Stan Winston School of Character Arts Opens
Renowned Winston Protégés to Provide Specialized Training on Techniques Learned from Legendary Creature Effects Pioneer
[Comic Con Booths 1605 & 5563] — Gnomon School of Visual Effects, the industry leader in professional training for artists in the entertainment and design field, today revealed that it is partnering with the family of the late character creator and effects visionary, Stan Winston, to establish the Stan Winston School of Character Arts.
A true pioneer, Winston helped build the foundation for many of the creature effects techniques that fill today’s blockbuster films. As a character development lead on films including “Terminator,” “Aliens,” “Predator,” “Jurassic Park,” “Iron Man,” and “Avatar,” Winston created cinematic icons that terrify, entertain and inspire, earning him four Academy Awards in a career spanning four decades.
Determined to realize Winston’s vision for future generations of artists, his many protégés – themselves film industry leaders – will instruct students in the magic behind their legendary work. The first Stan Winston School lessons will be available January 2011, in both DVD and online streaming formats, in association with Gnomon School of Visual Effects. The Stan Winston School also plans to offer hands-on workshops with world-renowned character effects studios in conjunction with the training DVDs and online content.
“Thanks to the expertise of our partners at Gnomon School of Visual Effects, the Stan Winston School will be at the vanguard of visual arts education. Our lessons will cover the entire spectrum of character creation techniques, from practical to digital,” said Matt Winston, son of the late Stan Winston. “Never before have my father’s incredibly talented peers allowed such comprehensive access to the creative process, insights and methods they developed together. From day one, students will be transported to the alien, dinosaur, robot, and monster-filled worlds these master artists create.”
At San Diego Comic Con 2010, creature and VFX luminaries will discuss Stan Winston’s impact on the art of character creation on Saturday, July 24 from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. in room 7AB. Featuring many of the film industry’s leading character and creature artists, including Gnomon founder Alex Alvarez, The Winston Effect panel will also include messages about the Stan Winston School of Character Arts from James Cameron and Tim Burton.
“From ‘Aliens’ to ‘Avatar,’ few artists have shaped the film industry as Stan Winston has,” noted Alvarez. “We’re honored to partner with the Winston family to ensure his legacy can inspire another generation of artists to realize the incredible accomplishment of seeing the creatures born in your imagination take shape and become characters in a feature film.”
The first set of training DVDs to launch January 2011 will include the following titles from leaders in the character creation industry:
- Practical/Digital Hybrid Characters with Stan Winston life-long collaborator and co-owner of Legacy Effects, John Rosengrant
- Script Breakdown for Character Creators with Academy Award Nominee and co-owner of Legacy Effects, Shane Mahan
- Directing Creature Characters with Academy Award Nominee and co-owner of Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., Alec Gillis
- Creature Performance with Academy Award Winner and co-owner of Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc., Tom Woodruff, Jr.
- Prosthetic Makeup with Academy Award Winner and co-owner of KNB EFX, Howard Berger
Those interested in learning more about the Stan Winston School of Character Arts can sign up on the registration page or on Facebook to receive weekly e-mail updates, sneak peeks of lessons, new plans for master artist classes, rotating Winston archival footage and interview clips.
About the Stan Winston School of Character Arts
Founded by the Winston Family, the Stan Winston School of Character Arts offers a training curriculum that covers the entire spectrum of character arts, from practical to digital. Each student can customize their own curriculum through a range of online videos, DVD lessons and hands-on workshops held in association with world-renowned Winston partners. From the first day of training, the Stan Winston School transports students to the realms of robots, aliens, dinosaurs and monsters as they learn to bring their imaginations to life on the silver screen. For more information, please visit www.stanwinstonschool.com.
About Gnomon School of Visual Effects
Located in Hollywood, the epicenter of the entertainment industry, Gnomon School of Visual Effects (www.gnomonschool.com) is an innovative training facility that stresses the importance of creativity in digital entertainment production. The school believes that while new software tools help to create impressive computer-generated characters and worlds, it is not the technology that drives results, but the artist. All Gnomon instructors are specialized industry professionals who bring their experience and connections into the classroom to provide an outstanding start to the careers of the next generation of leading production artists.