See Green With Hensleigh's Lost 'Hulk' Concept Art

Hulk was in development for years before Ang Lee's version, and some concept art for the unproduced film for Jonathan Hensleigh's film are online thanks to concept artist Kerry Gammill (Virus, Species 2, Phantoms)


In April 1997, Joe Johnston was directing with the film's title as The Incredible Hulk. Hensleigh was asked to write the script since he worked with Johnston on Jumanji. In 1997, Johnston dropped out of directing and Hensleigh stepped in for his directing debut. Hensleigh wrote a script featuring Bruce Banner experimenting with gamma-irradiated insect DNA on three convicts before becoming the Hulk. This transforms the convicts into murderous mutant "insect men." Lynn "Red" Williams, a former American Gladiator was cast as one of the three "insect men." He transforms into a combination of human, ant and beetle.
Kerry Gammill describes the art this way.

These designs were for an unproduced movie version of "Hulk" which was cancelled in pre-production a few years before the Ang Lee version went into production with a new script.

Check out more illustrations from Kerry Gammill at http://gammillustrations.bizland.com/monsterart/hulk.htm

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Visit 'Star Trek's (2009)' Shipyard And Blog Schedule Change

Just wanted to let my readers know I'm switching from a weekday schedule to a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. I run two blogs and am thinking about adding another one. If I keep the schedule I have now I'd have to start cutting back on the research for the posts. To me, that's the most fun part of the blog. Finding interesting stories and trivia attached to the illustrations.

So, this will be my last Tuesday post for a while. Enjoy John Eaves awesome Riverside starship fleet yard from J.J. Abrams Star Trek (2009).

One of the first assignments I had on my desk was the Riverside fleet yards in the outback of rural Iowa. Based on an old train engine turntable idea came the first layout of what the ship yards could be. And incredibly large construction facility that housed various material and electronic manufacturing facilities that were easily accessed from every dock.  

My friend Mike Hamby works in the US navy sub yards back East and he helped me with a lot of research with those construction yards, and so the Hamby complex was named in his honor shown here in the turntable illustration. Obviously to [sic] grand of an idea the focus funneled down to seeing a single dock scenario for the construction of the new “E” .  

The first couple of passes have the ship somewhat below ground level and for the film the ship was pulled out of the semi subterranian [sic] dock and set elevated off the ground. By doing so the effect would be a much grander view of this massive Starship against an Earth bound setting which really has not been seen before.

 See more of John Eaves portfolio at http://johneaves.wordpress.com

Via http://trekmovie.com

Scale Clock Tower Walls In Stunning 'Hugo' (2011) Storyboards

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo (2011) swept the box office this last weekend and one of the artists that brought it to life is Peter Popken (V for Vendetta, The Bourne Supremacy, Æon Flux)

Synopsis: Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. With the help of an eccentric girl, he searches for the answer to a mystery linking the father he recently lost, the ill-tempered toy shop owner living below him and a heart shaped lock, seemingly without a key. Based on Brian Selznick’s award winning and imaginative New York Times bestseller, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, this magical tale is Academy Award-winner Martin Scorsese’s first film shot in 3D.

Thanks to Popken sharing his work on his blog we get a peek behind the curtain. This storyboard is from part of the opening sequence where Hugo rushes through the walls of the train station. Roger Ebert describes it this way, "The opening shot swoops above the vast cityscape of Paris and ends with Hugo (Asa Butterfield) peering out of an opening in a clock face far above the station floor."

See more of Peter Popken's portfolio at http://www.peterpopken.com and http://peterpopken.blogspot.com.

1979 Starlog Shows H.R. Giger's Work and Ridley Scott's Storyboards

Starlog was an awesome magazine and I read it regularly growing up. It's gone now, but thanks to the Internet we can still read articles from a by-gone era.

It has a great set of interviews with director Ridley Scott and artist H.R. Giger on the film.

