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Martin Kline
Senior Lecturer
Teaches In
Digital Media
Foundation
Education: 
  • Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, Evening Studies, Continuing Education
  • Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA, BFA, Fine Arts, 1971
  • Columbia University, New York City, NY, MS, Materials Science, 1969
  • Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA, BS, Metallurgy and Materials Science, 1967
Bio/Affiliation: 

Martin A. Kline has been many things in the entertainment industry including Senior Visual Effects Art Director for Sony Pictures Imageworks from 1995 to 2008 where he supervised the art of effects on such pictures as Anaconda, The Ghost and the Darkness, Phenomenon, Michael, Contact, Stuart Little, Spider-Man, Polar Express and Beowulf. Marty has worked for many years as a feature film production illustrator with special effects units and with principle production and as a first unit art director on Jurassic Park, where he was responsible for all of the jungle scenes shot on stage, planning the jungle layout and the turnaround from set to set. The stage work included the Explorer crashing down through the tree, the tree where Grant and the kids sleep and feed the Brachiosaurus, Nedry getting killed by the Dilophosaurus, and Muldoon stalking and getting killed by a Velociraptor. And on Forrest Gump where he recreated a part of the University of Alabama for George Wallace’s stand in the doorway. Other recent credits include set and prop illustration and storyboards for The Flintstones, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Broken Arrow, and Multiplicity among others. He has worked in video game Art Direction for THQ Games and worked for Microsoft creating user interface design for early iterations of Microsoft Surface.

Born and bred in Brooklyn, NY, he received his early education courtesy of metropolitan Oz. After earning a BS in Metallurgy and Materials Science (i.e., Alchemy) from Carnegie Tech and an MS in the same from Columbia University, Marty left the Sciences to examine the Arts. While studying at Otis Art Institute, in Los Angeles, he was awarded a Ford Foundation Fellowship for the study of Fine Art Lithography at Tamarind Institute, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Eventually joining Walt Disney's theme park design group, WED Enterprises, he began as a show model builder and eventually rose to show designer, participating in EPCOT design and Fantasyland redevelopment. His interest in science fiction led him to work in motion picture special effects and he joined Apogee to work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Dune and Firefox, among others.

Moving into broader disciplines of film design, he has been privileged to work on many varied and stimulating projects, including Harry and the  Hendersons, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and Back to the Future, Parts II and III, learning from some of the most talented and creative people in the business. He has continued his efforts in theme park design, creating projects in Tokyo and Kobe, Japan and art directing CONGO the CD ROM Adventure.  Marty is a member of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors and the Illustrators and Matte Artists union, where he has the privilege of serving as vice-president. He is a charter member of the Visual Effects Society and has served on its board of governors. 

In Sept of 2000, Marty was invited to participate in a seminar on Creativity for the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC, sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution. He continues to teach storyboarding at the DGA in LA and at the DGC in Toronto, as well as at Otis College, LA, and The American Film Institute, LA. Most recently, he was given the 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illustrators branch of the Art Directors Guild.

Awards/Honors: 
  • Lifetime Achievement Award, Illustrators and Matte Artists, Art Directors Guild, 2018
  • Ford Foundation Fellowship for the Study of Fine Art Lithography, 1971


 

Professional Accomplishments/Exhibitions:  
  • Illustrators and Matte Artists, Member since 1977, Vice President from 1988 to the merger with the ADG 2008
  • Art Directors Guild, Member since 1992, Trustee since 2017
  • Visual Effects Society, Board of Directors, 1997, 1998, Member since 1997
  • Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, Director of Academic Affairs, 2017-2020   
  • American Film Institute, Los Angeles, CA, Seminars, Storyboards for Pre-Production, 2002
  • Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Lemulsen Center, Lecture, The Playful Mind, 2000
  • Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles; DGC, Toronto, Storyboarding for Directors, a Seminar, 1994
Publications:  

https://www.awn.com/vfxworld/concept-art-and-vfx-managed-collaboration

Perspective Magazine, The Journal of the Art Directors Guild, March-April 2018, Skill Building for the New Art Department,  Marty Kline, Member of the Art Directors Guild

Stuart Little, The Art, The Artists, and the Story Behind the Amazing Movie, 2000, Edited by Linda Sunshine, Marty Kline on Matte Painting, pp. 84-85, and numerous credited artworks from the development.

