[Kmart]

I was in a BORDER's just now and saw a single copy of the Vaz/Barron THE INVISIBLE ART matte painting book ... MAN DOES IT LOOK AWESOME!

I spent about 15minutes just paging through it (something I never do, since I used to work in and manage bookstores before the Border/B&N era, back when you could kill people for doing stuff like this), and the picture quality and selection is just remarkable.

The text looked to be equally good, and there is a CD at the back as well.

Considering this is one that I eagerly anticipated for YEARS, it is really amazing that I didn't feel disappointed when paging through it (except for the disappointment of not being able to afford it, that is!)

[malducin]

I'm expecting mine to arrive today or Monday. Craig was really enthusiasitic about it. The CD supposdely includes like 450 images of matte paintings and how they were done. It might even include small movies. Apparently he started it as a sort or interactive FX tutorial but he turned it into extra content for the book. Can't wait to get it, maybe I'll do a review.

[Shane]

WOW! It's out already?! I thought it'd have to wait until the holidays.

I have looked at the price. Ughh. Well, I'll trade this for something else.

Budgets......

[malducin]

I remember Craig mentioning October. But everytime I checked the online bookstores I saw it said November or the holidays. I needed to order another book so I decided to see hwta was the deal. Even though their page mentioned it would be published in Nov. apparently it went out as scheduled and they are shipping my copy. It's confusing because a news item said the unveiling would be Nov. 14 when they honor Craig Barron and other matte painters.

Speaking of books there is an upcoming one of concept art:

Concept Design

It features James Clyne, formerly of ILM, who worked on AI, Galaxy Quest and Minority Report, and Steve Burg, who did stuff for T2 and The Abyss.

[kkmart]

I'd never heard of this place doing the conceptual book before, let alone the book.

I'm seriously bummed ... I had talked with Burg about doing this kind of thing back when CONTACT came out, but it seemed that only FOCAL PRESS was doing this kind of book and they weren't interested since they had something else like it in development. Guess I'm going to have to find out more about this publisher ...

[Shane]

Speaking of...when is Duncan's Epy 2 book coming out?

[malducin]

I only found out about this book like 2 days ago.

As far as the Ep. 2 book, it was slted to be released this October, Ballantine's website has that info and online bookstores also have October but say the book is no available. Sounds to me that it mught have been posponed. The fact that there is no photo of the hardcover (even if it's the same as the paperback) might imply that the publication info hasn't been updated in a while.

[Ahem]

I've read craig's book ,and I have to say, after all the year's of research I was very disappointed- I think he sold himself WAY to short on this one.

Les Bowie, the guy who revolutionised matte painting production with grease paint plotting, doesn't even get a mention throughout the WHOLE book! Alan Maley too, except he gets referenced in two light sentences.

I haven't seen the CDROM, so maybe gems are left there-

I am willing to forgive in this instance however, as I am told that Craig had enough research for FIVE books that had to be condensed.

[Shane]

Ahem a book covering the whole craft of matte painting is bound to come up light in a few areas.

From all the stuff Barron has relayed to me about the book and what others have told me over the years, it sounds great.

Even books need editors. Barron started doing research back in the early '80's and did have volumes of research. I'm just glad to see it all come to fruition.

Try getting five books on matte painting published.

[Ahem]

there's a difference between coming up light and ommiting a milestone in matte history; Missing off Bowie's innovations is the books most ill-judged moment-

whoever decided to drop it has demeaned Barron's incredibly painstaking research.

BTW- I dare say, a revised edition will inevitably happen in the future. until then, what's here is quite agreeable.

[malducin]

It also seems that Craig had tons of problem just accessing the material, or if he could view it, then get permission from the studio to photograph it for the book. This book was supposed to come years ago, but from what Craig mentioned, studios gave him a hell of a time.

[boneheadfx]

"I spent about 15minutes just paging through it (something I never do, since I used to work in and manage bookstores before the Border/B&N era, back when you could kill people for doing stuff like this)"
You would have seriously bitchslapped me, K-I got quite a few fingerprints on the one I looked at -I couldn't help it though! Awesome book! I'd love to see the CD!

[malducin]

Well got the book yesterday but because of some issues I only checked it briefly before going to bed. Looks gorgeous, tons pof pictures not only of finished frmaes but also of original plates, artists at work and some of the crews and setups.

As far as the CD I popped it in and it was mainly a multimedia presentation on matte paintings. It does include some Quicktimes that are progression shopts, mainly the original plate and then a disvolve to the finished frame. But vbesides that the content seems to be light unless there is some really hidden stuff.

[Kmart]

Well, it only took about sixteen years (hence reviving ANCIENT thread, one of the few I ever started), but I finally am getting this book. On ebay, the paperback went for just over twenty bucks, plus a few more for shipping.

The same guy had a book about the pre-1999 Gerry Anderson shows called CENTURY 21 FX -UNSEEN UNTOLD and nobody bid on it for fifty, so now they've dropped the minimum to $25 -- which is pretty good since it goes for hundreds on Amazon. Am not personally into the Anderson stuff, otherwise I'd be bidding on it, but if anybody else here wants a copy, you should search it on ebay.

Sorry I haven't been around much, but things are tough ... one of my main outlets folded, then got bought up by another company, and so I haven't had any assignments from them since October (and am only now finally getting paid for a couple of year-old stories, plus there are stories they still have that didn't get run, on TWIN PEAKS, Tippett's MAD GOD and LADY BIRD.) I guess now that they are stable again the assignments will resume, but only much shorter pieces (web attention span is apparently something like 3-5 minutes, which I guess means whole articles that are about the size my introductions used to be), so that equals writing LOTS more stories to make up the difference.

[ShaneP]

It is worth the wait. Great book.