A concept painting from the original concept artist Ron Cobb of the derelict ship is in it.

There are also a couple of storyboards that Scott did for the film which I hadn't seen before.

You can read the whole article on http://www.littlegiger.com/articles/files/Starlog_26.pdf

See more of the work of Hans Ruedi "H.R." Giger at http://giger.com and my site here.

'Doctor Who The Impossible Astronaut' Storyboard Comparisons

BBC produced this storyboard to film comparison of the first episode of Doctor Who from season six.

Synopsis: Four envelopes, numbered two, three and four - each containing a date, time and map reference, unsigned, but TARDIS blue - begin the latest series of the time-travelling adventures. Who sent them? And who received the missing number one? This strange summons reunites The Doctor, Amy, Rory and River Song in the middle of the Utah desert and unveils a terrible secret that The Doctor's friends must never reveal to him. Placing his life entirely in their hands, The Doctor agrees to search for the recipient of the fourth envelope. Just who is Canton Everett Delaware the Third? And what is the relevance of their only other clue: "Space 1969"? Their quest lands them in the Oval Office, where they are enlisted by President Nixon himself to assist enigmatic former FBI agent Canton in saving a terrified little girl from a mysterious spaceman.


In this scene the Doctor, played by Matt Smith is approached by an astronaut who comes up from the ocean.

Richard Shaun Williams

....

concept artist

1970s 'Buck Rogers' Concept Art for the Show That Never Was

Before Glen Larson produced Buck Rogers in the 25th Century in 1979 a very different television show was developed in the 1970s. Far from being the campy comic book style show starring Gil Gerard, it almost had a serious tone in the style of Star Trek. A serious outer-space science fiction adventure based on character-driven stories written by giants of science-fiction.

The late artist Robert McCall was best known for producing space paintings and he was brought in to design the spaceships. He's best known for his space paintings. McCall painted a huge mural for The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. depicting man's conquest of the Moon covers an entire wall on the Museum's main floor.

"They gave me a call," Bob says, "and asked me to do some designs for the show. I tried to stick pretty much to the original Buck Rogers flavor. I finished the drawings in about two weeks and then sent them off. I didn't hear any word from the coast for quite some time."

None of his designs were ever used for the show when it changed to producer Glen Larsen. All artwork and descriptions are from Starlog, #16 September 1978.

One of McCall's designs for Buck Rogers' own "believer" probe ship, a mid-sized craft capable of visiting other worlds.

One of McCall's depictions of the titanic Constitution, a deep space star ship. In the front of the craft is the main engine area which includes a hyperspace booster: an attachment which swings outward for faster than light travel. In the rear is a hangar deck and launching platform designed for both tiny "freedom fighters" and mid-sized "believer ships." The rear of the craft also contains a high energy weapon capable of neutralizing massive targets such as enemy ships, asteroids and small moons.

Various designs for spaceships originally conceived for Rogers. On the bottom half of the sketch are some unused fighter plans. Above those are several "believer" space probe craft.

Two different views of McCall's proposed "believer" space probe craft. The spaceships were envisioned as being able to leave the mother-ship and journey to alien planets. On the top of each ship is a turret very much like the ones found on standard WW II fighter planes. In this case, the "bubble" contains a fire control center for laser weaponry. Although designed mainly for interplanetary excursions, the ships have a goodly amount of defensive weaponry including laser weapons on each side of the ship's forward nose section. On the belly of the craft is an ascent/descent engine used for landing and taking off from alien terrain.

The tiny ships darting by the mothership are fighter craft: short-range spaceships designed to protect the Constrtutton from hostile forces. Right:

One of Bob McCall's abandoned designs for a medium-sized space probe vehicle. This version boasts laser cannon. 

Various designs for spaceships originally conceived for Rogers. On the bottom half of the sketch are some unused fighter plans. Above those are several "believer" space probe craft.

