Podcasts about ash thorp

The mighty Colorsponge, aka Carlos Pecino, joins The Learn Squared Podcast to share how he became one of the industry's leading CG artists. From graphic design and VFX to automotive design and co-founding Make Haste Corp with Ash Thorp, Carlos reveals his journey of mastering multiple disciplines. He opens up about his work ethic, highs and lows, learning from mistakes, and creating with passion. You don't want to miss this inspiring episode - FOLLOW CARLOS https://www.instagram.com/colorsponge/ https://www.instagram.com/makehastecorp/ https://makehastecorp.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@UCQ-O4Mws72Y3-nkVW6ciqiQ - FOLLOW LEARN SQUARED https://www.learnsquared.com https://www.patreon.com/patreon https://www.cara.app/learnsquared https://www.instagram.com/learnsquared https://www.twitter.com/learnsquared https://www.linkedin.com/school/learnsquared - YOUR HOST https://www.artstation.com/dhanda https://www.instagram.com/dhandatron https://www.cara.app/dhandatron

Dans cet épisode, faites la connaissance de Elise Tronel, artiste 3D. Découvrez, entre autre, son parcours, en dehors des chemins biens tracés, ses expériences en tant que freelance, son exigence personnelle et son regard sur les réseaux sociaux en tant que créatrice. Bonne écoute ✌️e-artsup : https://www.e-artsup.net/Jonathan Plesel : https://www.instagram.com/jonathanplesel/Octane render : https://home.otoy.com/render/octane-render/L'artiste dont on cherchait le nom : Ash Thorp : https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp/?hl=frMotion + Design Interview : https://motion-plus-design.com/watch/interviews/57Motion + Design Conference : https://motion-plus-design.com/watch/talks/108Projet Devialet : https://www.instagram.com/p/CMkSegHi4qa/Averse Joaillerie : https://www.instagram.com/averseparis/Projet sur Façade de Chanel : https://www.instagram.com/p/DAEFmC4tDep/Amélie Nothomb : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Am%C3%A9lie_NothombChanel : https://www.chanel.com/fr/Chaumet : https://www.chaumet.com/Ecole de Joaillerie Van Cleef & Arpels : https://www.lecolevancleefarpels.com/fr/enWallace Chan : https://www.instagram.com/wallacechanart/Jonathan Plesel : https://www.instagram.com/jonathanplesel/Les episodes cités :Avec Blansable : https://youtu.be/bhzs0Wv_K9E?si=XbwmyvXOiXxCsty5Avec Mattey : https://youtu.be/ioM8IRR1LPw?si=zORNBUf3zxZf27pgAvec Lucie Bourboulon : https://youtu.be/26or5y-B5ss?si=POPaYxLAuDByXFnrRetrouvez Elise Tronel partout :Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/elisetronel/Site : https://elisetronel.fr/---Le MoDCast est un format de discussion ouverte avec des professionnels du #motiondesign.Au fil de nos discussions, découvrez les parcours, les process, le quotidien de créatifs francophones.

Ash Thorp is a creative legend who has inspired a generation of artists and continues to do so. Either through his rich and diverse creative endeavors from Filmmaking to Car Design or when creating magic for iconic IPs like he did when designing the most recent Batmobile, Ash, who is also one of our original co-founders and instructors, joins us to give us a glimpse into the lengths he goes to perfect his craft and the steps he takes. LEARN FROM ASH https://www.learnsquared.com/courses/ui-data-design https://www.learnsquared.com/courses/main-title https://www.learnsquared.com/courses/hud-design FOLLOW ASH https://www.altcinc.com https://ashthorp.art/ https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp https://www.twitter.com/ashthorp1 https://makehastecorp.com/ FOLLOW LEARN SQUARED ( ALL First Lessons are FREE!) https://www.learnsquared.com https://www.instagram.com/patreon https://www.instagram.com/learnsquared https://www.twitter.com/learnsquared https://www.linkedin.com/school/learnsquared YOUR HOST https://www.artstation.com/dhanda https://www.instagram.com/dhandatron  https://www.twitter.com/dhandatron  

Michał Misiński's name may be familiar to regular listeners — this CG artist turned director helped previous podcast guest Ash Thorp create his Ghost in the Shell homage “Project 2501.” Michał is also a partner at Polish visual effects VFX studio Juice, directing videos for Porsche, Honda, Skoda, Dolby, and more. Recently, Michał brought his talent and passion together for a music video that ties in with sci-fi RPG Cyberpunk 2077's Phantom Liberty expansion. Michał tells Chris about the process of shooting the music video, revealing how the team seamlessly blended CG and live-action, and made a physical actress look just like an in-game character. Michał also discusses the effects of big changes in the VFX and gaming industries.

Industrial Design, Creative Inspiration & Personal Projects! Today we chat about concept art for The Creator, Jason Encabo on Ash Thorp's podcast and a quote from Virgil Abloh.Industrial Design, Creative Inspiration & Personal Projects! - Dune concept book - Concept art for The Creator - Oats Studios films - Jason Encabo on Ash Thorp's podcasy - Finding your creative fuel - A quote from Virgil AblohAll the links, all the time! Industrial Design, Creativity & Inspiration! For Industrial Design related business inquiries: Big Design Company Website: www.bigdesigncompany.com Big Design Company email: hi@bigdesigncompany.com Follow us on Instagram! @theprocess__podcast Zak Watson // LinkedIn Behance Website NFTs Dylan Torraville // LinkedIn Website 3D Dyl Behance Send us an email to hi.theprocesspodcast@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to reach out! The Process is a podcast created by industrial designers Dylan Torraville and Zak Watson. Dyl and Zak are picking up microphones to chat about their experiences in design school,  personal projects and navigating the creative process. Oh yeah, and there will be some sweet interviews with other designers and friends too.

Industrial Design, Creative Inspiration & Personal Projects! Today we chat about Ash Thorp, wanting to learn Rhino despite its complexities and looking forward a year in the future at work.Industrial Design, Creative Inspiration & Personal Projects! - Ash Thorp - Using Rhino or Solidworks - Wanting to learn Zbrush - A plethora of Software - Jason Encabo on The Collective Podcast - A year in the future with work - Growing the model making businessAll the links, all the time! Industrial Design, Creativity & Inspiration! For Industrial Design related business inquiries: Big Design Company Website: www.bigdesigncompany.com Big Design Company email: hi@bigdesigncompany.com Follow us on Instagram! @theprocess__podcast Zak Watson // LinkedIn Behance Website NFTs Dylan Torraville // LinkedIn Website 3D Dyl Behance Send us an email to hi.theprocesspodcast@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to reach out! The Process is a podcast created by industrial designers Dylan Torraville and Zak Watson. Dyl and Zak are picking up microphones to chat about their experiences in design school,  personal projects and navigating the creative process. Oh yeah, and there will be some sweet interviews with other designers and friends too.

Ash is a longtime friend, and a world renowned designer and artist. We talk about a lot of things, as always, as we bounce back and forth between the work we do, the work we've done in the past and how things have evolved over time. He's the most prolific person I know, and a true inspiration for achieving whatever dream you might have. Ash is mostly recently known for his work on The Batman film, and also for a constellation of amazing projects like Orion, Chimera, Make Haste Corp, Akira, Evinetta, The Collective Podcast, among others. ALT (Ash Thorp) https://www.altcinc.com/ Ash Thorp on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp/

Ash Thorp is a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director for a multitude of media, including feature films, commercial enterprises, and print. Most recently, Ash worked on the concept for the Batmobile and the Batcycle, for the 2022 film The Batman directed by Matt Reeves.  Previously, Ash has worked on graphics for Ender's Game and Total Recall, as well as contributed to the design concepts for Spectre, Prometheus, X-Men First Class, Call of Duty and others. His first directorial debut started with the assembly of an international team for his Ghost in the Shell tribute, as well as the main title for OFFF Barcelona 2014. In 2015, he was requested to assemble an international team of designers and create the title sequence for FITC Tokyo. Later that year, Ash co-directed “Ares — Our Greatest Adventure”, a promotional trailer for the feature film The Martian. Allan McKay is an Emmy Award winning VFX Supervisor and Technical Director. He is responsible for many visual effects sequences including on hit titles like God of War: Ragnarok, Avengers: Endgame, Game of Thrones, Marvel's Runaways, Bloodshot, Transformers, Blade, The Last Airbender, Star Trek, Superman, Flight, The Equalizer, and dozens of others; as well as many of the top video games worldwide: Halo, Destiny, Call of Duty, Bioshock, Prototype, Half-Life, and Team Fortress 2.  Allan has over two decades of experience working in the visual effects industry for many leading studios such as ILM, Pixomondo, Blur Studio, Sony, Paramount Picture, Atomic Fiction, Prime Focus, Ubisoft, Activision and dozens of others. In addition to his VFX work, Allan runs many online courses, as well as a mentorship. Throughout the past two decades, he has appeared as a speaker at events in over 15 different cities including Paris, Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Singapore, Helsinki. He has taught master classes at SIGGRAPH and IAMAG, and has spoken at events with Nvidia Google. His hit Podcast is rated in the top 200 podcasts on iTunes where he interviews many award winning VFX Artists, Supervisors and Film Directors, focusing on both creativity and drive, as well as on how to boost your career and achieve success as a creative. In this Podcast Ash Thorp interviews Allan McKay about his outlook on failure and how to move past it, AI and other technological disruptions, following one's calling, as well as the importance of gratitude and always moving forward. For more show notes, visit www.allanmckay.com/400.

