Check out official Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor 2and Captain America 2 concept art from San Diego Comic Con 2013 by Charlie Wen and Ryan Meinerding!

The Marvel Cinematic Universe films, Iron Man (2008), followed by The Incredible Hulk (2008), Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor(2011), Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and Marvel's The Avengers (2012) have been nicknamed "Phase One" by producer Kevin Feige.

This week we got a sneak peek at the "Phase Two" films Thor: The Dark World (2013) Captain America: The Winter Soldier(2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy(2014).

Charlie Wen is a professional concept artist working for Marvel Studios on films like The Avengers (2012), Thor (2011) and Iron Man 3 (2013). Ryan Meinerding is a professional concept illustrator working for Marvel Studios on big budget films like The Avengers (2012), Iron Man (2008) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).

Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump (click to enlarge).



At San Diego Comic Con 2013 (SDCC 2013) Marvel Studios' made a strong showing giving away posters of concept art for two of their movies Thor 2 and Captain America 2. After a blockbuster panel Saturday evening, Marvel's Executive Editorial Director of its Digital Division tweeted two new pieces of Guardians of the Galaxy concept art.

Thor: The Dark World concept art by Charlie Wen
This poster shows Thor (Chris Hemsworth) rising into the sky with various enemies and friends in the background.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier(2014) concept art by Ryan Meinerding
This poster is full of detail and features Captain America (Chris Evans) fighting the mysterious Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) by Charlie Wen
The poster features a line-up of Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Groot, and Rocket Raccoon.

See more of Charlie Wen's work at charliewen.typepad.com.

Click on the links if you want to see more of Charlie Wen and Ryan Meinerding's work and Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldierconcept art on my blog.

What do you think of the concept art?

Official Thor: The Dark World Summary
Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s Thor and Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.

Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Thor: The Dark World is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, from a story by Don Payne (credit not final) and screenplay by Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (credit not final) and is based on Marvel’s classic Super Hero Thor, who first appeared in the comic book Journey into Mystery“ #83 in August, 1962.

Thor: The Dark World is presented by Marvel Studios. The executive producers are Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Victoria Alonso, Craig Kyle and Nigel Gostelow. The film releases November 8, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Directed by Alan Taylor
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, Jaimie Alexander, Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins

Release date: November 8, 2013 (USA)

Official Site: http://marvel.com/thor

Official Captain America: The Winter SoldierSummary
As Steve Rogers struggles to embrace his role in the modern world and teams up with Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, to battle a powerful yet shadowy enemy in present-day Washington, D.C.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Georges St-Pierre,

Release date: April 4, 2014 (USA)

Official Site: http://marvel.com

Official Guardians of the Galaxy Summary
A U.S. pilot who ends up in space in the middle of a universal conflict and goes on the run with futuristic ex-cons who have something everyone wants.

Directed by James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio del Toro, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close

Release date: August 1, 2014 (USA)

Official Site: http://marvel.com

© Copyright 2014 Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. All rights reserved

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The official Marvel's Iron Man 3: The Art of the Movie art book will be released on May 14th, but yours truly has an exclusive sneak peek for you.

I picked up a copy of the Official Movie Magazine for Marvel's Iron Man 3 and scanned in the special 16 page preview of The Art of Iron Man 3 Hardcover.

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

Please note the images are very large due to the high resolution and will take some time to load.

 

 

 

 

This is only a few pages. The full book is 280 pages of concept art and insider information.You can buy a copy of Marvel's Iron Man 3: The Art of the Movie Slipcase at Amazon.

Official Description: Continuing their popular ART OF series of movie tie-in books, Marvel presents its latest blockbuster achievement! Featuring exclusive concept artwork, behind-the-scenes photographs, production stills, and in-depth interviews with the cast and crew, THE ART OF IRON MAN 3 provides an insider's look into the making of the highly anticipated film directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr. This keepsake volume is co-written by comic-book authors and novelists Stuart Moore and Marie Javins!

Official Synopsis
Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of “Tales of Suspense” (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with “The Invincible Iron Man” (#1) in May of 1968.

“Iron Man 3” is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures and DMG Entertainment. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing and Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Charles Newirth, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard, Alan Fine, Stan Lee and Dan Mintz are executive producers. The film releases May 3, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Directed by: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley

Official website: http://marvel.com/ironman3 
Like IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ironman
Tweet the Official Hashtag: #IronMan3
Follow IRON MAN 3 on Twitter:@Iron_Man

What do you think of the concept art? Are you planning to watch Iron Man 3?

@ Copyright 2013 Marvel Studios,  DMG Entertainment, Walt Disney Studios,  Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved

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BREAKING NEWS
Are we looking at Iron Man's Extremis nanotech armor? The answer is no.

