The Art of Ray HarryhausenIn An Animated Life (Aurum, 2003) Ray Harryhausen told the story of his career as the acknowledged grandmaster of special effects in the pre-computer era, the creator of classics such as One Million Years BC, Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of Titans. In this new book the focus is not on the movies themselves, but on the vast hoard of artwork which Harryhausen has carefully preserved in his London home. These include preliminary sketches, elaborate drawings of key scenes and carefully plotted storyboards, all produced as he sought backing for his next venture and prepared to undertake the laborious task of animating the prehistoric creatures, aliens and mythical monsters which stole scene after scene from the human actors. There are also the tiny, elaborately articulated models which Harryhausen created to play these roles and the bronzes which he cast to preserve their forms in perpetuity. This stunning array of images is a tribute to the scope of Harryhausen's imagination and his artistic skills which no student of special effects or cinema history will want to be without. |
Contents
INFLUENCES AND INSPIRATIONS | 16 |
MASKS MONSTERS AND MAYHEM | 28 |
THE FORMATIVE YEARS | 34 |
Copyright | |
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20 Million Miles 7th Voyage alien allosaurus Argonauts armatured model arsinotherium art paper artists Beast body with internal brontosaurus bronze Byron Crabbe cast ceratosaurus Charcoal and pencil Charles clay colour creations creatures cyclops dinosaurs Doré fantasy fight film final giant Golden Voyage head huge HYDRA idea illustration board internal metal armature Jason key drawings King Kong Knight Kraken Latex body latex rubber Left legs look Lost World Medusa Mighty Joe Young Miles to Earth Million Years BC miniature movie Mysterious Island mythology never Obie Obie's original painting pencil on art pencil on illustration Pencil on paper photographic picture plaster plesiosaur prehistoric produced Ray Harryhausen Rough sketch Sadly Saucers scene screen sculpting sequence SHOT shows skeleton stegosaurus stop-motion animation storyboards studio styracosaurus tail Talos Tiger Titans triceratops tyrannosaurus rex unrealized Valley of Gwangi visualize Voyage of Sinbad wanted Watercolour Willis O'Brien Ymir