'Spider-Man 2' Doc Ock Operating Room Concept Art by Jamie Rama

One of the most chilling scenes in Spider-Man 2 (2004) was when the unwitting doctor's tried to remove Doctor Octopus' arms. It was actually the scene thatSam Raimi filmed first to set the tone for the movie.

It called into question the level of violence in the film. "Yeah, in the surgery room," Raimi told Sci-Fi Wire. "You know, I was wondering if that was going to be too violent. Wow, I hope it's not too violent. ... Maybe it is.

"I didn't really make a conscious choice to make it more violent, although I don't disagree with you. I think what happened was I was trying to establish in the minds of the audience that ... these tentacles [and] this man, Dr. Octavius, had become this monster, and as this monster, he had killed, or these tentacles had killed. And so he was going to be on the lam and hunted. ... But perhaps it's more violent than it needed to be. I didn't mean to make it more violent, I just wanted to show that he was a character to be frightened of, you know?"

Jamie Rama (X-Men: First Class) shared some images in his portfolio for the scene and a few others.

See more of Jamie Rama's portfolio at jamierama.com

What do you think of the illustrations? Do you remember this scene? 

Star Trek: First Contact Borg Queen Concepts by Alex Jeager and John Eaves

One of the most striking characters movie history is the Borg Queen (Alex Krige) from Star Trek: First Contact (1996).

John Eaves shared some concept art and storyboards of the Borg Queen that he and Alex Jeager worked on. He also tells a great story behind the work and design. Instead of trying to reproduce the whole story, I'll just tell you to check out his blog at Jeager 'N' Eaves Battle Over the Borg Queen. It really gives an insight into the creative process that multiple design team go through together.

Check out more images after the jump and click on the images to enlarge.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Alex Jeager "Resistance is Futile"

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) John Eaves "Head and Body Assembly for Borg Queen"

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) John Eaves "Thinner rig for Borg Queen"

Here are some storyboards of the Borg Queen's dramatic entrance.

Here's the scene as it appears in the film of the Borg Queen's entrance.



Wikipedia Synopsis:
Star Trek: First Contact is a 1996 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise and the first film to feature no cast members from the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s. The primary cast for First Contact is from the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series, to which the film's producers added Alice Krige, Neal McDonough, James Cromwell and Alfre Woodard. In the film's plot, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E travel from the 24th to 21st century to save their future after the cybernetic Borg conquered Earth by changing the timeline.
Directed by Jonathan Frakes
Produced by Rick Berman, Marty Hornstein, Peter Lauritson
Screenplay by Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore, Story by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore
Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell

See more of their portfolio's at johneaves.wordpress.com/ and alxartblog.blogspot.com/

What do you think of the illustrations?
 
@ Copyright 1996 Paramount Pictures, Alex Jaeger, John Eaves. All rights reserved

Lost 'Akira' Concept Art by Rodolfo Damaggio

The live-action adaptation of Akira (????) is long gone, but we still get glimpses of what could have been. Below we see a costume design for Kaneda and cityscapes of New Manhattan (New Tokyo in the original anime film)

Recently, professional concept artist Rodolfo Damaggio (Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, Green Lantern) shared his designs for the film.

Click on the images to enlarge.

You can see more concept art for Akira by following the links below and you can read my interview with Damaggio here.

'Akira' Storyboards By Chris Weston
Never-Before-Seen Live-Action Akira Storyboards By Jeff Errico
Sylvan Despretz' Unused Akira Storyboards

Official Synopsis:
Kaneda is a bar owner in Neo-Manhattan who is stunned when his brother, Tetsuo, is abducted by government agents led by The Colonel. Desperate to get his brother back, Kaneda agrees to join with Ky Reed and her underground movement who are intent on revealing to the world what truly happened to New York City thirty years ago when it was destroyed. Kaneda believes their theories to be ludicrous but after finding his brother again, is shocked when he displays telekinetic powers.

Ky believes Tetsuo is headed to release a young boy, Akira, who has taken control of Tetsuo’s mind. Kaneda clashes with The Colonel’s troops on his way to stop Tetsuo from releasing Akira but arrives too late. Akira soon emerges from his prison courtesy of Tetsuo as Kaneda races in to save his brother before Akira once again destroys Manhattan island, as he did thirty years ago.

