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(6-29-04) Celshader news: (3-25-04) Cool links:
  • View a Quicktime version of the celshaded Appleseed trailer on Apple Japan.
  • While there, check out the non-celshaded-but-incredible STEAMBOY trailer.
  • Rejoice! The beautiful, hand-drawn Memories has finally reached our shores on Region 1 DVD (2-24-04) More links: (2-9-04) The website for the upcoming L'Île de Black Mor features a nice gallery of celshaded stills.

    (1-19-03) More interesting links:

    (1-13-03) More news:

    (12-16-03) Of interest:

    • If you already own Understanding Chaos and Shadowskin on DVD, you will find nothing new on the Anime: Concept to Reality disc, which has both of the shorts and most of the extras from the earlier two discs. If you do not own either of Terrence Walker's self-published efforts, consider purchasing the Anime disc. It shows you two solo efforts by a 3D artist, some of his earlier Skeleton Man celshaded work and what his celshaded characters look like in both wireframe and in OpenGL. Personally, I think modeling is Terrence Walker's strongest asset as a celshader artist -- his Han, X and soldier models look great, betrayed only by weak poses. For $10.99 at Best Buy, this disc will not turn you into an animator, but it will offer a peek over a 3D artist's shoulder and silent encouragement to go out and create your own stuff.
    • Another title to seek out at Best Buy is Makoto Shinkai's wonderful Voices from a Distant Star. Only the mecha are celshaded in this short film, but it also represents a film created almost entirely by a single artist. I saw this beautiful film last year at the San Diego Comic Con, and its moving story almost brought me to tears.
    • UbiSoft has screenshots for the celshaded video game for PlayStation 2 called XIII.
    • I saw Triplets of Belleville last week and laughed my rear end off. This twisted cartoon uses almost no dialogue to tell its story, relying instead on design and character actions. It also used celshading here and there, but in a way that blended well with the hand-drawn images. The New York Film Critics Circle just awarded it the title of "Best Animated Feature" of 2003, so this film might have a good shot at an Oscar nomination.
    • (Note: not specifically celshader-related, but fascinating) Unless you've avoided the news for the past two weeks, you already know that Disney's going through some interesting times. Roy Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney, resigned from the Walt Disney company and demanded that Michael Eisner resign. Ex-Disney artists rejoiced while business-minded folks expressed doubt over Roy Disney's actions. Disneyworld tourists now boo Michael Eisner's image while Roy Disney receives applause from artists attending the Animation Guild's Christmas party. Yet all these actions may be too late to stop the Disney company from shutting down the Disney Florida studio, from scattering the artists who created Mulan, Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear to the winds. Disney veteran Dave Pruiksma started a letter of support for Roy Disney that gained over 4000 email signatures, including the signatures of animation legends Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Someone else struck up a second letter of support for Roy Disney on PetitionOnline.com. The battle between Disney and Eisner has already had the corporate fallout of delaying the release of more Disney Treasures DVDs. No one knows how this will turn out.
    (11-12-03) Here's the catch-up news, both old and new:
    • The source code for the BESM celshader plug-in has been made public. Also, Rob Baldwin has posted a new celshaded piece on the front page of Celshaded.com.
    • This requires a bold font: INVADER ZIM WILL BE RELEASED ON DVD!!! Look for its release in Spring 2004 with the choice of three double-disc sets or one limited edition boxset. This hand-drawn animated series featured some of the coolest celshaded graphics ever to grace cable TV -- the Irkan armada, Zim's spaceships, Zim's robot technology, and Zim's transforming house in particular. It also made me laugh until my sides hurt. I'm gonna go sing the "Doom Song" now. Doom doom dee doom doom DOOM...
    • (Possibly celshader related) Check out Brother Bear in theaters while you can. I could figure out the ending from the beginning, and I didn't care for the Phil Collins songs in the background, but despite those two gripes I did enjoy the story and the characters. The hand-drawn animation also looks great, too.
    • As much as I love the jewels I've found in Japanese animation, it's rare to find character performances as subtle and fine-tuned as the ones I often see in hand-drawn Disney feature films. With Disney shutting down its traditional animation production in favor of CG and scattering most of its artists to the winds, a visual treat like Brother Bear may become harder to find. After Home on the Range, Disney has no hand-drawn animated feature films slated in its pipeline.
    • On the bright side, beautiful things continue to get made outside of Disney. Check out the teaser for Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.
    • I also eagerly await the November 26th limited theatrical release of the hand-drawn animated feature, Triplets of Belleville. Also known as Belleville Rendez-vous, this film has a deliciously different look from anything I've seen before, and I hear it's a funny flick. Plus, I can't get that trailer's catchy jazz music out of my head. Check out the American trailer and the British trailer!
    • In addition, I'm hearing good things about Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Sounds like it'll be a fun film.
    • Plus, Wonderful Days is now available on Region 3 DVD. Read this review about the DVD and film. I look forwards to seeing this lovely film someday.
    • (Not celshader related) Vogelein, Jane Irwin's painted comic about a little clockwork faerie, is now available in graphic novel format from... If you know someone who loves fantasy and fairies, consider picking up a copy of this trade paperback as a gift. A hardbound limited edition of Vogelein is also in the works.
    • (Not celshader related) Here's a silly thing I sketched last week, before I saw Matrix Revolutions. I hope someone out there gets a chuckle out of it.
    (8-02-03) What a week! I got to demo LightWave at NewTek's SIGGRAPH booth, and I also got to present celshader information on the main stage no less than four times! For those interested, here are the three QuickTime videos I had looping up on the main stage:

