Update: Are These New 'G.I. JOE 2: Retaliation' Concept Art Images Real?

A couple of sites have posted what they claim to be concept art from the G.I. Joe: Rise of COBRA sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.

I have a hard time believing it though. A lot of times fan art is created and people try to pawn it off as concept art. This feels like that.Simply because it's not detailed enough.

Concept art is usually extremely detailed with color and precision. These are black and white images done in a very simple style. They would be useless to a director, director of photography or costume designer.

But, you never know. So, here they are.

They're very well done illustrations though. Very dramatic. I doubt they're really from the studio though.

Concept artists from IMDb are Matthew R. Cunningham, Jock, Jerad S. Marantz, Michael Meyers, Manuel Plank-Jorge, Steffen Reichstadt and Raj Rihal. Production design is by Andrew Menzies.

Via Filmofilia
Update: A couple of sources have confirmed these are not concept art from the film.

What do you think? Are these real G.I. Joe Retaliation concept designs?

Hardman's 'Inception' Storyboards Twist Your Mind

Inception was an amazing film and the storyboards are mind-blowing. For example, in one scene Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has a fight in the dream world. As it goes on gravity goes away leaving Arthur to fight up walls and ceilings. It's hard to imagine a scene from such simple lines as:

INT. HOTEL CORRIDOR - NIGHT
As Arthur hurries down the corridor, the corridor starts to
TILT, and Arthur is forced to run UP ONTO THE WALL- he rounds
a corner- STRAIGHT INTO another Security Man- Arthur HEAD
BUTTS him and they STRUGGLE- as they struggle, the corridor
SPINS around, THROWING THEM UP ONTO THE WALLS, THE CEILING as
wall becomes floor they DROP through a door into-
114.

INT. HOTEL ROOM - CONTINUOUS
The fight continues all over the spinning room- and we-

CUT TO:
INT. HOTEL ROOM - NIGHT
Arthur and the Security Man DROP to the floor, Arthur on top. Arthur gets up- heads to the stairwell.

Gabriel Hardman did it though. DGA had an article on it in "Altered States" and a sample.

The dreamscape of Christopher Nolan's Inception was filled with odd angles and spinning rooms such as this one. Storyboards by Gabriel Hardman helped the director realize his vision for 500 visual effects shots.

Here's video of the final scene

See more of Gabriel Hardman's work, including his comic book work at http://www.gabrielhardman.com/

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• Are These Heart-Stopping Storyboards From the Lost 'Neuromancer' or 'The Matrix'?
  

Are These Heart-Stopping Storyboards From the Lost 'Neuromancer' or 'The Matrix'?

These Neuromancer storyboards could easily have been a scene from the Matrix. The Matrix storyboards are some of the best I've ever seen, especially compared with the final film. That said, these storyboards for the unmade Neuromancer film are just as thrilling and exciting.

Back in 2006 it was announced that William Gibson's 1984 "cyberpunk" science-fiction novel was being adapted for the screen. Korean-American director Joseph Kahn was set to direct and Milla Jovovich was cast as the lead. The project died on the vine.

It's a hard sell. The themes of simulation vs. reality has been explored by so many films it's hard to convince people it can be fresh and new. Of course, Gibson's vision was first and arguably the best. Even the name of the cyber-world "The Matrix" was swiped wholesale by the Wachowski brothers.

I've already shared concept art from the unmade film before. Dan Fraga, the storyboard artist from the film just released some storyboards he did on his blog.

Here's what he had to say about it:

Back in 2006 my very talented friend and director Joseph Kahn was busy developing the movie version of William Gibson's Neuromancer. This was a tough one because Neuromancer is the source of what are now clichés in sci-fi films: The Matrix, Jacking in, Virtual Reality. They're all concepts originally introduced in Neuromancer. The challenge was to make it all fresh and exciting. What you see below is an action sequence that I did for Joe.

So, here they are. The scene shows a blind-folded assassin attacking a car with Jovovich blasting away at him. As you watch them imagine this scene in the Matrix. Wouldn't this fit in perfectly?