Industrial Design, Creative Inspiration & Personal Projects! Today we chat about Ash Thorp as inspiration, trying out AI programs like ChatGPT and Midjourney, and replacing the blank page. On today's episode of “The Process” we discuss: Ash Thorp as inspiration The ethics of AI art Trying out ChatGPT Trying out Midjourney Replacing the blank page No blank pages Strange Bones To be the best, you need to train like the best All the links, all the time! Industrial Design, Creativity & Inspiration! Afshin Mehin // LinkedIn Instagram Card79.com For Industrial Design related business inquiries: Big Design Company Website: www.bigdesigncompany.com Big Design Company email: hi@bigdesigncompany.com Follow us on Instagram! @theprocess__podcast Zak Watson // LinkedIn Behance Website NFTs Dylan Torraville // LinkedIn Website 3D Dyl Behance Send us an email to hi.theprocesspodcast@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to reach out! The Process is a podcast created by industrial designers Dylan Torraville and Zak Watson. Dyl and Zak are picking up microphones to chat about their experiences in design school, personal projects and navigating the creative process. Oh yeah, and there will be some sweet interviews with other designers and friends too.

There is perhaps no better way to end Makers of Sport's podcast then to provide what may be the most inspiring story in its history. Ali Rahmoun—3-D Designer, Creative Director, and Founder of Sports Templates, a digital asset company whose products are used by #smsports creatives in the NBA, NFL, NHL, and more—joined the show in 2021 to share his inspiring story. A native of Syria, Ali discovered the Internet in a war-torn, Isis-occupied country and began teaching himself graphic and web design as a teenager there. Initially, he fell in love with interacive Flash websites and frequented the niche platforms millennial creatives often found ourselves on during that time such as DeviantArt, Dribbble, and Behance. Overcoming many hardships, including once having to power his computer via a truck battery due power outages from war so he could meet the deadline of a client, Ali developed a strong instinct to learn under intense circumstances and persevere. His eventual passion for creative entrepreneurship eventually led to him creating Sports Templates, an online marketplace creating and selling 3-D assets as Photoshop templates such as uniforms, athletics courts and fields, sports equipment, digital apparel, and other items. Listen along as we discuss Ali's story, content marketing, the state of design tools, the importance of learning how to learn, 3-D's future in this new era of design, and much more. Mentions Include: Sports Templates Website Sports Templates on Twitter Sports Templates on IG "Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered" by Austin Kleon Ash Thorp Adam's Tinker Hatfield toy Blender 3d Software Ali's Basketball NFT project Ali's A.I. Logo Project Thanks again to Ali Rahmoun for coming aboard the show. Be sure to checkout his website in order to take advantage of holiday deals that Sports Templates is offering. Also follow Sports Templates on Instagram and Twitter, and checkout his upcoming logo A.I. project launching soon. As of now, there is no next guest on the podcast. Hosting and producing this show has been a tremendous blessing and I've been able to meet many amazing people and lifelong friends. For now, the show must end due to numerous life cirumstances and other priorities. Maybe this is for forever, maybe not. I truly don't know. But, I do plan to keep tweeting and hope to evolve MoS into something that is still useful for the sports design community as it has done so much for me both personally and professionally. I sincerely thank you for the support over the years. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and/or write a review of the show on  Podcasts and be sure to follow host @TAdamMartin and Makers of Sport® on Twitter & Instagram.

Ash Thorp @ashthorp is a digital artist, illustrator and designer. Among many accolades, he did the visual design of the Batmobile for the 2022 film, "The Batman".But he's more than that. Ash started with nothing and never got a fine art degree, be has used an eclectic mix of technology and creative thought to become a highly successful and respected member of the art community.On the automotive side, Ash has owned over 20 cars, including an AE86, S2000, EF hatch, and a Raptor, among others.On this show we talk about how it all started; how he got the Batmobile job; his car history; what NFTs are really about; his next project car; the worst commute in the world; how you can harness a creative mind; and a whole lot more. We didn't know where this show would lead but we're very happy with the result.Recorded August 11, 2022 See his work on his IG @ashthorpor athttps://makehastecorp.com/https://www.altcinc.com/ orhttps://www.artstation.com/ashthorp Get 2 lbs of free-range, organic chicken breasts for free in every order when you sign up at butcherbox.com/TIRE and use code TIRE.FIND BERRYMAN AT ALL MAJOR AUTOMOTIVE RETAILERS. FOR MORE INFORMATION, GO TO BERRYMANPRODUCTS.COM.Use Off The Record! and ALWAYS fight your tickets! Enter code TST10 for a 10% discount on your first case on the Off The Record app, or go to http://www.offtherecord.com/TSTGet your DILLON OPTICS sunglasses through The Smoking Tire and receive a free t-shirt! https://thesmokingtire.com/partners-1 Want your question answered? Want to watch the live stream, get ad-free podcasts, or exclusive podcasts? Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thesmokingtirepodcast Tweet at us!https://www.Twitter.com/thesmokingtirehttps://www.Twitter.com/zackklapman Instagram:https://www.Instagram.com/thesmokingtirehttps://www.Instagram.com/therealzackklapman 

VIDEO VERSION OF THIS: https://youtu.be/NcoL2XnaSjI   FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE CONTEXT ON MY GUESTS: https://www.instagram.com/crownunfiltered/     ABOUT ASH: Ash is one of the biggest names in the Concept Art world and for good reason.     In everything that he does, he pushes himself to the absolute limit, and his drive for excellence borders on insanity.     Ash has risen to the very top and came from the very bottom. He had a tough start and his success has come through grit, work and being a diligent student in the art of Mastery.     His obsession with improvement has gone beyond his work and found its way into his cycling. So much so that his friends refuse to cycle with him - he's a savage!     We talked about everything from daily routines, his buddy Beeple, NFT's and the latest Batman film that he designed the vehicles for as well as his collaborations with Ken Block and the Hoonigans.     We talked for almost 3 years and it went by in a flash - this guy and his work are simply unreal!     FIND ASH HERE: https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp/ https://www.altcinc.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp.art/     ====================================================   ABOUT ME: I am a South African Designer, Digital Modeller and the host of Crown Unfiltered. I will be talking to a cross section of people that work in the Car Design Industry. These will include designers, digital and clay modellers, vis artists and colour & material designers. The focus of our conversations will be centered around personal processes and experiences within the business. My aim is to demystify some of the preconceptions about this industry and give people an unadulterated glimpse into the business. I also wish to give the younger generation the opportunity to see that the people that these professionals come in different shapes and sizes and some of them will be unknown. The intention is to see that you should always be yourself and not let your job define or change who you are. Please get in contact if there is something specific you would like me to cover. I would also be really grateful if you could subscribe and share the podcast with anyone that has an affinity for cars, design or both. Thank you! Sam   FIND ME HERE!!! : https://www.instagram.com/crownunfiltered/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-ofsowitz-8b7a531a/ https://twitter.com/SOfsowitz  https://www.facebook.com/crown.unfiltered.7       

Multi-disciplinary artist and designer Diego Conte Peralta joins us For this episode. And he shares a ton of helpful knowledge and thoughts as well as his career path. Such as taking some Learn Squared courses and mentorships with Ash Thorp to help advance his skills and how this journey led him; to work with another legend, Alberto Milego, on some Iconic and genre-defining projects! You don't want to miss it!   FOLLOW DIEGO https://diegoconte.es/ https://www.instagram.com/conte_graphics/ https://www.artstation.com/conte_graphics   FOLLOW LEARN SQUARED ( ALL First Lessons are FREE!) https://www.learnsquared.com https://www.instagram.com/learnsquared https://www.twitter.com/learnsquared https://www.linkedin.com/school/learnsquared   YOUR HOST  https://www.artstation.com/dhanda https://www.instagram.com/dhandatron https://www.twitter.com/dhandatron

Recording our thirty eight episode, the guest of honor today is Carlos Pecino aka Colorsponge. He is an automotive CGI artist widely known for his photorealistic car renderings. His work has gotten him jobs with clients such as Recom Farmhouse, Realtime UK, and Netflix on shows like Love, Death and Robots. He's one of the most convincingly realistic CG artists in the automotive space and a trusted collaborator with big artists across the industry like Alberto Mieglo and Ash Thorp. Calling all the way from London, a very special thanks to Carlos for making the time. Timecodes: 00:01:12 | The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent 00:04:42 | Being Alberto Mielgo's Lighting Supervisor 00:22:59 | Maybe I Don't Need To Be The Boss After All 00:29:54 | Persevering Despite Great Discouragement 00:43:44 | Cars: Sourcing Versus Scratch 01:05:20 | What's A Colorsponge? 01:08:48 | Freelancing (Sucks In Spain) 01:29:36 | Being Multidisciplinary/ Mud-Wrestling Pixels

Industrial Design, Creative Inspiration & Personal Projects! Today, we chat about Ash Thorp's podcast "The Collective Podcast", Quentin Tarantino's podcast and the new Batmobile design ques. On today's episode of “The Process” we discuss: Zak is getting into modelling The Collective Podcast Quentin Tarantino's podcast The new batmobile model All the links, all the time! Industrial Design, Creativity & Inspiration! For Industrial Design related business inquiries: Big Design Company Website: www.bigdesigncompany.com Big Design Company email: hi@bigdesigncompany.com Follow us on Instagram! @theprocess__podcast Zak Watson // LinkedIn Behance Website NFTs Dylan Torraville // LinkedIn Website 3D Dyl Behance Send us an email to hi.theprocesspodcast@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to reach out! The Process is a podcast created by industrial designers Dylan Torraville and Zak Watson. Dyl and Zak are picking up microphones to chat about their experiences in design school, personal projects and navigating the creative process. Oh yeah, and there will be some sweet interviews with other designers and friends too.

Industrial Design, Creative Inspiration & Personal Projects! Today, we chat about staying up late with Ash Thorp to finish work, finding the creative energy and transforming a shipping container into a creative work space. On today's episode of “The Process” we discuss: Staying up late to create work Finding the creative energy you need Curating the creative hive Shipping container work spaces All the links, all the time! Industrial Design, Creativity & Inspiration! For Industrial Design related business inquiries: Big Design Company Website: www.bigdesigncompany.com Big Design Company email: hi@bigdesigncompany.com Follow us on Instagram! @theprocess__podcast Zak Watson // LinkedIn Behance Website NFTs Dylan Torraville // LinkedIn Website 3D Dyl Behance Send us an email to hi.theprocesspodcast@gmail.com if you have any questions or want to reach out! The Process is a podcast created by industrial designers Dylan Torraville and Zak Watson. Dyl and Zak are picking up microphones to chat about their experiences in design school, personal projects and navigating the creative process. Oh yeah, and there will be some sweet interviews with other designers and friends too.