    Lore Spin

    Shoujo Spin

    Elf Taekwondo

    Here are more links of interest:

    (7-09-03) MTV has an official site for the celshaded Spider-Man TV series. Things to see:

    (7-07-03) More links: (6-03-03) Today:
    • The Animatrix DVD hit the shelves today. Go buy it.
    • (Note: non-celshader info) Finding Nemo rocks. Go see it.
    • Terrence Walker reposted his celshader reel in his new "Services" section, which has new celshaded renders. Check it out.
    • Cripes. Green is NOT her color:
    (5-08-03) More links:
    • "Respire" -- a bittersweet, celshaded music video.
    • "An Anime for You" -- now has links to every viewing suggestion currently available in North America.
    (5-05-03) Update:
    • For those interested, I've updated my gallery with more examples of my traditional artwork and a copy of my demo reel.
    • The violent "The Second Renaissance: Part 2" short premieres on the Animatrix website on May 6, 2003. Lots of Softimage celshading in this one -- check it out!
    • Check out the Flash-based website for Nick Digital. Click on "Our Work," then on "Character Animation," then on "See More" under "Nick Invader Zim Toon Shaded Effects Shots." This will let you view Quicktime examples of the excellent blend of celshading and hand-drawn animation from the Invader Zim television show.
    • Terrence Walker still has both Understanding Chaos and Shadowskin DVDs for sale at $12.99 apiece.
    • (Note: non-celshader info) The Wonderful Days website has a new trailer for folks to download. This film just looks more and more beautiful.
    • (Note: non-celshader info) AnimationNation.com has a series of articles on the events that led up to the state of traditional hand-drawn animation in 1999. The articles make for fascinating, if heartbreaking reading.
    • (Note: non-celshader info) The Egyptian Theatre has a Festival of Anime running from May 2-15. Upcoming standouts include:
      • A Tree of Palme (Friday, May 9th, 7PM)
      • Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky double-feature (Friday, May 9th, 9:45PM)
      • ...and a particular favorite of mine -- Katsuhiro Otomo's MEMORIES..! (Saturday, May 10th, 7:30PM)
    (4-11-03) Comic book information:
    • (Note: non-celshader info) One of my favorite comic books out there right now is Jane Irwin's wonderful Vögelein. One rarely sees fully painted comic books out there, much less a fully painted independent comic. Now its creator seeks to raise money for the printing costs of the trade paperback with pre-orders. She also has original artwork for sale. As fans of the series, my mom and I have both pre-ordered our copies of the trade paperback. If you or anyone you know likes faeries both good and evil, clockwork and real, I strongly recommend pre-ordering the trade paperback collection of this lovingly rendered comic book series.
    • (Note: non-celshader info) You don't just have to take my word for it on Vögelein. Pick up a free copy of the comic book on May 3rd -- Free Comic Book Day! The following stores will distribute free copies of Vögelein on May 3rd:
      • Comic Relief in Berkeley, CA
      • Isotope Comics in San Francisco, CA
      • Titan Comics in Dallas, TX
      • The Laughing Ogre in Columbus, OH
      • Bookery Fantasy in Fairborn, OH
      • The Splash Page in Missoula, MT
      • Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, MI
      • Underworld Comics in Ann Arbor, MI
      • Vault of Midnight in Ann Arbor, MI
      • Stadium Comics in Ypsilanti, MI
      • Fun 4 All in Ypsilanti, MI
      • Future Pastimes in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
    • (Note: mostly non-celshaded) The Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio now carries copies of my Lore small-press comic. If you live in the area and would like to see more of my hand-drawn artwork, pay this excellent comics shop a visit and browse through its small-press section. My celshaded backgrounds for the series appear in issues #9 and #10. They should carry copies of Jane Irwin's excellent Vögelein comic as well, so also take this opportunity to check out Vögelein!

