Madeline Gangnes

You may have thought we couldn't possibly pack anything else into the event- but you'd be wrong!

Madeline Gangnes is an American student (originally from Hawaii but also from the Seattle area and Chicago) on Dundee University's Comics Studies MLitt course who studies the critical analysis of comics rather than comics creation.

Madeline will be giving a talk titled "Active and Audible: Translating and Adapting Visual Techniques from Manga to Anime in Katsuhiro Ōtomo’s AKIRA", where she'll be discussing the visual techniques Ōtomo uses to convey motion, action, and sound in the manga version of AKIRA and how those aspects of the piece are treated in the anime adaptation.

Sounds pretty awesome!

Professor Kenny Mitchell and Malgorzata 'Maggie' Kosek of Disney Research

We just confirmed a couple more guest speakers for the day :)

Giving a talk on "Concept Art in High Tech Production", Malgorzata 'Maggie' Kosek and Professor Kenny Mitchell of Disney Research.

"In this talk we cover the role of concept art in technological productions.

Many inspirational artworks created by artists using traditional tools (for example Ralph McQuarrie's legacy) have been instrumental in the process of communicating a shared vision of a ground breaking movie, technology or way of looking at the world.

Creating concepts on paper or matte painting with oil on glass require years of training, a dedicated studio, and there is no undo button. Whereas, digital tools make the creation process simple.

We will cover traditional and digital tools for creating concepts and characters, including how 3d concept preparation is increasingly useful today. The numerous interesting connections of Manga and comic art to our recent productions and research prototypes will be highlighted including toys, digital comics and augmented reality games."

DeeCon Team

Luke Dicken

And another games industry talk this time from IGDA Director Luke Dicken!

Luke Dicken is the first Director of the International Game Developers Association from outside of North America. He was the first person in the world to win three of the prestigious IGDA Scholarships. He was featured on the Develop 30 Under 30 list for 2013 and he’s been invited to speak at conferences around the world including the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

But Luke only started working with the games industry four years ago.

In this session he’ll talk about his successes and failures making the switch from a PhD student studying Artificial Intelligence in Glasgow who nobody had ever heard of to an industry insider. Luke will also share tips on how you can get your start, get noticed and break into one of the most exciting industries going.

Bianca Ansems

This year we also have talented freelance artist, animator and director, Bianca Ansems, who will be talking about her art and experiences as a freelancer in the animation and illustration industries.

Bianca is an animation director from the Netherlands, now living in London, UK. She works as a freelance animation director for clients including BBC, House of Fraser, Royal Horticultural 
Society, and the City of London.

Check out her awesome website for her showreel and some of the projects shes worked on.

http://www.biancaansems.com/

Bandursnatch Studios

Bandursnatch Studios who run Glasgow University Cosplay Society and run workshops and tutorials on cosplaying will be giving a presentation on prop building for cosplay and make-up for special effects and crossplay.

https://www.facebook.com/BandursnatchStudios
https://www.facebook.com/groups/163310100478880/

Zoe Burgess

Freelance Writer and Cosplay enthusiast, Zoe Burgess Will be giving a talk on geekdom, fandom, and her experience and views on Cosplay.

Earlier this year, Zoe featured in Channel 4's 'Gok's Secret Styles.'

Here is Zoe's article on wegeekedthis following her time on the show.

http://wegeekedthis.com/a-geek-against-gok-by-zoe-burgess/

You can also check out the episode she appeared on at 4od and her youtube channel.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/goks-style-secrets/4od

http://www.youtube.com/user/LetZoeSpoilYou/videos

Orbit Ever After

2014 BAFTA Nominated short film "Orbit Ever After" Director Jamie Stone, Minitures/SFX Designer David Ross and Production Designer Abigail Joshi will present a screening of the film and talk about it's production.

Check out the trailer here!

Phil Harris

Hello all!

Our Second confirmed guest speaker this year is another games industry vet! Mr Phil Harris will be talking about his time in the games industry and working as a games developer.

Currently Phil is a Games Content Developer at One Thumb Mobile working on MMORPG Celtic Heroes as well as developing his own table top roleplaying game and creating the background history for Pyre Studios board game "Inevitable Betrayal" and in the past has organised and run Compulsion, Scotland's Premier Gamign Convention for 2 very successful years.

http://onethumbmobile.com/celtic-heroes/
http://pyre-studios.com/products/inevitable-betrayal/

Peter Greeves!

Hello DeeConers!

We're proud to announce our first confirmed guest speaker this year will be Mr Peter Greeves!

Peter is an artists for the games studio Ninja Kiwi creators or the Bloons series and lots more. Check out the link at the bottom for Ninja Kiwis addictive free web games.

Before taking the position at Ninja Kiwi Peter has worked at Red Kite Animation, as an animation director at Moxiedia Ltd, an illustrator at MTV ROCKS' Gonzo, and he was an artist at Dynamo Games  as well as working as a freelance illustrator and animator.

Mr Greeves will be talking about Art and Animation in the Games Industry through the perspective of his experience!

http://ninjakiwi.com/
http://www.redkite-animation.com/
http://vimeo.com/37477750