You can find some more awesome storyboards and very helpful art tips at Dan Fraga's website http://fragaboom.blogspot.com.


What do you think? Do these storyboards stop your heart with excitement? Could they have rivaled the Matrix?

Will the Hulkbuster Armor Be In 'The Avengers' Movie? One Concept Artist Says No

Will Iron Man be duking it out with the Hulk in his "Hulkbuster" armor? Concept artist Adi Granov doesn't think so. He would know since he's worked on two of the Marvel films Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

Italian website BadTaste had an interview with Granov where he says the Hulkbuster isn't going to show up in The Avengers.

About this topic, there is [an Iron Man armor] that everybody is looking forward to seeing on the screen: the Hulkbuster.

"In the first ['Iron Man'] movie we had the Iron Monger ... the idea for him came from the Hulkbuster. I did a cover with the Hulkbuster in it. Jon Favreau liked that design and asked me to draw something similar to it for the Iron Monger. So, technically, the Iron Monger is the Hulkbuster, and that I think is why for a while we won't see it in a movie. It would only be yet another Iron Man big type of armor."

Of course he could be wrong and it may show up. But, add Renner's comment about being "the only one" who can stop the Hulk and Adi is right.

So, what is the Hulkbuster armor?

Hulkbuster Armor (Modular Add-on)

First Appearance: Iron Man (vol. 1) #304 (May 1994)

The Hulkbuster armor is a heavy-duty exo-frame (an add-on to the Mk. XI Modular Armor) designed for maximum strength amplification at the cost of reduced versatility and mobility. As its name suggests, it was specifically designed for hand-to-hand combat with the rampaging Hulk. The armor was rated with a lift (press) capacity of 175 tons. During its maiden run, the armor enabled Stark to hold his own in sustained physical combat with the Hulk. - Wikipedia

For reference, here's his concept art from Iron Man of the Iron Monger.

Iron Man movie - Keyframe art: Final pencil version of this keyframe featuring Iron Man vs. Iron Monger.

Iron Man movie - Keyframe art: Keyframe art for the first movie.

Iron Man movie - Keyframe art: Final version of this keyframe featuring Iron Man vs. Iron Monger.

Check out more of Adi Granov's work at adigranov.net

This is a cross-post from The Geek Twins.

What do you think? Should the Hulkbuster armor be in The Avengers? Will It?

Masterful RalphMcQuarrie.com Relaunch

I got an email yesterday that my favorite concept artist website RalphMcQuarrie.com had a relaunch last week!

The designer of Star Wars and tons of other films and commercials, the guy is a living legend. His website is a testimony to his talents.

From hundreds of thumbnails of his art, personal anecdotes about each film and videos of the movies you can spend hours browsing it. I know I have. So, check it out at RalphMcQuarrie.com

My favorite new addition is the commercial for Bud Light back in 1986.

'The Great American Lager'..Bud Light 'Gimme A Light 2'

Back in 1986 Ralph was [approached] by the Budweiser Brewery Co. to design an advert with a strong dash of 2001 a Space Odyssey at it's roots.

Ralph designed all of the costumes, vehicles, environments and props.

Great stuff.

Are you headed over to McQuarrie's updated site? What's your favorite piece of his art? 

Interview With Artist Nikita Knatz

Russian production illustrator Nikita Knatz gave an interview for a local news agency and it's pretty cool. The sound quality is absolutely awful, but it's worth a listen.

He talks about growing up in the 1950s as a Russian immigrant and how he uses his martial arts training to storyboard fight scenes.

How Do You Scare Schwarzenegger With The 'Predator'?

In the movie Predator (1987), Arnold Schwarzenegger is the toughest man on the planet, but in the South American jungle he faces the ultimate warrior.

"Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and Kevin Peter Hall. It was distributed by 20th Century Fox.

