Tag Archives: Glen Keane

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Kevin Petrilak

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WHAT IS YOUR NAME AND CURRENT OCCUPATION?
My name is Kevin Petrilak and I am an animation director…I detest the title “sheettimer” because it is the studios’ way of diminishing the importance of what we do.

 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CRAZIER JOBS YOU HAD BEFORE GETTING INTO ANIMATION?
I guess the two that come to mind would be in my high school years. I worked for a garden nursery where I moved bags of manure from one place to another ( some things never change).  The other would be working in super market meat locker, bagging frozen chicken ( some things stay the same).

 

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOU FAVORITE PROJECTS YOU’RE PROUD TO HAVE BEEN A PART OF?
ZIGGYS GIFT and BACK IN ACTION come to mind as being a combination of enjoying the work and the crew.  Although I get a lot of mention for animating the opening credits to  THE SIMPSONS (original versions) .

 

WHERE ARE YOU FROM AND HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE ANIMATION BUSINESS?
I was born in New York and I had the bug since I was a little boy.  While visiting my Uncle Gerry, who was Continue reading

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PARIS OPERA COMMISSIONS GLEN KEANE TO CREATE “NEPHTALI”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 15, 2015

PARIS OPERA COMMISSIONS GLEN KEANE TO CREATE “NEPHTALI,” A SHORT FILM FOR THEIR NEW DIGITAL STAGE, “3RD STAGE”

Glen Keane Productions is pleased to announce the official launch of Glen’s new film, “Nephtali,” which was created for the Paris Opera to coincide with today’s launch of their new digital stage, 3rd Stage (3e Scène, in French). Here is a direct link to the film: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/3e-scene/nephtali.

Glen was personally invited to join a distinguished list of artists and filmmakers to help launch 3rd Stage by Benjamin Millepied, the new Director of Dance for the Paris Opera. Benjamin and Glen first met while they were both working on projects at Google last year.

“We invited Glen Keane to come to the Paris Opera because he is one of the best artists in the world,” stated Dimitri Chamblas, artistic director of the 3rd Stage of Paris Opera. “It was such a dream to have him working with the dancers to invent a story. He is first and foremost about the movement of his subject, and the very singular and fantastic way he transmits that movement through animation. Glen is a major artist and we couldn’t imagine opening the Paris Opera Digital stage without having him on board.”

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The 3rd Stage’s spectators live all around the globe, speak every language, and love art in all its forms. Stéphane Lissner, Director of the Paris Opera, describes the 3rdStage as “an autonomous venue for digital creation to complement the Palais Garnier and the Opéra Bastille.” He continues, “The aim of this digital 3rd Stage is to commission new works from artists through original pieces offering an original perspective on the world of opera, music, dance, our cultural heritage, the architecture of our two theatres and the skilled professionals working of the Paris Opera. Glen is among 16 other top artists and filmmakers who were invited to create unique works for the debut of the 3rd Stage. The rest of the films can be seen here: https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/3e-scene

“Nephtali”, which refers to Jacob’s blessings and Psalm 42, was born from the comparison between the grace of a dancer and that of a deer. In a choreography which Glen created with dancer Marion Barbeau, he depicts the journey of a soul that is drawn towards a higher power, fights a struggle and is eventually liberated. By using both film and drawing, Glen and Marion manage to overcome the constraints of gravity and attain the freedom towards which a dancer’s body and spirit always aspire.

Said Glen Keane, “It was a humbling experience for me to work as an animator in the Opera Garnier. It is a palace steeped in the heritage of the craft and art of ballet. I was astounded by the expressiveness and power of the dancers I drew. There is a close connection between dance and animation. I was taught by my mentors at Disney to think in terms of “golden poses” that communicate the emotion and attitude of the character. I noticed in ballet the same use of these “golden poses.” Working with ballerina Marion Barbeau I had the impression I was working with a great animator, only she expressed herself through her body’s movements instead of a pencil… and with such rhythm and grace! I am truly grateful to Benjamin Millepied and the Paris Ballet for the invitation to step into their world and live my animation dream for a moment.

ABOUT GLEN KEANE AND GLEN KEANE PRODUCTIONS

A 38-year veteran of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Glen Keane is most noted for creating and animating such legendary Disney characters as Ariel in “The Little Mermaid”, Aladdin, Pocahontas, the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast”, and Tarzan. Glen also served as Supervising Animator and Executive Producer on Disney’s 2010 box office hit, “Tangled”. In the spring of 2012, Glen decided to leave Disney Studios in pursuit of further artistic exploration. In his departure letter he stated: “I am convinced that animation really is the ultimate art form of our time with endless new territories to explore. I can’t resist its siren call to step out and discover them.” In 2013, he launched Glen Keane Productions to pursue his personal projects. Immediately after launching GKP, he teamed up with Google ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) to create the acclaimed Google Spotight Story, “duet.”