See more of Rodolfo Damaggio's portfolio at Damaggio.com

What do you think of the illustrations?

@ Copyright Mad Chance, Appian Way, Lennox House Films. All rights reserved

'Falling Skies' Season 2: Crawlies Concepts by Jerad S Marantz

In the episode Molon_Labe season two of Falling Skies we met the terrifying creatures nicknamed "Crawlies." They're a swarming crab-like creature that can chew thru metal.

Jerad S. Marantz did concept designs for the show and shared some on his blog.

Wikipedia Synopsis:
Falling Skies is an American science fiction dramatic television series created by Robert Rodat and produced by Steven Spielberg. Set six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion, the series stars Noah Wyle as Tom Mason, a former Boston University history professor who becomes the second-in-command of the 2nd Massachusetts Militia Regiment, a group of civilians and fighters fleeing post-apocalyptic Boston.

See more of Jerad S Marantz' portfolio at http://jeradsmarantz.blogspot.com

What do you think of the illustrations?
@ Copyright 2012  DreamWorks Television, Invasion Productions Jerad S Marantz. All rights reserved 

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Bane Mask Concept Art

In the blockbuster movie The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Tom Hardy plays Bane, a mercenary who plans to destroy Gotham with a thermonuclear bomb. While the comic book character wore a Mexican wrestler mask, the movie character had a distinctive gas mask.


A lot went into the look and design of the mask according to costume designer Lindy Hemming.

Check after the jump for some of the designs. Click on the images to enlarge

"A lot of the film was going to take place in the dark, with Bane and fighting," Hemming explained, "and we couldn't have one black lump of a head fighting another black lump of a head. And so, to make sure they would be easily identifiable we had to make those two silhouettes—Batman's and Bane's—look completely different."

The designers began removing parts of the full head mask to make a simplified minimalist look. As the mask got smaller the tubing and devices became streamlined. "I'd been playing with all kinds of elaborate tubing and devices for the mask," said Hemming, "but all of that had to be streamlined, because as we made the mask smaller, there was no place to put it all. So the mask was just reduced and reduced. I also wanted the mask to look animalistic, like something that might bite you, and so I referenced a lot of gorillas and spiders and the like."

  Official Synopsis:
Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ “The Dark Knight Rises” is the epic conclusion to filmmaker Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.
It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Assuming the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent, the Dark Knight sacrificed everything for what he and Commissioner Gordon both hoped was the greater good. For a time the lie worked, as criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the weight of the anti-crime Dent Act.
But everything will change with the arrival of a cunning cat burglar with a mysterious agenda. Far more dangerous, however, is the emergence of Bane, a masked terrorist whose ruthless plans for Gotham drive Bruce out of his self-imposed exile. But even if he dons the cape and cowl again, Batman may be no match for Bane.

Leading an all-star international cast, Oscar(R) winner Christian Bale (“The Fighter”) again plays the dual role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Anne Hathaway, as Selina Kyle; Tom Hardy, as Bane; Oscar(R) winner Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”), as Miranda Tate; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as John Blake. Returning to the main cast, Oscar(R) winner Michael Caine (“The Cider House Rules”) plays Alfred; Gary Oldman is Commissioner Gordon; and Oscar(R) winner Morgan Freeman (“Million Dollar Baby”) reprises the role of Lucius Fox. The screenplay is written by Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Christopher Nolan and Charles Roven, who previously teamed on “Batman Begins” and the record-breaking blockbuster “The Dark Knight.” The executive producers are Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull, with Jordan Goldberg serving as co-producer. The film is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.

Via Screenrant 

What do you think of the illustrations?

@ Copyright 2012 Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Entertainment, Legendary Pictures All rights reserved

Unused 'Spider-Man' Green Goblin and Female Goblin Concept Designs by Miles Teves

For the movie Spider-Man (2002) there were a lot of designs for the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). Before it was decided to make a static mask, they experimented with silicone appliances and an animatronic mask.

Here's a video by Studio ADI (Amalgamated Dynamics) of the designs and visual effects tests using concept artist Miles Teves designs.