The first concept art from Iron Man 3 has been released and, not surprisingly, it's by Marvel's in-house artist Ryan Meinerding (Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor, Iron Man). The level of detail is astounding of course and we have no idea what the context is, but it's very dramatic.

The artist has named it "Caged" and the idea fits what Marvel producer Kevin Feige has described. "We wanted to take Tony back to, metaphorically speaking, the cave from Iron Man, the first half of Iron Man, when he's cut off from the world and needs just focus on his intellects to get himself out of his situation." Feige said "So he's not calling Thor, he's not calling Captain America, he can't press a special button to have the helicarrier come rescue him, so I think that'll be a nice complement to the team up of Avengers."

Marvel adds this description:
"Tony Stark looks like he could use a little help in this new piece of concept art by Ryan Meinerding from 'Iron Man 3'!

"But who's Tony up against, and what do they want with him? We can't say, but we know that May 3, 2013 can't come quick enough. So from now until then, keep your eyes on Marvel.com and visit our "Iron Man 3" hubpage for even more on the next chapter in Shellhead's saga."

Some have speculated that this armor is coming out of Tony Stark's body like his Extremis armor.

For those not familiar, this is how Wikipedia describes the Extremis armor from the comics
Extremis has been referred to as a "virus" constantly since the story.

The verbatim description offered by its inventor Maya Hansen, goes: "...Extremis is a super-soldier solution. It's a bio-electronics package, fitted into a few billion graphite nanotubes and suspended in a carrier fluid. A magic bullet, like the original super-soldier serum—all fitted into a single injection. It hacks the body's repair center—the part of the brain that keeps a complete blue print of the human body. When we're injured, we refer to that area of the brain to heal properly. Extremis rewrites the repair center. In the first stage, the body essentially becomes an open wound. The normal human blueprint is being replaced with the Extremis blueprint, you see? The brain is being told the body is wrong. Extremis protocol dictates that the subject be placed on life support and intravenously fed nutrients at this point. For the next two or three days, the patient remains unconscious within a cocoon of scabs. (...) Extremis uses the nutrients and body mass to grow new organs. Better ones..."

Could this be the first example of this armor? Let's see.

This is what we've already seen in the first set photo.

Robert Downey Jr. on Iron Man 3 set

Notice Iron Man's armor on the table? It matches exactly what we're seeing in the concept art.

So, this armor is a physical construct, not a nanobot generated one.

Very cool though and I can't wait to see more from this film.

Ryan Meinerding's website is http://boyrobot.com although it's been dead for a while. His Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/ryan.meinerding.

About the movie:
Offical Synopsis: Hitting theaters May 3, 2013, “Iron Man 3” returns Robert Downey, Jr. as the iconic super hero character Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle as James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan.

Directed by Shane Black and starring Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts) and Guy Pearce (Aldrich Killian).

Official site: Marvel.com

Via Entertainment Weekly and MTV

@2012 Marvel Entertainment All rights reserved

What do you think of the illustration? Do you think this is Iron Man's Extremis armor?

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For his French exhibition, Ryan Meinerding talked about what it was like to working on the Marvel films.

Most of the text is in French, but you get a pretty good idea based on his English responses. If you know French and want to translate I'd be happy to add them.

The most interesting part is working with the different directors of the Marvel films.

Working with Kenneth Branaugh, director of Thor (2011)

"Kenneth Branaugh...always had very specific things that he wanted out of the characters and the costumes and the key frame moments. It was amazing how specific he would be about some of the key frame moments...he would want it tweaked in a very specific way"

Working with Joe Johnston, Director of Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Working with Joe Johnston is fantastic. Because he's one of the only directors I've ever worked with because if he didn't like the way something worked he would just sit down and draw it to fix it. Because...he worked on the Star Wars movies and the Indiana Jones movies as an artist. So that was an amazing experience because...he would actually sit down with us to try and figure it out."

Working with Joss Whedon director of The Avengers (2012)

He knows the comics better than we do...He would...have very, very specific ideas about costumes....Specifically which [comic] artist's work he relate it to. Basically, he gave us a lot of information to start off with each of the characters and we just tried to keep up with his mind. Because, he thinks fast and he writes even faster.

What did you think of the interview? Did you learn anything new about Ryan or his work on the films?

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Here are some of the artists that worked on the superhero film The Avengers (2012). As always, there are many talented artists involved in the production of a film. These are only some of them according to IMDb.

