Saturday, May 24, 2008

Hola!

VisualMente, a South American visual arts site wrote up a neato story on me. I haven't been able to translate it yet, but I hope it's a complimentary one. Peep it! With gas prices so high, and the fact that it F's up my passion for demolition derby, I'm now gonna find the nearest mosh pit and bust ass!

11 comments:

  1. Hi Eric

    I'm leaving you a translation of the interview.
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

    Exclusive: Eric Tan, from Pixar, speaks with VisualMente (Mente=mind. VIsualMente means,as a word, Visually ,but also here Visual Mind)

    We like a lot his irreverent use of textures, his intelligence when chossing typographies, and his powerfull coceptualization. He's a luxury

    Descending of a Malayan family, the designer and illustrator Eric Tan has become famous for his retro imprint (style) when visualazing the fim creatios of the Steve Jobs company, the powerful Pixar (In the photo, he's posing beside the logo)
    His vision has given a very personal identity to the graphic of movies like The Incredibles and Ratatouille. He is the responsible of the aesthetics of the new Wall-E, the new tank from Pixar-Disney

    We interviewed him, exclusively, for VisualMente, to this artis who also deals with X-Men and Indiana Jones. [image]

    After a very polite beginning ("It is my pleasure to answer your questions!"), we tried to find his deepest secrets, withouth pressing him. His delicate preocupation for the textures who add personality to his works is our first shot:

    "The textures I use are made simply by scanning in crumpled and worn pieces of paper and importing them as a layer in Photoshop over the graphics. It helps to create that vintage look that these posters are based in".

    It's very interest the aging that can be achieved wit Photoshop if you have an idea. Tan's work for a kitchen mouse it's a proof of his talent [image]

    It's good to know the step-by-step of the artist since a work is contracted:

    "I do a lot of reference of artwork related to the period and place that the illustration is based. I then do a quick sketch, tight pencils of each portion of the sketch, and then scan and trace the pencils in Adobe Illustrator. The gradients and textures are then added in Photoshop".

    If on one hand, Eric Tan does not run away from traditional media, he confesses being a tech user
    "I like to sketch, paint, and sculpt for fun. The majority of my commercial artwork is digital".
    [Image] [image]

    Besides his perfect use of textures, the Pasadena artist stands out for his impecable chose and use of typography. Generally, this choices are not the correct ones, and you can tell it from other artist's work. Tan does not have this problem

    The school of "less is more" makes this coice easier, powered by the cultural backgound of thist artist. This is evident when he speaks of his influences:

    "My influences are a mixture of traditional and computer animation, comic book art, and European graphic design from the early to mid 20th century. My education came from ArtCenter College of Design inPasadena, California".
    [image]

    "I'm obsessed with problem-solving and I'm always challenging myself to come up with the best solution whether it's art or everyday situations in life",
    Ends in this self-references way, the Great Eric Tan, who still has time to maintain his blog

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  2. Thank you very much Neckyo! That was so nice of you to translate. The article has many nice things to say and I'm not sure I'm deserving of it, but I'm very humbled by it. I can't believe how far these blogs can get around the world. I now have to thank all my fellow coworkers who forced me at gunpoint to make my own blog. Muchas gracias amigos! Put the gun away!

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  3. Congrats on the interview Tan! Well-deserved!!

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  4. Congratulations Eric, you deserve it. Beautiful designs!

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  5. Eric,
    I just discovered your blog from slashfilm.com. I have to say your artwork is amazing. I am just about to purchase your Ratatouille L-Ingredient Giclee. Can't wait for the Wall·E pieces to be released, they look AWESOME. Looking forward to more updates.

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  6. Thanks Ry, Dorota, and E! I do hope the Wall-e posters make it to stores. The more I see of that film, the more I like it. The folks at Pixar have done an excellent job yet again and it's been an amazing experience to get to work with their creative staff on all these projects.

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  7. Hey E-

    kristin and i just got a house in eagle rock,
    would love to have you over sometime.

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  8. thats awesome man.....congrats

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  9. Congrats for the interview, very interesting...I'm from Spain, so I've understood it all! ^__^
    And I LOVE your artwork.
    Cheers!

    Adios!

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  10. Cool interview Eric! Glad to see you're getting the mad international props you deserve.

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