Here are the concept designs by Miles Teves - who also worked on King Kong (2005), Total Recall (1990), and Real Steel (2010) - of the mask and costume along with his comments from his official site.

"This take on the Green Goblin, and the one after this, was done for the costume designer on the first film. Everyone seemed to like it, yet somehow, in the mix of Hollywood nonsense, we ended up with that horrible, clunky, Kabuki mask in the film that everyone agrees is one of the worst villain costumes in modern cinema."

Goblinette

"Another wasted opportunity." 

Synopsis:
"When bitten by a genetically modified spider, a nerdy, shy, and awkward high school student gains spider-like abilities that he eventually must use to fight evil as a superhero after tragedy befalls his family."

Director: Sam Raimi
Writers: Stan Lee (Marvel comic book), Steve Ditko (Marvel comic book), and David Koepp         (screenplay)
Stars: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe 

See more of Miles Teves portfolio at http://www.milesteves.com

What do you think of the illustrations? Would you have preferred the "live" mask to the one in the film? 

@ Copyright 2002 Columbia Pictures Corporation, Marvel Enterprises, Laura Ziskin Productions, Miles Teves

All rights reserved

'Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi' Storyboards By David Russell

David Russell is a professional storyboard artist and writer. Russell has created illustrations for such movies as X-Men Origins: Wolverine, An American Werewolf in Paris and Batman (1989). Below are storyboards for the final battle with the Emperor in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

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

See more after the jump and click on the images to enlarge.

See more of David Russell's portfolio at http://www.dynamicimagesdr.com

Some images via themovieblog

What do you think of the storyboards?

Unseen 'Iron Man' Concept Designs by Harald Belker

Tony Stark had some amazing gadgets in Iron Man (2008), but there are a few that didn't make it to the screen. Thanks to concept illustrator Harald Belker (Transformers, Spider-Man, TRON: Legacy) we get a peek at some of them.

Check them out after the jump along with comments from his site. Click to enlarge.

"This could have been my last big-time movie car, since the trend is taking over of having car companies place their product in films. Inspired by the mask part of the suit costume, Tony Stark had to build his own super car. We were ready to build when the plug was pulled and Audi gave the money the producers needed to write it out of the script. Too bad - it would have been a b****ing toy."

"Finished with the car, I jumped over to the suit. Phil Saunders had been working on it for a while, and I was handed some little pieces that needed exploring - mostly things that were under the suit and popping out of it. Here's a sample of a how small rocket launcher can be activated out of the thigh of the suit."

"The mask, probably inspired by Darth Vader's, needed lots of little electronic gadgets and cameras behind the shield. I was bummed to see that it didn't make it into the movies."

Official Synopsis:

See more of Harald Belker's portfolio at http://www.haraldbelker.com/entertainment.php

What do you think of the illustrations?

@ Copyright 2008 Paramount Pictures, Marvel Enterprises, Marvel Studios All rights reserved

'Cloud Atlas' Concept Art By Adam Kuczek

Cloud Atlas (2013) is the latest movie from the Wachowskis and translates the novel of the same name. One of the fine artists that helped design the look of the film is Adam Kuczek.

Here's the bio from his website.
"From 2010, Adam Kuczek has been working as a concept artist and matte painter for movie and game industries. Additionally, he has provided storyboards, illustrations for comic book covers, poster work and even 3D environments and vfx for independent sf feature productions. His client list include such companies as Warner Bros., Anarchos Pictures or Radical Publishing. Several of his artworks have been featured in Ballistic's Exposé 9 and his tutorials regarding digital art were featured in magazines like Imagine FX and PSD Photoshop"

Click the images to enlarge after the jump

Official Synopsis:
“Cloud Atlas” explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future. Action, mystery and romance weave dramatically through the story as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero and a single act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution in the distant future.

See more of Adam Kuczek's portfolio at http://www.ak-art.net/

What do you think of the illustrations? Would live in the world of the future?
 
@ Copyright 2012 Cloud Atlas Productions, X-Filme Creative Pool, Anarchos Pictures, Adam Kuczek. All rights reserved