3. Two Leaf Gallery Members' Blog

A Two Leaf Gallery Conversation with

Katherine Kean

The well-known painter talks about working on

John Carpenter's "The Thing",and more...

Interview by James P McCabe

JPM: Katherine, as long as at least part of our conversation deals with things extraterrestrial, I'd like to bring it in line with Steven Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" directive for June 12 and post it on my website as close as I can to that, okay?

KK: I’ll give it a shot!

JPM: I had it in mind to ask if you'd agree to an interview just on the basis of your wonderful 'magic realist' canvases ever since I first saw them! But more recently, I found your name listed as an 'animator' in the closing credits of John Carpenter's "The Thing" (1981)...

KK: Yes, The Thing was one of the earliest projects I worked on as an animator.

JPM: Just briefly, "The Thing" is a film that continues to grow in popularity and critical acclaim. It shows up regularly as the subject of internet content, and star Kurt Russell remains highly recognizable and very active, most recently in "Monarch: Legacy of Monsters", and "The Madison", which is a "Yellowstone" spinoff...

KK: Kurt Russell has had a long career. I remember watching him in films long before I ever dreamed of working in motion pictures.

JPM: So like most Sci-fi fans would be, I was hungry to talk to someone like yourself who had been involved in creating that classic film! I mentioned it to you in a text, which you graciously responded to with an overview of what you had done in the film. I thought we'd put the Sci-fi fans of the world in heaven by spending a few moments talking about it a little more...

KK: Okay.

JPM: What I wanted to do first was taken a look back at what your journey had been up to that point. For instance, you went to the Rhode Island School of Design...

KK: I went to RISD with the intention of becoming a painter, however a professor convinced me I wouldn’t appreciate the lifestyle. So, I looked at alternatives.

JPM: ...and you took a degree in Film, Video and Animation.

KK: I became fascinated with animation, so I transferred to that department. They had all the fun toys!

JPM: Did you have one specific artist, painter or director, who inspired you to follow that course of study?

(as I've already mentioned to you, I was aware of Americans like John J.Audubon and Samuel F.B.Morse, as well as Salvador Dali, very early on).

KK: Not specifically. I’m easily inspired and find something to love in the work of many, many artists. I loved the golden age of animation. I loved old black and white classics. I also loved pop artists and old masters. Still do.

JPM: Did you do some kind of internship or apprenticeship as part of your college work, or did that come later?

KK: I worked on Jeff Carpenter’s award winning animated film “Rapid Eye Movements” during one summer in Providence. I was also lucky to have a knowledgeable professor my final year of RISD, who introduced me to contemporary techniques and directions in animation. For example rotoscoping and backlit animation.

JPM: Did you always plan to move to California after school? Is that necessary to participate in film work?

KK: I didn’t, but soon learned that at the time, it was the best option for finding work.

JPM: So eventually you came to the attention of Peter Kuran at VCE (Visual Concepts Engineering). Did you send them a reel, or something like that?

KK: No, it was a more circuitous path. I sent resumes to every place I could think of when I first moved to LA. Everyone I met was extremely kind and helpful and I had a few interviews, but they didn’t seem to lead anywhere. In the meantime, I took freelance jobs.

Months later I got a call from Peter Kuran, who had been calling around looking for someone to work on a project he had. One of the people he called happened to still have my resume on hand and gave him my number, However, in that meantime, I had moved – at least twice, which meant new phone numbers. Fortunately, people were kind enough to forward my new number on to the next person, and the next, and so on, until he reached me.

JPM: Peter had been an ILM employee, and he started VCE as a visual effects company after "The Empire Strikes Back". At the time, VCE had not yet done a motion control shot, and that's where you came in...

KK: Yes, as an animator on the opening sequence.

JPM: At this point, Katherine, and again, for the benefit of Sci-fi fans everywhere, I'll name-drop just some of the effects superstars who were working on the same film: you had, of course, John Carpenter as director; Rob Bottin on physical effects; Mike Ploog on storyboards, and Jim Danforth on matte painting. That's some list!

KK: It certainly is!

JPM: Anyway, VCE's assignment was to design and create "The Thing"s opening shots. Your production designer was John Lloyd, and Susan Taylor was the model maker who built the alien craft, which was about two feet in diameter and made of plastic and brass.

KK: Yes.

JPM: Your specific job (finally!) was to lay out the trajectory and the animation of the alien craft.

KK: That’s right.

JPM: I guess what I want to know is, how much interaction did you have with the VCE team? Did you work there, on premises, or in your own studio? Did you get to see any storyboards, or the model of the craft itself? Did you see Jim Danforth's matte painting of the Earth?

KK: I just worked with Peter and I worked partly on the VCE premises and partly at home. I work better without distractions. I didn’t see any storyboards. I did see the model of the spacecraft at Apogee, and I saw Jim Danforth’s painting, but much later. Months later.

JPM: The actual motion control was done by John Dykstra's Apogee, so your work would have gone to them...

KK: Yes. I did pencil animation of the spacecraft’s trajectory, speed, motion, scale, and flashing lights that they used as a guide for the stop motion artists to follow with the model.

JPM: It must have been many months before the film was finished. Did you get an advance screening, or see it in the theater? Or not at all?

KK: I did not get to see an advance screening. I have seen the opening sequence.

JPM: Were you pleased with your shot?

KK: I was!

JPM: (Katherine, I'll admit that I tried reading the original story, 'Who Goes There?', but I didn't get all the way through it (unpleasant!). I guess the shape-shifting idea is there, but as much as was made of it in the film, I'm not sure!).

I'm going to guess here, Katherine, that possibly more of the film work you've done also came through Peter Kuran and VCE: for instance, "Willow" (1988), for which your credit is 'lip synch animation'.

KK: I worked with Peter Kuran on The Wrath of Khan, Conan the Barbarian, Dragonslayer, and some test shots for Return of the Jedi, then worked with Praxis to do The Day After. After that I started Available Light with John Van Vliet. It was Available Light that did the lip sync animation for Willow.

JPM: 'Lip synch animation' is the skill of an animator making a character's mouth move in time with the words they are saying...

KK: Yes.

JPM: Would you like to say, just for example, one character in the film you might have done that for?

KK: We did all of the talking animals in Willow. There was a team of us doing this work. I decided on the number of cel layers and colors and textures – the look. Mike Lessa – a very talented animator, did the work of listening to the soundtrack and animating the mouths. Byron Werner, an amazing artist and skillful in ink and paint, along with several ink and paint artists painted the cels.

Then I drew in texture and detail on each one. There were several layers of animation cels for every frame to get the realistic color and texture. Joseph Thomas expertly photographed and mapped the motion control of the animation on our down shooter.

JPM: "Willow" was done in 1988, which is still quite a way from that pivotal year of 2003, when painting took over full time for you.

KK: Yes.

JPM: Katherine, did you feel as if you were putting a volume of your life story on the shelf and behind you at that point...with a whole new volume opening up ahead of you...or was it a more gradual transition?

KK: It was a gradual process, helped along by the emergence of digital and computerized animation. I realized early on that I prefer working “hands on” physical materials, like paint, paper, and canvas. Also I’m happier pursuing my own vision.

JPM: Would you like to discuss your life and work as a painter in more detail at another time?

KK: Sure!

That concludes Part One of our conversation.

Many thanks to Katherine, whose work can be found at

www.katherinekeanfineart.com

JAMES P. MC CABE

has been a graphic artist,

an art director and a

computer graphics designer.

He is the owner of the

Two Leaf Gallery website, and

can be reached at jmcgrfx@gmail.com