Thursday, August 12, 2010

Loren Bivens-CBS Digital Supervisor

Loren Bivens joins us from CBS Digital to teach production classes at Art Institute Inland Empire. He joins us with a number of credits to his name. Its a little know fact that Loren Bivens was Joel Cohen's teacher who help him get the film "Blood Simple" together.(Joel is half of the Cohen Brothers). The Cohen Brothers wrote and directed Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, Raising Arizona, Burn after Reading, No Country for Old man and most recently "A Serious Man"

Here are Lorens Bivens credits

* 2000s
* 1990s

1. Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV) (visual effects supervisor)
2. The Last Sin Eater (2007) (visual effects supervisor)
3. Desperation (2006) (TV) (visual effects supervisor)
... aka "Stephen King's Desperation" - USA (complete title)
4. Category 7: The End of the World (2005) (TV) (on-set visual effects supervisor)
5. Naughty or Nice (2004) (TV) (visual effects supervisor)
6. Category 6: Day of Destruction (2004) (TV) (CG animator)
7. Riding the Bullet (2004) (visual effects on-set supervisor)
... aka "Stephen King's Riding the Bullet" - USA (complete title)
8. Blast (2004) (animator)
9. The Winning Season (2004) (TV) (lead CGI animator)
10. Mr. Ed (2004) (TV) (visual effects supervisor)
11. Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002) (V) (3D animator)
12. Beyond the Prairie, Part 2: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2002) (TV) (visual effects)
13. The Christmas Secret (2000) (TV) (animator: Los Angeles)
... aka "Flight of the Reindeer" - International (English title), UK

14. Jesus (1999) (TV) (visual effects)
15. Heart Full of Rain (1997) (TV) (visual effects supervisor)

Actor:

* 2000s
* 1990s
* 1980s

1. There's Something About Meryl (2004) .... Limo Driver

2. Amazing Nurse Nanako (1999) (V) (voice: English version) .... Joji Ogami, Additional Voices
... aka "Nanako kaitai shinsyo" - Japan (original title)

3. R.O.T.O.R. (1988) (voice) .... Coldyron
4. Blood Simple. (1984) .... Strip Bar Exhorter
... aka "Blood Simple: The Thriller" - Japan (English title) (director's cut)
5. Disciples of the Crow (1983) .... Boyfriend
6. Taking Tiger Mountain (1983) (voice)

Camera and Electrical Department:

* 1990s
* 1980s

1. The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994) (camera operator: "b" camera)
... aka "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation" - USA (reissue title)

2. Trespasses (1986) (camera operator)

Production Manager:

1. The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1994) (production supervisor)
... aka "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation" - USA (reissue title)

Cinematographer:

1. Slipping Into Darkness (1988) (director of photography)

Sound Department:

1. Shadows on the Wall (1986) (sound designer)

Editorial Department:

1. Shadows on the Wall (1986) (post-production coordinator)

Director:

1. Trespasses (1986)

Writer:

1. Trespasses (1986) (screenplay)

Producer:

1. Trespasses (1986) (producer)

Special Effects:

1. Blood Simple. (1984) (special effects coordinator)
... aka "Blood Simple: The Thriller" - Japan (English title) (director's cut)

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Ken Kinoshita- Ex-Disney Artist at the Inland Empire!

Ken began his art training in the early 1980’s attending Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California. Later he attended California State College Fullerton in Fullerton, California. While attending Mt. San Antonio College, Ken attended Classes offered through the Screen Cartoonist Union. During this time Ken also began taking animation classes Taught by renowned animation artist Cornelius Cole. After graduating from California State Fullerton with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Ken worked as a freelance illustrator. During this time Ken applied and received

A job with DIC Enterprises, which would lead to work with, Saban, Film Roman, Klasky-Csupo Studios, Hanna-Barbara Studios, Warner Brothers Television Studios, Disney Feature Animation Studios, DreamWorks SKG Studios, Disney Television Studios, Disney Studios Tokyo, Japan, SOB Studios, Auckland New Zealand and many commercial Animation studios such as, Playhouse Pictures,West Indigo, Duck Soup, Bagdasarian Studios, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, Mike Joens Productions, Film Fair,O pictures, and many more.

During Ken’s time at Disney Feature Animation, Ken worked on: The Prince And The Pauper, Beauty And The Beast, Lion King, Pocahontas, and The Hunchback Of Norte Dame.

In 2000, Ken began teaching various classes at California State College Fullerton, and Mount San Antonio College. In 2006, he started his own company with a few colleagues from Disney and continues to do freelance character design. In 2007 he joined the faculty at Art Institute Inland Empire teaching most of the traditional animation classes where he continues to teach today.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Michael Swanigan- 4 time Emmy winner teaches at the Art Institute Inland Empire!?


