I Am Working

When a Talented Artist Had a Free Reign

Peter Peake, is the animator I admire most. When I first time saw his work, “Snowball”, it grabbed my attention right away. Then I found “Pythagasaurus”, which inspired me even more. These are very clever, funny, unique, and expertly executed animation shorts.

http://vimeo.com/18473358

I loved “Snowball” because of its design. The story is an old one and very well known, but Peter Peake made it into something new and visually intriguing.It’s always exciting to see CG animation that is outside the box.This work is truly beautiful and brilliant.

“Pythagasaurus” is another successful short, beautiful, funny, and overall a very original work. The Illustration and setting immediately bring us to a fantasy world.

The two animations are in different styles, yet both give us an impression of their unique perfection.

I researched Peter Peake’s background, a talented director at the Oscar winning studio, Aardman. However, unlike his more commercial works, Mr. Peake crafted a wild story in,“Pythagasaurus”, which is about a dinosaur math wiz. How exciting it is to discover an artist who has free reign over their material.It is a good example of the strength of animation —demonstrating how one’s imagination can soar through this medium.

I truly admire Peter Peake’s works. They are visually stunning animations that are full of carefully considered character design, meticulously detailed landscapes and stylistic flourishes that leave you without a doubt about the quality of craftsmanship involved in their production.

The Pixar Story

The documentary, “The Pixar Story,” had a huge impact on me. I found it educational, a movie that took more than six years to produce,and one that provides valuable first-hand knowledge, includinginterviews with industry giants.

Here are some of mythoughtswhen watching this movie:

• The success story of Pixar Animation Studios came from the ground up. Thethree most important contributors were John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs. They made legends, and became legends, in 3D animation history.

• Behind Pixar successful story, the three principleshave experienced unimaginable hardships. However, because of theseentrepreneurs’passion and persistence, they made their dream come true.

• Creativity, Innovation, and Invention areat the very soul of Pixar.

• Because of them all future animation will be the perfect combination of art, technologyand marketing.

• Since “Toy Story,” Pixar has produced five consecutive films that were allbox office successes.

• Disney took over Pixar after the company proved its marketability and thecreative staff moved to Pixar. However in some ways Disney’s ridged corporate ideological proveda sworn enemy of innovation.

• Disney discarded the 2D studio because of the success of 3D animation. However technology isn’t the end all and be all. Talent, imagination, those are the keys to real success.

• People with vision can be at odds with those with no creative ideas. They live in two worlds unable to communicate. When Pixar studio started, the producers were isolated. No one seemed to understand the direction they were headed. Fortunately, God sent a visionary to lead the team,Steve Jobs.

• I know Steve Jobs believed in Zen. Among all religions, the Zen concept is closest tothe expression of art. That is, the relationship between the heart and enlightenment. True beauty is found in silence and is self-taught.

• The quickest road to the target is going step by step until you reach it. All the suffering and difficulty are part of the journey. There is not any shortcuts for the opportunist, any step they can skip.

• Pixar had success most entrepreneurs will never realize. All dreamers have a high price to pay. But it is those who take action, possess the courage to face make theirown choices, and take all the responsibilitywho succeed.

• Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way.

• Comparedwith different lifestyles. I think the most brilliant life is to contribute one’s talent to creation. This is my choice,to learn from Steve Jobs, “Stay hungry; Stay foolish!”

Abstract Pictures and Texts

Recently, I am translated some introductory documents for the British Association exhibition in China. The exhibition’s full name is “Made In Britain: Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection 1980 – 2010″.

More than half of the exhibits displayed abstract art. How to interpret such contemporary art takes a very profound knowledge. Now using the words to explain abstract image, is still a higher degree of challenge. The following paragraphs should match the pictures I have posted. I leave them here for audience to play with. Just make it a game.

Keeping the basic form of the model consistent? Daniels plays with the color of the surroundings in which it is placed to test the transformative effects of reflected light on the object. As such, looking across the paintings the object appears to shift between guises, moving from evoking the calmly undulating natural form in a landscape to the brazen and speedy flash of the carnivalesque. But although the set up is a construction, the light that decides the object is the natural unknown. The resulting painting marks the impossible threshold between the construct and the organic to become something not quite belonging to either pole. This bouncing between the fabricated and the natural resonates strangely in the way that the reflected light shimmering on the foil already has the look of the brush mark that is bound to mimic it. Daniels’ embraces contradictions – the real and the reflected, the modest and the monumental, the meticulous and the expressive – and in doing he explores the interstitial space whereby the autonomy of the painting may lie.