Leo Esteves is a Venezuelan Art Director & 3D Designer who is known for his amazing automobile renders. He's collaborated with industry heroes such as Ash Thorp & Hydro 74 on various car projects and is just as inspiring with his own aura of hard work, positivity and growth. Timecodes: 00:02:02 | Backstory: Studying Graphic Design In Venezuela 00:05:59 | Automotive Renderings 00:09:30 | The Good Days Of Learn Squared Mentorships 00:13:08 | Learnings From Ash Thorp 00:18:13 | Who Is Hydro 74? 00:24:08 | Was There A Turning Point In Your Career? 00:29:22 | Daily Grinding (For 15 Years) 00:42:04 | (Not) Having A Style As A Designer 00:46:32 | Being A Manager Versus Designer 00:58:49 | Finding Joy In Every Project 01:04:16 | Working Up From The Bottom 01:12:22 | 3D: Past and Present 01:21:31 | Leo Versus Machines (I Hate Computers) 01:26:15 | Venezuelan War Stories 01:37:40 | Outro

Ben is a talented composer who has done scores for brands such as Lexus, Nike, Google & Swarovski. He's a frequent collaborator with talent like Ash Thorp & GMUNK. He's done movies, TV shows and video-games and released self-titled albums under his own name. For anyone interested in what goes into scoring music, you got to check this out. Timecodes: 00:02:13 | Backstory: Getting Into Music 00:13:37 | Scoring Movies 00:18:47 | Scoring Everything (The Game) 00:28:09 | Story Over Sound Design 00:32:50 | How Long Does It Take You To Put An Album Together? 00:39:48 | There Is No Favorite Album 00:44:40 | Making Money & Spotify 00:54:02 | Getting Your Music Heard 01:01:34 | Syncing 01:27:10 | Album Art Design Process 01:21:24 | Future Dreams 01:27:55 | The Composer's Guild 01:35:44 | Closing Thoughts

Leader of his enterprise ALT Creative, Ash has made a name for himself as a designer & director throughout illustration, design, VFX, animation, and even automotive design. He's worked on films such as Ender's Game, Prometheus, Blade Runner: 2049 and Ghost in the Shell. He co-founded the education platform Learn Squared and sparked conversation across the industry through his podcast The Collective. Needless to say, Ash's extreme work ethic has made him a legend, known as much for his input as his output. Timecodes: 00:01:52 | What Goals Are Left To Accomplish? 00:05:55 | You're Making A Film By Yourself?! 00:11:13 | How To Become Great At Everything 00:15:54 | How To Grow the Fastest as An Artist 00:25:31 | The Artistic POV of Ash Thorp 00:31:42 | The Pain of Sharing Things On The Internet 00:34:00 | Podcasting: The Collective vs The Creator Curriculum 00:46:55 | Learn Squared & The Mirage of Passive Income 00:53:46 | Creating Financial Independence Through Art 00:59:24 | NFTs Bring Out the Worst in People 01:11:40 | Putting Yourself in Growth Situations 01:17:52 | Online Trolls/ Owning the Moment 01:24:23 | Creating Cultural Zeitgeist Moments Through IP 01:46:34 | Writing Scripts & Music 01:55:12 | Bootstrapping Anamorphic Lenses 02:02:06 | Do Things for Yourself, Not Results 02:13:08 | Outro/ Filipe Carvalho is Awesome

This is a special one for me, someone who has been a huge source of inspiration throughout my career, Ash Thorp! We had a deep conversation about his podcast, not having labels as an artist and diving into the world of cinematography ! . Ash's ArtStation ⯈ https://www.artstation.com/ashthorp . Listen here ⯈ https://beddowsdesign.carrd.co/ . . Follow my Artstation⯈https://www.artstation.com/alexbeddows Follow my twitter ⯈ https://twitter.com/BeddowsDesign

This week, we're proud to have Ash Thorp, director, designer, illustrator, and founder of ALT Creative, Inc. join us on our show today to discuss and answer questions related to VFX, digital art, animation, and more! ALT Creative, Inc. ( https://altcinc.com/ ) was founded by Ash Thorp to offer a variety of assistance with your project needs, ranging from creative direction, graphic design, VFX, concept/digital art, illustration, animation, through directorial services. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/puget-systems/message

Raf Grassetti joins Origin Stories to discuss: 01:30 - What is your origin story? 06:45 - A formative Wolverine character 12:41 - How did you first find NFTs? 19:55 - His genesis CryptoHistory sculpture series 26:15 - Community connection and DontBuyMeme 30:45 - Reflecting on his Generations release 33:44 - Deeper meaning behind his work, including Lady Justice on Christie's 37:02 - The Lightning Round 45:32 - A desire to keep pushing his craft Episode mentions: Cicero D'avila, Alex Oliver, BossLogic, Billelis, Foundation, Beeple, Garyvee, Fewocious, Ethernity, RTFKT Studios, SuperRare, Nifty Gateway, Ash Thorp, Lady Phoenix, Andrew Ariza, Dom Qwek, NessGraphics, Mankind Raf Grassetti Website: rgrassetti.com Twitter: /rafagrassetti Instagram: /rafagrassetti

This week’s podcast guest is a true visionary in the CG world. Ash Thorp came from a humble background and perfected his artistic skills via a year-long stint at film title specialist Prologue. Since then, he's contributed to Ghost in the Shell, Ender’s Game and Captain Marvel, while pursuing his love for cinema via personal projects including Ghost in the Shell homage “Project 2501,” electric Ferrari concept “Evinetta” and short film “NONE.” Ash offers invaluable advice on avoiding creative blocks, the importance of collaboration, getting great performances out of actors, and dealing with criticism and social media. It’s an honest and inspirational discussion and, touchingly, Ash hasn’t lost any of the humility he had at the start of his career.

Art director, illustrator, and concept designer for such titles as "Ghost in the Shell", "Captain Marvel" and "Assassin's Creed" Ash Thorp develops a storyline through his work process, dwells on his favourite tools for animation and 3D-renderings, shares tips on self-organisation and destroys the myth of creative block. Books Ash mentions: "Mastery" by Robert Green, "Eat That Frog" by Brian Tracy, "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield, "Damn Good Advice" by George Lois, "Manage Your Day to Day" by 99U. The lecture took place at Strelka in 2019 as part of "In Other Worlds" annual event series. To watch the full lecture followed by discussion with Liam Young and Mike Hill visit Strelka Institute YouTube channel: https://stre.lk/hg8O

Không dừng lại ở beatbox và nghệ thuật thị giác, khách mời Nguyễn Bảo Trung còn rất tích cực xây dựng cộng đồng và cộng tác với nhiều nghệ sĩ Việt Nam với background âm nhạc đa dạng để cùng tạo ra những sản phẩm tưởng như không thể. Không chấp nhận làm một người nghệ sĩ khắc khổ mưu sinh, Trung là một người vô cùng cẩn thận trong việc quản lý tài chính - luôn tìm tòi tự học, tự cập nhật những kĩ năng mới giúp bản thân xoay chuyển linh hoạt trong công việc, mang lại nguồn thu nhập ổn định để yên tâm tập trung sáng tạo nghệ thuật. Xuyên suốt tập này, có lẽ cũng giống như tụi mình, Unlock FM tin rằng bạn sẽ càng thêm yêu mến Trung Bảo vì sự khiêm tốn, giản dị trong lối sống của Trung, cũng như cách Trung trân trọng gia đình và người bạn đồng hành - Karolina. Hãy cùng Unlock FM lắng nghe những chia sẻ của Trung trong tập 16 nhé. Nội dung của tập 16: (00:00 - 13:04) Mở đầu, chia sẻ của Trung về cộng đồng beatbox trên thế giới và việc phát triển VBeatbox(13:04 - 15:58) Cách Trung xây dựng hình ảnh trên YouTube, mạng xã hội(15:58 - 19:43) Cộng tác với các nghệ sĩ nhạc Jazz và nhạc dân tộc Nguyên Lê, Ngô Hồng Quang(19:43 - 22:51) Sự hỗ trợ của gia đình(22:51 - 34:35) Câu chuyện của Karolina/Chiwawa và Trung - việc đồng hành trong cuộc sống và sáng tạo (34:35 - 40:59) Dự định trong tương lai (40:59 - 46:48) Các đầu sách, podcasts và album nhạc tâm đắc của Trung (46:58 - 49:56) Gợi ý khách mời và tóm tắt hai tập===Dự Án===Cộng đồng VBeatbox: https://www.facebook.com/vbeatbox/Dự Án Overseas - Nhạc Sĩ Nguyên Lê: https://www.actmusic.com/en/Artists/Nguyen-Le/Overseas/Overseas-CDBawa (Chiwawa & Trung Bao’s brand): https://www.facebook.com/bawavisual/===Sách===The War of Art - Steven Pressfield: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1319.The_War_of_ArtMastery - Robert Greene: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13589182-mastery===Podcast===The Collective Podcast with Ash Thorp: https://www.thecollectivepodcast.com/The Futur: https://thefutur.com/podcastBonus: tập của Trung trên The Futur - Going Your Own Way: https://thefutur.com/podcast/going-your-way-trung-baoArtificial Intelligence with Lex Friedman: https://lexfridman.com/ai/99% Invisible: https://99percentinvisible.org/===Nhạc===I Got A Basscanon - Trung Bao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WDVSZWZHcĐêm Đông Đốt Đèn Đi Đâu Đấy - Trung Bao, Thiện Minh Violin & Ngô Hồng Quang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd7kYR072LUChiwawa & Trung Bao - You’re Not Ready for This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q27eJcfIGDEHi This is Flume by Flume: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hi_This_Is_FlumeAlexinho, Wawad, Hiss & Trung Bao - Choose (Pass the beat edition) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmLh8GeVyTc======Nếu bạn có góp ý hoặc ý tưởng về khách mời, chủ để cho các tập sau, hãy nhắn tụi mình qua một trong các kênh ở dưới nhé! Feedback is a gift, thank you!!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unlockfm/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unlockfm/Email: unlockfm.vn@gmail.comVi Anh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anhdo192/Quyền: https://www.linkedin.com/in/quyennnguyen/

