Persistence of Vision

A few years ago, I met the great animator Richard Williams at the prestigious Annecy Film Festival.  He seemed to know my work and was a fan – so we became good friends and talked intimately about his career and great animation.

I knew he didn't want to discuss his long-lost feature “The Thief and the Cobbler” so I delicately avoided that contoversial topic.  However, there is now a wonderful documentary about that lost epic, it's called “Persistence of Vision” by Kevin Schreck.  I saw it last week at the DOC NYC Festival.

Even though the reclusive Richard refused to be interviewed for the film, there are a lot of interviews with artists and friends of the Oscar-winning director.   Plus, there are wonderful vintage interviews of Mr. Williams as he's in the process of making the film, and he talks about his frustration in raising the money to finance this masterpiece.  Also, there are great interviews with Hollywood animation legends Ken Harris and Art Babbitt.   

The consensus is that Mr. Williams was robbed of his magnum opus by Warner Brothers and the Completion Bond Company.  Yet I don't believe it's that simple.  I feel that Richard must share some of the blame. He promised to finish the film by a certain date, and he knew that if he failed to deliver, he would lose his masterwork. Those are the rules of Hollywood and he chose to play by those rules.

I've heard rumors that he may be receiving money soon to restart his production.  

I do hope that's true, because the version released by Miramax, called “Arabian Knight”, was a travesty.  

I give the documentary a B+.  If it plays near you, rush out and see “Persistence of Vision”.

PERSISTENCE OF VISION - Trailer #1 from Kevin Schreck on Vimeo.

John William Godward Females..

What can I say.. I'm a fan of the female figure. The English Neo-Classical painter John William Godward (1861-1922) painted some of the greatest female nudes of his time ... Godwards (and most of the neo-classical) style of painting fell out of style when modern art became big. Godward committed suicide at the age of 61, in his suicide note he wrote that "the world was not big enough for him and Picasso".  His family were never supportive of his artwork, and were very embarrassed by his suicide. The family destroyed all photos and papers of Godward... only his paintings survive him. Apparently there is not a single photo in existence of the painter himself.  Here's several of my favorites..

 

In the Tepidarium John William Godward 1913

 

Above, Venus at the Bath, 1901. And my all time favorite female nude painting by Godward, below, A Pompeian Bath, painted in 1909. WHAT??

Another one of my favs below, The Delphic Oracle, 1899.. I'm in love

  

and below, the very famous painting, The Tambourine Girl (1906)

Classic Skate mag ads..

This is just hyper nostalgia. Good times back in the day, drooling over every page of thrasher or Transworld. Getting to the end of the mag and just starting right again.. a lot of these can be found in the epic book of Jim Phillips artwork that i've blogged about several times.  25 years of skating.. yikes.. it hurts SO much more now when i slam. enjoy a shred of my past.

Guerrero made us all feel tons better about not having a vert ramp available.. he was pretty much the first "street skater".. him and gonz.

Variflex was crap btw.. they sold their shitty decks to toys r us and stores like that around 1986.. these ads stopped appearing in mags by 87.

I stole these wheels featured in the ad above from the skate shop i worked at in high school.. "wheels of wellesley".. my boss, a real cool guy, Brian, caught me and brushed it off like it was nothing. I still feel guilty 25 years later.  but i was broke and i needed some ramp wheels!!

dang.. i remember this corey obrien ad above.. i remember that ALL I WANTED was a little run down house like this with a mini ramp in back. life was simple.

I used to copy this witch doctor guy in this ad above.. it's when i was first was getting into art.  i used a character similar to this Jim Phillips dude in my new film just this year!  AND below.. had to post this one.. Jim phillips, rob roskopp designs got me through high school.

Legendary Graphic Design..

I don't want to be that guy who always says it was better long ago.. but.. I'm going to have to be for a second. Enjoy images from classic design that we probably couldn't do today, and they did out of habit and for the mundane back in the day.