The Gnomon Workshop released a wide range of new titles. From "The Skinned Character Rig" to "Watercolor and Gouache Painting," these DVDs offer something for everyone. This group of DVDs ushers the return of instructors Aaron Sims, Wendy Froud and Carlo Sansonetti, each one building on previous lectures on character design, character sculpting and character rigging. This week we also introduce world class instructors Erik Tiemens and Richard Keyes. Erik, an award-winning movie concept artist, teaches his watercolor and gouache techniques for quickly capturing the essence of an idea or concept techniques useful for fine artists and concept designers alike. Richard presents a must-have lecture on color, breaking down the concepts of color and demonstrating through historical and contemporary examples how artists have used color harmonies and contrasts to compose their images. See descriptions for details of each DVD below.


ACCOLADES:

"Often color can be a very mysterious subject for artists to fully understand. Whether you are a beginner or an old pro, Richard Keyes will help you to make sense of the use of color in your artwork. Through explanations about the physics of it all to the symbolic use of color, your knowledge of this subject will be greatly enhanced by the content of this DVD, brought to you by one of the world's most insightful lecturers on the subject." - Scott Robertson - Chair of Entertainment Design - Art Center College of Design - President, Design Studio Press

"Carlo Sansonetti is the master at creating robust character rigs that have feature film quality on a video game budge. He knows the rigs, he knows animation, and he never stops impressing us with his ability to blend this knowledge into amazing results. Frankly, our job would be impossible without Carlo. He is a marvel!" - Marty Davis - Animation Director - Heavy Iron Studios

"Aaron Sims is the consummate industry professional in that he consistently marries his considerable artistic talent with the powerful technological tools of today, producing work that not only meets the demands of time-sensitive production schedules, but also never fails to impress." - Stan Winston - Stan Winston Studio

"The intricacy of the costuming, delicate sculptural finesse of her faces, exquisite miniature props and the enchanted environments of Wendy Froud's creations were not only uplifting to view, but seemed imbued with other worldly spirits that could whisk one away on a whimsical journey out beyond the edge of the garden or across the sun-dappled brook. Her figures had an incredible delicacy, yet each one also had eyes that sparkled with a life and vitality breathed into their bodies by Wendy herself." - Richard Taylor - Director, The WETA Workshop

"When it comes to painting, Erik Tiemens not only knows how, he shows how. His approach to lighting and composition draws deeply from his extensive knowledge of 19th century Romantic masters. His approach to picturemaking relies on a combination of thorough planning and painterly intuition, and his imagination is fed by his direct study of Nature. The restraint and focus of his pictures are well worth study by aspiring artists who want to give their imaginative work a sense of timelessness and mood." - James Gurney - Artist

"It is tempting to think of Erik Tiemens as a man of two worlds: traditional and digital, personal and collaborative, fine art and film art. Don't be fooled: it is the worlds that are divided, not Erik. His magical sense of light and shade and shape and color touches everything he does, spinning base images into visual gold." - Iain McCaig - Art Director

DVD DESCRIPTIONS:

Color Theory: The Mechanics of Color - Applied and Theoretical Color with Richard Keyes

Beginning with some thoughts on how we define the concept of color, Richard explains various methods people in history have used to systemize color. These systems include the additive and subtractive color wheels, which are addressed as metaphorical maps of color. The basic vocabulary we use to describe color hue, value and saturation are explained through illustrative and graphic means. The majority of this DVD is concerned with color harmonies and contrasts, with references to over 350 paintings. This lecture is intended to do more than spend time defining this list of terms. Advice is offered about how to best use these "Mechanics of Color" to your advantage, and a few traps to avoid.

Designing Creatures in Adobe Photoshop - with Aaron Sims

In this DVD, Aaron Sims shows how he uses Adobe Photoshop to create and design characters and creatures. Aaron covers many of his techniques for designing character concepts and discusses the logic behind his methods. He shows you the entire process including sketching and drawing in Photoshop, and manipulating, warping and blending photos to develop interesting features, backgrounds and textures. Aaron explains how to effectively design with tools like Warp, Liquify and different layer blend modes for quick results. He also demonstrates how to paint in finer details such as wrinkles, scars and hair. Finally, Aaron covers some of his techniques for unifying an image and giving it a more finished look.

The Skinned Character Rig - Skinning and Deformations with Carlo Sansonetti

In The Skinned Character Rig, lead character rigger Carlo Sansonetti shows the skinning process from start to finish. The lecture begins with the concepts required to understand basic skinning, allowing the viewer to quickly start deforming their characters. It then progresses to detailed examples and explanations of advanced techniques. Carlo covers his favorite tools, smooth binding, deformation order, deformation correction, indirect skinning and deforming cloth. This DVD is for artists who are new to rigging as well as for experienced riggers who are looking to expand their current knowledge base with varying approaches on advanced topics.

Creating a Character Figure - with Wendy Froud

In this two-disc DVD workshop, renowned artist Wendy Froud explains and demonstrates how to create a character figure of your own design. Wendy reveals her process in step-by-step detail, beginning with a discussion of how to use reference to inspire the look and feel of your designs. She sculpts three different character heads, covering a variety of techniques for giving personality to your figure including facial expressions, wrinkles and lines. After painting each head and discussing ways to add skin details such as age spots, she chooses one head to turn into a full character. Wendy then covers sculpting hands and feet, fabricating the body and costuming the character complete with boots, hat and staff. This DVD is meant to follow Wendy's first DVD Creating a Faery Figure and focuses on character sculpting and costuming without the same emphasis given to body fabricating.

Watercolor and Gouache Painting - The Techniques of Erik Tiemens

The essence of an exciting idea can be captured successfully using a limited palette gouache and watercolor thumbnail technique. Artist and designer Erik Tiemens presents a compelling demo and covers multiple topics, including how to start visualizing thru multiple mini-sketches that take into account lighting, atmosphere, high-key and low-key plans, palette mixing, and brush control. Additional areas covered include paint consistency, working on toned paper, and zeroing in on your final direction. The lecture concludes with a detailed step-by-step demo for creating a finished small-format painting.

More Information at: www.thegnomonworkshop.com. Image and Video Courtesy of Gnomon Inc.