Considering that every major animated film coming out of Hollywood these days is CG, it's amazing to think that there was a time when CG wasn't as prevalent as it is now. There was a time when CG was considered unproven and risky. There was a time when the prospect of making even a CG movie seemed almost preposterous. This makes it all the more incredible that something like the Saturday morning animated series ReBoot actually happened.
Premiering in 1994, before the world would be wowed at Pixar's Toy Story, ReBoot was the first full-length, completely computer animated television series. Produced by Canada's Mainframe Entertainment, ReBoot imagined the world inside a computer, a world where sprites, viruses, and binomes roamed. This action/adventure series, peppered with a unique sense of humor and lots of geeky references, garnered a large cult following.
Now, DMF Comics has released The Art Of ReBoot, a fascinating and eye-opening look into the creation of this groundbreaking TV series. Featuring tons of never-before-seen artwork, this book not only confirms the artistry of this series, it's a love letter to the show's fans. Given that ReBoot was a CG show, you might think that the bulk of the artwork in the book would be CG. That's not the case. Everything CG has to start off as 2D designs first, and this wonderful artwork is the revelation of the book. The drawings, many of them drawn by production/character designer Brendan McCarthy, are great. Seeing these drawings makes you realize the incredible amount of artistry involved in making animation of any kind. It's also really cool to see how well these drawings translated to CG animation. In some cases, such as the villain Megabyte, the designs are so good that little is changed. There is so much life in these drawings that you realize that ReBoot would've probably made a cool 2D animated series too. From music to manga and television to comics, Sterfish enjoys it all. He's older than you think and younger than you expect.
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The Art Of ReBoot is not a hefty coffee table book. It's a slim hardcover with a glossy exterior and full-color pages. The book features a wide variety of artwork from the TV series including production and pre-production art, screenshots from the series, and other artwork including a look at the toys from the show. It also acts as sort of a guide to the series. In the sections dealing with the various characters, short (and sometimes spoileriffic) character bios are included. People who worked on the show, including co-creator Gavin Blair, tell about their experiences in short blurbs throughout the book.'; }
Article Author: Sterfish
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net , which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States, and to Boston.com. Nice work!