Upside Down is a 2012 French-Canadian romantic science fiction film written and directed by Juan Diego Solanas and starring Jim Sturgess and Kirsten Dunst. It's about two people that fall in love in a world that is literally upside-down.

Here's the trailer if you haven't seen it.

The film was first released on August 23, 2012 in Russia. While reviews have been mixed (terrible really), everyone is praising it's strong visuals.

Mick LaSalle, a film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, said its "rich and bizarre premise is supported by fully realized visuals that make the fantastic real... it's all very enjoyable."

So, as is often the case, great concept art goes to a flawed movie.

Professional concept artist Meinhart Hansen worked on the film and helped bring it's twisted vision to life.

Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump and click to enlarge

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The film Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) had some amazing visuals, but now see some of the artwork that brought this film to life. Included are designs for the omitted scene in the Cold Storage Hybermatrix factory that built the Terminators.

Two of the artists are Steve Burg (Prometheus,) and Iain McCaig (Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, The Avengers)

Check out the rest of the images after the jump and click to enlarge.

Here's a description of the unfilmed scene from HopeoftheFuture.net
"Another omitted part from the future war is a the storage room for unactivated Terminators, including the one being used to protect John Connor in T2. After John Connor sends his father Kyle Reese back through time to meet both their destinies, the Resistance fighters were to gain access to a large room behind an ice-covered door; behind it lay hundreds of Terminators in suspended animation, waiting to be activated. The rows of cold-storage racks were designed as a one-third-scale foreground miniature, with only a few full-sized racks with life-casts of Arnold and possible a few other models (including a woman).

"The 'hybermatrix' design was an elaboration on the flesh-form mold designed for the T2 teaser spot, and was designed to suggest the 'molding' process used to grow flesh around the metal Terminator endoskeletons."



Wikipedia Synopsis:
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 science fiction action film, the second installment of the Terminator franchise and the sequel to The Terminator (1984). Directed by James Cameron and written by Cameron and William Wisher, Jr., it stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong. Terminator 2 follows Sarah Connor (Hamilton) and her son John (Furlong) as they are pursued by a new, more advanced Terminator, the liquid metal, shapeshifting T-1000 (Patrick), sent back in time to kill John and prevent him from becoming the leader of the human Resistance against the machines. An older, less advanced Terminator (Schwarzenegger) is also sent back in time to protect John.

See more of Iain McCaig portfolio at iainmccaig.blogspot.com and Steve Burg's blog at http://steveburg.blogspot.com/.

What do you think of the illustrations?
@ Copyright 1991 Carolco Pictures, Pacific Western, Lightstorm Entertainment. All rights reserved
 

T is for Terminator
This post is part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 26 days, I'll be choosing a letter from the alphabet and featuring one favorite arts or properties. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here. Check the Facebook page and follow on Twitterusing the hashtag #AtoZChallenge.
Hosted by The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers), Tossing it Out(Arlee Bird), Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas), Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh), Life is Good (Tina Downey), Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons), Retro-Zombie(Jeremy Hawkins), The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence), The QQQE (Matthew MacNish), Leave it to Livia(Livia Peterson), No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow), Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) and Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

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Check out some of the freaky and bizarre concept art from the visually stunning movie Sucker Punch (2011).

I already shared Jerad S. Merantz' Samurai warriors with machine guns, now you can see more of the zombie Nazi's in the films.

He's worked on films like Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) and X-Men: First Class (2011)

Reichstadt said. "One of my first projects and still one of the most enjoyable projects to have worked on."

Check out the rest of the images after the jump and click to enlarge.

 Pieced Together Plane

 Steam Nazis

See more of Steffen Reichstadt portfolio at SteffenReichstadt.carbonmade.com

What do you think of the illustrations?

Offical synopsis:
Close your eyes. Open your mind. You will be unprepared. “Sucker Punch” is an epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, and her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary. She has been locked away against her will, but Babydoll (Emily Browning) has not lost her will to survive. Determined to fight for her freedom, she urges four other young girls–the outspoken Rocket (Jena Malone), the street-smart Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), the fiercely loyal Amber (Jamie Chung) and the reluctant Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish)–to band together and try to escape their terrible fate at the hands of their captors, Blue (Oscar Isaac), Madam Gorski (Carla Gugino) and the High Roller (Jon Hamm). Led by Babydoll, the girls engage in fantastical warfare against everything from samurais to serpents, with a virtual arsenal at their disposal. Together, they must decide what they are willing to sacrifice in order to stay alive. But with the help of a Wise Man (Scott Glenn), their unbelievable journey–if they succeed–will set them free.