"The story follows an elite special forces team, led by 'Dutch' (Arnold Schwarzenegger), on a mission to rescue hostages from guerrilla territory in Central America. Unbeknownst to the group, they are being hunted by a technologically advanced form of extraterrestrial life, the Predator." - Wikipedia

Storyboard artist Paul Powers had an impressive task. He said, "The challenge was to scare Arnold Schwarzenegger."

Did he succeed? You decide.

I'd love to put a comparison video or image from the film, but I can't find any. If you know of any hit me up in the comments.

Paul Powers has a bunch more storyboards at http://www.paulpower.com/ including a great sequence from another Arnold film The Sixth Day.

 

Do you think Powers scared Arnold?

© 2001 Paul Power and 20th Century Fox

Ron Cobb Shines in 'The Last Starfighter' 25th Anniversay Edition [Review]

Note: This is a review of the quality of the special features and not the movie itself.

The Last Starfighter (25th Anniversary Edition) [Blu-ray] is a good DVD with memorable interviews with production designer Ron Cobb.

The Last Starfighter (1984) has been one of my guilty pleasures since I was a kid. It's not a great movie by any means, but the break-through special effects and the heart-warming story of a video game junkie that becomes a fighter pilot always warmed my heart. It seems unfair that the Blu-Ray is less than $15 and the DVD is in the $5 bin. I know it's not great, but it's better than it's shelf mate Popeye.

Description
"Greetings, Starfighter! You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Kodan Armada.” So begins an adventure of galactic proportions in The Last Starfighter. After Earthling Alex (Lance Guest) conquers the Starfighter video game, he is recruited by alien Centauri (Robert Preston) to be part of an elite legion of fighters. Leaving behind his trailer park home for the outer regions of space, Alex becomes the last hope for the beleaguered Star League and hundreds of worlds – including Earth. Loaded with out-of-this-world bonus features and digitally remastered for optimum picture quality, The Last Starfighter 25th Anniversary Edition is the ultimate video game fantasy come true"

Special Features Review
Heroes of the Screen
A making of featurette that covered a lot of the same ground as the the later video "Crossing the Frontier". Most of the footage is the same with one noteable exception: Paul Power the storyboard artist. They even do a time-lapse of his starting a storyboard and talking about his philosophy.

Crossing the Frontier: Making The Last Starfighter
In the 32-minute making of featurette, “Crossing the Frontier: Making the Last Starfighter” key members of the crew are brought back to talk about the making of the movie and it's mind-blowing. From one scene where the technical director does the math on a chalkboard and tells them they should use models to stories about sleeping on Cray computers it really makes you appreciate how much work it took for the film.

The highlight for me was watching Ron Cobb. The guy is humble and honest talking about the development. Part of the feature focuses on how they took advantage of his drafting skills to plot every single line of the ships he designed. They basically scanned them into the computer and ran with it. Besides designing the vehicles he also designed Xur's scepter.

Image Gallery
An extensive Image Gallery has numerous production and promotional photos on the characters, ships, merchandise. The gallery shows concept art and drawings for the Starcar, Starfighter and Starfighter landing bay.

Overall, it would have been nice to see some more designs, but the interviews with the great Ron Cobb more than made up for it.

You can see more amazing storyboards from Paul Power at his website http://www.paulpower.com/
Maybe one day Cobb will finish his website http://roncobb.net/ 

Stars: 3.5 out of 5

Ralph McQuarrie's Award Winning 'Cocoon' Concept Art

Ralph McQuarrie is famous for his work on Star Wars, but he got an Academy award for Cocoon. One of my favorite movies when I was a kid was Cocoon starring Steve Guttenberg.

It starred some of my favorite actors and the special effects of glowing aliens with removeable skin suits just seemed like the coolest thing in the world. The Academy agreed and they got an Oscar for "Best Visual Effects."

Cocoon is a 1985 science fiction film directed by Ron Howard about a group of elderly people who are rejuvenated by aliens. The movie starred Don Ameche, Wilford Brimley, Hume Cronyn, Brian Dennehy, Jack Gilford, Steve Guttenberg, Maureen Stapleton, Jessica Tandy, Gwen Verdon, Herta Ware, Tahnee Welch, and Linda Harrison. The film is loosely based on the novel by David Saperstein." - Wikipedia

McQuarrie described his designs this way.

