thecompositionclub-blog

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MOAM X MICKEY

Mickey turns 90, this milestone will be a grand worldwide celebration. In the Netherlands Disney collaborates with MOAM. MOAM selected 18 young artists for a Mickey exhibition. Mickey Mouse is the inspiration source for the artists. On November 1st they will exhibit their unique work during a magical birthday party in Amsterdam.

MOAM and Disney join forces, with 18 young talented artists, including illustrators, painters, filmmakers and fashion designers. There will be a variety of objects to admire. Inspired by Mickey Mouse from 1928 to 2018, they created artworks. The exhibition will be opened with an exclusive party. The evening will revolve around Mickey, multidisciplinary art, Disney magic, creativity and young talent.

The exclusive event will take place in the Wintergarden of the Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam. For this occasion, the hotel will be completely immersed in Disney magic. As icing on the birthday cake, pianist Wibi Sourjadi will bring a tribute to Mickey Mouse and there will be a special guest expected from Disneyland Paris.

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THE LITTLE MERMAID POOL PARTY COLLECTION

UHM! We need all of these ESSENTIALS this summer. Oh My Disney has just launched their ‘The Little Mermaid Pool Party collection’. Don’t miss these hot items by clicking the link here: https://www.shopdisney.com/collections/oh-my-disney-collection

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WOULD YOU RATHER? #AIW

The cast of Marvel’s Avengers Infinity War play ‘Would you rather?’.

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THE ART OF SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS BOO-KINI BOTTOM

Have a look at this fun BHTS video from Nick Animation. The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom was a Nickelodeon halloween special.

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Christopher Robin Trailer

Today the first teaser trailer of Christopher Robin hits the internet. From the same studio that brought you ‘ Beauty and the Beast ‘ comes a new adventure. Let us know what you think! #POOHBEAR

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INCREDIBLES 2 TRAILER

The first real sneak peek is here people! Let us know what you think and what you’re looking most forward to!

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2018 ANNIE AWARDS

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A LOOK THROUGH // THE ART OF DISNEY’S ZOOTROPOLIS

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PIXAR IN A BOX

December is a perfect month to start a little course, Pixar In A Box! We all know that christmas break means family dinners, christmas shopping and playing in the snow. We also know that you can get real bored over christmas break so we know what to do that’s either fun AND teaches you a lot of great new things.

Pixar In A Box is a collaboration between Pixar Animation Studios and Khan Academy. Sponsored by Disney.

Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empower learners to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. We tackle math, science, computer programming, history, art history, economics, and more. 

Pixar in a Box is a behind-the-scenes look at how Pixar artists do their jobs. You will be able to animate bouncing balls, build a swarm of robots, and make virtual fireworks explode. 

Every couple of months Pixar adds a new topic for you to learn about. Here is a little overview of the subjects that are online as we speak:

Orientation

The art of storytelling

Simulation

Color science

Virtual cameras

Effects

Patterns

Rigging

Animation

Environment modeling

Character modeling

Crowds

Sets & staging

Rendering

Create an account and start learning now: Khanacadamy.org

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10 DECEMBER MOVIE SUGGESTIONS

The temperatures go down, the TV goes on!  What movies would we recommend to watch this December?

No, not Home Alone.

1. La La Land - This movie is just a cinematographers dream. Get swooped away with the emotional story and have the cinematography inspire you.

2. The Iron Giant - This classic will never get too old. Learn about a rare friendship and enjoy the amazing animation is this Brad Bird movie about love and letting go.

3. Paddington - Who doesn’t love this little bear? Watch this movie now as the sequel has just been released (I feel a movie marathon coming up). Also, you can admire Edwin Schaap’s animation work that he told us about in our latest video.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas - This movie is an absolute classic! Amazing stop motion techniques were used to produce this Tim Burton movie. It really has that feeling to it that only Tim Burton can give you.

5. Love Actually - This Christmas romcom is a beloved favourite. Besides the amazing variety of actors in this movie you can learn a thing or two about producing a movie with several stories that come together. A must see!

6. The 101 Dalmatians - What better than being tucked in a blanket and watching a childhood movie. Enjoy the amazing art style of Bill Peet.

7. Coco - The latest from Pixar! Coco, an amazing family movie that’s all about family and death. We promise you, half of the time you won’t even notice this movie is about something as sad as death. (watch our video of the Coco art-book after you watch this!)

8. Murder on the Orient Express - This movie is the kind of detective you are looking for. Besides a rather interesting story there is a lot of cinematography to enjoy in this beautifully filmed movie.

9. Loving Vincent - This entire movie is hand painted and took a looong long time to make. Always wanted to know who Vincent van Gogh was (in the most amazing way)? Be sure to watch this movie and be amazed by this masterpiece.

10. The Lego Batman Movie - So much is going on in this movie and the Lego is so much fun to watch. Comedy at it’s finest.