4 time Emmy Award winning Animation Director / Storyboard Artist Michael Swanigan is a veteran artist with over 30 years of hands-on experience in all areas of animation. Producing, Directing, animating, layouts, storyboarding, development and writing, Michael has done it all.

He was director/storyboards for on the emmy-award winning CGI animated series Voltron (26 eps.), and Horrible Histories (26 eps.) for Mike Young Prods. He has worked as the senior board artist on Saban's Captain America and Silver Surfer and DIC's Pocket Dragons, he also worked on Sony's Men in Black, Extreme Ghost Busters and he served as award-winning producer/director of Film Roman's The Mask series seen nation wide and worked on the Simpsons, produced the animated series the Blues Brothers syndicated series for New Line. Swanigan has worked on Disney's first and only action/adventure series, Gargoyles, as well as for almost every animation studio in town, including Walt Disney, Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, DIC, Warner Bros., Bluth, Sony,Marvel, Ruby-Spears and even did some live-action storyboards for Landmark Ent.

His animation credits include the Spider-Man (the 90s series, as as well as the '80'sseries), The Fantastic Four, Iron Man,The X-Men, He-Man, G.I. Joe. Some of his many comedy series are Tiny Toon Adventures, Fat Albert, Sonic the Hedgehog, Hammer Man, Garfield and Friends, as well as two Flip Wilson prime-time specials and many more. He was storyboard supervisor on Mighty Max, for Film Roman as well as Dennis the Menace, Double Dragon, Sonic and other DIC and Hanna-Barbera series, just to name a few. There are many more to name.

Swanigan is a 30-year veteran of animated film production. He divides his time as a professional animator/storyboard artist and adjunct professor of animation at The Art Institute of California - Inland Empire and lecturing on animation. Has a body of creative work in animation: drawn, cutout, or traditional. With teaching experience, and is comfortable teaching drawing; idea development. Able to teach traditional film techniques.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Michael Williams 3d Trainer/Instructor Extraordinare!

Mike Williams is a 3D Environment Artist and 2D/3D Designer. He is currently the Senior 3D Instructor for the Art Institute of California Los Angeles in the Media Arts and Game Art department. He is an Autodesk Certified Instructor currently 1 of 65 in the world certified at this level of instruction. He was awarded with Teacher of the Year in 2007 and 2008 at The Art Institute of California Los Angeles and Inland Empire.

Mike has worked in the Game Art and Animation industry for 9 years with companies like, Konami, SCEA, EA, THQ and Midway. For the PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PSP and DS Systems. On the Titles “Silent Hill Origins”, “Silent Hill 5”, “Moto GP 06”, “Atv Offroad Fury 3&4”, “Steel Horizions”, “Mortal Kombat Unchained”, “The Lord of the Rings The Third Age” and “Oblivion Elder Scrolls”.

He has also worked for MTV, VH1, E and HGTV as a Motion Graphics Designer, and a Graphic Designer for The City of Los Angeles, Alpinestars, El Pollo Loco, Baja Fresh and Ryder International and many other projects and clients in 2D Design. He has also published articles for HDRI Magazine about 3D Modeling, Texture Mapping, Lighting and Rendering.Mike has been an instructor teaching 3D Art and Design for over 7 years with Learning Tree University, UCLA and The Art Institute of California Los Angeles and Inland Empire. He specializes in 3D Environments and Vehicle Modeling in Autodesk 3DS Max and Maya. Mike is a true Generalist, he is skilled in Modeling, UV Mapping, Texture Painting, Lighting, Rigging, Animation, Particles, Dynamics and Software / Mental Ray Rendering.

Mike has been a valuable asset to The Art Institute of California – Inland Empire and helped the department grow leaps and bounds with his hard work and dedication to quality Instruction and Motivation of his students.



Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Brandon Perlow-3d Digital Character Modeler


Brandon Perlow has been doing character modeling for the last 15 years. Working on photo realistic projects in film, animation and tv. He teaches at Art Institute Inland Empire and Art Institute Los Angeles. Brandon has worked on Apocalypto, National Treasure, Exorcism of Emily Rose. Brandon has worked at the Jim Henson Creature Shop in London, as well as Disney Feature Animation in Burbank.

Steve Hampton Anatomy Teacher


Steve Hampton teaches our life drawing and anatomy classes here. He also created the comparative anatomy curriculum and the painting curriculum. He has studied other great teachers like Glen Vilppu, Steve Huston and John Watkis. He also recently published a book., on a anatomy that is currently being used. Lets hear what Steve has to say about teaching here.

INTERVIEW

MAA-GAD Instructors

Who are you MAA-GAD instructors? Why do they teach at the Art Institute Inland Empire?