Award winning film, music and entertainment design artists met to talk absolutely random stuff! Mike Winkelmann better known as beeple is designer working on live event visuals for known performance aritsts such as Justin Bieber and Drake. Mike is also a grandfather of everydays - a style of creating and posting new artwork online everyday. Ash Thorp is creative director, director and artist and icon of entertainment industry. He has worked on numerous feature films, including Ender's Game, Prometheus, Captain Marvel to name a few. Ash has also contributed in automotive design, designing cars for legendary Ken Block. Ash's website: https://www.altcinc.com Ash's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp Follow beeple at: https://www.beeple-crap.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beeple_crap/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/beeple Instagram embedding lawsuit The Verge article: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/14/21221078/stephanie-sinclair-mashable-instagram-embed-copyright-lawsuit-dismissed Follow me at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maciejkuciara Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/maciejkuciara https://www.kuciara.com My Art Prints, T-Shirt, Hoodies and Mugs: https://www.kuciara.store My gear and book recommendations: https://www.kit.co/maciejkuciara

This episode is dedicated to everyone who is experiencing the blunt of worldwide pandemic of COVID-19. Recorded together with my friend Ash Thorp - creative director, director and artist and icon of entertainment industry. Ash's website: https://www.altcinc.com Ash's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp Jama Gumroad - https://gumroad.com/jamajurabaev Learn Squared (first lesson free)-https://www.learnsquared.com/ Simon Stalenhaug - https://www.simonstalenhag.se/ Friendly Robot - https://www.artstation.com/friendlyrobot John parks breakdown Tutorial - https://gumroad.com/jparked#cGsoY Craig Mullins - http://www.goodbrush.com/ Eyedesyn - https://www.youtube.com/user/eyedesyn David Arie - http://arievvisuals.com/ Khyzyl Saleem - https://www.instagram.com/the_kyza (Thank you to Grafoholics for highlighting the Show Notes in comments) Support the podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/artcafetv Follow me at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maciejkuciara Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/maciejkuciara My Art Prints, T-Shirt, Hoodies and Mugs: https://www.kuciara.store My gear and book recommendations: https://www.kit.co/maciejkuciara

So it happened. Episode 100! A special one. My guest for this episode is my best friend Ash Thorp. Check out and follow his work at: www.altcinc.com www.instagram.com/ashthorp Support the podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/artcafetv Apparel. Art Prints. Coffee Mugs: https://www.kuciara.store My gear and book recommendations: https://www.kit.com/maciejkuciara

Ash Thorp is an american designer and director. https://altcinc.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ashthorp/ Show links on AI research: https://news.developer.nvidia.com/nvi... https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/18/nvi... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDzrf... Support the podcast at: https://www.patreon.com/artcafetv Apparel. Art Prints. Coffee Mugs: https://www.kuciara.store My gear and book recommendations: https://www.kit.com/maciejkuciara https://www.amazon.com/shop/artcafe

Ash is an award winning designer and director. His clients include Apple, Nike, Paramount and more. Ash in passanger's seat of Ken Block's new Ford Cosworth he helped design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gsL_-U6LL0 www.altcinc.com www.instagram.com/ashthorp Akira Awakens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY1QHpp6iEE

Sam Fry speaks to Ash Thorp. Ash is a prolific designer, who works as an illustrator, graphic designer, and creative director. He created the user interfaces and other design work for both the films Ender’s Game and Total Recall, plus he has been part of the design team for films such as Prometheus, X-Men: First Class and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Ash also hosts The Collective Podcast, where he talks to creatives such as visual effects artists, designers, illustrators, and programmers. Sam and Ash talk about his work and how he manages his creative output.

50 friggin' podcast episodes. It's insane to think how many ridiculous Motion Designers have volunteered their time to appear on the podcast. Naturally, for episode 50 we wanted to make the podcast extra special, so we asked the talented Ash Thorp on to speak his mind.  On that podcast, we talk about the work ethic required to operate at the level of the best in the business. We talk about the way he organizes his work so he can be super productive. We talk about motivation and how an artist can deal with those moments when you're stuck on a project. And we also talk a lot about the double-edged sword of being a public figure in this industry or in any industry, really. https://www.schoolofmotion.com/podcast/ash-thorp

Illustrator, graphic designer and film director Ash Thorp talks with director Mike Pecci about his inspirations, working with crews and finding your voice as a motion picture director. Thorp is best known for his movie interface designs in films like Prometheus, Total Recall, and Ghost in the Shell. His shorts and film concepts (Lost Boy and a Ghost in the Shell tribute) are wildly visual and beautifully conceived. He recently just directed a cyberpunk spot for NIKE featuring a cowboy VS a ninja! Don’t miss this episode! Check out Ash’s work at ashthorp.com/ Support our show by signing up for a 30 free trial at www.audibletrial.com/InLoveWithTheProcess Music for this episode by Code Elektro http://www.codeelektro.com/ Sponsored by Puget Systems | McFarland & Pecci

