2015 Oscar Nominees Announced

Click here for the official list. I'll do a follow-up post soon with my predictions, but I'll call Star Wars as the VFX winner right now, with Mad Max a close runner-up. Hopefully I can beat last year's score of 19/24.

BEST PICTURE

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight

BEST ACTOR

• Bryan Cranston, Trumbo
• Matt Damon, The Martian
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

BEST ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett, Carol
• Brie Larson, Room
• Jennifer Lawrence, Joy
• Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years
• Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Christian Bale, The Big Short
• Tom Hardy, The Revenant
• Mark Ruffalo, Spotlight
• Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
• Sylvester Stallone, Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight
• Rooney Mara, Carol
• Rachel McAdams, Spotlight
• Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl
• Kate Winslet, Steve Jobs

DIRECTING

• Adam McKay - The Big Short
• George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu - The Revenant
• Lenny Abrahamson - Room
• Tom McCarthy - Spotlight

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• Anomalisa
• Boy and the World
• Inside Out
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• When Marnie Was There

COSTUME DESIGN

• Carol
• Cinderella
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• Amy
• Cartel Land
• The Look of Silence
• What Happened, Miss Simone?
• Winter on Fire

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

• Body Team
• Chau, Beyond the Lines
• Claude Lanzmann
• A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
• Last Day of Freedom

MAKEUP AND HAIR STYLING

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
• The Revenant

ORIGINAL SONG

• "Earned It" - Fifty Shades of Grey
• "Manta Ray" - Racing Extinction
• "Simple Song #3" - Youth
• "Til It Happens to You" - The Hunting Ground
• "Writing's on the Wall" - Spectre

ANIMATED SHORT

• Bear Story
• Prologue
• Sanjay's Super Team
• We Can't Live Without Cosmos
• World of Tomorrow

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)

• Ave Maria
• Day One
• Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
• Shok
• Stutterer

• 
  

SOUND MIXING

• Bridge of Spies
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• The Martian
• The Revenant

SOUND EDITING

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Sicario
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens
• The Martian
• The Revenant

FILM EDITING

• The Big Short
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Spotlight
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Embrace of the Serpent
• Mustang
• Son of Saul
• Theeb
• A War

ORIGINAL SCORE

• Bridge of Spies
• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Sicario
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Bridge of Spies
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant

VISUAL EFFECTS

• Ex Machina
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• The Martian
• Room

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• Inside Out
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Sicario

RIP Alan Rickman

This brilliant actor brought so many classic moments to cinema over the years, it's hard to pick the best. Here's a drawing I did of him five years ago for my 300 heads sketchbook:

Alan Rickman, 1946-2016

Sketch of Max Von Sydow as Lor San Tekka

So some years it's easy to think of what you want to pursue more as a resolution. For me, this New Year's resolution was a resounding: DRAW MORE! 2015 was the dryest year yet for time spent away from the drawing pad, with attention spent more on photo manipulation and touching up family pictures (you parents of young kids out there know where I'm coming from). However, the neglect ends now. The first piece I drew this year ended up being taken from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, whose art books were a joy to flip through over the break. There will most definitely be more subjects taken from that universe as I work on getting my draftsmanship skills back up to snuff.

Actor Max Von Sydow as Lor San Tekka. Graphite on paper. 2016

Also, I read an art book over the weekend called Sketchbook for the Artist, that I highly recommend. It was the perfect refresher of illustration principles to keep aware of, no matter how many years you've been drawing.

"Legend of the Last Lava Pup" commercial

The video for the new Clash of Clans commercial is now online, and is already up to 15 million views in less than a week. I helped previs the animated portions. For a small writeup on the project, click here.