Another version of McCall s powerful mothership, the Constitution In this design, the rear of the craft is a docking area for the "believer" space probes only. The fighter planes land and take-off from a runway on top.

You can find out more about artist Robert McCall at http://www.mccallstudios.com

What do you think of the lost Buck Rogers concept art? Would it have made a better show?
Via space1970

Patrick Tatopoulos Lost 'Super Mario Bros (1983)' Concept Art Has Bite

A while back I posted a search for concept drawings from Patrick Tatopoulos (Underworld, Stargate, Face-Off) for the film Super Mario Bros (1983). Turns out I had some all along! I was going through photos on my hard drive and found this awesome one featuring King Koopa's de-evolution into a dinosaur at the end of the film.

There's a great article of Rob Burman, the man behind the production of the Koopa Creature, at SMBmovie.com that details how much work went into designing and building the creature for this sequence.

It could be fan art, but it matches his style perfectly. Plus, its signed and dated by Tatopoulos himself.

What do you think of his work on the film? If you saw the film, what did you think of it?

'The Dark Knight Rises' Is A 'War Film' Says Concept Artist

Recently, there was an interview with concept artist Tully Summers where he described the Christopher Nolan film The Dark Knight Rises as a "war zone."

The French site CineWebRadio has a fascinating interview with concept artist Tully Summers (Men in Black 3, Thor, Avatar, Green Lantern) where he talks about many things, but gives a few nods to the upcoming Batman sequel.

You work mainly on the science fiction, fantastic, or fantasy film. But this year you work on The Dark Knight Rises. How does this change to work on the next Batman (with a realistic style) than your previous films?
The difference for me was Christopher Nolan’s visual style. One of the things that makes his Batman movies so compelling is their tone of plausibility. He will often prefer a raw, grittier design over one that is very sleek and product design pretty. It’s sort of a practical military aesthetic. This stuff is made to work, not impress shoppers. The Dark Knight Rises is a war film. 

He also talks about the criticism of the costumes from the set pictures.

 Films like Batman are meticulously planned. Every shot is storyboarded, framed, lighted and choreographed to camera. Any photos taken that are not from the intended camera are out of context. In a sense it’s like judging Sesame Street or the Muppets from a set photo: “That’s ridiculous! There’s a whole guy hanging out that character!” Christopher Nolan is a consummate filmmaker. Consider his body of work and his first 2 Batman movies. I don’t think fans will be disappointed.

I remember Gary Oldman said the concept art for Catwoman is amazing, so I can't wait for it to be released.

Read the rest of the interview here here. See more of Tully Summers protfolio at http://www.tullysummers.com/ and http://redenginestudios.deviantart.com/.

What do you think? Will The Dark Knight Rises be a 'war film?"
Via Comic Book Movie

Drive In And See Andrew Probert's 'Streethawk' Motorcycle Designs

The hi-tech motorcycle for the 1985 show Streethawk was designed by veteran artist Andrew Probert (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Back to the Future, Battlestar Galactica) and here are some illustrations from his site.

Streethawk was one of my favorite shows as a kid. Not because it was any good, but I loved the motorcycle. While I was doing research for a post called Ten 'Knight Rider' Knock-Offs That Failed Miserably, I discovered Andrew Probert did the designs!

I had to see them and, thankfully, he posted a bunch on his site. Here are my favorites along with his commentary of each design stage.

Design Development
...of a new type of motorcycle that would have the capability of traversing rough terrain as well as reaching a speed of 300 miles per hour.

Research

The first thing any designer does is research the item to be designed. I soon suggested that this multi-role machine would need two real-world bikes to be the muscle underneath. I further suggested a Honda shaft-driven street bike and one of their dirt bikes.

The  Bike was constructed by Gene Winfield's 'Rod and Custom Construction, Inc.'and when they got a dirt bike, I asked it I could take some shots of it and a rider so I might have something, in my design process, from which to sketch.  That's Gene, himself, holding the bike and my rider-model.

