IVAR RØDNINGEN - HTML version
Ivar Rødningen finished his graphic design education in 1978, and immediately went
to work in a slightly different line of work, as a freelancer in illustration.
Since his main interest was in three-dimensional work, he took up a collaboration with
the first of several photographers (the most important being Erik Fuglseth) to produce
photographic images out of his hand-sculpted efforts.
Following an immediate success with Norwegian advertising agencies, he broadened
his activity by taking commissions from all manner of other clients.
These would include newspapers, film producers, television companies, and even
individual karikaturs and portraits for birthday present.
In the early nineties, Ivar turned to animation. He was a working partner and co-owner
of the Oslo-based animation company "Studio Magica" for almost a decade, Here he
wrote, designed and directed the short subject, puppet animation "Sausage"(1999),
besides putting in his abilities in a number of television commercials, and sometimes
straying into other areas, like making special effects dolls for movies.
His real speciality however, has always been an ability to make convincing and lifelike
personalities out of sometimes grotesquely caricatured humans and other creatures.
Ivar has spent the last few years as a character designer and digital animator on a full
length animated feature, "Free Jimmy".
Over the years, he has won a number of national and international prizes.
He lives and works in Oslo, Norway.
Ivars` notes on sculpting materials and techniques:
Most of my early work was done with plasticine (faces, hands, shoes, skin and other
living surfaces in all shapes and forms), but over the last decade or so, I have very
much enjoyed working with polymer clays.
The most readily awailable of these in Norway has been FIMO SOFT, which I find to be
pretty ideal for many of my projects.
Larger pieces, though, sometimes demand other solutions, and in many such cases I
like working with DAS.
Textile-work I have always done myself, -the only exception being knitting, which I
never bothered to learn.
Other materials include all the usual stuff, such as metal wire, polystyrene, cardboards,
foamboards, wood, latex, sometimes silicon, and so forth.
I never much liked working with traditional plastics, however I haven`t shied away
from it when absolutely forced to, especially in the early days.
-I sometimes wonder if my present forgetfulness may have something to do with the
exposure to such stinking, and headache-provoking substances for long hours, and
for weeks and weeks, during my first few years in this business....
In the majority of of these projects I have hardly done any digital work at all, but I
expect to be doing a lot more in the future
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