W. R. Miller
I've worked primarily in the entertainment industry as an animator, writer and storyboard artist, with two Emmy honors on The Simpsons. My articles have been published in Starlog, Comics Scene, Comics Buyer’s Guide, Animation Magazine, Animato! and the online Animation World Magazine. I have just completed the five-volume Batman: The Animated Interviews, published by BearManor Media. Works-in-progress: The Justice Dragon; The Star Wars Historical Sourcebook. Further details are presented at my webpage, https://wrmilleronline.com/about/
Wonky Dragons
Here’s some caricatured dragons from the Spanish film, El Corazón del Roble / The Heart of the Oak. This is the third and last of the Dragon Hill series, the earlier ones being hand-drawn efforts. 3D artist Jon Unceta textured, shaped, and rigged the CG versions, more streamlined than the hand-drawn versions. Oddly, the producers […]
Smaug Gets Busted
Over the weekend Weta Workshop’s bust edition of Smaug the Terrible made its premiere appearance at New York Comic Con. Charlie Jane Anders of io9 reported that the supply “sold out in a heartbeat.” But the Workshop has more that can be ordered from their website, here. Behold the detail of the bust, as sculpted […]
Robotech: Macross Updated
What if Super Dimensional Fortress Macross were animated today and integrated into Robotech? Here’s some footage updating scenes from Macross but set to the music from Robotech, as composed by Ulpio Minucchi and orchestrated by Arlen Ober: Compiled and uploaded by Ivan Vallejos, November 22, 2013
From Darth Farmer to Darth Vader
What would Darth Vader sound like if he was voiced by Darth the actor who wore the costume? Listen to this excerpt from the 2004 documentary, Empire of Dreams: Uploaded by Guardstark on June 23, 2007. Visual effects maestro Ken Ralston described it as “hilarious and terrifying at the same time, because we didn’t know […]
How boys grow up in Disney films
What’s it like to be an orphaned boy in a Disney film these days? November 25, 2015 The Good Dinosaur, the story of an orphaned boy raised in the forest by an orphaned dinosaur. April 15, 2016 The Jungle Book, the story of an orphaned boy raised in the forest by wolves, a panther and […]
When Thunderbird is Slow
Is your Thunderbird email sluggish? Does the system pause when you click on an email file to read, or transfer a file to a folder or try to delete a file? The culprit is likely a corrupted inbox.msf file. I found a solution here: Fix a slow loading Thunderbird (email) program Basically, you shut down […]
A Win for the Dragon — SCBWI-LA Writer’s Days — Part 2
In my last post, I mentioned the opportunities provided by SCBWI for writers, such as the conferences held by the regional chapters. Late in 2014, the SCBWI-LA group announced registration information for Writer’s Days, to be held March 7 and 8 in 2015. Attendees were offered two opportunities for their works. One was a manuscript […]
SCBWI-LA Writer’s Days 2015 — Part One
Writing and selling books is a tough market to crack. A writer has to convince an agent, a publisher, and then as many readers as possible to buy their work. And so it helps to network with fellow professionals who can encourage, teach, and generally provide support. For children’s books, the primary networking opportunity comes […]
The Force Awakens at Comic-Con
Today, July 10, 2015, Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams promoted Star Wars VII at San Diego Comic-Con International. Here’s a reel they presented. Note how it de-emphasizes CG and points out the use of “practical” effects, sets and costumes: And here’s the panel itself:
The Difference Between a Citizen and a Subject
What is the difference between a citizen and a subject under sovereignty? Historian David Ramsay provided an explanation at the dawn of American Independence: “THE United States are a new nation, or political society, formed at first by the Declaration of Independence, out of those British subjects in America, who were thrown out of royal […]
