bio:: Colin Reed Miller
San Francisco California 94110
cell: 415.519-1440
colin@colinreedmiller.com
Colin Reed Miller:
BIOGRAPHY
As an artist, Mr. Miller began his career early, even before he entered kindergarten. He created unauthorized permanent defacements to his living space, which soon became chalk frescoes (his mother painted the bedroom walls with chalkboard paint to encourage his already expansive vision). He produced his first graphic novel "Bert & Gert" (about a bird and snake who live together) in the 3rd grade. He went on to feature cartoons in his elementary school newspaper at 8 years old, and continued by art directing numerous publications (yearbook, cookbooks, literary magazines) at his high school. He became infamous for his caricatures of entire classes of students. By college, his comics were featured in several campus newspapers, were available commercially through publishers (Eclipse, In-Frequency, and Moebius), and were appearing in countless 'zines.
Mr. Miller has since gone on to become a very successful commercial artist. He specializes in the areas of visual effects and animation for film, video, and web.
He lives in San Francisco in a lovely foggy home with his Dogs and massive collection of Surfboards where he records Music makes Fine Art and freelances film effects and animation Work.
He is currently establishing the 3D film production boutique Special / Awesome Specialawesome.com
Commercial Art:
• He has used 3D stereoscopic imaging techniques since working in the SGI media lab and as Virtual Reality Director at SGI/Cosmo software and Oz Interactive. He was a Senior 3D VFX compositor for the world's first stereoscopic stop-motion feature film "Coraline" where he was responsible for entire sequences. He was Visual Effects Supervisor and Stereoscopic Consultant for Europe's first stereoscopic stop-motion film "O Apostolo" and was a Visual Effects Supervisor on "The Green Hornet". He has also lent his stereoscopic imaging skills to Effect Design in San Rafael CA. as Director for a film for The Disney Family Museum, and to SwissRig/IFX/Imartis for a live stereoscopic presentation for NAB.
• He has appeared to speak regarding his innovative techniques on numerous panels at Siggraph, Mac World, The San Francisco Multimedia Expo, and with Dr. Timothy Leary at Digital Hollywood.
• He has directed enormous multi-screen video art for the Reuters video wall in Times Square (YOU+HP) via Goodby/Silverstien, and cubist treatments of priceless popular music artifacts for the video wall in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
• He has been a key designer for countless commercial spots for A-list clients including: Coca-Cola, Ford, Turner Networks, and Apple computer. His original commercial artwork for Coca-Cola and Schlumberger has appeared on the covers of "Post" and "Animation" magazines.
• He has directed commercials for: Nissan, PBS, Apollo Ale, and Turner Networks, as well as music videos for international acts including: Kali, Digital Underground, Philbryte, and Scott Hardkiss.
• He has been a Visual Effects Supervisor and Visual Effects Artist for many films including:
"O Apostolo", "The Green Hornet", "Coraline", "James and the Giant Peach", "Idlewild", "Across the Universe", and "Cats and Dogs".
• He made an enormous contribution to MTV's "Liquid Television" as director, designer, animator, and voice talent for numerous animated shorts for this groundbreaking series. He played a key role in many bumpers and intestitials for the (then) young network, thus aiding in the creation of its unique visual identity, and he worked as the editorial supervisor for the "Aeon Flux" series.
• He has worked for many well known production facilities: Pixar, Colossal Pictures, Mekanism, Polygon Entertainment, Giant Peach Productions, Giant Killer Robots, Radium, and Western Images, and for top advertising agencies including: Goodby-Silverstien & partners, TBWA/Chiat-Day, Pentagram, and Landor & associates clients & employers as well as many others.
• He has worked directly with many great designers including Milton Glaser, Kit Heinrichs, Ian Kovalik, & Drew Takhashi, as well as directors Henry Selick, Peter Chung, Fernando Cortizo, and Carl Willat.
Awards:
• Cartoon Network "El Kabong" (animator - artist - composite artist) Gold Promax Award - Interstitial Promotainment 1999 Bronze Broadcast Design Award - Short Subject 1999
• Mainstay Mutual Funds "Up...Down...Up" (technical director) Clio Bronze 1998
• Hersey's Kisses "Drag Racing" (effects animator - post production supervisor) Anicomm Award 1998
• Coca Cola - "Setting Sun" (technical director - post production supervisor) Clio Certificate 1996
• Coca Cola - "Watch" (storyboard artist - character designer) Clio Silver 1995
Music:
He is Geomagnetic Records recording artist KALI - KALI on Geomagntic - His podcast receives more than 3000 downloads a month.
As a classically trained musician he learned to read music at the age of 8. He was playing in jazz combos doing be-bop and standards by the age of 13, professionally at 17.
He attended the Royal College of Music in London where he studied with Jakob Lindberg, and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel Switzerland, where he studied with Hopkinson Smith and Eugen Dombois, and he also studied jazz extensively with Rick Messina. He is an expert in Baroque music and has recorded the suites for lute in C minor and E major by J. S. Bach, and major pieces by Francisco Tarrega and Matteo Carcassi. He has given solo recitals in London, France, and Switzerland and he has played live on the radio in California and France.
He has recorded original music in many styles from dub to hip hop to electronica to progressive blues rock as well as his own unique creation "Swamp Sound System" a blend of blues dub and electronics with a cinematic americana flavor. swampsoundsystem.com
He has played all over the United States with many groups including: Sharkbait, Alter Ego, and President Breakfast.
Travel:
He has lived in entire life in his native northern California, with the exception of stints of up to a year in such far flung locales as Spain, London, Portugal, Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, where he has worked, studied, and developed his Surf Dog series of children's books.
Surf:
Since winning his first surfing contest at the age of 14, he has traveled to Hawaii, Mexico, Fiji, Tahiti, and Costa Rica to explore, meet new people and try new languages (he is a gifted dabbler in: German, Spanish, and Bahasa Indonesia/Malaysia - and has tried his hand at Fijiian, Balinese, and Korean). The primary focus of this traveling is to challenge the heaviest waves in the world including: Pipeline, Sunset Beach, Makaha, Garajagan, Padang Padang, and Frigates Passage. He makes his home in San Francisco where he challenges the enormous surf of the world famous Ocean Beach every winter, with occasional sessions at Mavericks when there aren't too many photographers and jet-skis to enjoy it.
Fine Art:
Known by his corporate pseudonym KALI - he is an internationally exhibited award winning artist. His current fine art explores consumerism inspired somewhat by his extensive experience with commercial art. This is his current passion and he has created over 50 new pieces this year alone including limited edition print/package design's of 100. Seminal works include the infamous Mummies as well as their accompanying canopic jars, x-rays, how-to's and supporting theoretical materials. To see this exciting new artwork online, and for a schedule of shows where it can be viewed in person, please visit: kaliartifacts.com