Starring

• Emily Browning
• Abbie Cornish
• Jena Malone
• Vanessa Hudgens
• Jamie Chung
• Carla Gugino

Official Site: suckerpunchmovie.warnerbros.com

@ Copyright 2011 Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Cruel and Unusual Films. All rights reserved.


S is for Sucker Punch and Steffen Reichstadt
This post is part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 26 days, I'll be choosing a letter from the alphabet and featuring one favorite arts or properties. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here. Check the Facebook page and follow on Twitterusing the hashtag #AtoZChallenge.

Hosted by The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers), Tossing it Out(Arlee Bird), Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas), Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh), Life is Good (Tina Downey), Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons), Retro-Zombie(Jeremy Hawkins), The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence), The QQQE (Matthew MacNish), Leave it to Livia(Livia Peterson), No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow), Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) and Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

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See what the Red Skull could have looked like in Captain America: The First Avenger, plus Thor Frost Giants from Thor and Whiplash and armor designs from Iron Man 2.

Ian Joyner is a professional character designer, illustrator and conceptual artist who's worked on films like The Hunger Games, Real Steel and Avatar. He's currently Lead Character Designer at Legacy Effects (formerly Stan Winston Studios)

Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump and click to enlarge


CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
"Legacy did not officially work on Captain America, but we had a small amount of time to pitch some ideas to show we wanted to work on the film. I got to take a few passes at Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, which was fun. Not sure why I had such a love for that cataract eye since ‘the Blind Skull’ does not sound as scary…more like a bad death metal band name…"

IRON MAN 2
"My first full-time project at Legacy was Iron Man 2. Working with the team at Marvel, mostly the awesome Ryan Meinerding, I was tasked with bringing the 2d artwork from Iron Man, War Machine and the Drones to the 3rd dimension. I supervised the drone team and got to do all the digital modeling of the suits by myself. It was hectic and painful but definitely fun!

"Below is some work in progress models, maquettes, final suit shots, Sideshow Collectibles statues and one lone concept for an alternate ending they played around with…dark!"

THOR
"We did some design work on the Frost Giants for Marvel Studio’s Thor. Marvel knew they wanted them fairly human so these test designs were for how far the makeup should go from monsterous to human.
For this project, I mostly handled making the armor and got to do a few passes on the giants. The Destroyer doesn’t really fit here, as it is a print done for Sideshow Toys, based off a model provided by Marvel."

See more of Ian Joyner's portfolio at IanJoyner.com

Click on the links if you want to see more of XXX work and YYYY.



R is for Red Skull
This post is part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 26 days, I'll be choosing a letter from the alphabet and featuring one favorite arts or properties. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here. Check the Facebook page and follow on Twitterusing the hashtag #AtoZChallenge.

Hosted by The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers), Tossing it Out(Arlee Bird), Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas), Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh), Life is Good (Tina Downey), Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons), Retro-Zombie(Jeremy Hawkins), The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence), The QQQE (Matthew MacNish), Leave it to Livia(Livia Peterson), No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow), Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) and Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

@ Copyright 2009 Marvel Studios, ARTIST, All rights reserved

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Ralph McQuarrie was the most influential concept artist ever. His work on the original Star Wars films were so iconic that they've been used in the prequel films and Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.

Concept designs for the icy Hoth planet in Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) were used in The Clone Wars for the planet Orto Plutonia in the episode "Trespass"

Check out some of the illustrations of Hoth and a fascinating behind-the-scenes video by Dave Folini after the jump and click to enlarge.

Director Dave Filoni discusses the design origins of the planet Orto Plutonia, and how Ralph McQuarrie's original visions of Hoth are now finally realized.

Official Synopsis:
While investigating the disappearance of a clone security force, Anakin and Obi-Wan get caught in the middle of an escalating conflict between the furry territorial inhabitants of a desolate ice world and the greedy representatives of a nearby moon.

See more of Ralph McQuarrie's work at RalphMcQuarrie.com

What do you think of the illustrations?


Q is for McQuarrie
This post is part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 26 days, I'll be choosing a letter from the alphabet and featuring one favorite arts or properties. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here. Check the Facebook page and follow on Twitterusing the hashtag #AtoZChallenge.

Hosted by The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers), Tossing it Out(Arlee Bird), Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas), Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh), Life is Good (Tina Downey), Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons), Retro-Zombie(Jeremy Hawkins), The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence), The QQQE (Matthew MacNish), Leave it to Livia(Livia Peterson), No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow), Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) and Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

@ Copyright LucasFilm. All rights reserved

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