I rarely drink red wine, and when I do it is normally mulled. This means I set the barometer very high. However, I liked Kumala Cabernet Shiraz. It has a lingering aftertaste of chocolate. If that doesn’t win me over, nothing will.
It is a very beautiful bright red colour, with ripe tannins and a fruity flavour. I like its smoothness and it also has some spicy notes. I can also taste red berry and a hint of nuttiness.
The wine will make a perfect partner to fillet steaks, lamb chops and hearty stews. RRP£6.79
Nathan Love Delivers “A Very Digital Xmas” Animation and Illustrations for Esquire Magazine and Director/Contributing Editor Barry Sonnenfeld
NEW YORK — Award-winning animation studio Nathan Love (www.NathanLove.com) is delighted to share news of its recent contributions to the December issue of Esquire, the leading men’s lifestyle magazine, for its holiday gift guide feature presented by contributing editor and world renowned filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld.
“The guys at Nathan Love took on a project that I thought would be impossible to pull off and turned it into a great experience,” said Darhil Crooks, Esquire’s art director. “Their enthusiasm about every aspect of the ‘Xmas with Barry’ showed through in the final product. They were able to take something that Esquire has been doing for years to another level.”
“2010 has been a breakthrough year for our studio, and this project is another example of our expansion across all media,” began Joe Burrascano, Nathan Love’s executive creative director. “After starting out four years ago as a pure 3D character animation studio, we’ve now grown into a true, full-service production company. More and more agencies and brands are coming to us to handle high-profile projects that include live-action, animation, and/or VFX, and our audio division has been booked all year.”
“Producing this holiday animation for Esquire allowed us to explore more of the world of traditional 2D animation and illustration for print,” added Mike Harry, Nathan Love’s executive producer. “Collaborating with Esquire’s art director Darhil Crooks was a great experience, and working with filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld was both an honor and a lot of fun. We hope our enthusiasm comes through in the feature, and invite everyone to please stay tuned-in as our adventures continue.”
For this project, Burrascano served as creative director, working alongside Mike Harry, animation director Robin Steele, designers Sigmund Lambrento and Jessica Namnum, animator Stieg Retlin and music composer and sound designer Drew Skinner. The challenges presented by Crooks and Sonnenfeld called for Nathan Love’s crew to deliver a full-page print layout introducing the feature story, as well as three more partial-page layouts, miscellaneous illustrated images of the famous director and his dog Lucky, numerous props and items related to the story’s content, and a :70 animated film showing Sonnenfeld and Lucky putting the featured holiday gifts to use.
The film was also finished and optimized for mobile delivery, to take full advantage of Esquire’s international cross-platform distribution, which includes print, online and mobile editions, as well as its new iPad App launched in October.
“This was our first time working with Robin Steele,” Harry explained, “and his experience working as a Disney animator taught us all a lot about traditional animation. Robin and Joe both have a great sense of comedic timing, and they had a great time collaborating together. They set up the gags to unfold in one, static scene, and let the madness ensue.”
Key artistic tools for the artists at Nathan Love included original illustrations and Adobe Creative Suite, and for the animated content, Adobe After Effects.
Please visit www.esquire.com to check out “A Very Digital Xmas” and the December issue of Esquire.
About Nathan Love
Break out the crayons and beer, because Nathan Love is ready to play! This world-class animation studio is known for creating memorable characters, detailed worlds and engaging narratives, making it a party and inviting your whole crew. Driven by a passion for storytelling, their creative, technical and production capabilities are constantly evolving. Equally at home creating sensational 2D and 3D animation, the studio’s talents span all aspects of project creation and production. They are creators of commercial campaigns, original films, super-fun web content, video game projects, merchandise and more. Besides their extraordinary craftsmanship Nathan Love is also fun and inviting to work with, enjoying daily collaborations with leading creatives, live-action and CGI directors, sound designers, composers, web developers and other artists. So next time you’re dreaming-up a project, drop your briefcase and join the fun at www.NathanLove.com.
About Esquire
Esquire (www.esquire.com), published by Hearst Magazines, was the winner of the 2010 National Magazine Award for “Profile Writing.” It is the most-honored monthly magazine in America with a total of 14 awards over the past 13 years. In addition to its U.S. flagship, Esquire publishes 22 editions around the world.