Official Synopsis:
Marvel Studios presents in association with Paramount Pictures “Marvel’s The Avengers”–the Super Hero team up of a lifetime, featuring iconic Marvel Super Heroes Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Hawkeye and Black Widow. When an unexpected enemy emerges that threatens global safety and security, Nick Fury, Director of the international peacekeeping agency known as S.H.I.E.L.D., finds himself in need of a team to pull the world back from the brink of disaster. Spanning the globe, a daring recruitment effort begins. Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L. Jackson, and directed by Joss Whedon, “Marvel’s The Avengers” is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” first published in 1963 and a comics institution ever since. Prepare yourself for an exciting event movie, packed with action and spectacular special effects, when “Marvel’s The Avengers” assemble in summer 2012. In “Marvel’s The Avengers,” superheroes team up to pull the world back from the brink of disaster when an unexpected enemy threatens global security.

Director: Joss Whedon

Cinematography by Seamus McGarvey      http://www.seamusmcgarvey.com/
   
Production Design by James Chinlund    
   
Federico D'Alessandro (animatics supervisor)    thefilmartist.com
   
Illustrators   
Josh Nizzi (senior illustrator)    www.joshnizzi.com
Michael Meyers (concept artist)    http://www.vladsworld.com/
Raj Rihal (concept artist)    www.totalrihal.com
Phil Saunders (concept artist)    www.saunderscreative.com
Steve Jung (concept designer)    www.stevejung.net
Kurtis Richmond (concept designer)   
Cara Brower (concept illustrator)    http://carabrower.com
Rodney Fuentebella (concept illustrator)    rodneyf.blogspot.com
Fabian Lacey (concept illustrator)    http://www.fabianlacey.com
Andy Park (concept illustrator)    www.andyparkart.com
Jackson Sze (concept illustrator)   
Tony Bohorquez (concept model maker)   
Richard K. Buoen (conceptual designer)   
Jeff Frost (conceptual model maker)   
Tani Kunitake (illustrator)   
Christopher S. Ross (illustrator)    http://dezyn.com/
Nathan Schroeder (illustrator)    www.nathanschroeder.net
Rusty Gilligan (sketch artist)    http://rustygilligan.blogspot.com/
Adi Granov    http://www.adigranov.net/
Iain McCaig    http://iainmccaig.blogspot.com/
Paul Ozzimo http://www.paulozzimo.com
   
Storyboard Artists   
Richard Bennett (storyboard artist)    www.richardbennettart.com
Federico D'Alessandro (storyboard artist)    thefilmartist.com
Darrin Denlinger (storyboard artist)   
Jim Mitchell (storyboard artist)    http://jmitchellstudio.blogspot.com/
Ryan Jeremy Woodward (storyboard artist)    http://www.bottom-of-the-ninth.com/
Jane Wu (storyboard artist)   
Bryan Andrews
   
Visual Development   
Jacob Johnston (visual development)   
Ryan Meinerding (visual development supervisor)   
Charlie Wen (visual development supervisor)    charliewen.typepad.com


I'll update this list as I find out more. If you know of any artists that worked on this that are not listed please let me know.

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Remember that awesome scene in the Avengers trailer that has them in a circle facing off against the aliens unknown enemy? It was probably based on this poster by Ryan Meinerding. It's not showing here in the states, but someone went to France and sent a picture.

In a French exhibition of Ryan Meinerding fantastic artwork for Marvel Studios, the team stand assembled against an unknown threat in this stunning piece from Marvel's The Avengers. Josh Wilding - 3/15/2012

We've never seen it before, but I'm sure it will be in the book for the film.

You can learn more about the exhibition which runs till April 14th at http://www.arludik.com. If you go please send me some pictures at register 73 @ hotmail.com.

See more of Ryan Meinerding portfolio at his (defunct) site http://boyrobot.com/ and follow him on http://www.facebook.com/ryan.meinerding.

The movie opens in in the US x

All images copyright Marvel Studios

Via Comic Book Movie

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Here are some of the artists that worked on the science-fiction film John Carter (2011). As always, there are many talented artists involved in the production of a film. These are only some of them according to IMDb.

Synopsis: From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes "John Carter"--a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars).

"John Carter" is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins).

In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands

Directed by Andrew Stanton
Production Design by Nathan Crowley

Concept Design Supervisor Iain McCaig http://iainmccaig.blogspot.com/
Scott Patton - character designer http://www.scottpattondesign.com/store.html
Simon Webber - character designer

Wayne D. Barlowe - concept artist http://waynebarlowe.wordpress.com/
Tim Browning - concept artist
Seth Engstrom - concept artist
David Krentz - concept artist http://www.davidkrentz.com
Mishi McCaig - concept artist
Ryan Meinerding - concept artist http://boyrobot.com
Maury Ruiz - concept artist
Phil Saunders - concept artist
Mark Wagner - concept artist
Dan Walker - concept artist http://www.danwalkerconcept.co.uk/
Ross Dearsley - concept artist: Cinesite
Christian Huband - concept illustrator http://www.christianhuband.com/index.php
Vance Kovacs - concept illustrator http://www.vancekovacs.com/
Justin Sweet - concept illustrator http://www.justinsweet.com/
Ryan Church - concept illustrator http://www.ryanchurch.com/
Michael Kutsche - concept illustrator http://michaelkutsche.blogspot.com/
David Krentz - storyboard artist http://www.davidkrentz.com

I'll update this list as I find out more. If you know of any artists that worked on this that are not listed please let me know.