Big papa www.altcinc.com

Ash Thorp has built his career in design and film from the ground up, succeeding while surrounded by a family of talented artists that were not able to reach the level that he has. In this episode Chris talks to Ash about the sacrifices he had to make to get where he is, including a year of work that would give him his biggest break while, simultaneously, being one of his biggest challenges, the online education company, Learn Squared, that he helped found, and the inner workings that have led him to success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew L. Schmidt is a Director of Trollhunter (DreamWorks Animation). With a 20-year experience in the industry, he has a long list of credits to his name: The Iron Giant, Monsters, Inc; Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and many more. Andrew has worked at studios like Amblimation, DreamWorks, Warner Brothers and Pixar. Guillermo del Toro's Trollhunters is his first directing credit.   For complete show notes visit http://www.allanmckay.com/76/   Andrew L. Schmidt on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2112570/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1 Trollhunters on IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1734135/ Andrew's talk at IAMAG Master Class: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/iamagmasterclasses17/ Andrew Schmidt quoted in the New Yorker's article The Fun House: Life at Pixar: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/05/16/the-fun-factory   Episode 76 - Interview with Andrew L. Schmidt NOTES     [-1:21:11] Hey! This is Allan. Just a quick thing to check out: www.vfxrates.com. This is a website that I created to solve a massive problem that we all have: What should we be charging? This is the giant mystery that we all have and most people feel very uncomfortable talking about is what we should charge as a freelance rate. And the worst part is when we go apply for a job and if we ask for too much, we risk alienating the employer and never getting that call back. Whereas we play it safe and ask too little, we not only get taken advantage of, but on top of that, we leave a lot of money on the table, which potentially over a span of a few years, can add up to 10's of thousands of dollars.   [-1:20:32] So this is chance for you to go to the website www.vfxrates.com. Put in bits of information, like your city, your experience, your discipline, software, little things that are important, to figuring out what you should be charging as your base rate when you're talking to an employer. This is based on a lot of experience, but more importantly, it's based on the braintrust of the industry experts from different fields that we've pulled together to collect a very accurate way to generate what you should be charging.   [-1:20:00] The best part is not just what you should be charging -- but what you could be charging by tweaking a few things: how you present yourself, building a brand, learning to negotiate better. Also, there are factors like building an irresistible reel, learning to approach employers the correct way; learning how to network. I want to share all of this information for free! Go to www.vfxrates.com -- and find out what you should be charging for your hourly VFX rate.   [-1:19:31] Alright, welcome to a brand new Episode. It is with Andrew Schmidt who is a good buddy of mine. I've known him for three years. We met at the very first IAMAG Master Class in Paris. Andrew is a super great guy. I was really excited to do this because Andrew has a vast amount of experience within the industry at DreamWorks, [also at] Pixar for quite some years. Before that he worked on projects like one of my favorite movies The Iron Giant, Prince of Egypt. What I've loved is that each year that I've attended the IAMAG Master Class, Andrew's talks have been some of my favorite because they have so much more substance. Usually, they take you on a bit of a journey through his career, his insights, but more importantly, a lot of the life lessons he's learned on his journey. I thought it would be really great to talk to him because not only is he able to talk about his humble beginnings and how he got started but also about some of the transitions he's experienced recently.   [-1:18:03] In case I haven't mentioned it yet, he is one of the directors of Guillermo del Toro's Trollhunters for DreamWorks Animation. He's also worked on some of the amazing classics that we all love like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo; Monsters, Inc.,; Up and on, and on, and on. We also talked about Family Guy because he contributed to its Season 1. We talk about a lot of stuff. I knew this would be a killer!   [-1:17:29] One thing that I will mention is that the audio quality on this Episode isn't the greatest, and I apologize for that. However, what I recommend to you is to not focus of the level of quality of the audio -- but focus on the level of quality of the content! I always take pride in having great quality to my Episodes.   [-1:16:53] If you enjoy this talk, I believe you can get Andrew's IAMAG Master Class talk. I'll leave a link if you want to access that. I think it's $10. And of course, in the show notes, you can find more information about him: www.allanmckay.com/76.   [-1:16:31] Allan: Do you want to give a bit of a background, how you found your passion for animation?   Andrew: Yeah. I am not one of those people who watched cartoons thinking that's what I want to do. I never studied it in school. My interest was in film and adventures: Frankenstein, Dracula. I wanted to get into visual effects. And that lead to a small college in Michigan. I didn't do well academically in the beginning. And that lead to taking some art classes. That was in my late teens, early 20s. They had a fine arts program there, so I studied fine arts. I started taking film classes, matte painting and things like that. Touched on some animation. That was just the beginning.   I had a dear friend who had gone abroad. She was traveling in Scotland and came across a 2D studio which was starting called Amblimation, which was a Steven Spielberg studio. So I finished college with a visual arts degree. I did construction for a year. Then Jamie Bolio called saying, “Hey, I'm in London. I'm working at a studio here and I'm looking for people.” So I sent in my live drawing portfolio. So I packed two suitcases and moved to London and started working at A Amblimation.   [-1:13:29] That studio folded into DreamWorks. A bunch of people moved to LA and formed DreamWorks. That's how I ended up in Los Angeles, back in '96.   [-1:13:14] Allan: I've been doing a little of bit of 3D. I think I started doing my first big project in '96. Such a long time ago! I love that. You were okay at Amblimation. That's where a lot of the animators came from [at DreamWorks]. I'm just kind of curious, what's the hierarchy like when it comes to in-betweeners and key framers? Back then, if you were more of an in-betweener, how many key framers were typically in the studio? Because typically, these days, a lot of them get outsourced.   Andrew: Yeah. There was typically a team for a character and a supervisor. So there was a supervising animator and several other animators. They handled the bulk of the work. I don't know, maybe [there were] 5-6 in-betweeners.   [-1:11:31] Allan: Initially, for you to supply your live drawing portfolio, was it pretty easy to get your foot in the door that way? Or was it more luck? Let's say for anyone else who was applying, what were the key things that got you in? Obviously, talent would be one of them.   Andrew: I think it's a little bit of everything. It's not going to be one thing. My live drawing portfolio was pretty strong. Also, this was at the time there some films [were doing really well]. So they were really looking for people from all over. So there was the luck of that. Then there was me, on top of being prepared, being persistent. And then there was knowing someone in the studio. He could say, “I know this guy. He's pretty good.” So there were few different things.   [-1:10:05] Allan: And I think that you had a plan. Half the time, it comes down to that. Especially in animation! Especially back when things were booming. Getting some mainstream feature animation, with key players like Disney producing all the content. You never did any short films early on in your career, did you?   Andrew: No. I admire people who have done that. But I didn't. I don't know why. I've been in the industry and working non-stop soon after I got in.   [-1:09:16] Allan: That's a good problem to have! What is your opinion: Do you think it's a good idea for those starting a career to look into doing short films, as a way to build [it]? So not necessarily for the sake of passion but more because this is something that would help establish them?   Andrew: In my personal opinion, I think so, yes. I don't know what Pixar's hiring practices are now. I can talk about what they used to be. That's what impresses me now: You have to show them some professional work or student work that's quite strong. The level of dedication that it takes to do that -- it's really impressive.   [-1:08:08] Allan: I think you're right. From the hiring standpoint, it shows that they're able to go through an entire production, wear many hats, and figure out what their strengths are. I definitely gives complete transparency about who they are and what they can do.   Andrew: You can even tell if they're a strong storyteller.   [-1:07:23] Allan: Cool! This is such an open-ended question: What do you think the industry is like these days, compared to back then? What are some of the big difference you found, how much digital animation has changed from '95 (which is Toy Story and that was a big establishment). Obviously, it's boomed so much and changed so much over the years. How do you think it compares to now?   Andrew: Some of the talent now is incredible! Just at a student reel level, it's amazing how [talented] some people are! But that's a good question. I was a junior artist back then.   [-1:06:30] Allan: I'll say this, you're right. You go to CG Talk or Art Station a few years ago and the stuff that people are putting out there as a student reel is depressing for me. It's just like, “Holy crap!” When we were starting out, we would have, like, POV-Ray and these really crappy, difficult to use programs. These days, you can open the package and get the feel for it pretty quickly. Back then, you'd have to render something just to see what it would look like.   Animation, in my opinion, is such an oversaturated industry. And because of that, when you're applying for work, you're going to have to find some ways to stand out. Otherwise, you're going to get lost in the noise of so many talented people. Earlier on, it was quite difficult to find where there was work. Obviously, now there is quite a lot of work. So that's the advantage.   Andrew: Yeah. I think you make a really good point. There are some drastic changes. Nowadays, just a demo could look fantastic.   [-1:04:58] Allan: Touching on that subject, are there any major misconceptions that people have in their head. Like using the software packages that are the best and if you are not using those, you're not going to do as well. Or, you have to go to school to get a job in the industry. Whatever kind of BS that people typically think is the way, and it's completely opposite.   Andrew: It's the person behind the camera who's getting the shot. Obviously, they use some tools to get the shot.   [-1:04:08] Allan: There is a pretty famous story about Stephen King doing a Q&A after a presentation. Someone raised their hand and asked, “What pen do you write with?” Do you have any advice for people starting out? Ways to make themselves stand out?   Andrew: I think there is something to be said -- one of the things that I've discovered while at Pixar -- is finding your strength and building your reel with that strength: to a certain type of acting, or action shots, things like that. Back at Pixar, people had the breadth of knowledge and experience I haven't had. You just need to have a talent. You need to be good at something. You need to keep finding your weaknesses and try to strengthen [in those areas].   I didn't understand a lot about storytelling, so I took a course: about writing and building a scene. My art background was in fine arts. Then I started doing animation which is illustration. I didn't know anything about illustration, so I took some courses to fill in those gaps. I think that's something that you can do. You don't need to be a jack of all trades. But if you're trying to build a career, you're going to need a lot of bricks.   [-1:01:31] Allan: I think that's a very valuable advice. Lately, it's been coming up a lot. I'm going to segue to a Tony Robbins' conversation I heard the other day about growth and reciprocity; self growing and giving back. A lot of people learn a lot and they switch off: I've got my bag of tricks. And that's where they stay. The ones who actually succeed, go through this ping-pong effect of growing then giving back [through] teaching ([which] is a form of processing information). Then growing again. If you keep looking for the next level, you stay hungry.   Andrew: I was thinking about the Michael Caine book. He talked about it. What we do as artists, we're in a community, collecting things from other artists. But it's a community. A community is not about taking things from other people. There is certain amount of sharing you need to do as well.   [-59:40] Allan: Absolutely! Looking at surrounding areas, I came up with a slightly tacky term: Your Trifecta. In other words, the three areas that compliment what you do the closest. If you do animation, you might want to look into comedy writing, acting, other areas. That's exactly it. With effects, we say it's scripting, lighting and compositing.   Andrew: Maybe life drawing to understand motion.   Allan: I even feel that with your career, it's better to be at the bottom of the barrel. You have buddies who pump you up and tell you how great you are. I'd rather people around people who push me up.   Andrew: That's what it's about. There is a certain glass ceiling. The people are great, the projects are great. I just felt like I need to be out there. You're not going to grow if you don't push against your comfort zone. Sometimes, you just need to take a beating, figure out what you did wrong and not repeat the mistakes. You are not going to grow unless you get out there.   [-56:25] Allan: I was watching one of Anthony Buordain's shows. He was back in San Francisco because he was finishing his Jiu-Jitsu training. Or it was BJJ. He decided to do a few episodes in that area. For you, you just decided you wanted to try boxing? How did that come about to be? I think it's really important for you to have an inkling for something different.   Andrew: I've done martial arts throughout my life. I was a big Bruce Lee fan. A lot of that was from sitting at the computer a lot of the time. It was about this complacency in life and my career. I didn't want to [hit fifty] and be out of shape. I'm not quite sure what drew me to boxing. I guess I've always been interested in it, but didn't have the balls to go out and do it. I found a club that wasn't hardcore. I didn't want to take too many blows to my head. But part of that was about fear and facing that fear. And how I feel after I come out facing something I don't enjoy to do. And after a while, the tension of fear goes away and you begin to enjoy yourself. You push yourself in ways you didn't expect.   [-53:31] Allan: Were there any differences you've noticed like clarity of thinking or feeling more pushed at work, more energy?   Andrew: Well, I mean, I definitely got in shape. But there is also this mentality of this energy you get. You feel like you've accomplished something. Maybe it's an ego thing. Things that bothered me, that worried me, why not just do it. It shuts down the voice in my head: “You can't do that. You'll never be good at that.” It's easy to listen to that voice. Nothing bad is going to happen. It's not that “nothing bad is going to happen”. Nothing is going to happen! That's not a way to live a life.   [-52:00] Allan: I guess it's a psychological wall that artists and entrepreneurs must face. You're the one taking risks. Psychologically, you're trained to stay with what's safe. Anytime a great opportunity comes up, you might be excited but bit by bit you start convincing yourself to stay safe. Everyone I consider successful, every time I ask if there was a place of risk, when everything in your life starts changing -- everyone gets a smile on their face because they can relate to that. For you, were there any massive breaks, where you struggled a bit but then grew into a new place.   Andrew: Pixar definitely! It was heaven. It's a great place to learn and explore and it's very safe. I learned so much there. And I have friends there and I miss them! But then I was getting hungry. I think complacency is death to an artist. I was missing feeling challenged. I felt like a had a certain level of skills and I really wanted to put them to work. I was lucky that I didn't have kids, so I wasn't restricted financially. Someone gave me a really great advice: You need to find a pull, something that's going to get you to the other side, not just a push.   That's where luck stepped in. Rodrigo Blaas who's been at Pixar for quite a while. He did a short film called Alma about a little girl and a doll short. Because of that film, Rodrigo got contacted by [Guillermo] del Toro. [Then] he asked me to go work with him. We jumped at the opportunity. He left Pixar to go to DreamWorks. That was my pull: It was my chance to work on something edgy, different stuff than what Pixar does. And I had a chance to direct! They were putting faith in me. I've directed some commercials. There was a chance I could've failed, but I couldn't pass it up. I left a very high paying job with bonuses. I took a pretty hefty pay cut, just to move in Los Angeles. But I found the work much more fulfilling, much more challenging.   [-45:58] Allan: What was going through your mind at that time? I imagine it was pretty emotional.   Andrew: Something like, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!” Something like that.   Allan: Yeah. There is no undo button for decisions like that. Was there a moment you decided it was the right move?   Andrew: That was part of the thing that made make the move: I never had any doubt! I had some apprehension, I had some doubt. There was some nervousness about it. It was going to be a great project.   [-45:13] Allan: We'll talk about DreamWorks in a moment. But I'd love to talk about some of the previous projects you've done. Prior to Pixar, you worked on Iron Giant. That was a classic and an important film.   Andrew: I finished Prince of Egypt and I was preparing to work on The Road to El Dorado. There was some, I don't know, some resistance. I thought I had a decent reel. But a friend who was working on Iron Giant called me up, “Hey, man. You want to do this film?” I got a chance to become an animator. That was another chance for me to work on something that really pushed me. I was able to get some good scenes to animate and make some good connections.   [-42:25] Allan: I have to say, I had no idea you worked on Family Guy. What was that experience like?   Andrew: It was bizarre and I enjoyed it too! The first season was interesting. At the time, the animation was getting sent to Korea to get animated. I'm guessing it's easier at this time. It was fun.   [-41:28] Allan: Going on to Pixar, it's a pretty monumental part of anyone's work history. What was it like when you initially approached them? Because they've just finished Toy Story. Monsters, Inc was their next project, right?   Andrew: It's so long ago, I'm trying to place it. I think Monsters, Inc was their third film, that's when I came on. Also because I worked with Brad, he knew my work. I had my third rejection letter then I got a call from Brett Varon I sent some of my stuff. One thing I've learned sometimes “no” from a studio doesn't mean “no”. The door is not open right now, but keep trying. I knocked again and this time the door opened. I didn't have any CG experience. [In] Prince of Egypt, I has some. I went through a 10-week training program. It took me about three years to feel good about CG.   [-38:44] Allan: Yeah, what was it like for you to go from not having any CG experience at all to going into a whole new world? Once you learn one or two packages, you know all of them. For you, how intimidating was it?   Andrew: It was confidence shaking. I mean, I really felt I was going to be fired. Pixar has a different mentality than any different studio. It just shakes your skill when you feel like your skills have reached a certain level but then there is a whole new skill. “I know I can do better than this! How do I do that?” But everyone else is struggling, also going through the same thing.   [-37:04] Allan: And you said it took you three years to feel like you got it?   Andrew: Yeah.   Allan: During that time, was there a lot of friction?   Andrew: I had many, many days of frustration.   [-36:23] Allan: I think that's such a critical thing when you get those rejection letters, no doesn't mean you aren't good enough. It means keep trying. For me, it means that I just need to keep getting better. Even when I had that persistence, there were times I was going to give up. If anything, it's an endurance test for this industry. Because if you're going to quit --  you're just not right for this industry. This is a career, it's not a job.   Andrew: You're looking to build and grow and that takes persistence. The first thing that hits you is: “I'm not good enough. They don't want me.” It brings up all that doubt. Sometimes it helps if the studio gives you some advice. Pixar used to do that.   [-34:08] Allan: That's a good point. Were there any mentors that you've had around you? I feel that you can still get so much from those relationships. Are there people you look to for inspiration.   Andrew: Oh, yeah! Kristof Serrand, early on. Trying animation, I remember I'd bring some work and he'd just flip through it and throw it into the trashcan. It was painful. He was just being honest: You can do better. He didn't just dismiss me. He gave me pointers.   [-32:30] Allan: One thing you mentioned is working abroad. You're so well traveled. I think it's a critical thing. It recalibrates you. What's your opinion? How impactful is it on artists to travel and work in other cultures / countries?   Andrew: I think it's vital. It's vital for human beings to learn about cultures and stories. When I went to Amblimation, it was multi-cultured. People of different nationalities and it was an eye opening experience. You learn how different everybody is, but how everyone is pretty much the same. We have the same motivations and desires. We realize we can relate to each other. We can learn to communicate better. Communication is what we do. We communicate an idea to put it on the screen.   [-29:12] Allan: I think working in countries where your native language isn't spoken, you learn how to communicate. You've got to start how you can say something and how it can be misunderstood. It alienates you and adapt. You grow as a human being.   Andrew:  You're enriching yourself.   [-27:53] Allan: We've both read Creativity, Inc. It was a fascinating book to read. That did get me excited to learn more about the culture of Pixar. I remember Digital Domain let of a thousand people after Titanic was done in 1996. It reinforces the mentality that this is a service-based industry. You are supplying a service. Pixar is one the most profitable companies on the planet and they're making their own content. ILM was a service providing industry. With you, guys, having that more family oriented mindset is really great. And that also means that every time the project is over, you don't lose what you've learned when the new team gets built. It's frustrating because you have to learn the same mistakes over and over and over.   Andrew: Yeah, when you work with people for a long time, you learn their strengths, you learn their weaknesses, where they need to grow, where they see you can grow. There is something about it that's more efficient. I think it makes for better storytelling to keep people longer.   [-25:39] Allan: What do you think were some of the things you took from one of the leading animation studios in the world? Were there a lot of things that carved out who you are? I love the story of the braintrust. You've got a director but you also have a support team that isn't going to tread on your toes; but they're there to help your vision be as strong as you can be. What was some of the stuff you took after that experience?   Andrew: Ah, well, a lot of memories, of course, and friendships. Stayed in touch with a lot of people. Trollhunters is getting a lot of attention for its visual quality because it's a tv show. A lot of that comes from Rodrigo and myself. He's the showrunner and has done a lot of the shots. He wants to get good quality up there, not sell ourselves short. I can't stand that “It's good enough” mentality. I learned about getting good people around you, good team, and getting out of their way and allowing them to do what they do best. And giving them that support. You get a lot of friction jobs where people try to stop you from doing your best. Sometimes, the nature of production interferes with people getting stuff done. Pixar was about removing those roadblocks, so that creative people could do what they really do best.   Allan: Take pride in their work.   Andrew: Take pride in their work, and go the extra mile to get the ownership of what they are doing.   [-22:36] Allan: That's always been my philosophy. Once the project is done, you can't change it. Even for the crappiest tv commercials I've done, I'll see stuff and be like, “Oh! They used the wrong element in comp!” Or they decided that would do. And I've gone through a phase too. It's only in the last six years that I've gotten the passion back. Once it's up there, you can never go back. It's part of history. Especially, when it's a project that's going to affect people.   Andrew: It's better when people care about what they're doing. When they care, they put extra effort into it. I would get myself to care about it.   [-20:40] Allan: With Trollhunters, you've been tied to that project for a while. I like the fact that whenever we've hung out, things have changed drastically every time. Three years ago, you were at Pixar but thinking about other options. The next time, you were working at DreamWorks. For you now, having spent two years on the project, how do you feel now? What are some of the challenges you're going through?   Andrew: It's been great! I've learned so much! Yeah, constantly learning. I find that I am challenged. I get to use a lot of the skills that I've developed in writing, acting, animation, storytelling. I've never been admittedly a great decision maker. As a director, you've got no choice. You have to make decisions and there is a hundred of them. You have to get rid of the fear that you would be making a wrong choice, because chances are, you will. You have to learn to live with it, learn from it, correct it or let it go. It's been a great learning process for me. I don't work directly with Guillermo, he comes through and gives me some notes occasionally. I learn from my friend Rodrigo about camera, staging, composition. I view it as a chance to go to a directing school.   [-17:48] Allan: Why go to a directing school, if you can learn on the job? That's great. With your team, what is it like having such a fresh new team of people to work on something as ambitious as this? Again, it's Netflix.   Andrew: It's been a great experience. There is a certain excitement about the project. So people are pushing themselves to come up with great ideas. I like to keep those channels open. I work really closely with my editor Graham Fisher. From the beginning, I didn't think I knew what the process would be like. I've established the grammar for it from DreamWorks. It's not a dictatorship. It's a team effort. And I think it makes the project more fun because everyone is in on it. It's a small team, really. We have a small director team. But it's not a huge crew, so everyone is involved in everything.   [-15:29] Allan: Yeah, I like that. When you have small teams, nothing gets lost in conversation. You're in constant communication.   Andrew: And you can chat with someone quickly.   Allan: What are some of the challenges on a project like this?   Andrew: For me, it was switching from features, with big budgets, to tv which has much smaller budgets. And much more demanding schedule. And not just for one episode. When you finish one episode, there is another one after that. So you can't get bogged down. It will throw the whole thing off. You're juggling six or seven episodes at a time: reviewing the script, script analysis, getting ready to shoot it, reviewing animation. You're jam-packed back to back and trying to make decisions that are smart but also economical.   [-13:39] Allan: I see Ron Perlman is doing a voice for one of the characters. That doesn't surprise me at all. How well has it been received so far? The first season has been out for while.   Andrew: It's been received well. Netflix doesn't have numbers. They just have a general idea. Twitter has been exploding. The IMDb reviews have been great.   [-12:49] Allan: Who are all the directors besides yourself?   Andrew: Elaine Bogan, Rodrigo Blaas, Johane Matte.   Allan: In general what's coming for you? Obviously, you're going to be speaking in Paris pretty soon. What other stuff do you have coming up, other than getting into street fights and starting your own Fightclub.   Andrew: Don't talk about Fightclub. That's rule number one. We are buried in season two for Trollhunters. Definitely looking forward to Paris!   [-12:02] Allan: What's your talk going to be on? Your first talk was on deconstructing a lot of great performances. I found that to be really original. The last talk was relaxed. But I loved that you could talk about your experience at Brick Lane, Pixar, then throw in some Bruce Lee in there as well. Everything you had to say was so relevant.   Andrew: This year will be on experience as a first-time director. Just that transition from my comfort zone to being very uncomfortable, learning lessons the hard way. A lot of the stuff I've talked about here.   [-10:17] Allan: I'm really looking forward to catching up. I think your talk is going to be amazing.   Andrew: I hope I can see [your talk]. We have to leave Sunday. That's the other problem with working on television: getting time off.   [-8:41] Allan: I'm excited just because there are so many awesome people coming this year. Neil Blevins will be there. He's bringing Kat [Evans]. I've been wanting to have her on the Podcast. She's such a ballbuster. She's in a male dominated industry but doesn't take crap. And she's really opinionated, so I think she'd have so much to say. Ryan Church, Dan Roarty, Mike Blum, Ash Thorp. Just in general, this time is going to be great! I'm psyched. I'm hoping to still be in LA, at least once a month. I want to drop by DreamWorks, when I do I'll let you know I'm in the building.   Andrew: Please do.   Allan: I'll see you in a few weeks. The audio is a bit iffy, but I'll try to make it work. Do you have a personal website?   Andrew: I do not. It's another thing I've got to do a bit: Do a bit of self-promotion.   [-5:11] Allan: I'm curious, is that something you want to do, establish your presence as a director?   Andrew: I think so.   Allan: It's a critical part. I'd be happy to help any way that I can.   That is it. Again, I apologize for the audio quality but I hope you were still able to pull some diamonds in the rough from this Episode. I want to thank Andrew again. I personally found this talk to be really inspiring.   If you want information on Andrew's links or the talk he gave at IAMAG Master Class, go to www.allanmckay.com/76.   I'll have another Episode coming out next week. I'll leave it to be a surprise. Also, I've started doing a lot of Facebook streams. I do a lot of career intensives online, but these are more off-the-cuff. So, to be a part of that, you need to follow my public Facebook page. I'll leave a link for that as well.   I'll be back with a new Episode next week. Until then -- rock on!

