MANILA – This year’s Icon Manila Entertainment Design Conference had heavyweight visual artists in its list of speakers: Aaron Blaise, co–director of Disney’s Brother Bear, and a prominent supervising animator, character designer and wildlife artist; Pascal Campion, prolific French-American illustrator and visual development artist, Art Director of Warner Bros. Green Eggs and Ham Netflix series and has been with Marvel Comics since 2013; Kim Jung GI, a renowned artist from Korea who’s one of the most sought after illustrators in the world because of his unique artistry; Armand Serrano, Filipino-American visual development artist best known for his works at Walt Disney Animation Studio and Sony Pictures Animation whose latest film credits include Big Hero 6 and Zootopia ; and Victoria Ying, an established children’s book illustrator and visual development artist whose film credits include Tangled, Frozen, and the anticipated film Moana.
The Workshops – Day 1
After a simple opening ceremony, the speakers and audience swiftly got down to brass tacks with Armand Serrano generously sharing pointers by taking his awed audience through the creation process of the animated film Mulan. Serrano showed the progression of the film’s story by taking everyone through the storyboards and how these were translated into film. He didn’t hold back on helpful details and was very candid with his sharing.
There was no holds barred when Pascal Campion took the stage (or the desktop) as he shared tips, personal insights, and personal details of his life while working on a Photoshop illustration, which was projected on screen for the audience to see. He annotated the progress of his illustration while gamely answering questions thrown by the audience. These run the gamut from very technical to very personal. Campion barely hesitated in his strokes as well as his answers, even mentioning that when he was a young boy his art teacher told him not to go into art because he had no talent for it.
Aaron Blaise also did not disappoint, as he was equally open, generous and candid as he took the audience through the process of ideation and creation. He showed the progress of an animated film about a young elephant named ‘Tembo’ from research, conceptualization and filming. Blaise underscored the importance of being guided by a lucid theme and enough knowledge about chosen subjects.
All the sessions were light and casual but these just served to engage the audience more and encouraged them to be very interactive. The day ended with more interaction by way of book and autograph signing for the starry-eyed audience, which was a mix of the novice and the experienced.
