Doug Chiang’s 4 principles of Star Wars design

September 24, 2016 Ian Failesvfxblog

Doug Chiang didn’t go to art school.

But as many readers would know, he worked his way up at places like Rhythm & Hues, Robert Abel and Associates and ILM, landing the role as the head of the Lucasfilm art department on the Star Wars prequels starting in 1995. Here he worked with George Lucas on designing a new angle on the Star Wars world.

‘What was it like working with George?’, Chiang says people ask him all the time. It was terrifying for two reasons, he explained in a packed out session at the recent Trojan Horse was a Unicorn event in Portugal.

The first reason was that Chiang was trying to fill the shoes of his heroes – Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston. And the other thing was something Lucas told him on the first day, ‘Forget everything you know about Star Wars.’

That revelation completely blew Chiang’s mind because he had been angling almost solely towards mimicking McQuarrie and Johnston’s famous Star Wars designs. However, Chiang reflects now that it was a blessing since it allowed him to dig deep on what was the design philosophy of Star Wars – what makes it work? The end process in the prequels would be slightly different, but the process would be identical to what had come before.

These are the four principles of Star Wars design Chiang came up with. Continue reading “Doug Chiang’s 4 principles of Star Wars design” →

Wolf pack wonderment

September 23, 2016 Ian FailesCartoonBrew

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For Storks, Sony Pictures Imageworks had some fun scenes to make including those involving the shape-shifting wolf pack. I wrote about the work for Cartoon Brew.

Review: Inside VFX

September 16, 2016 Ian FailesCartoonBrew

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I reviewed Inside VFX for Cartoon Brew. This is a book written by a vfx artist who opens up on his view of the problems in the industry. It’s a good read, and surprises with a number of economics details.

Big directors and VR

September 12, 2016September 12, 2016 Ian FailesCartoonBrew

Here’s a look at Jon Favreau’s VR experience Gnomes & Goblins made with Wevr, for Cartoon Brew.

Spike gets it

September 10, 2016 Ian FailesInverse

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The best commercials are more art projects, right? I think most of what Spike Jonze makes is exactly that, which is why his latest perfume spot for KENZO is so watchable. And it also happens to have a bunch of seamless vfx from Digital Domain, which I wrote about at Inverse.