FilmSketchr Lab

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Last Sunday, The Mad Lab Post presented me with the Versatile Blogger award!
As per the rules for Versatile Blogger award recipients, here are 15 blogs (in no particular order) that I nominate for this same badge, as well as seven of my favorite concept art pieces. It's supposed to be seven interesting things about me, but I'm mixing it up.


Battleship by George Hull

Star Trek by Ralph McQuarrie

Transformers by Tim Flattery

Battlestar Galactica by Ralph McQuarrie

Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome by Peter Rubin

Firefly: Redemption

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Congratulations and keep on blogging guys! See you on Wednesday for exclusive concept art from Dinosaurs vs. Aliens.

What do you think of the art? Can you guess which movies they are from?

Monday, May 21, 2012

Josh Nizzi has released concept art for the film Battleship (2012). They feature ships, weapons and the aliens.

Link: Joshnizzi.com

George Hull (Speed Racer, Transformers, The Matrix Reloaded),a lead conceptual artist for the Peter Berg movie Battleship (2012) has shared some concept art with me that were produced in the early stages of film development.

If you've ever wondered what it would be like if aliens came and attacked your Battleship board game, here's your chance.

Official Synopsis:

Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Based on Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancée; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.

Hull told me the following, "I was called by the battleship production in Sept 2009 to start the earliest design phase- creating the initial ideas for the alien warships. The only information I was given described 'that the Humans are fighting Alien warships at sea.' What could that look like?
"But when I started there was nothing, zilch, only the brief and a blank sheet of paper. So I started drawing threatening battle cruisers that were more like alien submarines that could unfold its weapon array in surface mode. I always approach a design with function in mind. So I imagined on my own these warships had to plummet from space into the oceans. Consequently they had to have thrusters for interplanetary travel as well as submarine propulsion.
"I should say I was a hired gun at the starting line, creating the big ideas and shapes to consider from my imagination. But lots of other people worked together to finish the marathon. There was a large art department and films take years to realize, many hands will touch the look of the ships along the way. Only each individual artist and their colleagues know how much they initiated a look versus adapted a look.
"And I'm happy to see some of my work is evident in the big shape vocabulary."
The "Regent" is the name given to the alien invasion force. In an interview with Art of VFX Grady Cofer – VFX Supervisor – ILM said the following about the alien designs.

Production Designer Neil Spisak and Art Director Aaron Haye led a group of illustrators, generating pages and pages of concept art. The alien ships, called Stingers, were inspired by water bugs, which have the ability to stand and maneuver on top of a water surface. It was crucial to the Director that the alien technology feel practical, instead of merely ornamental. And for everything, Pete wanted a sense of age, of history – so when we encounter this alien race, the tools, the armor, and especially the ships feel used and worn.

Back at ILM, we created different silhouettes for each Stinger, varying aspects of their weaponry, defenses, and propulsion. And we customized each ship with its own color and lighting. We noticed how our own Navy ships tend to be simplistic below, along the hull, and more complex on the top surfaces, with clusters of towers and radars and antennae. So for the alien ships we inverted that ratio, simplifying the top surfaces, and then clustering detail — hoses, ports, cargo doors — onto the underside.

Another feature of the ships is their “intelligent surface”. We hypothesized that the alien technology allowed for data and energy to travel along the outer surfaces of their ships. This helped bring the ships to life.

Here are some of his illustrations

"Regent Ship With Mining Rig Deployed" by George Hull

"Hopper Concept Art" by George Hull

"Regent Battle Cruiser" by George Hull

These images show the inspiration for the designs using sharks and crocodiles.

Regent Destroyer

For reference, here are the Regent ships in the film.

George Hull has a brand new website. See more of his inspired work at ghull.com

What do you think of the illustrations? Do you think they could sink your battleship?

Here are some of the artists that worked on the science-fiction film Battleship (2012). As always there are many talented artists involved in the production of a film. These are only some of them according to IMDb and my own research.