Episode 70 - Ash Thorp Interview Allan McKay interviews Ash Thorp, a graphic designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director for a multitude of media, including feature films, commercial enterprises, and print.   Ash has worked on graphics for Ender's Game and Total Recall, as well as contributed to the design concepts for Spectre, Prometheus, X-Men First Class, Call of Duty and others. His first directorial debut started with the assembly of an international team for his Ghost in the Shell tribute, as well as the main title for OFFF Barcelona 2014. In 2015, he was requested to assemble an international team of designers and create the title sequence for FITC Tokyo. Later that year, Ash co-directed “Ares -- Our Greatest Adventure”, a promotional trailer for the feature film The Martian. Alongside with co-director Anthony Scott Burns, Ash created a concept short film Lost Boy, based on Ash's graphic drawings. In this podcast, Ash and Allan about the entire process -- from pre- to post-production -- “step by step, frame by frame”.   Show Notes: Visit http://www.allanmckay.com/70/     Links: Lost Boy: https://vimeo.com/188650521 Ash Thorp's Website: http://ashthorp.com/info Ash Thorp's IMDb Page: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4500808/ Ash Thorp's Company Learn Squared, Inc.: https://www.learnsquared.com/   [-1:40:29] Allan: The origins of Lost Boy. It's been a long journey. Do you want to talk about how it actually began? Ash: It started about 3 years ago. ImagineFX Magazine reached out to me to do a piece in their magazine. I was flattered. It was reassuring that I was on the right course. I asked them what I should draw. The theme was superheroes. I wanted to do my own Punisher but my wife advised me to do my own idea. She is always pushing me. [-1:39:01] I created the name Lost Boy because there were only so few windows on the sign inside the drawing [for the length of the title]. I didn't attach a story at that time. [-1:38:21] I like to work organically and use the muse and the inspiration from the things that I love. I'll binge on all kinds of things -- comics, novels -- until my own thing comes out, and then I twist it. [-1:37:38] My career was becoming more successful by that time. I loved helping other people with their projects, but I felt that I was missing out on what I really wanted to do: which is make my own stuff. So I decided to make my own thing. [-1:37:10] I started drawing every night. I shared those drawings with [my friend] Anthony Scott Burns [who is a director and visual effects artist]. He thought it was awesome, so we started forming a narrative. It went crazy from there. [-1:34:34] Anthony suggested we make our own comic book. [-1:34:21] Then I started developing another film called Spiral. I was having my own artistic Renaissance. Then Mischa Rozema and Jules Tervoort (from PostPanic Pictures, in Amsterdam) reached out to me to help them with the title sequence for their short film Sundays. They asked if I was developing anything at that time. I said I was. [-1:33:20] They asked me to put something together and pitch it to them. Anthony and I put together a pitch packet for Lost Boy. Mischa and Jules basically signed the dotted line right there and became our partners.   [-1:32:15] Allan: As artists, we're always intrigued about how people work, what kind of pitfalls they fall into. Ash: I'll do my best to paint an honest picture. [-1:31:37] We had to get the legal involved. I'm very keen on keeping the rights to the IP (Intellectual Property). Amsterdam has a different legal ramifications, and this is an American property. We needed to make sure we spoke the same language. Anthony and I own the rights and are co-creators of Lost Boy together. [-1:31:01] For me, it's important for us to retain the creative on everything! Not that anybody would have bad intentions. Even Anthony and I have a contract together.   [-1:29:50] Allan: I agree, it's such a critical thing. No one thinks of the legal stuff until shit hits the fan. The more prepared you are in the beginning (even when you're an artists and you don't want to think about the business stuff), the better. I've seen so many friendships go to shit. You partner up but if you don't have that comfortable conversation in the beginning, that means there are no bounds set. By having those discussions and setting the responsibilities between you, you'll be very clear and feel good moving forward. [-1:27:49] Ash: I grew up studying George Lucas and all those guys. When you make your own world, you have to share it. But those boundaries are really important. It was very important that Anthony and I retained the artistic rights. PostPanic was going to produce and help facilitate all the things that are needed (and they did an amazing job!) and Anthony and I would work to get the film to the level it needed to be. [-1:26:05] “If I can give any advice to anyone that's listening, make sure that you have a lawyer or someone who understands contracts and you be clear about what you want. But lawyers create their own work, and you've got to be very careful about that.” [-1:25:18] When you make these things, nobody knows the value of them. They're just an idea in the beginning and a bunch of drawings. But I value it. [-1:15:51] “You need to be very clear from the beginning. And that's just Business 101. Business is cut black and white.”   [-1:22:26] Ash: “What I want to do in life is do the things I enjoy, with the people I enjoy. Being good at business just facilitates the longevity of doing such a thing. As an artist, I'm not inspired by doing business; but business becomes the art.” [-1:22:04] When I was young, the business stuff would kill me. The legal stuff, if you're looking to create your own IP, you need to take it seriously. [-1:19:49] So, we finally got past the legal stuff. A lot of it is just talking, “You're human, I'm human.” We got to a great place. We all wanted the same goal. [-1:19:15] Anthony and I met up in New York, on a job. We spent a day to storyboard the sequence and took the previs to PostPanic. We started doing location scouts. We originally wanted to shoot in Scotland or Iceland but ended up shooting in Spain (where Sergio Leon shot a lot of his Spaghetti Westerns). [-1:16:43] Then we found our two of our actors, formed our crew. It was all hands on deck at that point. [-1:15:10] I've done a couple of smaller directing jobs by that point; but I felt, “Oh shit! This is getting real!” [-1:14:40] Allan: Did you have an AD? Did PostPanic bring on its own people? Ash: Yes, they brought their own people. Anthony and I are very controlling. We met the DOP and the AD. [-1:12:36] “It's all so multilayered. There is so much stuff that goes into this. Film productions are just intense.” [-1:10:32] Filmmaking is high stress, you have to be so ready. The level of madness on set is crazy. “Learning to work with DOP and [making sure] they're seeing what you're seeing and you are aligned.” Anthony and I had to live with the responsibility of it.   [-1:11:44] Allan: How long was preproduction? Ash: Oh, man, we lost a couple of months in legal, but that needed to be done. And then a month or so of writing and storyboarding. We spent quite a bit of time working with VFX on location (prosthetics, etc.) So 3 months, maybe?   [-1:07:07] Allan: What about production? How long were you shooting for, including pick-ups? Ash: We had no time for pick-ups, so we had to get it when we had to get it. I believe it was 4, maybe 5 nights. [-1:06:10] I think the tendency with our film is to say “This is like Mad Max or Sin City”. It's not that. Anthony and I put so many reference PDF's together: costumes, visual effects, VFX.   [-1:05:26] Allan: How long was the turnaround for doing post? And also, how much was you and how much was PostPanic? Ash: The way it works for PostPanic, this is a passion project for them. They constantly had their own work, so post-production for Lost Boy took quite a long time, a year, I think, from start to finish. [-1:04:37] We had a very defined thing. So in getting there and figuring out every small detail, PostPanic would have to do several simulations in Houdini, and render those, and that all takes a long time. Their staff is anywhere from 15 to 40 people, depending on what they had going on. [-1:03:32] I stayed more hands-off than I usually would because PostPanic did such a great job. “As an artist, I've learned so much through this filmmaking process: of making something out of nothing, step by step, frame by frame.” [-1:02:27] Toward the end, Anthony ended up putting the film together. We stayed in my studio studio for six days nonstop, finishing the grade (using DaVinci) and visual effects. We even did sound design editions ([some in my garage, to my wife's amusement]). But mostly, PostPanic cared for all of this stuff.   [-59:55] Allan: With casting, how easy or hard was it for you to find the right people? You're so passionate, trying to find the right person -- how did that go? Ash: We had two rounds of casting and we found both of our actors after the two rounds. We wrote this thing keeping in mind that it wouldn't require heavy acting because we knew we couldn't afford well known actors. You start writing dialogue in there -- it starts getting very difficult. We wanted to minimize all the risk. [-58:49] For the character of Lost Boy, we were looking for a face we could light: The way the nose line connects and the way the bottom jaw area works, the way the light cascades. We wanted him to feel like a predator, a monster, a Frankenstein. For Xeh, she had to be a very beautiful person that you could sympathize with. [-58:10] “Casting is so unique. You have to really step outside your body and look at it from multiple different angles.” [-57:45] We saw hundreds of faces and we asked them to do the action and send us their tape. We met the actors over Skype. The beauty of casting these days, you don't have to be there [in person]. They can send us videos and the proof is in the pudding. I know Ridley Scott has cast his films over Skype.   [-55:47] Allan: How did you typically break down each night on location? What shots were you doing on which particular night? Ash: We wanted to start with the harder stuff. It's really hard to do action, especially action slow mo. We tried to do the harder stuff in the beginning, just in case we ran out of time. We started with Xeh's running, which you get a bunch of flack for: “It's too slow!” Allan: These days, the attention span to capture someone is 8 seconds. You're making something that's a filter. You've weeded out the people who aren't your audience. Ash: Yeah, I don't want them. It's just about finding the tribe. [-53:00] We did the death scenes at the end.   [-52:07] Allan: Did you have any moment of self-doubt, those inner voices saying it wasn't going to work out? Ash: Yeah! The whole project. The whole time. When I'm sitting at home drawing, I don't have too much doubt because I can control it. But when I'm asking all these people to do this thing -- an image I have in my head -- it's quite complicated. [-51:29] “It's nerve wracking to make film. It's not easy. It's the hardest form of art because you're doing all the things, it's everything. It's all visceral.” I was constantly doubting it, I just wouldn't show it. [-43:05] You have to have a good crew to protect you and shield you. The process is so intense, it takes so much stamina. [-50:01] “Self-doubt is part of the art though. It keeps me grounded, it keeps me alert and aware.”   [-50:09] Allan: How do you deal with it? Ash: “You've got to let a little bit of it come in, deal with it but then move forward.” A director's job isn't being good at art: It's about communicating your ideas and having a good taste; and facilitate the best abilities in your teammates. [-49:21] You get personally attacked for the final product. I wouldn't have it any other way though. “I think great art comes from a freakout moment. That's when great work is being made.”   [45:19] It's a part of it. If you want to be a strong person, you've got to deal with both. “I love the idea of living a life that's filled with challenges so that I can understand what I'm made of and how far to push myself. The struggle is part of it. It's part of the journey I like the most, I think.”   [-43:20] Allan: “I truly believe you've got to get out of your comfort zone. If you're always comfortable, then how are you going to grow?” [-42:06] Ash: Going to from drawing in my office to being to Spain with a bunch of people I've never met or worked with and trusting them; the level of chaos and level of the unknown -- I would never change any of it! This is all coming from inspiration of all these comic book artists. I feel very privileged to do so.   [-40:07] Allan: Do you want to talk about what's happened since you've launched Lost Boy? Ash: Sure. At every stage, the film changes. The moment you release your film and release it to the world, it's no longer yours. It's a very sad time. You never know: You might think you have something special, but maybe you don't. [-39:13] The overall response has been amazing, super positive. I find it interesting about some artists though: They are so shitty to one another. If they only knew how difficult it is to make this stuff, instead of making some stupid comment. [-37:54] Since releasing the film, we've done a ton of meetings, met a lot of interesting people. We wrote a treatment for an episodic treatment version. But part of what Lost Boy is that it's about questioning our programming. It's interesting to see the repetitious programing of Hollywood. They don't know what to do with our film. [-36:06] “Trying to make something that's different and unique, it just takes a lot more risk.” And no one can buy something they can't see, so you have to sell it; and that takes a lot of money and effort. So, we'll see who wants to invest and make something bigger. [-34:33] The goal for me is that if we've gone this far, there is no reason we can't go further, especially with Netflix, and Amazon, [and even Kickstarter, for fundraising]. [-32:15] “What's the point of making something if you can't have creative control?” [-30:24] “If you want to do something, just go and do it! I'm so sick and tired of asking for, ‘Hey, can I go make my thing?' Fuck that! Go DO it!” “So many directors get caught up in how complex it is -- in their career -- and all the layers of social bullshit that have to comb through.” [-29:15] “Be real with yourself that fact that tomorrow isn't promised. The time that you have is the most amazing thing that you have and you can only enjoy it while you have it. So take that seriously. So, GO! Try it! Chase your dreams, don't ask for permission!” [-27:57] It's not easy but it is possible. [-25:41] When you say you're going to do something, it often feels like you've already done it. But talk is cheap. When you actually make something, you can talk about it -- but then you actually have to go do it. That's very difficult. [-25:08] “If at the end of the day, you don't have something to show for it, then what are you doing?” [-20:05] “If you want to go somewhere in life, a place or a destination, you have to ride it out, be about it, talk about -- and back it up with your actions. It's about triggering it and being action oriented.” [-22:09] [Also], Iron sharpens iron. I surround myself with people [who make me stronger]. I've been showing my friends Lost Boy -- for a year! -- and it's blown them away with the amount of work it takes. They also help me see things differently.   [-17:21] Allan: Were you strategic with the launch? I have friends who are feature film directors, and the success [of their films] usually comes down to the execution. Ash: This has been my own design. Months back, I talked to my friends about designing the countdown, get a newsletter, get people aware. Lost Boy got launched on Vimeo, nothing crazy. [-15:03] I have a huge list of friends and artists I admire, so I sent them the link. I've shared it with people. The news spread naturally. [-14:01] “Again, you have to be really cognizant, you have to wear many hats. You have to be a business person. You have to be aware of the IP laws.”   [-13:17] Allan: You were shooting on a RED camera? Was it the DRAGON? Ash: Yes, I believe it was the RED EPIC, shot 4K at 120. We wanted to shoot with Anamorphic Lens because it's the best. It just opens up everything. But as you know, it's a pain in the ass with visual effects.   [-11:47] Allan: Where you shooting on 50 millimeter? Ash: I'm not a huge wide lens fan. I love 45 to 80, that's my favorite range. I believe we used anywhere from 80 to 50 to 45-ish mil.   [-10:48] Allan: Any books that you could recommend that you've read? Ash: Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. Robert Greene's Mastery. I'm in need of some good fiction right now. I've finished Stephen King's Black House. I'm going to read No Country for Old Men next, by Cormac McCarthy. (It's my favorite Coen Brothers' film.) Oh, and Eat that Frog: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating [by Brian Tracy] is great!   [-08:29] Ash: “It's easy for me to say all these things. I'm skipping over a lot of hardship and a lot of pissed off times and anger. The overall experience was quite good. It's easy to say, being done with it, “It's so easy.” It's not! It's going to be very hard! You know you're doing it right when it's really frustrating and you are filled self-doubt, but you have an inkling of hope.” “Go try something different. Don't do it for anyone else but yourself. Don't ask for permission!”    