    (4-8-03) Links today:

    (4-4-03) I have a table at the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo this Saturday, April 5th, and I'll be promoting my small press comics there. If you live in Columbus, Ohio and enjoy reading comics, check out this cool convention!

     (4-1-03) Links today:

    (3-26-03) News today: (3-24-03) More links: (3-21-03) Today:
    • I always wondered what happened to Human Code Japan's version of Mission to Avalon. At the 1998 DCC Expo I saw both the American and Japanese trailers for Mission to Avalon, each featuring different versions of the same characters. I never saw anything of the Japanese version online after that, other than a single still of the characters. While sifting through the Human Code Japan site recently, I found a clip of the Japanese trailer for Mission to Avalon. It has different music, and it's missing clips from the beginning, but otherwise it's still the same trailer I saw back in 1998. Check it out!
    • I experimented with LightWave's Motion Designer these past few weeks. You can see my gallery of test animations here.
    (3-18-03) Links sent in by readers:
    • Sara & David -- a 100% CG comic starring celshaded characters. Submitted by Alex Aberle.
    • Final Toon -- a celshader plug-in for 3DS MAX. Submitted by Kris Erwin.
    (03-01-03) I'm still working on that new celshaded model. Here's a Quicktime 6 turnaround of how it looks so far.

     (02-27-03) I'm working on a new celshaded model...

     (02-10-03) Links I've gathered over the past month:

