 Ray
Harryhausen is well known as the premier visionary of special
effects animation. Perfecting a process called ‘stop-motion photography’,
he built poseable models of dinosaurs and fantasy characters, and
animated them frame-by-frame on film. This laborious technique
allowed him to bring to life some of Hollywood’s most memorable
creatures, in classic films like The7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason
and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C., The Valley of Gwangi,
and Clash of the Titans.
 A protégé of Willis O’Brien, who introduced
stop-motion to the world in the original Lost World, (1929) and
King Kong (1933), Harryhausen refined the craft into an art-form.
His work is acknowledged to be the true inspiration for many
generations of filmmakers, including Steven Spielberg, Peter
Jackson, and George Lucas, as well as multitudes of animators,
special effects technicians, and sculptors.
 In an age of CGI, where vast armies of technicians labor on
computer-generated special effects, Harryhausen’s films
are revered for their ingenuity, the handicraft of a single,
gifted artist. Considered an auteur and true visionary, he was
honored by the Academy Awards in 1992, receiving the Gordon Sawyer
award for a lifetime of technical achievement. His films have
experienced a resurgence of interest, as new generations of fans
flock to greet him at conventions, purchase his DVD’s,
and collect model kits based on his creations.
|
 Harryhausen’s
on-screen alchemy of life-like, otherworldly creatures inspired
me in all
aspects of my professional career, from animator, to sculptor
and writer. Because of my own background in stop-motion, it
is fitting that I was called upon to sculpt these characters.
My
affinity to the subject allowed me to not only capture their
likenesses, but hopefully their very essences. I consider it
a privilege to have worked on so many replicas of his works. |