Working across a number of media including digital print? wall drawing? video? sculpture and installation? Mark Titchner’s practice explores systems of belief? both secular and spiritual? often focusing on the marginalized? discredited or forgotten ideologies and objects we place our faith in. Using the impersonal language of the public realm? ranging from the quasi-mysticism of corporate mission statements to the maxims of revolutionary socialism? his work exhorts us to believe in it.

Drawing on copper, linen and paper, Nicholas Byrne’s paintings disperse emergent figures amongst a restless ground. Made on a scale relating directly to the body, these works are reminiscent of an era in British painting in which the figure is brutalised. Byrne’s paintings are composed of superimpositions of febrile surfaces; built up, scraped down and layered over again. Curves, spirals and loops recur: Dynamic forms, leading the gaze around the surface. Occasional bright clean planes of colour impose themselves across the surface but don’t allow the eye to rest.

The work employs a diverse lexicon of art historical references, but takes particular influence from notions developed during the Rococo period concerning the motivating effect that sinuous form exerts upon the beholder’s gaze, leading it around the surface of the picture as if following a dancer.

There is an erotic sense to this notion-the viewer’s pursuit of an object of desire- and in Byrne’s paintings this pursuit is sublimated into intricate plays of display and concealment.

Here are some paintings, Please find the best match to the texts.

If there are people who feel they usually get all the answers right, then, congratulations!

Actually, I did not figure out where matches where. Using words to describe the abstract, it is to complete an impossible task. There are a lot of fogs around. I got confused and lost.

The irony is that I sent the texts to a few artists. They said, yes, we must look at the paintings. When I sent them the website links, they said that the works are not as good as the article described.

Oh, No! Please never pass judgment before you see the original painting. A conclusion base on website prints or other references is often unreliable.

Sometimes knowledge becomes secretive. It could turn a simple thing into one that is complicated. When it is someone’s job, I know sometimes it is just high end BS.

The Spring of Eventful

Beautiful April and May are eventful months this year. In an instant, the world has undergone three major events that will become part of history: Prince William’s wedding, Gaddafi’s son and three grandchildren killed by NATO, and the United States getting rid of Osama bin Laden.

The royal wedding was full of the joys of spring. It was the most important UK Royal event for 30 years and was watched by more than 24 million people on the UK’s 2 biggest TV channels. The strange thing is that I have such a lack of interest in such fairy tales, that I didn’t even take a peek. I think our relationships are better keep in private. Happy or unhappy is not anybody else business. It is very scary to involve so many people cheering and watching. It is a hard role for that princess (perhaps the future queen), she should not only have a pretty face which never looks tired under the spotlights, but she also must face people’s picky and judgmental criticism. Perhaps she is someone who is born to live under the public lens and the situation out of her control.

The other two are more bloody. I am very innocent in regards to political, military and the strategies of the world situation. But I think of the inhumanity of blowing up a son and grandsons; it seems an injustice. These people totally lose control of their lives. In our adult game, we still use weapons to resolve the problems. It is forthright and the easy way. But, most of time, the decision maker is not the last person to face the consequences.

Making mention of Osama bin Laden, I remembered 9/11 in 2001. The scenes, like special effects in Hollywood, suddenly became real on TV. The billowing smoke on the screen straightly burned into people’s consciousness. My English teacher was in front of the lecture hall, smashing the table angrily. She emotionally would go back and forth in the classroom, as if trampling all the ants on the ground. She was frantically prowling to answer, “Why someone would hate America? How dare they come to the United States to break ground?”

I say, killing the innocent cannot be tolerated by justice. God will give them punishment. But those people, sacrificing their lives for revenge, we may need to dig into the reasons.

• Did America do something to hurt them – intentionally, or unintentionally?
• Now, how to resolve the hatred?

At the time of the 9/11 event, America suffered a bitter truth. She cried with a roar: “It’s not our fault! Justice will be done. In the near future, Osama bin Laden must be killed.” The “near future” continued for a decade. No matter what the cost, the U.S. did it.

