GARY MEYER
PERSONAL Professor
HISTORY Art Center College of Design (BPA with Honors)
Master of the College (The second person in the history of Art
Center to be so named)
Recipient of the First Faculty Award (Elected by the faculty of Art
Center College of Design)
Seventeen Great Teacher Awards (Elected by students of Art
Center College of Design)
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators of
Los Angeles
Birth date:May 13, 1934
CitizenshipUSA
Marital Status Married
Wife Hiroko Ii (Julie)
Military Service USMC, 1952-1955, Sergeant.
Service in Korea
ACADEMIC Major: Illustration
BACKGROUND
Bachelor of Professional Arts, with honors, 1959
Art Center School, now Art Center College of Design
First recipient of the Stan Reckless Scholarship.
TEACHING Art Center College of Design, 1988 to the present
EXPERIENCE Advanced Illustration
Advanced Sketching for Illustration
Perspective
Intro to Head Painting
Head Drawing
Entertainment Design
Visual Communication 3
Visual Communication 5
Communication Sketching
Portraiture
Matte Painting
Architectural Design 1 and 2
Composition and Painting
FURTHER Otis College of Art and Design, Fall 1997-Spring 1999
TEACHING
EXPERIENCE Drawing and Content
Drawing and Painting
Universal Studios Design and Development
Painting from costumed models
Animation Institute of Los Angeles, 1996-1999
Perspective
Head painting
SPECIALIZED Acrylic, gouache, oil painting, epoxy and bronze sculpture.
SKILLS Capable of quick demonstrations of seascape, landscape, underwater scenes, vehicles, figure painting examples in the classroom without reference and in response to student requests.
WORK Gilfillan Electronics, 1960-1961
EXPERIENCE Initially employed as a technical artist and later, as an illustrator,
executed color art of radars in various exotic locations.
North American Aviation, Space and Information Systems Division, 1961-1963
Extensive paintings of Apollo moon missions including a film called “The Apollo Mission” made before the hardware existed.
Awards during this period:
First Place for color illustration from TIMA X (Technical Illustration Management Association, tenth annual exhibition).
Third Place for color Illustration TIMA X
First Place for color Illustration TIMA 11
Graphics West Corporation, 1963-1964
President
Produced artwork for Garrett Corporation, Boeing, Lockheed, Douglas, and Northrop.
Universal Studios, 1965-1968
Motion Picture Production Illustrator for movies, TV and theme park design.
“Thoroughly Modern Millie” (Julie Anderson, Mary Tyler Moore) Designed the color theme for the film and
painted production renderings.
“Colossus: The Forbin Project” (Eric Braden, Susan Clark)
Design of matte shots to be executed by Al Whitlock
“Gambit” (Shirley MacLaine, Michael Caine)
Production paintings
"Winning” (Paul Newman)
Prop paintings and production paintings
“Skullduggery” (Burt Reynolds)
Character design and production paintings.
“Hellfighters” (John Wayne)
Production paintings.
“Ironsides” TV Series (Raymond Burr)
Executed a prop painting of an undiscovered Leonardo Da Vinci painting.
And many more.
Great Southwest Corporation, 1968-1970
Designs of facades and thrill rides for Six Flags Parks.
Recretects, 1970-1972
Vice President
Extensive design and illustration for Universal Studios Tours and other theme parks and wax museums.
FREELANCE Gary Meyer Illustration and Gary Meyer, Inc.
CAREER 1960-1997 (Freelance from 1960 is concurrent with regular employment).
Illustration
During this period paintings were produced for a diverse group of clients including motion picture production art and movie ad art for Universal, Paramount, Columbia, Warner Bros., Disney, MGM, Twentieth Century Fox, New World Studios and other studios. Album cover art for CBS Records, Electra Asylum and A&M Records. Other clients were Levis, Apple Computer, Hughes Helicopters, Garrett Corporation, Lockheed, New West Magazine, Readers Digest, Random House Books, Warner books, Victor Books and others.
Entertainment Design Consultation
“Star Trek, The Motion Picture” Working with Doug Trumbull. Conceived many different configurations for the cloud surrounding VGER.
“2010” Supplemental design of some technical areas in the ward room and in the pod bay of the space craft Leonev. Production Designer, Al Brenner.
“The Thing” Various Character design explorations with the Director, John Carpenter and Production Designer John Lloyd.
“Supertrain” TV series. Design of the train with various renderings of the vehicle in different environments. The interiors were designed by another Art Center Alumnus, Jim Teagarden. Production Design by Ned Parsons.
“Star Wars” Continuity art for the opening scene and some of the scenes in the Death Star trench at the end of the film.
Wax Museum Shinjuku district in Tokyo, Japan. Design of sets. Sculpted fifteen heads of Japanese and European personalities on location in Tokyo.
“Seafari” Motion based ride. Original design of 1930’s interior of vehicle (later modernized). Visualization of various scenes.
Wakayama Project Visual development of various shows and rides. Design and visualization of themed auditorium.
Jurassic Park Ride Early conceptualization and visual development of the project in consultation with Steven Spielberg. Conceived prior to the production of the motion picture.
“Day of the Locust” Designed and supervised construction of some of the sets while working with director, John Schlessinger and Production Designer, John Lloyd. Visual development and design of mattes. Final mattes by Al Whitlock.