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A TALK WITH EDWIN SCHAAP

Enjoy this interview with Edwin Schaap, an animator and director from the Netherlands.

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A LOOK THROUGH // THE ART OF PIXAR’S COCO

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GET TO KNOW THE LINE ANIMATION STUDIO

Today we are introducing you to The Line Animation Studio! Sam Taylor was kind enough to answer some questions to quickly introduce you to the studio. We suggest you READ MORE!

What is The Line Animation studio? We are a company, founded by 6 artists, with a background in film and animation. From our studio space in London we work on commercial jobs, as well as developing our own projects and ideas. So far, what is the biggest accomplishment of the studio? Obviously, we feel the work we’ve made over the past few years is a big accomplishment, but even more so, we’re  proud that we’ve been able to create an environment for ourselves that allows us to do what we want to do together and get paid for it (sometimes).

Were there any challenges that the studio had to face? Of course. Every day. When we started we knew nothing about business, or the industry, or IT, or tax, or managing people. We’ve had to learn all that together on the job. Its been a steep learning curve, but we’re getting there. Could you tell us a bit about the Red Carpet Rampage? We loved it! Red carpet Rampage is a satirical web game based around the 2016 Academy Awards, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s quest for an Oscar. It was a silly idea that got mentioned in passing at one point down the pub, when we had a bit of downtime. Before we knew it we had ourselves a game. It want viral and was played over 3 million times in a week. It was all over the web and ended up getting featured on The Tonight Show.

What’s the best piece of advice you could give (aspiring) creatives? Stick with it. There is a lot of value in that. If you can keep picking yourself up and starting again, if you can keep up the love and the motivation through the thick and thin you’ll go a long way. Also, don’t be a dick. Do you have internships, if yes, what sort of people are you looking for? Unfortunately we’re not looking for interns right now. Maybe at some point in future. Are you working on something exciting now? Tons. But unfortunately we can’t talk about any of it right now. Sorry to be boring, but keep your eyes peeled.

They also make podcasts! Tim McCourt and Sam Taylor talk to talk to some of their favourite filmmakers and animation creators. Listen to their podcasts here: https://soundcloud.com/the-pegbar-and-grill

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INTERVIEW NICHOLAS PRODROMOU // INK OF MIND

That’s right! Another amazing interview to help start your week! This time Nicholas Prodromou answered some of our burning questions. On Instagram you can find him as ‘by_nick’ and he started his own shop called Ink Of Mind.  ( www.inkofmind.com )

Tell us a bit about yourself! My name is Nicholas Prodromou and I am a freelance Illustrator and Graphic Designer from south west London who recently graduated from UAL: Camberwell. Since then, I have opened my own online shop called Ink of Mind.

When did you become interested in illustration? I’m a person who always looks at the pictures on a page before ever reading a word. I remember at a very young age flicking through The Simpsons comics and copying illustrations of Homer on a piece paper. I think I’m naturally drawn to the visual side of life. So, I guess, all my life I’ve been interested in illustration.

What inspires you? I take inspiration from a range of things in my world. Cartoons, films, games, music, real life stuff. I love the the work of artists such as Nychos, Matt Gondek, Kentaro Yoshida, Jim and Jimbo Phillips, KAWS, Hebru Brantley. The list can go on and on. I recently went to a Basquiat gallery at the Barbican and have been in awe at his work and legacy.

What keeps you going? Gratefulness and my love for the journey. How did you develop your own style? I discovered my style in January at the start of this year. I was experimenting with brushes in illustrator and simply began to digitally ink a cartoon sketch of my hand holding a beer. I instantly liked what I was doing and decided to create more hand illustrations.  This then evolved over the months as I created more and more illustrations that tested what I can do in this style. I soon found myself creating my own character (The Anxiety Kid) that is now the icon of Ink of Mind.

What's your favourite piece of artwork (made by you)? My favourite piece that I have created would have to be the ‘Cheers!’ hand illustration I created at the start of the year. The second I finished it I knew all I wanted to do was create more like it.

How did you think of the idea to open up your own shop? I’ve always loved the idea of opening my own shop but never really had the confidence to create one. Ever since that ‘Cheers!’ illustration at the start of the year, I gained the confidence to push myself to set up one. As I was free to create and choose my final project at university, I decided to research into branding a skateboard company. This led me to create Transcend Skate Co. (which was the original name for Ink of Mind) where I explored how to go about creating products. Name an artist you’d like to be compared to. Shelby and Sandy Do you have any tips for aspiring illustrators? I believe you need to have patience and the consistent ability to work hard. Never stop drawing and gain inspiration from the world around you. What do you like? Do the stuff that you love doing and it will impact your own style. Be yourself.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? “Paint what you know” – Matt Gondek “No one else can do you better than you” – Kentaro Yoshida Professionally, what’s your goal? To achieve the dream of living off my illustrations and to someday have a solo exhibition where I can paint canvases as tall as me.