    • Wonderful Days -- a film that uses a combination of 3D, miniatures, live action and hand-drawn animation. You can also download more video clips and look at beautiful still images on the original Korean site.
    • Animatrix -- plenty of celshaded models in the first online short: "Second Renaissance, Part 1."
    • Also, check out this clip from the non-celshaded Animatrix short, "Final Flight of the Osiris." This short by Square will enjoy a theatrical premiere with the upcoming film, Dreamcatcher.
    • More celshaded still images from "Justice-4-All" -- on Terrence Walker's site. Scroll down to see them.
    • Celshading in a production environment -- on Peter Profetto's site.
    • Visit this site to see a trailer for Makoto Shinkai's next independant short, "the place promised in our early days." He last used celshading for the mecha in "Hoshi no Koe;" he may have used celshading for some of the shots of flying machines in this trailer. The trailer looks gorgeous, so check it out!
    (01-03-03) "Denzawa" emailed me links to an adult computer dating game called Toon by Teatime. The game features celshaded cutscenes, and I must say the models and artwork look beautiful. Each frame looks hand-drawn; only the animation and occasional loss of ink lines through geometry intersection give the 3D nature of these models away. Check out these links:
    • Teatime's homepage
    • A page featuring a picture of a game character.
    • The story for those who either read Japanese or who trust the Altavista Japanese-to-English translator.
    • The beautiful opening animation. Download the self-extracting WinRAR file called "toon_op.exe" to your hard drive, double-click on it, and left-click the leftmost of the two buttons at the bottom of the window that will pop up to extract the MPEG-1 file. The images towards the end of the video get slightly steamy, but nothing R-rated. Gorgeous 3D artwork here.
    • Two more sample animations from the game. Click on the images to download the self-extracting WinRAR files. Follow the procedure described above to extract the MPEG-1 videos from each file.
    • You can also download a benchmark for your system to see if it has what it takes for a realtime 3D model. Again, nothing R-rated as far as I can see here. I didn't recognize the contraption that the 3D cat-girl held, but it's pixelated out on the benchmark page, so I guess some might find it adult or offensive.
    (12-13-02) Animation news of interest: 
    • Check out the website for the upcoming Anime Network cable channel. According to the website, "[i]nitial availability is in the Philiadelphia metropolitan area, via Comcast digital cable Video on Demand service." For frugal folks who do not have access to a video rental store that carries anime, this might be a good way to try out different anime titles. Of the titles on the Anime Network's current line-up, I strongly recommend viewing Spriggan at least once.
    • Oscar selections have been announced for animated feature films. Lilo & Stitch and Spirited Away both made the list, but Escaflowne and Metropolis "failed to meet requirements due to theatrical release timing" and did not make the list.
    (12-10-02) Today:
    • The Invader Zim Christmas special airs tonight on Nickelodeon! Check TVGuide to find out when it airs in your area. The Invader Zim series had side-splitting humor, wonderful designs, excellent storytelling, and superb celshading on the 3D elements. I expect to see more of the same high quality tonight.
    • An email from Mario Gayhead prompted me to write this note of clarification about the upcoming Unlimited Saga video game: the game itself is not celshaded. Mario wrote: "the characters in Unlimited Saga are FMV sprites layered over a 3D environment." The cutscenes themselves look like non-photorealistic 3D renders, but I could be wrong on that point.
    • (Note: non-celshader info) I haven't played console video games since the Nintendo 64, but the upcoming PS2 remakes of the classic Phantasy Star series might get me to finally shell out for a PS2 console. My inner child shrieked with delight at the series' new look.
    (12-08-02) Cool stuff online: (12-05-02) Visit Einsteins-Cat.com to see a cute celshaded short by Dave Young.

    (12-03-02) The LWG member known as "shade01" has posted a tutorial on the use of the unReal celshader plug-in. Check it out here.

    (12-01-02) Treasure Planet features some wonderful celshaded elements; particularly the cyborg arm, leg and eye of John Silver. Worth studying on an IMAX screen if you get the chance.

     (11-29-02) The new Dragon's Lair 3D game features celshaded character models with beautifully clean ink lines. It also features hand-drawn animated cutscenes. Check it out!

     (11-17-02) Nekotom's website contains several stunning celshaded stills in addition to non-celshaded renders. Visit his gallery and check out this page in particular. 

    (11-12-02) Today:

    • Leonard Teo wrote a wonderful article about the use of celshading in the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series. It includes several great stills, so check it out.
    • (Note: non-celshader info) Hugo Pratt fans may want to take a look at both the official site and this site for pictures and trailers for the Corto Maltese animated feature film. The elegant designs and cool cinematography look beautiful.
    (11-11-02) A celshaded feature film based on Masamune Shirow's Appleseed will see a theatrical release in 2003. 

    (11-7-02) Today: 

    (11-5-02) PolyTank features an impressive gallery of LightWave models; some of these models used the D-Creation unReal celshader and some used my Visible Ink plug-in. If you lack the patience to sift through the links on this site, try viewing these image-heavy pages here and here. PolyTank also has a 2.2MB LZH-compressed file that you can download here; it contains a QuickTime VR of a celshaded character. 

    (11-4-02) Of interest...

    • You can see celshaded stills and animations by Chris Norpchen online at Toondigital.com. His current celshader projects include Mechamon and Little Mystics.
    • Check out the trailer for Part 3 of the cool URDA series of celshaded shorts. You'll have to download the .LZH-compressed file directly to your hard drive and use a decompression utility like QuickZip to extract the .MPG trailer.
    • PsyOp has several celshaded pieces on display in its "Projects" gallery, including Volkswagen and Starbuck commercials. You will need the Macromedia Flash Player to see their website, however.
    (10-09-02) Updates:
    • Go see Hayao Miyazaki's wonderful Spirited Away, if you have not done so already!
    • Terrence Walker continues to update his site on a near-daily basis, sharing test renders of his celshaded models and animations. Currently he's working on an educational video series for Palm Beach County, Florida. Check it out.
    • I have updated my gallery with images of this girl's head:

    • One of the upcoming games in the Rockman ("Mega Man") series will feature celshaded characters. The Magic Box has a preview and screenshots of this Gamecube title -- Battle Network Rockman EXE Transmission. Special thanks to Max Chang for submitting this information.
    (9-14-02) Online treasure:
    • Anatomy Pictures for 3D Artist -- in addition to anatomical reference, this site also has an impressive collection of model sheets used in both Western and Eastern animated shows and films.
    • Dave Jerrard's LightWave Tutorials -- an archive of the articles that LightWave Applied author Dave Jerrard wrote for NewTekniques magazine. He wrote them for LightWave 5.0 and 5.6, but his clever ideas should still prove useful for LightWave 6.0+ users.
    • Terrence Walker's updated his StudioArtFX site, and he has a remarkable render of a female head wearing glasses on his front page. The eyes and lips of this model look lovely -- check it out!
    (9/03/02) A few things: 
    • I added a search engine.
    • I have a table at the Small Press Expo this weekend in Bethesda, Maryland. If you live in the area and enjoy reading comics, you'll enjoy this cool convention.
    (9/02/02) (Note: non-celshader info) I have added some of my sketchbook drawings to my gallery.

     (8/30/02) Cool, if non-celshaded links:

    (8/28/02) I'm reorganizing the site to reduce clutter. Use the buttons at the top of this page to find information.
     
     

    (8/22/02) In a recent LightWave message board thread, a poster who went by the name of "Toro Tekka" ("Tuna Roll"?!) shared these wonderful links and information:

    • Maho-Yugi 3D OVA -- Gorgeous colors, fun character designs and a whimsical world. 3D animation director Mitsutaka Iguchi created the show's look and Hiroki Hayashi directed it. Studio: Anime International Company (AIC). More on the show here.
    • URDA -- an independent animation by Romanov Higa. 
    • Gorillaz -- scroll down to see this all-3D music video by Passion Pictures.
    • Animations by Koji Morimoto -- you can download zipped videos of "Survival" and the 100% 3D "Tokitama-Kun" here. "Survival" blends hand-drawn and computer animation, and it took 45 days for studio Beyond C to make it with a crew of 228 people. Read about the making of this beautiful music video here and here.
    (8/21/02) Quick updates:
    • I had the pleasure of watching Makoto's Shinkai beautiful Hoshi no Koe ("The Voices of a Distant Star") at the San Diego Comic Con earlier this month. With the exception of the music, voices and sound effects, Shinkai created all of the 30-minute animation himself over a period of two years. He drew the characters by hand, used an ink-and-paint package to paint them, painted the backgrounds in Photoshop and used LightWave for the celshaded mecha. ADV Films plans to release Hoshi no Koe in the United States on DVD. You can see images from this anime here.
    • The upcoming Platonic Chain anime by ACiD Film features an all-celshaded cast. Anime News Service reports more about this anime in an article dated 8-14-02.
    • (Non-celshader related) If you live in Seattle, Washington, consider attending the Messner-Loebs Seattle Rent Party on August 26th. The $5 admission fee goes towards a good cause for two good people.
    • (Non-celshader related) Folks take note: a man has gone to jail in Texas for selling an adult comic book to an adult. Not a child or underaged teen, but an adult. The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund has already spent $40,000 defending this case. Read more about it here, and consider donating ten bucks to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. The CBLDF defends all comics, from adult comic books to political satire to superhero titles like Superman. Help them, because they help you.
    (7/31/02) In today: 
    • (Non-celshader related) Dirk Deppey posted a heartbreaking update to the situation of comics veteran William Messner-Loebs and his wife, Nadine. If anything Bill ever wrote or drew for the past 27 years brought you even a brief moment of happiness...please consider sending him money, whatever you can spare.
    • unReal sightings:
    • (Non-celshader related) The Escaflowne movie came out on DVD this past week, in both "standard" and "ultimate" editions. Fans of Narnia, Conan and Star Wars should enjoy the fantasy story, but celshader artists may also find inspiration in its designs, compositions, drawings and use of "lighting."
    • I have updated the celshaded list, including MJ Garcia and Betsy Burke's suggestion of Zoids.
    (7/22/02) I wrote a 23-step tutorial on modeling a quick, celshaded rose blossom for this month's issue of newtekpro magazine. You can now view three variations of this rose blossom in my gallery.
    (7/19/02) Updates: 
    • (Non-celshader related) AnimeonTV.com posts news and TV listings for anime airing on American and Canadian TV channels. Check it out!
    • I have updated my Links page, and I have started a category for "animation self-publishers."
    • I have also started a list of things to exploit in celshading.
    • I have added "Hide-the-Feet" to the list of anime tricks.
    (7/13/02) Quick updates: (6/16/02) (Non-celshader related) Please help comics veteran William Messner-Loebs and his wife, Nadine.
     
