comics and animation

[Cdoberman@aol.com]

There has been some discussion going on about comic book and animation
artists and technology.  Today I attended the first day of the Governor's
Conference on the Arts in Santa Clara, California, and the topic is Arts and
Technology.  There's a lot of discussion and interesting information.  

The keynote speaker at lunch today was Bran Ferren, the Executive Vice
President of Creative Technology at Walt Disney Imagineering (Don't let the
title fool you -- this guy was not a suit).  He had a lot of interesting
things to say, but the relevant message here is, no matter how much computer
technology becomes a part of the artist's tool box, the technology will never
replace the artist.  The artist is the one who creates the story using the
tools of his/her medium.   An artist may need to know the technology, but the
artist should not fear the technology, because it's just one more tool.
 Ideally it should be very enabling.   A computer programmer who is not an
artist will never create art.   

The companies here in the Silicon Valley (including Silicon Graphics and
Fractal Design) are very aware that they need to make their equipment and
software accessible to artists (that includes getting it down to a price that
starving artists can afford).  I just wish you who are artists could have had
a chance to hear the messages and see the gizmos demonstrated today.

Wes Andersen

"But, Mickey!  It's SUICIDE!  We'll be KILLED!  How'll we ever land without
wheels?" -- Captain Doberman