http://TheSparkAndTheArt.com/121 – Ash Thorp is a motion designer, illustrator, artist, and creative director and has worked on films like Ender's Game and Total Recall and X-Men: First Class. **- Links for this episode -**Ash Thorp - http://ashthorp.com/Prologue - http://oldsite.prologue.com/Kyle Cooper - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_CooperDanny Yount - http://www.dannyyount.com/X-men First Class Opening Sequence - https://vimeo.com/48261400Motionographer - http://motionographer.com/Learn Squared - https://www.learnsquared.com/Andrew Hawryluk - http://www.andrewh.tv/None (short film) - http://www.ashthorp.com/noneLost Boy (short film) - http://lostboyworld.com/Ash Thorp - http://ashthorp.com/Prologue - http://oldsite.prologue.com/Kyle Cooper - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_CooperDanny Yount - http://www.dannyyount.com/X-men First Class Opening Sequence - https://vimeo.com/48261400Motionographer - http://motionographer.com/Learn Squared - https://www.learnsquared.com/Andrew Hawryluk - http://www.andrewh.tv/None (short film) - http://www.ashthorp.com/noneLost Boy (short film) - http://lostboyworld.com/

Or: Count Chocula Moved to Canada for Love This episode we talked to an artist, a programmer, studio owner and the visual arts education coordinator at the International Academy of Film and Television in Antwerp. Midge Sinnaeve joined the fellas to talk awkward clients, how one becomes a ‘professional’ and the Super Bowl from a European perspective. Chris met today’s guest when he interviewed him for episcura. The confusion of time zones and what is Central European Time? Midge was bitten by the 3D bug during a science competition in Ireland. He was using Strata 3D. Midge worked in web design for a while, and then someone handed him Maya so he could try to get back into 3D. Midge has used a number of 3D software packages. At this point in the podcast he mentioned Cinema 4D. Correction: Chris mentioned that a BMX rider died, it was Dave Mirra. We apologize that Chris said Matt Hoffman. Live long and prosper, Mr. Hoffman. What’s an animatic? Midge’s company is called Daze. Midge said sending clients rough 3D or animatics can frighten them. He said it’s comparable to the Uncanny valley. If he sends something really rough, they’re scared, too polished and they’ll ask for changes not permissible within the time table. Chris mentions his recent viewing of Mad Max: Fury Road. Chris tells Midge & Paul about the Canadian super bowl, The Grey Cup. Dramatic Chipmunk vs. Johnny Carson. Midge got his own 3D department at International Academy of Film and Television in Antwerp by walking down the street? A few of the artists that inspired Midge: Alex Roman and his The Third & The Seventh. GMUNK. Ash Thorp. Midge prefers to show students the “how & why” of the process, rather than teaching the software. So he teaches them how to do the same thing in 3DS Max and Blender. Thanks to Midge for joining us all the way from the land of delicious beer. Hey, we should probably have him on again. In person! At a Belgian pub! You should give us a single dollar over on Patreon to make that happen. Thanks for listening. Talk to us on Twitter or Facebook, we’re desperate for attention. Support Montreal Sauce on Patreon

Ash Thorp is a director, illustrator and creative director - who has worked on countless feature films and other creative projects. Some of his projects include Dawn of the planet of the apes, Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation, James Bond Spectre, Call of Duty, Prometheus, Iron Man 3, The Walking Dead and dozens of others. He also has a podcast 'The Collective' which interviews many creatives and I highly recommend it. Ash also runs his own online school 'Learn Squared' and his various personal film projects in the works. This is a fantastic episode that covers a lot of insights into working, life balance, keeping your creative drive, and so much more. Ash is as insightful as he is talented and shares a lot of really vital information that any creative in the industry should benefit greatly from. (More links to come) Shownotes @ http://www.allanmckay.com/56/Sign up for this video series to receive more information about the mentorship The website of Ash ThorpThe CollectiveOur episode of The Collective - episode 13More information on Lost BoyLearn SquaredAsh's Twitter