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Glen Keane- Step Into The Page- The Future of Storytelling

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This five-minute video was created for the Future of Storytelling Summit, an invitation-only summit that takes place in NYC. The Summit gathers leaders in communications, media, entertainment, and advertising to explore the evolution of storytelling from all angles: creative, technology, critical, formal and financial. Glen is a featured speaker at the summit and is sharing his views on the potential of animation and storytelling with respect to virtual reality technology.

Instead of a paper and pencil, Keane draws life-sized versions of Ariel and Beast in the short with an HTC Vive headset and the 3D painting app called Tilt Brush, (which is now owned by Google). Rather than just being static on a page, he’s able to walk around his characters as if they were fully three-dimensional.

A demo for the rather unique software Glen is using can be seen below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=32&v=uFWw6hGIKmc

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Barry Ward

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What is your name and your current occupation?
Barry Ward – Owner of Bardel Entertainment Inc. (23 yrs.)- Inker and painter, color stylist, I&P supervisor, production coordinator and production manager (17 yrs)

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
As I started in animation when I was 17 the only other jobs I had were picking fruit in the Okanagan and working in a manufacturing company in Montreal sand-blasting mermaids and sailfish on shower doors.

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
I started my career in 1971 in Montreal at Potterton Productions and I worked on a ton of cool projects there, I also worked in Toronto, Ottawa and vancouver. A couple of my personal favorites were the first Heavy Metal Movie and festival shorts lik

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Barry Reynolds

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What is your name and your current occupation?Barry Reynolds – Character designer/Concept/Visual development artist

What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation?
It was pretty much feet first into animation so no tales of stitching clown shoes, yeti herding or selling doors door to door I’m afraid..

What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of?
Being the character designer on “The Secret of Kells” was something I have to say I’m very proud of and it was great to see it get the Oscar nod – completely unexpected but a great boost to the whole crew who put their heart into making something we hoped would be worthwhile.. Also, the upcoming “Arthur Christmas” from Aardman and Sony Pictures Animation is another project I’m very happy to have been a part of – working with fantastic and fun people who made coming in to work every day a jolly experience – definitely one of the favourites so far! Others include Irish language graphic novels, “An Táin” and “Deirdre agus Mic Uisnigh” where I got to expand upon old Irish legends and bring them to a new audience in my own style of drawing…

How did you become interested in animation?
Apparently I’ve been interested in animation since seeing “The Jungle Book” at the tender age of 4 – it seems I announced my intention to draw for a living back then and apart from brief flirtations with Continue reading
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Sierra Lewis

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What is your name and your current occupation? 
My name is Sierra Lewis and I am currently an Art Director at Renegade Animation.
What are some of the crazier jobs you had before getting into animation? 
 When I graduated from LCAD in 2009 it was right in the middle of the recession. The area where my family and I lived actually had a higher rate of unemployment than Los Angeles at that time. I couldn’t even get a job as a barista at a local coffee house unless I had one years experience working at Starbucks. In short, it was nearly impossible to secure even part time income.
I ended up having to look out of state for work. I have some considerable experience working with horses and doing various barn chores so I packed up my belongings and moved to Arizona working as a Wrangler on a dude ranch. This was a sprawling working cattle ranch that consisted of nearly 150 horses and around 200 head of Texas Longhorn cattle in the beautiful Sonoran desert.
I had a fantastic and unique opportunity to teach folks from all over the world how to ride horses and guided them through thousands of acres of surprisingly lush desert. I groomed, saddled, doctored and fed these horses while doing all my other chores and activities with guests six days a week, fourteen hours a day (in 111 degree heat). It was very hard work but even harder on the horses. After watching a third horse during the exceedingly harsh summer season die in agony from either a careless accident or (most likely heat or dehydration induced) colic, I quit and headed back to California.
What are some of your favorite projects you’re proud to have been a part of? 
My favorite project so far has got to be “Attack of the 50 Foot Hero” that I completed last summer (2012) under the mentorship of Eric Goldberg. From concept to completion we had 12 weeks to complete a three minute film. I got to collaborate with some very talented friends and colleagues. It was a great experience to have Mr. Goldberg as our mentor. He taught us some very good production management skills, but more importantly helped us to narrow our focus and become stronger storytellers in all facets of the film making process.
Where are you from and how did you get into the animation business? 
I’m originally from a little area in Los Angeles called Woodland Hills. I’ve lived in L.A. County for the majority of my life. I believe I got into the animation business first via working on Facebook Social Games. Through that job I was given Continue reading