Official Synopsis:
Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force. Based on Hasbro’s classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper’s fiancée; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper’s older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper’s crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone’s superior (and Sam’s father), Admiral Shane.

Directed by Peter Berg
Production Design by Neil Spisak

Illustrators

George Hull (Lead Conceptual Artist) - www.ghull.com/
Ben Mauro (concept designer) - http://benmauro.blogspot.com/
David J. Negron Jr. (storyboard artist) - http://www.goliathpictures.com
Eddie Yang (character designer) - http://www.eddieyang.com/
Harald Belker (concept artist) - www.haraldbelker.com
James Carson (concept artist) - http://www.jamescarsondesign.com
Jock (concept artist) - http://www.4twenty.co.uk
Josh Nizzi (senior illustrator) - www.joshnizzi.com
Mauro Borrelli (illustrator) - http://www.mauroborrelli.com/
Steve Jung (Senior Concept Artist) - www.stevejung.net
Tani Kunitake (illustrator)

Storyboard Artists

Richard Bennett (storyboard artist) - www.richardbennettart.com

Official Site: http://www.battleshipmovie.com/

What do you think of the artists? Did you see the movie or plan to?

Avengers: The Art of Marvel's The Avengers has some of the greatest concept art I've had the pleasure of seeing. The book is written by Jason Surrell who was a Disney Imagineer for a long time and did books on Pirates and Haunted Mansion.

With an introduction by Marvel Visual Development department concept artists Ryan Meinerding and Charlie Wen, they start by saying "The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a world whose foundation is based in art, or as we'd like to call it: an illustrator's dream." And it really is. It wasn't easy designing The Avengers. That's the one message that keeps coming up in the book.

There are many quotes from actors, Joss Whedon the director, James Chinlund and concept artists to help you feel what it was like to design such a huge film.

For the film they gave a core team of concept artists a character to focus on. Andy Park (), Phil Saunders and Adi Granov (Iron Man), Charlie Wen (Thor), Ryan Meinderding (Captain America), Rodney Fuentebella, Jacon Johnstson. Production Designer James Chinlund got an amazing group of freelance artists together to round out the team.

The art in the book is beautiful and the glossy oversize pages really let you see an amazing level of detail.

The introduction takes you through the set of movies from Iron Man to Thor and ends with an amazing timeline of the cinematic universe timeline that's three pages long.

The next three chapters take you through the events in the film in three acts: Incident in the Desert, Avengers Assemble and Common Threat.

"Act One: Incident in the Desert" takes you through the sets and designs from the beginning of the film and concept art for Nick Fury, Agent Maria Hill, Loki and Hawkeye.

"Act Two: Avengers Assemble" covers Bruce Banner/Hulk, Black Widow, Steve Rogers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Thor and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s vehicles including the massive Helicarrier. There is also a collection of storyboards

Andy Park's Black Widow "Cat Suit" designs with unused "Widow Stingers" coursing through the costume.

Finally, "Act Three: A Common Threat" starts with designs of Iron Man's new armor and takes you through the design of the evil alien Chitauri. There's even a key frame of the post credit surprise cameo. It ends with an amazing storyboard of the final battle against the aliens by Bryan Andrews and Jim Mitchell

Bryan Andrews "Battle in the Desert" storyboards featuring Iron Man vs. Thor

The final section, "Some Assembly Required" covers various aspects of the marketing from t-shirt designs to versions of the San Diego Comic-Con poster.

One nice feature that I hadn't seen before is a list of all the artists in the book along with the page numbers.

Here's the list of artists credited

Aaron McBride
Adi Granov
Amanda Hunter
Andy Park
Ari Sachter-Zeltzer
Ben Edelberg
Bryan Andrews
Bryan Hitch
Charlie Wen
Christian Alzmann
Christopher Ross
Dave Yee
Fabien Lacey
Iain McCaig
Jack Kirby
Jacon Johnstson
Jeff Markwith
Jim Mitchell
John Giang
Josh Herman
Joe Simon
Justin Sweet
Jackson Sze
Mark Goerner
Michael Meyers
Nathan Schroeder
Nick Cross
Olly Moss
Paul Ozzimo
Phil Saunders
Paolo Rivera
Raj Rihal
Rick Buoen
Rodney Fuentebella
Ryan Meinderding
Steve Jung
Tani Kunitake
Yanick Dusseault

This is a beautiful book and, with it's artist quotes, beautiful layout and insider information, is well worth reading.