With the accumulation of life experiences, I’m a bit afraid of self-opinionated and strong-willed people. In fact, Bin Laden gave up his wealth and comfortable life, and did not work for himself. I do not know what caused this situation, led to the fire and ice, life and death. It is the terrible way that blew hatred everywhere. Building hatred is the biggest terrorist on earth. Bin Laden is eliminated, but the terror of one way communication, use hatred against hatred, is still vaguely threatening our environment. As we see, we have good hearts, peace-lovers in the crowd, who will not receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The winners are those who have the ability to kill people.

This eventful Spring has also including the death of an artist. This is not a historical event, although it made me very sad. Because I saw the woman who committed suicide and her husband’s art work. They are brilliant and admirable. In fact, if they continue with what they are doing, their potential is immeasurable. Nobody believes the woman abandoned her baby daughter who is only six months old, jumped into air and got it over with. This action presents the fragility and impermanence of life. I admire her father and mother; they faced tragedy and were still reasonable, with great wisdom to take care of the aftermath. It is an apt demonstration of finding the best solution under the worst situation.

Seven Deadly Sins

Seven Deadly Sins as per Mahatma Gandhi

1, Wealth Without Work
2, Pleasure Without Conscience
3, Knowledge Without Character
4, Commerce (Business) Without Morality (Ethics)
5, Science Without Humanity
6, Religion Without Sacrifice
7, Politics Without Principle

I highly recommend his key points. In short, it summarizes the greed nature and ignorance of humankind.

Reading, I am Happy!

I am someone who really enjoys reading books. Well, the books I enjoy reading should have some kind of nourishment, in order to satisfy my curiosity about the world. Nowadays paper and printing equipment are so inexpensive, almost everyone can easily publish their own books. Therefore, a book is not as precious as the time when all words were engraved on bamboo.

Reading is like being in a conversation with different people, who have different occupations, different tastes and different intellectual qualities, who share their different lives. It is the cheapest way to travel, allowing you to experience impenetrable places, even the corner of a person’s soul. A good book can always help you to quietly change your relationship with the world, opening a skylight, or deepening a layer of understanding. Reading enriches and enhances my sensibility so even when face to face with a small drop of dew, I will not feel bored.

However, I never fully believed what is written in a book. One of interesting parts of reading is that you can figure out who is telling white lies, who is trying hard to show off, who puts a lot of makeup, and who is tireless in teaching. Reading enriches the mind. It is always good to open your mind wide while reading in order to avoid only seeing one side. Sometimes, just like doing puzzles, we can find the truth after researching. Most of the time reading made me humble. In this magical world, there are so many intelligent people, who have their own wisdom and wonderful lives. To study them, I feel as if I were looking up at the sky, counting the endless number of stars.

I am very selective when I choose a book. I may pretend when working hard on an exam, but I never pretend about reading. Sometimes I feel sad to close a book after experiencing the beautiful ending of a book. When I have such an experience, I really don’t want to turn the final page.

It is a wonderful moment when I can quietly read. I cannot find anything more interesting for me than reading. Others have their own interests; for me, reading makes me happy.

The Season of Poetry

April is Poetry Month in the United States and (since 1999) in Canada as well, so my American writer friends set poetry meetings each year. My self-assignment is either “The birth of poetry”, or “The completion of poetry”, two select one. Either born, or be completed, both are hard for me. Because I can’t escape my life experience, only enjoy talking about it. In reality, I had a crazy schedule from March to April this year. I haven’t finished too many works, so I am not sure whether I should attend the poetry meeting or not.

Conclusion one: To enjoy a poem, you must have leisure time.
Although I have a bit of difficulty writing poetry, I dare not forget “poems”. I like these poem friends, they are all unique and in the pursuit of beauty. Their lively and informal spiritual exploration broadens my intellectual horizons. Life, with poetry to light it up, will have a sunny artistic conception.

Here I record a friend’s poetry, which echoes the poetry season.