First Concept

I wanted to give this bike a look to suggest that it could (somehow) generate enough power to propel it's rider to 300 mph, as required in the show's premise.  This is the earliest sketch, in the series, that I could find..apparently not having documented my usual initial scribbles..

Second  Concept

This is mostly a refinement of that first direction.  Right away, I was concerned about incorporating streamlined wheels, and a back section of the seat that would rise up, at high speeds, in order to support the rider.  I also designed the back wheel support in a way that it might cover the (proposed) two different drive systems.  I imagined that the bike would morph between the two extremes,. high suspension/handle bars and chain for dirt, morphing down to low suspension/handle bars and shaft for high speed street work.


Weapon-1

The bike's main 'beam' weapon was required for a variety of uses & missions, so I came up with the idea that it could pop out and then swivel into whatever position or angle that was needed.


Final Design

The producers unexpectedly fell in LOVE with a set of wheels they'd seen in some magazine and just had to have them on Streethawk.  I explained that it relegated the 'super-drive' system to a standard chain drive and they didn't have a problem with that.  Subsequently, this next & final design included their special wheel & brake system and was approved.  From that point a 'line' version of the drawing was blown up to full size and used to construct the body of the show vehicle.

Here's the opening which gives you some views of the cycle in action.

Check out the rest of Probert's STREETHAWK_Designs including the dashboard and exhaust system at his site ProbertDesigns.com

PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE: COPYRIGHT © UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, ANDREW PROBERT

Feng Zhu Video 'Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith' Concept Art

Concept artist Feng Zhu shares previously unreleased design images from Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

Video Game - E3 2012

Check out more of Feng Zhu's work at http://fengzhudesign.blogspot.com and http://www.fengzhudesign.com/

Via: G4TV

Artists of 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace' 3D

With the re-release of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in 3-D I thought I'd highlight some of the many talented artists involved in the production.

As always, there are a ton of people working on these films, but I can only list the ones on IMDb. I've also moved some names from other sections for clarity and I lumped everyone together regardless of official title.

Production Design by Gavin Bocquet

Design Director
Doug Chiang (as Doug Chang)

Concept Artists
Kun Chang
Neil D'Monte
Tony Wright
Marc Gabbana
Kurt Kaufman
Iain McCaig
Ed Natividad
Jay Shuster
Terryl Whitlach
Brice Cox Jr.
Warren Fu
Jules Mann
Noel Rubin

Storyboard Artists
Benton Jew
Peter Chan
Paul Topolos
Brice Cox Jr.
Warren Fu
Noel Rubin

I know there are more than these. If you know anyone I'm missing just let me know in the comments.

Want to Known Everything Boba Fett's Armor Does?

McQuarrie did a ton of great concept art for Star Wars, but it was actually former storyboard artist Joe Johnston that is credited with designing Boba Fett.

Joe Johnston is a director now (The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III, Jumanji, and Captain America: The First Avenger), but he used to be an accomplished storyboard artist. When he was planning on quitting LucasFilm Ltd. Lucas asked him to work on the designs for the bounty hunter using McQuarrie's rejected Darth Vader designs.

During pre-production for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Johnston was responsible for the design of Boba Fett's distinctive armor and equipment. He worked alongside artist Ralph McQuarrie to develop the unique look for the bounty hunter, which was in fact derived from the early concepts of Darth Vader. - starwars.wikia.com

The Boba Fett cosplay site "The Dented Helmet" has a great gallery featuring tons of concept art for everyone's favorite bounty hunter. It's amazing to see how specific Johnston's drawings are about the armor. I figured they just threw stuff at it till it looked good.

First, McQuarrie's illustrations.

Now, Joe Johnston's.

This is only a sample, so make sure you head to TheDentedHelmet.com for the rest.
As always make sure you check out McQuarrie's site RalphMcQuarrie.com.

Via io9