Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category

I Just finished Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases By Dr. Paul Offit.
Vaccinated follows the life of Maurice Hilleman, a microbiologist who specialized in vaccinology and developed over three dozen vaccines…Dr. Hilleman, it can be argued, has probably saved more lives that any other person in human history. His story is incredibly inspiring…his passion and dedication are a beacon for all who desire to promote health, medical awareness and scientific understanding.

BTW, be sure to check out Dr. Offit’s appearance on The Colbert Report . Informative and Funny!

John Daido Loori, a photographer, videographer, and Zen Roshi, always believed that art and spiritual enlightenment went hand in hand. He used photography as a lens to glimpse into what it means to really awaken both body and mind, and to point the way to truth. And, similarly, he used the principles of Zen to unlock his creativity and help guide his artistic endeavors.

Loori felt that people should try and dissolve the barriers between art and spirituality. He believed that the creative process should be uncluttered and unlimited, and, using Zen practices like “still point,” he was able to focus on his inner stillness in order to increase his creative output.

His Zen Mountain Monastery up in the Catskills of New York was built in 1980 to house and train students of his unique style of spiritual training. And even though Loori is no longer with us, his beliefs and teachings are still very much alive there today. Check it out!…Anybody can attend retreats at the monastery, where you will sit, work, and contemplate. I just attended a retreat there a couple of weekends ago…very intense!

ommm!

XVIVO is showing up in all sorts of places! The Madison Public Library in Madison, Wisconsin, held a seminar last Thursday where they showed off our cell animations to anyone interested in the life of the cell. It was part of their “Discovery! Thursdays” science seminars, a partnership between the University of Wisconsin and the Madison Public Library. These seminars are a great chance for children (and adults) of all ages to learn about the inner workings of their bodies. It’s nice to think that our animations are making teaching a little easier!

You can read about the seminar here: http://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/events/xvivo-animations-lives-cell-molecular-level-21073

I recently came across a blog by portrait artist John Ennis called “The Reilly Papers,” His Blog is dedicated to providing the teaching materials of the late Frank J. Reilly.

How did this come about? Well Ennis, (the lucky stiff) is the new owner of Reilly’s notes, and he has been kind enough to post them on this blog,

He organizes Reilly’s notes by topic and in the order that Reilly would have taught. The posts contain both scans of the notes as well as personal insights from Ennis on the material. There is also a page containing vocabulary that Reilly often used in class lectures.

These techniques have been shaping my creative work for years, and I think you will benefit from looking them over! Here’s the link: /

TED was both inspiring and overwhelming. Amazing talks from Salman Khan reinventing education to Tony Atala’s printing a human Kidney. I wont frame them, just watch and enjoy!

The size of TED is a bit much for me…i function best in small groups, but i was able to meet some wonderful TED attendees. Here are a few links to their blogs and work…for those who are interested.

Keith Boesky’s blog
Ron Burnett’s blog
Frederick Balagadde’s work

In order to keep it all in my head I brought along my sketch book this year for notes and to draw the backs of attendees’ heads. Here is a gallery of some quick sketches.

Taking a break from medical animation for a week….Going to TED on Monday! I am sure most of you know what TED is, but If my mom is reading…TED (among other things) is an amazing conference, where innovators, artists, scientists, teachers, entrepreneurs, and generally way cool folk come together to be inspired and to inspire. Last year i had the fortune to have drinks with Dr. Richard Rockefeller, Hang with Kary and Nancy Mullis, and discuss film with Jesse Dylan .

But TED is much more than the brilliant, well heeled and well connected people one meets. To me it is fantasy that inspires dreams and innovation… a diegesis where I can disconnect from reality for a week and allow my creative self to come alive!

Disconnecting from reality

So Roz and Anneliese…please hold all calls at XVIVO while I recharge my batteries!

Just finished a great book, The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman.

My business education came from …experience. Ten years selling custom art work at malls, 5 years doing fine art and illustration and the last 10 years running an animation company…all really good schools of experience. But Josh’s book opened my eyes to some insightful business concepts, and it provides the tools and mental models to tackle any business challenge.

Go check it out!

After talking about it for a few years now I was finally able to put together a drawing and painting class for the team. I think what inspired it was a chance look through a West Hartford Art League mailer. In there i happened upon a very talented artist, Paul Batch

I thought, man i would love to get some lessons from this guy…i mean look at his landscapes..beautiful tonalism, very pleasing compositions…this guy has some mad skills…And then it occurred to me, I had been talking about a group figure drawing class for sometime…so, I tracked Paul down…and after convincing him i was not crazy, he agreed to teach a class.

These photos are from the first session…A few gesture sketches and then a couple of long poses.

It started off rough… The room I rented had no working bathroom, and the lights we brought were not strong enough to give adequate from lighting. Hopefully we will have running water for the next class!

Everyone had a great time…it was wonderful to replace mouse and monitor with graphite and paper!

Been reading a lot of PJ Eby’s work lately http://dirtsimple.org/ and I am slowly uncovering new insights.

After much work I found that living a creative life is my purpose…not only my purpose but I have a real sense that I exist within a 3d web of creative possibilities in both thought and action. Almost where living a creative life is to live like a spider… always aware… eyes all around it’s form that allow it to see wonder and creative opportunities from all directions.

Why the spider? Because I have always hated spiders, and no image or past experience will stand in the way of a fulfilling creative life….(working on that as I write)

When a stress impulse arises, like a spider, I will immediately “move” to a new creative web. I will Go Creative…like Going commando.

Going Creative implies no protection..letting it all hang out, allow myself to be vulnerable and free.

more to discover!

-michael

Thank you for all the online and offline compliments on my previous posting.  It is my hope that I can shed some light on the realist tradition that so many artistic hopefuls lack… to give an appreciation for the vocabulary of art.

I receive dozens of portfolios a month from recent grads and honestly, most of them stink. It is very sad to realize that these students go through four year programs and many even get advanced two year degrees and somehow they never learn basic art technique.  At the end of all that study a large percentage of students still can’t paint, either in pigment or with pixels, a faithful representation of reality.

The residual effects of modernism is still alive and well in many art programs and that trend is doing a great disservice to many art students and visualizers alike. I recognize that there are many excellent schools that produce extremely talented artists, but there are far too many programs that ignore basic art training. This is particularly harmful In the world of 3d animation where students need to have a strong foundation in realism. Understanding the vocabulary of art…light, shadow, value, chroma, edge, line, shape, composition, etc is essential to excel in their career. But all too often, students today only learn to paint what they feel and thus technique becomes irrelevant.

This “paint what you feel” teaching method might inspire the latest modern art trend…but it will never properly develop a realist artist.

So if you want to be a 3d artist, and your teacher is asking you to paint what you feel…run as fast as you can to a real art school.

Art vocabulary can be learned.  Through training and practice, students can develop an artist’s eye.

This artist’s eye is similar to a musicians ear. Where a musician has the ability to hear a chord and know the notes, major or minor, diminished and so on…The artist’s eye can discern hue, value, chroma, form, plane, edge, etc.  Understanding and putting into practice this vocabulary of art is the necessary first step to becoming a competent artist.

-mike