"The script described a glowing alien, it was still a work in progress as I worked on the film. I envisioned the aliens as a light bulb that's too bright to look directly at."

KEN RALSTON, the Visual Effects Supervisor chimed in.

"I was lucky enough to work with Ralph on Cocoon. He took Ron Howard's vision and absorbed it, expanded upon it , and visualized it all in a series of striking images.

The saucer, the aliens, all the other invaluable ideas he produced once again inspired my visual effects team to achieve something special." 

Ralph is a big reason why we were honoured that year with the Oscar for best visual effects. Simply stated Ralph McQuarrie has the ability to paint dreams."

Sorry about the really small images. I can't find any art online, but I did find some thumbnails on McQuarrie's site. I couldn't decide which to share so I just did a screen capture.

Here's the trailer which shows some of the effects .

You can actually buy signed prints of his artwork at http://ralphmcquarrie.net. Forty bucks?! It's a steal.

What do you think of McQuarrie's art? Do you remember the film and have fond memories like I do?

Cocoon © 20th Century Fox  

'The Dark Crystal' Concept Artist Brian Froud Exhibition Opens in New Year

Brian Froud worked on one of my favorite movies of all time: The Dark Crystal (1982). I've loved Jim Henson for as long as I can remember and loved the "grown-up" puppets of the movie.

The Dark Crystal is a 1982 British-American fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Although marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking. The primary concept artist was the fantasy illustrator Brian Froud, famous for his distinctive faerie and dwarf designs. Froud also collaborated with Henson and Oz for their next project, the 1986 film Labyrinth, which was notably more light-hearted than The Dark Crystal. The film stars the voices of Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell and Billie Whitelaw. - Wikipedia

One of the conceptual designers was a fantasy artist called Brian Froud. Anyway, there's an exhibition of his work coming in December. From "The World of Froud" with paintings, concepts and puppets from the minds and hearts of Brian, Wendy & Toby Froud.
Last year Sci-fi-o-Rama posted some scans from the book "The World of the Dark Crystal" a 2003 compendium of conceptual art, design and illustration produced for Jim Henson’s 1982 fantasy movie masterpiece “The Dark Crystal”.

Top: A conceptual sketch of an ‘Ur-Ru’. The Ur-Ru are the ying to the Skeksis yang, Ur-Ru represent light and good, the Skeksis dark and evil. Each Ur-Ru is inextricably linked to it’s Skeksis counterpart, both share a divided soul and are part of the higher being known as the ‘urSkeks’. This omnipotent super-race was violently spilt apart in an attempt to harvested the full power of the planets three suns known as “The Grand Conjuction”

2nd Top: A conceptual sketch of a ‘Skeksis’. For me creature and costume design doesn’t get much better than Skeksis – it’s not that the regal/Afghan hound looking Ur-Ru aren’t beautifully designed too (they are!) – there’s something memorably horrific about the Skekis, their shrill voices and bloated, twisted bodies wrapped inside fantastically elaborate but rotting clothing!

3rd Top: A perfect example of the fallen decadence – “skekEkt the Ornamentalist who made clothes above all for himself, rich fabrics that dripped jewels, the death of a 100 birds for 1 cloak. He first discovered the art of anointing the skin with a paste of clotted blood and diamond powder, to restore the sparkle of youth.”

4th Top: Another superior sketch, check the ruff, ruched sleeves and carefully balanced Tri-Spectacle action! “skekOk the Scroll-Keeper kept the record of the Skeksis; he was the smallest finest-featured, least honest of them all. He wrote and and rewrote his accounts, and kept changing them one or another of his shifting allies, The truth was soon lost.”

5th Top: A close up detail sketch of Skeksis head. A fair visual description would be to say the Skeksis are a kind of avian reptile, perhaps like an Archaeopteryx but also taking the most heavy visual cue from the Vulture .