     

    (6/13/02) (Note: non-celshader related) Respected comics creator William Messner-Loebs is in trouble. To quote a post from the Sequential Tart message board:

    ...essentially the Loebs' are financially strapped, have been served with an eviction notice from their home and "Nadine [Bill's wife] pointed out that Bill has had to deal with unemployment as well as a sudden downturn in his wife's health." The urgency of the matter is that: "As it is now, we need to find someone to buy our home for $84,000 from Trott & Trott and resell it to us on a land contract before June 15th, with our home as security."
    Read the details on the Comics Journal message board here. If you know someone who can help, email William Messner-Loebs at BillMLoebs@aol.com

    (6/07/02) (Note: non-celshader related) After seeing a message board post advising against the use of procedural textures in photorealistic surfacing, I thought a visual counterpoint might prove useful. Towards that end, I asked LightWave veteran Dave Jerrard for examples of images that relied heavily (or entirely) on procedural textures.

    (6/05/02) Still more on the celshaded list, with further viewing suggestions from Betsy Burke, Max Chang, and Dualboot.

    (6/03/02) More on the celshaded list, thanks to information submitted by Max Chang, Joe Justice and Jeff Harper. Thanks, guys!

     Also, Dreamworks' Spirit (which features a mix of hand-drawn and celshaded elements) is currently in theaters, so catch it while you can.

     (6/02/02) At the request of a reader, I have added a "visual beauty" category to the "An Anime for You" list of viewing recommendations. I put each one on the list for a different reason, but I think each is worth watching for its beauty alone. 

    Betsy Burke submitted the following titles and links for the video game section of the celshaded list:
     
     

    • Bomberman Online (Dreamcast)
    • Bomberman Generation (Gamecube)
    • Wacky Races (Dreamcast)
    • Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast)
    • Chocobo Racing (end of the intro animation) (PS)
    • Monster Rancher 3 (PS2)
    • Herdy Gerdy (PS2)
    I have added them to the list. Thanks, Betsy! 

    (5/30/02) This is just bizarre! Kraft Foods is suing a cartoonist over his nickname, "King VelVeeda." Stu Helm defended himself for a month before approaching the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for help.

     If you find it within your means, donate to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. Help stop nonsense like this and horrors like this. 

    (5/29/02) I'm working on a list of animations and video games that use celshading. I also have a new Pocket Editor comic up for viewing.

     (5/08/02) L.A. LightWave User's Group officer Jessica Vitale submitted these cool links recently:

    (5/02/02) New today:
    • LightWave has built-in "Visible Ink" capabilities as of version 7.5. Look for the tab called "InkOver" in the BESM shader. Special thanks go out to BESM designer Robert Baldwin and BESM programmer Eric Soulvie for making this tool a part of the standard LightWave package. I have not yet found the official BESM documentation on how to use "InkOver," but I encourage folks to take a look at the documentation for my old LightWave 5.6 "Visible Ink" shader here to help them get started using BESM's "InkOver."
    • Sergio Rosas has new renders in the "Cel Shaded" section of his online portfolio.
    • Hash: Animation Master users might like to see some of the celshaded images on John Spain's site.
    • Partially celshader-related: I've started an online gallery of artwork that folks have given me over the years. Two of the images are LightWave renders of a Kara model that Kevin Stubbs built from my "Character Modeling and the Super Cel Shader" tutorial.
    (4/22/02) Not celshader-related, but worth checking out: Ampersand's HTML transcript of Dave Sim's address to Pro Con '93. Though targeted at comics creators, this speech offers much food for thought, especially as more and more animators continue to self-publish their work on the Internet and on DVD. 

