One of the artists that helped give Batman Begins it's dark and moody look is concept artist Jock.

Jock is the pseudonym of award winning British comics artist Mark Simpson, best known for his work with writer Andy Diggle on Vertigo's The Losers and 2000AD. He's contributed concept art to films like Battleship (2012), Dredd (2012) and G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013). 

Jock shared some of his work on his site and I thought I'd share some of them.

Check after the jump for the images and click on them to enlarge.

 

Wikipedia Synopsis:
Batman Begins is a 2005 British–American superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman along with Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman. The film reboots the Batman film series, telling the origin story of the character from Bruce Wayne's initial fear of bats, the death of his parents, his journey to become Batman, and his fight against Ra's al Ghul's plot to destroy Gotham City. It draws inspiration from classic comic book storylines such as The Man Who Falls, Batman: Year One, and Batman: The Long Halloween.

See more of Mark "Jock" Simpson's portfolio at http://www.4twenty.co.uk/

What do you think of the illustrations?
 
@ Copyright 2005  Warner Bros, Syncopy, DC Comics. All rights reserved


M is for Mark "Jock" Simpson
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.

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J is For "Jock"
This concept art by Mark "Jock" Simpson, who worked on Children of Men (2006), The Losers (2010), and the upcoming Battleship (2012) almost gave Peter Berg's Dune a much different feel.

Synopsis: Set in the far future amidst a sprawling feudal interstellar empire where planetary dynasties are controlled by noble houses that owe an allegiance to the imperial House Corrino, Dune tells the story of young Paul Atreides (the heir apparent to Duke Leto Atreides and heir of House Atreides) as he and his family accept control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the "spice" melange, the most important and valuable substance in the universe. The story explores the complex and multi-layered interactions of politics, religion, ecology, technology, and human emotion, as the forces of the empire confront each other for control of Arrakis and its "spice". - Wikipedia

Once upon a time, Peter Berg was developing a movie version of the classic 1965 Frank Herbert novel Dune. After the David Lynch 1984 film and the SyFy channel mini-series, he said he “had a much more different experience...with the book than David Lynch did." He said his version would "feel significantly different from the others."


He left the project in 2009 and, despite years in development, Paramount finally dropped plans for a remake in 2011.

Looking at the concept art below, it definitely feels "more muscular and adventurous, more violent and possibly even a little bit more fun" than the other interpretations and could have been good.

Jock was a concept artist on the film and provided a fascinating glimpse at the world Peter Berg was imagining. His bold use of color and composition give it a dramatic feel.

Seas of Caladan

Fremen Caves

Sandworm Attack

Paul Atreides: Age 12-13, Age 14-15, Age 16-17

Sardaukar Attack

Spice Mining

The following are a selection of Sand (Spice) Worm designs 

In the series, the sandworms  — called Shai-Hulud (pronounced /ˈʃaɪ hʉˈluːd/) among the Fremen of the desert planet Arrakis (Dune)  — are worshiped as manifestations of "the earth deity of Fremen hearth superstitions." The Fremen believe that the actions of the sandworms are the direct actions of God, and so the worms have been given numerous titles such as the "Great Maker", "The Maker", and the "Worm who is God."(God Emperor of Dune). Virtually indestructible and with indefinite lifespans of potentially thousands of years, the giant sandworms are also referred to as the "Old Man of the Desert", "Old Father Eternity" and "Grandfather of the Desert". The worms may also be referred to by Fremen as Shaitan, post God-Emperor.  - Wikipedia

Newborn worm

@ 2008 Copyright Paramount Pictures

Via ComingSoon.net

What do you think of the illustrations? Have you read the books? Do you think these would have captured the spirit of Dune?



This post is part of the month long "A-Z Challenge." For 27 days, I'll be choosing a letter from the alphabet and crafting a post around it. To read more of the posts in the series click here. To find out more about the challenge go here.

Hosts: Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out, Alex J. Cavanaugh, Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs, Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report, Matthew McNish at The QQQE, Tina Downey atLife is Good, Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie, DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude, Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse, Elizabeth Mueller, Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs, Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain, and Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small. Check the Facebook page and the Twitter hashtag is #AtoZChallenge.

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Update: I've confirmed with the artist that while he did do concept art and design and a full break down of the script these pieces are done purely for his own enjoyment.

The upcoming remake of the 1995 film Judge Dredd, simply called Dredd, promises to look stunning.

Plot Summary: In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality altering drug, SLO-MO.

The concept artist known simply as Jock has created some bold images with broad strokes of color and atmospheric tones.

You can see more of Jock's work at http://www.4twenty.co.uk/

Via MTV

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