Here's the press release

This December, Animazing Gallery will be presenting the first U.S. exhibition of Brian Froud's paintings and drawings, including original artworks from his published, international best-selling books and all of his concept drawings from Jim Henson's film Labyrinth. The exhibition will be open to the public daily. Animazing Gallery is located at 54 Greene Street (at Broome) in SoHo. For more information: 212-226-7374 or visit www.animazing.com

Brian Froud is regarded as the pre-eminent fairy artist of today and has redefined the image of Faeries in the 21st century. Froud is part of a long lineage of faerie painters and illustrators including Arthur Rackham, Richard Dadd, Walter Crane and Edmund Dulac and his work has hung alongside these exceptional artists - the greats of the genre - in museum exhibitions throughout the U.K. Froud's imagery; sensual, humorous and at times frightening, has rescued fairies from the Victorian nursery, to which they were relegated for so many years, and returned them to the dark, elusive and mysterious world of Faerie where they belong.
In November, 1998, Sotheby's "Realm of the Mind: Fantasy Art and Illustration" featured the work of such artists as; Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Bell Scott, Richard Doyle, John Anster Fitzgerald, Walter Crane, Simeon Solomon and George Cruikshank. Brian Froud's painting from Good Faeries/Bad Faeries was chosen for the auction catalogue cover.

With over 30 books in publication and over 8 million books sold to date, Brian Froud's best sellers include Good Faeries/Bad Faeries (Hugo and Chesley Awards), Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book (Hugo Award), the Faeries' Oracle and Lady Cottington's Fairy Album. His international best-selling book, Faeries with fantasy and Tolkien illustrator Alan Lee, published in 1978 and reissued in 2002 and again in 2010, is considered a modern classic and has sold more than 3 million copies.
Brian Froud has influenced a whole new generation of magical painters, book illustrators and filmmakers. Froud's landmark work with Jim Henson as conceptual designer on feature films The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1987), set new standards for design, puppeteering and animatronics in film and are, today, considered landmarks in the evolution of modern day special effects. Both films have achieved an international cult following.

The Animazing Gallery, NY exhibition entitled, BRIAN FROUD: VISIONS FOR FILM & FAERIE, will be comprised of original paintings of creatures from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, concept drawings from Jim Henson's Labyrinth and original material from the published Faerie books: How to See Faeries, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book and Good Faeries/Bad Faeries.

BRIAN FROUD: VISIONS FOR FILM & FAERIE will be in collaboration with a site-specific installation by Wendy Froud and their son, Toby Froud; both renowned doll and puppet-makers. Toby was the baby "Toby" in Labyrinth and is presently a puppet fabricator and sculptor at Laika Entertainment, the celebrated studio specializing in stop motion/animation film and television.

Wendy is the fabricator of "Yoda" from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. She sculpted and fabricated "Kira" & "Jen" from The Dark Crystal as well as some of the Pod People, and sculpted and fabricated some of the goblins in Labyrinth. For this inaugural exhibition, Wendy Froud has recreated the Gelfling, Kira from The Dark Crystal. Kira stands 33" tall, and was sculpted using original hair and beading from original The Dark Crystal production.

Via io9

Ever Wonder Why 'Tron' Was So Brilliantly Weird Looking? Thank Moebius

The brilliant French concept artist Jean Henri Gaston Giraud, also known as Moebius, worked on Tron  (1982) alongside several others and his Avant-Gard influence was evident in every design.

Costumes

Solar Sail designs

Solar sail scene from the movie

 Dumont

Jean Henri Gaston "Moebius" Giraud http://www.moebius.fr/

This post wouldn't have been possible with material from several sites like Tron-Sector and theairtightgarage

See the work of Syd Mead for Tron here.

Related Posts:

• Syd Mead's 'Tron' Concept Art Helped Shape The Future
• Concept Art Shows There Was Almost A Weirder Version of Dune Made

How brilliantly weird was Moebius' work?