Ian Miller is a cartoon (and animation) GOD!

I was so glad to hear who did these backgrounds, when I watched the Wizards Director's commentary.

These are some of the most stylized and beautifully dark scenes I've ever had to pleasure to view on screen.

Thanks for Postin' Them Chris!

Sincerely,
Brother Rabbit

I've always been impressed by Ralph's background art...a very nice mix of the real and the surreal! Perhaps some day we will see a book or something that presents them in more detail!

Very stylized visuals with an odd mixture of Time Burton's and Pablo Picasso's personal outlines, giving these paintings a sense of melancholy and griminess! It's pity no one will ever make a movie with surreal appearance like the ones above...

- Glen!

Hi, I'm new to this site, but I have always loved fire and ice. Being brought up in the eighties was great a a kid, and the cartoons were even better. Apart from the exceptionaly good X-men, Batman,J.L.A. and Spiderman, most of todays cartoons are a bit S**t. I would like to know whats going on with Ralphs work 2day. The last time I saw Fire and Ice was back in the late eighties and I've yet to get Coon Skin.
R.S.V.P. Kris.

I never tire myself of watching this film and I am so excited to see this new project in development. I am a student of animation at the Art Institute of Colorado and in my character and object design class we watched "Wizards" then created our own fantasy characters. It was a lot of fun - especially when we made them into three foot standups.

see what we're up to in Colorado
http://www.sketchophrenia.com

RedDragon

just got wizards on dvd.....still one of my favorite flix of all time!!!!btw love the new pictures!

Ian Miller is outstanding.
He is working with us on WizardsII book as well.

One of the most fascinating and important things in RB's directing was his intense importance of Line. If you look in the "library" in the gallery section I think you will see a few of the artists he used as references for all his artists on his films to study. He had their line drawings up in the studio and books etc. - Silverstein, Gross, Steinberg etc

I've always been a big fan of Bakshi's work; though Disney's great and all, it's so much more satisfying to see truly unique fantasy films from a more independent, personal visionary. I especially enjoyed introducing the students in my Character Animation class (way down here in Montgomery, Alabama) to his work; I usually end up with several new Bakshi fans by the end of each semester.

Though I was thoroughly delighted with the Wizards DVD, and its wealthy list of extras, a couple of his other films I hope will receive similar treatment:

1. Fire and Ice
2. Cool World

A sketch gallery of Frazetta's production art for the film seems like a given for a Fire & Ice DVD; I've had to rely on an old issue of Prevue magazine for the rest of my inside info.

I even wrote the producer Frank Mancuso Jr. years ago, hoping for a re-release of Cool World (even before I knew what DVDs were!) with the restored "Sweet Place" scenes. I heard about them from Background Artist Barry Jackson during his presentation at the Atlanta Fantasy Fair. Seemingly Gabriel Byrne had an Elvis-type musical number that was cut from the film; Brad Pitt's character has a remaining line in the film, something like, "Holli's Goons can't touch [Deebs] in Sweet Place."

I don't know if this posting will do me any more good than my letter to Mancuso (I think that's who somebody at Paramount told me I should write), but I would like to see those "lost scenes."

Thanks for inspiration to independent animators everywhere, Ralph!

Mark S.
www.marktoonery.com