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Tina Price had a 20-plus year career as a Disney artist.  She has worked with some of the most famous living animation artists including, Ron Clements, John Musker and Don Bluth.

She also contributed to the computer-generated components of breakthrough films like The Rescuers Down Under, Oliver And Company, and Aladdin where she worked on the Magic Carpet character.

In 2004, she founded The Creative Talent Network which now features portfolios from over 350 top-talent animation industry artists.

Tina and I discuss her career, the upcoming CTN-X and the future of the animation industry.
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Last year, I began work on a series of designs based on the story of Oz, with plans to collect them into a concept art book similar to The Skillful Huntsman.

I may still publish that book some day, but my plans were confounded when, right after my decision to do an Oz book, Marvel Comics released an AMAZING adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz that was drawn by the remarkable Skottie Young.

Needless to say, I’ve put the plans for my own Oz book on hold for now.  I think it commercially unwise step with intent into the long shadows cast by Skottie and the good people that catalyzed the Marvel version.

However, I just can’t keep these designs secret any longer.  So I’m going to post them on my blog, one at a time, with some accompanying commentary…

WHY DID YOU WANT TO MAKE AN ‘OZ’ BOOK, CHRIS?

Oz is one of my favorite places.

I can’t say that the original book by L. Frank Baum is one of my favorite works of literature.  Although I do like the book quite a bit.

And I like the classic Judy Garland movie just as much as the next guy, but it is not my favorite film of all time, as it is for many people.

What really intrigues me is the world of Oz.  I love “rules” (or the lack thereof) that exist in theOz that Baum created.

I am a SUCKER for the kind of hodgepodge character logic that also exists in every Muppet-related project (Jim Henson’s Labyrinth parallels Oz in many ways) as well as movies like Star Wars and Speilberg’s A.i.

I love a good ‘accidental family’ story, especially when the accidental family is one comprised of characters that vary dynamically in shape, size, species, color, texture and temperament.

I have a great deal to say about this topic, so over the coming months, I will be posting designs from my own Oz collection (never before seen!) and talking about the ‘accidental family’ stories that I love and what makes them so great.

Until next week, Go well.

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IN THIS EPISODE ::

John Bermudes was a successful effects animator for hand-drawn feature films including The Iron Giant before pursuing his current creative calling as a Pre-Visualization Supervisor atDisney.

John and I discuss all aspects of his career, the blending of the artistic and the technical during the making of an animated film and he shares some great advice for people who are interested in pursuing a career in animation.
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The future has arrived, for better or worse.  Artists and storytellers are facing a fundamental redefinition of their craft, not to mention a fundamental redefinition of themselves.

The industries that have traditionally supported, distributed and promoted those crafts have proved less resilient than we once thought and the audience’s appetite for the traditional incarnations of those crafts has evolved.  However, that appetite is not gone nor is it satisfied. It remains insatiable as ever.

But all bets are off. The tools and techniques are changing. There are almost no preexisting models of success. “The box” is now a cloud.

Is this a future of intimidating uncertainty or one of infinite possibility?  I believe that it is incumbent upon us, the creators, to decide.  It is my opinion that for the artist and the storyteller, the web world is just another blank page.  And really, is the blank page so intimidating?

Join me for an inspirational, fear-destroying, artistically-empowering series that I have titled, simply, “Artists and The Web.’

And now, for the second installment, I am honored to present to you the curator of all things illustration on the internet, Thomas James of The Escape From Illustration Island Podcast.
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