4 1/2 of 5 stars

Timeline image via comicbookmovie.com

What do you think of the book? Are you going to look for it?

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Update: Quote from Fabian Lacey
To me, of all the superheroes in The Avengers (2012) probably the trickiest to design was Agent Clint Barton known as "Hawkeye". Not because he's iconic, like Captain America, or intricate, like Thor, but because he's so boring. He's just a guy with a bow and arrow. Still, they managed to make him work thanks to his quiver of trick arrows and Jeremy Renner's arms.

Here's some concept art that takes you inside Hawkeye's quiver and a close look at those arrows he was shooting around including some alternate designs for the virus arrow that disabled S.H.I.E.L.D. and an arrowhead for disabling Iron Man.

The first ones are from Fabian Lacey (Star Trek, Green Lantern, I Am Number Four).

Lacey told me, "One of the most exciting characters to design for was Hawkeye. It was really important to us that we gave him some credibility and some game changing weapons when it came to being able to battle with the other more well known Marvel Heavy weights. One of the ideas we toyed with was giving him an arrow that could momentarily disable Iron Man."

Quiver arrowhead changer design

An Iron Man disabling arrowhead design

Various arrowhead designs

Hawkeye's arrowhead changing controls

These are from Christopher S. Ross (Iron Man, Minority Report, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button).

More Hawkeye quiver designs

Alternate Virus arrowhead designs

See more of Fabian Lacey portfolio at http://www.fabianlacey.com and Christopher Ross' illustrations at http://dezyn.com/.

What do you think of the illustrations? Was Hawkeye your favorite Avenger?

Related Posts

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Designing a starship for Star Trek isn't easy. Besides the incredibly high standards, there's the fact that there have been hundreds of different starships and it's hard to come up with an original idea.

How do you keep it fresh and original? Alex Jaeger (Hulk, Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, Star Trek) gave an interview in Star Trek: The Magazine back in 1999 that explained the whole process while working on Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

As ILM's Alex Jaeger discovered, creating a new Starfleet vessel is a task that involves combining traditional design features with some clever new variations.

The Akira-class was one of four computer-generated ships that were designed for Star Trek: First Contact, and it became the favorite of the Industrial Light and Magic artists. Alex Jaeger, a designer at ILM, says the radically different look of the new ships was born of necessity. "The main reason they look really different is that from a distance, the producers wanted them to be completely new looks, because we introduced a new Enterprise in the film and didn't want it to get lost," Jaeger explains. "They initially planned to have at least one ship that we could get closer to camera. That was the Akira, so it got the most attention to detail. It wound up being almost as big as the Enterprise-E - the E is longer, but the saucer section is almost the same size."

"It was one design they [the producers] liked from the get-go. It has some of the feel of the old USS Reliant NCC-1864 and its rollbar effect, but with a catamaran style with the split hull design. In the side view you almost can't see the bridge because between the sides of the hull, down between the two sections, is a protective device. "This was my gunship/battlecruiser/aircraft carrier," Jaeger adds. "It has 15 torpedo launchers and two shuttlebays - one in the front, with three doors, and one in the back. I really got into it with one, with the whole idea that the front bay would be the launching bay, and then to return they'd come into the back, because they'd be protected by the rest of the ship."

The Akira-class can supposably perform a saucer separation using the catamaran hull edging to define the start. The separation idea was not pursued, but the Akira-class made its appearance in the dramatic battle with the Borg at Sector 001, as well as in several battles with the Dominion, and on Star Trek: Voyager.