Clients/Employment History:  

Senior Lecturer at Otis College of Art and Design and Laguna College of Art and Design

Consultant Designer for various projects including the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 HBO Emmy Awards Parties, Game of Thrones Premiere Party,
Adobe Max, Aperol, SKYY Vodka, DARPA, Devil’s Third, Here’s Boston.

Director of Academic Affairs, Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art

  • Educational program development in fine art and entertainment art for our three-year BFA degree and mentor and advisor to the student body.


Consultant Art Director, Video Games and Special Projects

  • Game art direction and art process development at studios including Valhalla, Crytek and Pipeworks
  • Special projects for DARPA and NBC’s Parenthood and About A Boy
     

THQ, Executive Art Director 2010-2012

  • THQ mandate to improve art processes at the studios. Refine their artistic development process to get the optimum result from the group.
  • Create an atmosphere of increased variations, iterations and critical reviews that would give the best choice of final direction. Encourage the exploration of options and all their consequences. Help them find a strong creative path without too many changes of direction. 
  • Involved in Homefront at KAOS, RedFaction: Armageddon and inSane at Volition, Darksiders and Darksiders 2 at Vigil, UFC Trainer at HeavyIron, MXvsATV at Rainbow, Space Marine at Relic, Metro 2033 and Metro Last Light at 4A, Avengers and Avengers Training Academy at Studio OZ and Bluetongue, Evolve at TurtleRock and Devil's Third at Valhalla.
  • Online experience includes participation in the development of interactive games Margaritaville and WWE Superstar. Reviewing and directing development of environment art, lighting, cinematic storyboard production, and character design.
     

Microsoft Surface, Creative Director, User Experience Team, Redmond, WA, 2008

  • Brought a sense of cinematic energy and story to the multi-touch experience, Microsoft Surface, the first commercially-available surface computing platform.
  • Played key role in creating visual language for this new user interface.
  • Created designs for the tools and interface elements that would engage the users and encourage them to explore a new and unique interaction and to facilitate learning new interaction behaviors.
  • Patents pending for key design elements of the Surface UI. Worked with Art Director to supervise the design and production of all assets required to ship the platform and application releases.
     

Sony Pictures Imageworks, Senior Visual Effects Art Director, Los Angeles, CA, 1995 - 2007

  • As Managing Art Director from 1995 to 2007, built an effects art department that designed and planned visual effects , matte paintings, props and sets on such pictures as Beowulf, The Polar Express, Spider Man I and II, Stuart Little, Contact, Men In Black II, Anaconda, The Haunted Mansion
  • Streamlined the organization and optimization of characters, costumes and props, so that Beowulf could use the same models and costumes across multiple characters. Optimized texture files and associated reference imagery for the creation of authentic period props and sets.
  • Translated production art concepts into achievable 3D CG graphic imagery for the steam engine and the North Pole interiors in The Polar Express. 
  • Created a research department that grew into a complete facility for visual and factual research, texture, capture of people and props, and for the creation of 3D environments.
  • Managed training and career development for illustrators, visual effects art directors and matte painters in the art department.
  • Designed graphics for IPAX, Imageworks’ educational outreach program for computer graphics students at colleges and universities around the world.
     

Motion Picture Art Direction and Illustration 1977-2021

  • As a production illustrator, and most recently, as part of the storyboard team for Terminator: Salvation, the 4th installment of the franchise, was responsible for visual breakdown of script and the coordination between story continuity, visual effects and production art direction. 
  • Major credits include: The Flintstones, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Batman Returns, Back to the Future, Parts II and III, Batman Forever, Jurassic Park, Harry and the Hendersons and Forrest Gump.
  • As a first unit art director on Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump, supervised the planning, construction and preparation of sets on stage and on location.


Visual Effects Illustrator and Art Director 1977- 2008

  • Joined Apogee (the company formed by the original Star Wars VFX team) in 1977 to work on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Dune (in Mexico City), Firefox, Never Say Never Again, Caddyshack, Altered States
     

Theme Park Design 1972-1990

  • Began as a show model builder and rose to show designer at Walt Disney's theme park design group, WED Enterprises, participating in EPCOT design and Fantasyland redevelopment. Supervised show installations in Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
  • Independent projects included working in Tokyo on Fantastic Puroland, a theme park design project for San Rio, Brazil 
  • Created a design development program introducing Japanese designers to American theme park methodology.