Anomaly 2012 Report!

We're back from the Anomaly workshop in Vancouver.
It was a lot of fun, and I've come away from it inspired to create, which I think was the point of the workshop... The Beaty Biodiversity Museum was amazing. Rows and rows of skeletons, fossils and taxidermied animals to look at and study. The atmosphere for the workshop was very relaxed, and it felt very different from a comic con. Here's some photos Emily snapped while I was "workshopping."

A blue whale skeleton, the largest on display in Canada.

mouse deer skeleton

an echidna and a bandicoot

ungulates!

 The highlight of the event for Emily and me was meeting Terryl Whitlatch. Terryl is one of the most well known creature designers in our industry. After discovering her work back in 1999 for Star Wars: Episode I she quickly became one of my favorite artists and I constantly look at her work for inspiration. She did a presentation about her career and her thought process for her creature designs as well as hang out on the main floor of the museum to talk and draw with the other artists. We talked for a while and later when I was demoing she came over and we discussed the creature I was working on! I was flattered to say the least. Check out her latest project: Tales of Amalthea, it looks amazing.

Unfortunately I was too busy to attend any of the other presentations, but from what I hear they were all really fascinating.

I enjoyed meeting with friends and colleagues while I was doing my demo. Answering some questions and talking shop with students and other artists in the industry was nice and hopefully watching me work was interesting to all of you that stopped by.

Finally I'd like to thank Graeme McCormack for inviting me, and all the other organizers that put the show together. This was the first art workshop I've been a part of and it was a great experience all around.

A rare sighting of the dorkicus artisticae - more commonly known as the
"Vinod Rams."

I'll post the creature I designed at the show tomorrow. Stay tuned!