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INTERVIEW ANOUSCHKA BOSWINOUS // KOPFKINO ILLUSTRATION

Anouschka Boswinous is an illustrator and cultural anthropologist from Amsterdam that goes by the name of kopfkino illustration. She was kind enough to answer some of our questions! We promise you, this is a good read!

Please tell us a bit about yourself. My name is Anouschka Boswinous and i’m an illustrator and cultural anthropologist from Amsterdam that goes by the name of kopfkino illustration. I love to combine these two roles in making illustrations about social topics like gender, sexuality, culture and migration. When did you become interested in illustration? Drawing has always been my hobby. I loved visiting museums when I was a child and drew a lot of birthday cards for my friends when I was in primary school. When I finished high school I made the decision not to study illustration but to go to university and study cultural and visual anthropology instead. Now I am very happy with this choice because I can combine the two! What inspires you? People and their behaviour and ideas. I love to observe people and make drawings about this, which I did in little projects about Amsterdam, Quito (Ecuador) and Berlin.  And visually, scrolling through pinterest and instagram always makes me hungry to draw!

What keeps you going? I think this would be activism. It is my life goal to stretch normative ideas that people (including myself) have. You can think of ideas about gender or sex, but also cultural stereotypes. I want to use graphic storytelling to surprise people and make them aware of the stereotypes they have and how they reproduce them. I hope that this makes people (again, including myself) more tolerant or open to phenomenon they classify as 'other' or 'different'. In addition to activism, the sweet reactions of friends, family and strangers also keep me going! How did you develop your own style? I am not sure, I guess by drawing so many hours every week and by watching others! What's your favourite piece of artwork (made by you)? The series 'When I was sometimes in Ecuador', which I made as part of my master thesis. The thesis is about Dutch volunteer tourists in Ecuador and how their classification of phenomenon as "authentic" Ecuadorian influenced their feeling of being present in Ecuador. I like it because it is not just a nice looking illustration but a good start to combine anthropology and illustration and challenge stereotypical ideas we have about cultures.  

Name an artist you’d like to be compared to. Chimananda Ngzoi Adichie! She is not an illustrator but an American-Nigerian writer. My favourite book by her is 'Americanah' about a young woman who moves to the US. Chimananda Ngozi Adichie seems to have te same life goal as I do which you can hear in her crazy amazing TED talk called 'The danger of a single story'. Do you have any tips for aspiring illustrators? I still see myself as an aspiring illustrator to be honest! But I guess an advice (and a cliché) would be to just draw a lot and share a lot! What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? It was an advice disguised as a not so special question. After graduating last year a friend asked: 'What would be my dream job?'. When I gave a vague answer she asked again and agian until I realized that even though I didn't go to art school, I can still do my dream job and be an illustrator. Professionally, what’s your goal? It is my goal to develop this graphic storytelling more and have a visual collumn on a website or in a newspaper. I would also love to create a (childrens)book about a topic I find interesting!

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SpongeBob SquarePants "The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom" Panel

The teams behind SpongeBob SquarePants and stop-motion studio, Screen Novelties, stopped by to show an in depth behind the scenes look at the making of the SpongeBob Halloween Special: The Legend of Boo-kini Bottom! Source: Nick Animation YouTube Channel

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TUMBLR PORTFOLIO

Feel like you want to put your work out there? Not ready to commit to a domain or to pay for hosting yet? There is a super easy way to have a beautiful portfolio website, TUMBLR! You can even link your domain to your tumblr account so you can still have that professional look.

A lot of artists and animators do this. Some examples http://kevindart.tumblr.com

http://slimjimstudios.tumblr.com

We will show you how to make a good looking portfolio website in just a couple of steps, let’s go!

1. Make a Tumblr account and verify your account by email. 2. On the right side at the top you can select ‘Edit appearance’.

3.  The next screen you’re going to get will let you change a couple of things. As you can see on the screenshot you can edit your URL to make the ‘.tumblr’ part go away (you need to buy a personal domain to change this). When you select ‘Edit theme’ (and you can only do this once you verified your account by email) you can change certain things. Once you clicked it at the top left corner you will need click ‘Edit HTML’.

4. Now you are probably scared thinking ‘‘I don’t understand code’’. No panic. Delete all the code there is in the grey box. And paste a code of your own. To do that you have to find a theme you like. You can use google and search for ‘tumblr themes’. Some of my favorite websites are: http://themes.mxdvs.co

https://olleotathemes.tumblr.com

http://theme-hunter.tumblr.com

https://www.tumblr.com/themes/tagged/free

You can usually watch an online preview of what the theme looks like. Copy the code of the theme you want and paste that in the grey box where you just deleted the old code. Press ‘Update’. And your new theme is saved. Adjustments such as infinite scroll or more rows of photos can be managed in the edit appearance page (the one where you can also press edit HTML). Good luck