The Art of Blue Sky Studios - Hardcover

Friedman, Jake S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 160887317X ISBN 13: 9781608873173

Publisher: Insight Editions, 2014

Synopsis

Over the past 15 years, 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios have revolutionized computer animation with some of the most beloved movies of all time, from their initial success with Ice Age in 2002 to hits like Robots, Rio, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, Epic, and the four Ice Age sequels.

For the first time, this deluxe coffee-table book tells the remarkable tale of Blue Sky’s success, from its origins as a live-action visual effects company to its partnership with 20th Century Fox and reinvention as a driving force in the world of computer-generated animation. With exclusive access to Blue Sky’s archives and the exceptional artists who have made characters like Ice Age's Scrat and Rio's Blu and Jewel household names, this book takes an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at one of animation’s greatest success stories. Featuring never-before-seen concept art, early sketches, stunning stills, and other unique visuals, The Art of Blue Sky Studios delivers the complete illustrated history of this outstanding creative force in computer-generated animation.

About this title

About the Author:

Jake S. Friedman is a New York–based writer, teacher, and artist. He is a longtime contributor to Animation Magazine and Animation Mentor, and has also written for Animation World Network, the Philadelphia Daily News, and the Huffington Post. He was an animation artist for Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, and Saturday Night Live. Currently he is an adjunct professor of art and animation at the Roy Disney Studio for Animation Studies at Mercy College in New York City and is writing the authorized biography of animation legend Art Babbitt.

Chris Wedge is an Oscar®-winning film director, producer, and cofounder of Blue Sky Studios. Beginning his career as a stop-motion animator, Wedge later joined MAGI/Synthavision, where he was one of the principal animators for the groundbreaking Disney movie Tron (1982). He directed the character animation sequences for the Warner Bros./Geffen Films production Joe’s Apartment (1996), and served as creative supervisor on numerous feature films and commercials.

Wedge wrote and directed Blue Sky’s first film, the touching short Bunny (1998), which won an Academy Award for best animated short film. It was the first film to use radiosity, Blue Sky’s own advanced ambient lighting technology. In addition to the Academy Award, Bunny has won more than twenty-five international awards for animation excellence. Wedge then directed (with Carlos Saldanha) Blue Sky’s first two computer-generated animated feature films, Ice Age (2002), which was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature film, and Robots (2005). He was executive producer of Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006), which has grossed more than $638 million worldwide; Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! (2008), the first Dr. Seuss CG-animated feature film; Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, which grossed over $887 million worldwide; and the global hits Rio (2011) and Ice Age: Continental Drift.

Last year, he directed the animated feature Epic, a 3-D CG adventure comedy that reveals a fantastical world unlike any other. Earlier in 2014, he was an executive producer on Rio 2.

Wedge is a 1981 graduate of the SUNY Purchase film department. He received his Master of Arts degree in computer graphics and art education from the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at Ohio State University.

After graduating from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Carl Ludwig began his career in the aerospace industry at the Bendix Corporation, where he designed instrumentation and air data equipment for the Lunar Excursion Module, and the C5A, Mohawk, S3A, and B1B aircraft. During his tenure at Bendix, he received two patents for his work. Ludwig then joined Celco, a specialty display company, where he served as a design consultant. While at Celco, he was instrumental in the design of NASA’s first “quick look” film recorder and Celco’s line of 35 millimeter digital film recorders, which became the standard for the motion picture industry. In 1982, Ludwig joined Magi, a company that created the first computer animation in the motion picture industry, for the landmark motion picture Tron. At Magi, Ludwig began writing 3-D rendering software to create computer imagery.

In 1987, Ludwig and others cofounded Blue Sky Studios, where he served as head of research and development and wrote the studio’s rendering software. In 1999, Blue Sky received an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film for Bunny, and in March 2002, released its first computer-animated feature film Ice Age, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Also in March 2002, Ludwig received an Academy Award for his pioneering work in digital film recording. Since 2004, Blue Sky has released a number of additional features, including Robots, the Ice Age sequels, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, the Rio films, and Epic.

Carl Ludwig continues to serve as vice president and chief technology officer at Blue Sky Studios.

Eugene Troubetzkoy studied theoretical physics at the University of Paris–Sorbonne and Columbia University. He then joined Nuclear Development Associates, Inc. (later United Nuclear Corporation) as a nuclear physicist. In the late 1960s, he spent two years at Columbia University as a presidential-appointed senior research associate. Later, he joined the Mathematical Application Group, Inc., working in physics research and, later, computer animation. Troubetzkoy participated in the creation of Tron, the first movie with computer animation. In 1987, he and a few colleagues founded Blue Sky Studios, Inc. Troubetzkoy continues to be its vice president and chief scientist to date (2014).

At Blue Sky, Troubetzkoy designed and built an efficient ray-tracing technique and worked on motion blur and anti-aliasing. He continues to improve upon these techniques with a small but extremely well-selected R&D department.

Review:

IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards - Coffee Table - Large Format Silver Medal

Filled with working conceptual art...character development sketches and models...studies on the shape language. And light. And so many images of how the colors of light play in movement, setting of mood, and layout of drama....I’ve been motivated to think of light and color in a new way, and I’m confident that my hands will reach for [these] wonderful pages again for further inspiration.”
VizWorld

Impressive new coffee table art book.”
AWN

...is the most impressive movie-related art book I've ever seen... the full color paintings [are] done mostly to visualize the environments for the films and the characters' place in them, and they're striking. I can't compliment them enough...Best of all, the book doesn't try to cram them all into a smaller format. They're allowed to breathe. Some stretch across two page spreads. You can really see these paintings, and that's what an art book should do.”
Comic Book Resources

This book encompasses everything up to and including Rio 2. You and your kids will love flipping through and looking at all the fantastic images and learning more about this company that has been creating computer graphics since before the general public knew that was a thing.”
GeekDad

It’s hard to believe it’s been just over a decade since Fox helped launch Blue Sky into the world of theatrical feature animation with the global hit franchise starter Ice Age back in 2002 the fifth installment of which is planned for 2016. Since then, the studio has continually upped the CG animation bar with film adaptations and lushly designed original stories, from Robots to Rio. For the first time, you can leaf through a hefty coffee-table hardcover and live the studio’s journey from live-action visual effects company to a driving force in CG animation. Thanks to exclusive access to Blue Sky’s archives (and the talented artists who have built it), this edition boasts never-before-seen concept art, early sketches, stunning film stills and more eye candy to tide you over until their next ambitious project: the first-ever CG Peanuts movie coming next year.”
Animation Magazine

...a worthy addition to any animation geek’s shelf.”
Den of Geek

About this edition

• Publisher: Insight Editions
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 160887317X
• ISBN 13: 9781608873173
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304