“At Long Last Love” Continuity paintings and visualizations of sets and environments.
Other Projects Universal Studios Tour, MGM Theme Park, ESPN Sports Center and more.
HONORS AND
AWARDS Master of the College. Art Center College of Design
First Faculty Award. Elected by the faculty of Art Center .
College of Design. The award included a $5,000.00 gift from the Reese Foundation.
Seventeen Great Teacher Awards. Elected by the graduating students at Art Center College of Design. The last twelve times consecutively.
Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of illustrators of Los Angeles.
Best of Show in Illustration West 22
Gold Medal, Best of Category, Illustration West 19
Gold Medal, Best of Category, Illustration West 22
Gold Medal, Best of Category, Illustration West 24
First Prize, Twelfth Annual Key Arts Awards (Movie poster competition).
Silver Medal, Illustration West 28
Award of Excellence, CA Magazine, CA-80
Award of Excellence, CA Magazine, CA-85 (one of two)
Award of Excellence, CA Magazine, CA-85
Special Judges Award, Illustration West 21 (one of two)
Special Judges Award, Illustration West 21
Special Judges Award, Illustration West 22
Special Judges Award, Illustration West 24
First Place, International Society of Airbrush Arts, 1985
Founder’s Award American Society of Aviation Artists.
Art Castings of Colorado Award, North American Sculpture Exhibition, 1981.
Beyond Bronze Award, North American Sculpture Exhibition 1983.
First Place, Experimental Aircraft Association Art Contest, 1990
Director’s and Juror’s Award, 62nd Annual Salon , Springville Museum.
First Place, TIMA 10, color illustration.
Third Place, TIMA 10, color illustration.
First Place, TIMA 11, color illustration.
And more than 100 Certificates of Distinction and Certificates of
Merit.
PARTICIPATION IN
EXHIBITIONS JURIES
Illustration West 33
Ohio Forum of the American Society of aviation Artists.
ASAA 2008, International Aerospace Art Exhibition
(American Society of Aviation Artists).
LECTURES
Addressed the students of East Tennessee State University as part of the “Five Illustrators” exhibition and lecture on illustration.
Addressed the students of Tennessee State University.
Long Beach State University, address on illustration as a career.
Otis Art Institute, on the business aspects of illustration.
Otis College of Art and Design, on the profession of
illustration.
Brandes Art Institute, lecture and demonstration.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, lecture to high school art teachers on teaching perspective.
UCLA, lecture on motion picture production illustration to a class on production design taught by Ward Preston (Production designer of “Purple Rain and “Airplane”).
Associates in Art, lecture and demonstration.
University of Hartford, lecture to masters students on illustration, 2007.
SERVING ON PANELS
American Society of Aviation Artists Forum in Scottsdale. Moderator of a panel discussion on promotion, sales and portfolios of aviation art.
American society of Aviation Artists Forum in Colorado Springs, included in a panel about artist’s studios.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO
BOOKS AND MAGAZINES
Painting featured in the book “Aviation, a History Through
Art”
Multiple paintings in the book “Outstanding American
Illustrators Today,” Volume one.
Multiple paintings in the book ”Outstanding American
Illustrators Today,” Volume two.
Painting and mention in the text of the book, “What an Art
Director Does,” a book on motion picture production
design.
Article entitled “Superb, Outstanding and Excellent” for
“Design Net” a Korean language design magazine.
Painting in “Foundation” a publication of Naval Aviation
Foundation.
“Storyboards, Drawing Movies” a book co-authored with
Ward Preston. Sylman James Press. Publication
pending.
UNITED STATES
AIR FORCE ART
PROGRAM
Nine combat missions in Viet Nam as a civilian Artist for the Air Force, 1968. Paintings in various government facilities.
Featured in Articles
“The Force is With Gary Meyer”. By Ann Cooper in “Aviation
Illustrated”.
“Gary Meyer”, article with multiple illustrations in “Design Net”.
“The Latest Vehicle is Supertrain” by Vernon Scott in the “Daily
Breeze”.
“Gary Meyer, Illustrator Extraordinaire” in Graphic Arts
Network’s profiles of prominent artists.
“Who’s Who in the World” 1987/1988
EXHIBITIONS “Five Illustrators”, Exhibition and lecture at East Tennessee State
University featuring Anita Kunz, Ken Westphal, Margaret Cusack, Robert Berger and
Gary Meyer. Eight paintings.
Paintings and sculptures exhibited in the following shows:
North American Sculpture Exhibition, two bronze and one
epoxy sculpture, 1981.
North American Sculpture Exhibition, one bronze
sculpture, 1983.
Carnegie Art Museum, 1994, one painting.
Illustration West, 1994, one painting
Illustration West 19, one painting
Illustration West 22, five paintings
Illustration West 23, eight paintings
Illustration West 24, two paintings
Illustration West 28, one painting
Illustration West 29, two paintings
Illustration West 30, one painting
Illustrators 22, two paintings (NY Society of illustrators)
Illustrators 24, one painting
Illustrators 26, one painting
Illustrators 27, one painting
Drawn to Expression, Williamson Gallery, Art Center
College of Design, three paintings.
