, check out his tutorial on Digital Environment Creation.

Join us on Saturday, December 3rd for the second Gnomon Gallery show to showcase the best work of students and recent graduates from the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, featuring characters, creatures, models, matte paintings and more.

Gnomon Gallery
Saturday, December 3rd
7:00 P.M. – 11:00 P.M.

More information at the Gnomon Gallery »

Gnomon is excited to announce our partnership with Saga, a unique school that teaches computer graphics, arts and animation to young adults across Brazil, in the development of Axis, a new facility to be launched Spring 2012. Axis represents a collaboration between our two schools to foster the next generation of entertainment artists in South America. By providing a professional education to aspiring artists in São Paulo, we hope to inspire and motivate more students to follow their passion and transform that energy into creative careers in film, broadcast and games.

For more information, visit the the new site for Axis!

Join us for a special, behind-the-scenes look at Digital Domain’s work on the recently released hit Real Steel. Stick around for an in-depth presentation by Marcel De Jong as he shares tips and tricks for Autodesk Maya and demos new features of Mudbox and Motion Builder.

Don’t miss this chance to sharpen your skills, brought to you by RFX and Autodesk. Save the date and show up early for free refreshments!

Info and schedule at www.gnomonschool.com

Today The Gnomon Workshop and concept designer Harald Belker combine forces again for the 6th installment of his entertainment design and concept creation series. In The Art of ‘PULSE’
Designing Futuristic Racing Vehicles, Belker covers the latest concept techniques utilized by many of today’s top designers in the entertainment industry. Based primarily on concepts from his latest book, Harald demonstrates how his techniques have changed over the years, now utilizing both 2D and 3D applications and techniques to generate the bold imagery and designs in his latest work. Read the Press Release

This title is available as a digital download and is also featured in our training subscription plans.
The Art of ‘PULSE’ Designing Futuristic Racing Vehicles

Join us for two weeks of new, exclusive classes in an interactive, online event. Each class focuses on a different element of the visual effects or games industries and allows individuals to discuss the content with the instructors.
One ticket gives you access to all 14 classes!

www.gnomonschool.com/master

Instructor: Axel Stanley-Grossman
Format: DVD-Rom, Digital Download, Online Subscription

View a collection of concept designer Neville Page’s work from various film projects, including digital images, original 2D and 3D artwork and prototypes from select films. Opening reception is Saturday, October 1st at 7:00 P.M. at Gnomon Gallery.

The Gnomon Workshop is proud to announce the release of the first volume in a new foundational figure drawing series by renowned artist and teacher, Jack Bosson. Titled Drawing the Figure: Volume 1 Capturing the Gesture, Jack demonstrates the importance of gesture when communicating the human form to an audience. Gesture establishes both the motion and emotion of the subject while also showing intent. These are important not only to realistically capture what the model is doing, but is also an important storytelling tool that brings the audience into the story you are trying to tell with a single image. Read the Press Release

This title is available as a digital download and is also featured in our training subscription plans.
Drawing the Figure: Volume 1 Capturing the Gesture