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Captain America: The First Avenger has no concept art gallery. I was going to drop my rating because of it, but then I watched the gorgeous featurettes and stopped complaining.


Product Details

• Actors: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Samuel L. Jackson, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan
• Directors: Joe Johnston
• Writers: Christopher Markus, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Stephen McFeely
• Producers: Alan Fine, Amir Madani, Dan Masciarelli
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English, Spanish
• Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount Studios
• DVD Release Date: October 25, 2011
• Run Time: 124 minutes

Special Features

• Includes Digital Copy
• Deleted Scenes
• Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes
• Marvel One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer -- Go deeper inside the Marvel Universe and unveil secret plans to assemble the ultimate superhero team, the Avengers. 
• And more!

Here are some of the featurettes I found interesting along, with some admittedly poor screen caps from the disk. I just couldn't resist putting some of these on the site.

Featurette Review
Designing the Costume
The director and producer talk about the challenge of designing a faithful comic book costume while making out realistic. Some concept art with interviews with lead concept artist Ryan Meinerding and some brief, but beautiful pan and scans of the illustrations.

Heightened Technology 
The producers and actors talk about the desire to bring advanced technology to WWII without looking out-of-place. We get a few shots of concept art on boards during production and some beautiful images of Daniel Simons' vehicle designs. He's the star of the featurette since he talks extensively about his design principles.

The Transformation 
A great explanation of how the creators got Chris Evans to look skinny and why they did it the way they did. There are only two illustrations, but the focus is on the technology.

Behind the Skull 
This feature talks about how they brought the character of the Red Skull to life. Artists Ryan Meinerding and Charlie Wen take about the challenge of balancing the anatomical effect of a man with his face burned off while maintaining the classic image of the comic book character. Here are some really nice illustrations in this video. The best on the disk really.

Overall, it's a really good set of disks. The concept art for the Marvel films are some of the best in the business and, besides the lack of a gallery, it's still a good disk to own.




Charlie Wen's website is http://charliewen.typepad.com/ and Ryan Meinerding's is http://boyrobot.com/. Both guy's are pretty busy, so Wen's site hasn't been updated since 2010 and Meinerding's blog domain has lapsed. Just go to Marvel.com to see their stuff.

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UPDATED: Sure enough, the next day they released some more of the concept poster I predicted. Plus, they're lining about how I said they would. I've updated the post with the newly released posters and the updated compilation poster.

UPDATE 2: The final posters have been released and I've updated the post. Hi-Res final poster no doube releasing tommorrow. Overall, it's awesome. Wen and Meinerding have done a great job.

Marvel released a concept art poster at San Diego Comic-Con 2011 for the film The Avengers (2012) and it shows two of the Avengers, but we can guess where the others are if we look closely.

On their website they describe the newly released poster(s).

Fans who attended Comic-Con International 2010 will remember the free “Thor” and “Captain America: The First Avenger” posters handed out at the Marvel Booth featuring art by Wen and Meinerding, respectively. This time, to celebrate next year’s release of “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Meinerding and Wen have joined forces to create a series of interlocking posters spotlighting Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

More on Marvel.com

Added 7/23

Added 7/23

Added 7/23

Added 7/24
 

So, we know that these are not two separate posters. They're described as a "series" meaning there are more to come.

If we look closely at the edges though, we can see that there are parts that go off the page. Chances are these are two of six interlocking posters. One for each member of the team.

Here's the roster of the superhero team "The Avengers:"

• Captain America (Chris Evans)
• Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.)
• Thor (Chris Hemsworth)
• Hulk (Mark Ruffalo)
• Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)
• Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner)

So, we know there are four members missing.

We can make a pretty clear guess who's next to the Captain America poster since we can see the Hulk's elbow in the background. If we go by the design of the other two posters the washed-out image of Hulk is probably just a background reference shot.

That doesn't leave a lot of room for the other four members of the team unless they're really far away.

I created a pic to show the Hulk and what looks like the edge of another poster. Too soon to guess what the other poster edge is from.

So be on the look out for four more posters coming soon.

What do you think of the poster? Want to guess where the other four members are?

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