www.artist-reference.com

You know you have an engaging website on your hands when you can’t keep your eyes off of it. The gnomongallery.com website is such a place.  Basically, The Gnomon Gallery is as they say “Hollywood’s premier art gallery for the entertainment industry.” It was initially created by Alex Alvarez, who is also the CEO and founder of The Gnomon School of Visual Effects as well as The Gnomon Workshop Website. The purpose of The Gnomon Gallery in particular is to provide info about Gnomon exhibitions held in Hollywood. These exhibitions broadcast the works of different artists in the field of animation (both 3D and otherwise), graphics design and special effects. They are free so anyone can join in. The artwork ranges from genres such as sci-fi fantasy, props, vehicles, sketches, environment and sculptures. Needless to say, the Gnomon websites, like gnomongallery.com, are a great place for anyone that wants to break into the world of special effects and game design.

The website itself goes right into the lowdown on their latest exhibitions. This will be great for someone that follows the shows or just wants to know when the next Gnomon art exhibition will take place. One can find for example info on future shows as well as the names of the artists that will put their works on display. This way, graphics design hopefuls can keep up on when their favorite artists will be making an appearance. There is also a tab that displays the shows archives, which refers to all the shows that have been held in the current year as well as the year before. I was blown away by whom they had invited to give live demonstrations! Some of them were also none other than the artists that worked in commercially successful game franchises like the famous “God of War” series as well as  “Transformers: War for Cybertron.”

However, there is not much more, except links to other Gnomon websites like thegnomonworkshop.com and gnomonschool.com. All in all, it is a fairly simple website whose only purpose seems to be to provide visitors with information about Gnomon art exhibitions, names of artist that will be expected to make appearances there, the venue, date of the exhibitions and the duration. It’s a pity that there is not much more offered by the website.  I would have expected the people behind it to include something that would allow visitors from other cities to share the “Gnomon experience.” It would be great and I am convinced that many people would appreciate it, if there were shown some pictures of the exhibitions, or works themselves, for people who have no chance to visit the ongoing exhibition (for example foreigners).

Also I did wish that the website had more info about how it was related to the Gnomon group. A paragraph or two would have been good for people that might be visiting the website for the first time. Nevertheless, gnomongallery.com is still a great place for anyone who wants to know where they might go to have a front seat to what the latest in the special effects industry has to offer.

Summary

+ Simplicity at its best and a great place for anyone that wants information on interesting and valuable exhibitions.

- No textual description about the Gnomon group in general which might confuse a new visitor who has no knowledge about who they are. Plus visitors from other cities or countries lose out on a chance to actually see what is featured since exhibited works are accessible for seeing only to those that might be fortunate enough to live in or near Hollywood.

Popularity: 10% [?]

As we have been focused on Gnomon group’s websites, here we come with another one equally interesting and inspiring as the other discussed – sketchtheatre.com. As their profile says, the aim of Sketch Theatre is to expose “young” minds to opportunities that might be a great stepping stone for them when it comes to a career in digital art design. In other words, it is a place for young talents that aspire to make a career in the special effects industry in the future. Basically Sketch Theatre is a place for amateur artists to display their own works whether their art is based on comic book design, animation, films, entertainment design (like creatures, sets and props) and even music.

Let´s move to the description of what sketchtheatre.com include. The home page of Sketchbook Theatre has a standard search bar at the top as well as videos in which different artists display their own works. The best part about these videos of this website is the fact that artists actually give a sort of play by play of how they created their sketches. These “demonstrations” are also followed up by background music of the artist’s own choose. Also, the website includes instructional videos that feature sketching demonstrations from professionals in the field of character design, illustration, comics and more. Come to think of it, I did find one similarity between the gnomonworkshop.com and this one. Both sites have a forums page where artists can discuss topics related to their interests as well as competitions. However, that’s where the similarity ends.

The “Interviews” section includes, well, interviews with some of Sketch Theatre’s most talented artists, and not just any artists. The website interviews the artists who have had the pleasure of working in big budget box office hits. For example, one of the featured interviews includes that of Aaron Sims, a special effects artist that has worked on “some of the most popular, defining movies of the 1990’s” like Gremlins 2, Mighty Joe Young, Men in Black, Batman Forever and Nutty Professor too.

Besides that, sketchtheatre.com offers the latest news about industry and artists who made their mark in their respected fields. As a digital art enthusiast, I would like to keep myself updated on what is new in the world of visual effects so such information was a definite plus for me. The “Store” section also caught my attention – with sketch pieces and T-shirts on offer. Some of them went for about 29 USD. However, there were also specialized ones, like the Cameron Davis limited edition sketch T-shirts, that go for a whopping 45 USD per a piece. One thing is for sure – the quality of the sketch designs on these items means that you are getting your money’s worth.

Another thing I found interesting was a competition in which amateur sketch artists could pit their skills against each other. Winners could get their hands on exclusive Gnomon DVDs (tutorials) as well as other products offered by the gnomonworkshop.com.  Items such as these would definitely come in handy for an aspiring 3D artist so the competition is also a definite plus.

However, to tell you the truth, the News and Interviews section did not seem very different from each other, as both are featuring works of different artists via videos. I was also annoyed that I had to go to the actual website of the artist whose video demonstration I wanted to watch in the News section. As for the navigation aspect, there is nothing much to maneuver through since the site doesn’t have that much to offer, but this might have more to do with the site’s elementary theme than anything else. Overall, this site is a great place for budding artists to see what other aspirants that are gunning for a place in the 3D industry are doing.

Summary

+ This website provides a great place for budding artists to showcase their sketching talents via video demonstrations.

- One has to go to other links if  wanted to view the profiles of famous artists in the News section which is annoying.

Popularity: 14% [?]