Ascent
by Cathryn Andresen
you keep the sun’s
hours I follow
the moon by the rhythm
of great orbs when
sun and moon share
twilight a chance encounter
begins a night-sky
dance too soon arrested by
glow of morn
consult your ancient
charts then come to
me when the hunter’s moon
lights a path through the
forest I’ll wait high
on the mountain there
are myriad stars for us
to ponder

(Good poetry always has the most beautiful language combinations. I got into the layer of context and felt I didn’t have enough words to translate them. This is a beautiful poem, I leave it to everyone fill it out in your own imagination.)

“Bright Objects Hypnotize the Mind?”: April is National Poetry Month.
Academy of American poets
mentalmultivitamin.blogspot.com

Character Design

Little Red Fox is neither rich nor noble, but she is an idler. She is fond of food, always searching out something she haven’t eaten before. She looks for fun and interesting stuff everywhere. She is a little vain, if she falls down, she still cares about good-looking posture. She has a soft-heart, easily moved to tears by someone’s story.

In the big forest, she is the type who fends for herself. She’ll not attack others unless she is attacked. Occasionally, she follows lions, tigers, elephants and those types of big guys; she may even stroll along beside them. Of course, this must be after the lions, tigers and elephants had a good meal! She takes the opportunity to simply enjoy watching where they entertain and amuse her. She never becomes a groupie, knows exactly what she wants, and often revels in the self-world. Her feelings range from enjoying simple pleasures to experiencing deep loneliness. She thinks, “Considering the heaven and earth endlessly vast, I cannot help shedding tears of plaint.”

She does not care about philosophy, although sometimes she pretends to pursue some very deep knowledge. In fact, the Little Red Fox only has shallow abilities. At first, whens she make an appearance, she acts as if she knows everything, then she strikes a cosmetic pose; finally she is saying “bye-bye.” She has tons of reasons to comfort herself. For example, she tells herself that there are too many smart people in the world; let them keep racing. She would rather be a spectator on the side. She believes that most energy is wasted in this world. You start at a point and then later come right back to that origin. It is better to only make dreams instead of doing anything.

She neither compares nor competes. The Little Red Fox happy with a free-wheeling life style. Not aggressive, with no ambition, super sensitive, cunning, self-protective, and too lazy to look for sunlight. What she does best is cooking up life with sweet and sour, bitter and salty, then weave them into a poetic text that is carried and spread by the wind. She is only interested in chasing the light and fresh air. These are very valuable gifts that are not easily seen by people.

Carefully to protect her own mind, independent and stubborn, living in her imagination and a beautiful fantasy world; the Little Red Fox, ah, huh, huh, she is just like me.

Software are All a Kind of Video Game

Before I can comprehend whether or not software is becoming it’s own culture, I would like to say, software are all a kind of video game. Since I entered the graphic industry, I have tried countless software programs and mostly learned to use them on my own. The key tip is to treat software as you would play a video game: looking wildly to visit every corner of the maze, puzzling to explore all the functions, figuring out the programmer’s design, practicing constantly, and looking for a wide range of possibilities … When knowledge and experience accumulate to a certain extent, it is easy to master any type of graphic related software.

While learning to use software, the most important thing to keep in mind is methodology. Different teaching styles come out with different results. I remember when I first learned to use Photoshop, my instructor was a incredibly lacking, to say the least. In each class he only talked about obscure terminologies and excessive definitions, often going on drawn out tangents to the frustration of all his pupils. He would begin with a history of software development and would soon be sidetracked to Apple’s history. The man would then begin to talk about record companies, somehow falling upon the topic of tourism in Paris, and finally we were dragged on a whirlwind tour of the French Revolution. I still do not know whether he plodded along in this manner to kill time or if he was simply unclear about the very topic that he had been hired to teach. In actuality, he has a doctorate degree despite his incompetence. The other teaching follows textbook regulations step by step, which often produced an education that was hard to learn and easy to forget.

In fact, software is merely a tool. It could be treated like playing a video game, with need for formality. True, it is slightly different than any video game, in the sense that it is not merely for enjoyment, but serves a more practical purpose. Mastering a new form of software, is the equivalent acquiring a new tool. Ultimately, one has to overcome the greatest hardships to reap the greatest reward, and that is why learning to use software pays off so well in the end.

I have taught and tutored students whose ages are from several years old to the elderly of over 70, and they all enjoy learning. They often said, “oh, this is so easy.” To me, the feeling of satisfaction associated with helping my students is the best reward of all.