Step into the Page

September 11, 2015 12:55 AM

Glen Keane drawing in VR -- (SLVimeo) Glen Keane, animator (The Little Mermaid, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast) & son of Bil Keane, explores drawing with the Valve/HTC Vive VR system.

Over nearly four decades at Disney, Glen Keane animated some the most compelling characters of our time: Ariel from The Little Mermaid, the titular beast in Beauty and the Beast, and Disney’s Tarzan, to name just a few. The son of cartoonist Bil Keane (The Family Circus), Glen learned early on the importance of holding onto your childhood creativity—and how art can powerfully convey emotion. Keane has spent his career embracing new tools, from digital environments to 3D animation to today’s virtual reality, which finally enables him to step into his drawings and wander freely through his imagination.

posted by CrystalDave (11 comments total)

Glen Keane, previously, and part of previously, and mentioned in previously.

Keane and animated dogs: Glen Keane's Duet (compatible with selected Android mobiles equipped with accelerometer sensors; turn clockwise to follow the girl, counterclockwise to follow the boy and dog) and Keane was an animation consultant for Minkyu Lee's Adam and Dog
posted by otherchaz at 3:25 AM on September 11, 2015

I was expecting just more bog-standard VR PR ("Oh god, he just said 'immersive' didn't he."), but seeing him use it really painted the picture.
(I didn't see that pun till after that sentence was written, which, of course, our technology does not yet allow to be unwritten. AFAIK. Left as a warning for others about the danger of cliches.)
posted by quinndexter at 4:11 AM on September 11, 2015

Thanks for posting this, it's quite fantastic. I've been thinking a lot about this lately, especially with youtubes 360 video now available. The future of media may well be one with edges, edges of the page, edges of the screen. This gives the viewer much more control over their experience in ways we don't know yet.
posted by Sreiny at 5:13 AM on September 11, 2015

The part where he actually draws in VR is at about 2:40 for anyone who wants to skip ahead to that.
posted by jacquilynne at 5:50 AM on September 11, 2015

The future of storytelling is going to make me very motion sick. All the time. The part of me that still listens to the 13 year old kid in me is fine with that.

I did not know Glen Keane was Bil Keane's son.

Duet's available on iOS now too (The app is called "Stories")
posted by DigDoug at 7:09 AM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]

Doing drawn 3D animation (NOT computer modeled) has to be the Holy Grail of Animation (for those who are truly thinking ahead, and it's so good to see a veteran like Glen Keane as one of those). I've always thought of CGI toons as more like puppetry than cartooning. All of animation is (or should be) a Virtual Reality experience for the audience; this is the artists not just building a virtual world but climbing into it and inviting us to follow them. I'm going in...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:34 AM on September 11, 2015

Beautiful! The glee on Keane's face when he was drawing in 3D is contagious.
posted by kimberussell at 3:43 PM on September 11, 2015

See also: Harold and the Purple Crayon
posted by mikelieman at 10:10 PM on September 11, 2015

Oops, you beat me to it. Good post!
posted by cleroy at 11:04 PM on September 11, 2015

Sorry, but I see this as Valve promotional effort using Glen Keane instead of Cave Johnson. Before this tech means anything to anyone except specialists there's going to have to be a lot of VR headsets sold. turns to face camera, IT REALLY IS CAVE JOHNSON! rubs hands together with glee, fades out<>
posted by sneebler at 12:25 AM on September 12, 2015

And remember, you can't say "happiness" without saying "penis." I'm Cave Johnson. We're done here.
posted by ostranenie at 3:42 PM on September 12, 2015