    (3/21/02) Gadget has a tutorial written in German on the making of "City Parkhaus," a celshaded commercial that used the UnReal plug-in for its "paint." Stills and further information (in English) about the commercial can be seen in this post on Newtek's LightWave Gallery forum. View the 18-second "City Parkhaus" commercial here. 

    (3/11/02) I'm updating my Links page...

     (3/08/02) Not celshader-specific news, but artists who post their work on the Web should read this article on CG Channel. It covers artwork thievery and offers advice on how to protect your own work from being stolen.

     (2/19/02) Terrence Walker has a 75-second trailer for ShadowSkin.

     (2/18/02) I'm updating my Links page.

     (2/12/02) Here's links that readers have sent me (thanks, folks!):

    (2/04/02) Of interest: (1/30/02) I have posted some of the technical rules of LightWave Edges. For those curious about LightWave Applied, I also posted a preview of the table of contents for "Character Modeling and the Super Cel Shader." (1/29/02) Please sign this petition to restore Invader Zim to the airwaves.

     (1/05/02) -- I added pictures of Kara to my gallery.

     (11/19/01) -- (Note: non-celshader news). To the violinist I met at the Motor City Comics Convention last weekend: "I didn't forget." :-) 

    (11/12/01) -- The readers-only website for LightWave Applied, Version 6.5 & 7 is now online. In addition to news, corrections, forums, links and contact information, this site also features one of the two chapters that I wrote for the book: "Character Modeling and the Super Cel Shader."

    "Character Modeling and the Super Cel Shader" guides you through the construction and celshading of an elf-girl named Kara. The tutorial has a total of 462 images and 717 steps, but you may begin at any one of 45 starting points, loading the appropriate version of the model from the book's CD-ROM. 

    (Note: if you do not have much experience with spline modeling, I strongly recommend following my "Spline Basics" tutorial from the book's CD-ROM before approaching the "Character Modeling and the Super Cel Shader" tutorial).

    Those interested in purchasing the book will find it sold at Amazon.com. 

    (10/2/01) -- I have been busy...but here's a quick update on celshader stuff:

    • Terrence Walker has released Understanding Chaos on DVD, with extras.
    • The Invader Zim cartoon show features well-integrated LightWave celshaded elements. Zim airs Friday nights on Nickelodeon -- check your TV guide for local listings. Gir -- QUICKLY! RIDE THE PIG!!!
    • Eric Soulvie's BESM now comes with LightWave 7.
    (4-18-01) -- Eric Soulvie has updated his BESM plug-in. Download it from Celshaded.com. 

     (10-2-00) -- This has nothing to do with celshading specifically, but everyone who loves cel animation (and that goes for most celshaders I know) should look at this petition for the R1 DVD release of Memories. For those who have never heard of Memories, I have created a page of Memories links. 

     (9-12-00) -- You can download Understanding Chaos from here for now. The original site couldn't take the traffic. 

     (9-9-00) -- Terrence Walker has made his celshaded Understanding Chaos short available for download! 

     (8-11-00) -- Robert Baldwin's Celshaded.com has a public beta of Eric Soulvie's BESM for download. The more I learn about the color choices made by cel artists, the more I appreciate the possibilities of this plug-in. 

     ("BESM" stands for "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" -- a style which most people I know associate with Japanese comics and animation, and which began with the "god of manga", Osamu Tezuka. It's a fair description of the shoujo and shoujo-influenced pieces that I have seen, such as Shamanic Princess, Revolutionary Girl Utena and Rose of Versailles. It even covers most of the character designs I've seen from popular artists like Rumiko Takahashi and CLAMP. However, not all anime follows this style, as proven by films like Memories, Spriggan, Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Perfect Blue and The Sensualist -- titles where the facial distortion does not exceed that of most Disney, Dreamworks, and Warner Bros. characters).

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