The sequel to the $449.3 million hit Thor(2011), called Thor: The Dark World, is set for release November 8, 2013. But it's still fun to look at the beautiful concept art for the film by Nathan Schroeder.

Nathan Schroeder is a professional concept artist who's worked on films such as X, Y and Z. These designs seem to glow with all the gold and gleaming ice formations.

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


He described these illustrations by saying, "Directed by Kenneth Branagh and designed by Bo Welch. Having worked with Bo a year before on LAND OF THE LOST, I was excited to create artwork for the ice world, Jotunheim; as well as the realm of Asgard, where Thor lives."

Thor (2011) "Asgard" by Nathan Schroeder

 Thor (2011) "Jotunheim" by Nathan Schroeder

See more of  Nathan Schroeder's portfolio at NathanSchroeder.net

Click on the links if you want to see more of Nathan Schroeder's work and Thor on my blog.

Official Thor Synopsis
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, “Thor,” which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Official site: thor.marvel.com

© Copyright 2011 Paramount Pictures, Marvel Entertainment Marvel StudiosAll rights reserved

What do you think of the illustrations?

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Do you think you've seen everything in Thor (2011)? Think again.

Thor 2: The Dark World set for release November 8, 2013. But it turns out there were a bunch of things from the first film that got cut. Thanks to concept artist Vance Kovacs we get a peek at some of them.

Things like an alternate version of "The Chamber of The Warriors Three" and the final scene with Loki hanging from the Bifrost rainbow bridge...with Odin helping him?

Kovacs has worked on big budget films like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), Men in Black 3 (2012) and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

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

See more of Vance Kovacs' work at VanceKovacs.comand follow him on Twitter @VanceKovacs

Click on the links if you want to see more of VanceKovacs work and Thor.

Official Synopsis
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, “Thor,” which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Official site: thor.marvel.com


V is for Vance Kovacs
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.

Hosted by The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers), Tossing it Out(Arlee Bird), Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas), Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh), Life is Good (Tina Downey), Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons), Retro-Zombie(Jeremy Hawkins), The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence), The QQQE (Matthew MacNish), Leave it to Livia(Livia Peterson), No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow), Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) and Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

@ Copyright 2011 Paramount Pictures, Marvel Entertainment Marvel StudiosAll rights reserved

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See what the Red Skull could have looked like in Captain America: The First Avenger, plus Thor Frost Giants from Thor and Whiplash and armor designs from Iron Man 2.

Ian Joyner is a professional character designer, illustrator and conceptual artist who's worked on films like The Hunger Games, Real Steel and Avatar. He's currently Lead Character Designer at Legacy Effects (formerly Stan Winston Studios)

Check out the rest of the pictures after the jump and click to enlarge


CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
"Legacy did not officially work on Captain America, but we had a small amount of time to pitch some ideas to show we wanted to work on the film. I got to take a few passes at Hugo Weaving as the Red Skull, which was fun. Not sure why I had such a love for that cataract eye since ‘the Blind Skull’ does not sound as scary…more like a bad death metal band name…"

IRON MAN 2
"My first full-time project at Legacy was Iron Man 2. Working with the team at Marvel, mostly the awesome Ryan Meinerding, I was tasked with bringing the 2d artwork from Iron Man, War Machine and the Drones to the 3rd dimension. I supervised the drone team and got to do all the digital modeling of the suits by myself. It was hectic and painful but definitely fun!

"Below is some work in progress models, maquettes, final suit shots, Sideshow Collectibles statues and one lone concept for an alternate ending they played around with…dark!"

THOR
"We did some design work on the Frost Giants for Marvel Studio’s Thor. Marvel knew they wanted them fairly human so these test designs were for how far the makeup should go from monsterous to human.
For this project, I mostly handled making the armor and got to do a few passes on the giants. The Destroyer doesn’t really fit here, as it is a print done for Sideshow Toys, based off a model provided by Marvel."

See more of Ian Joyner's portfolio at IanJoyner.com

Click on the links if you want to see more of XXX work and YYYY.



R is for Red Skull
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.

Hosted by The Madlab Post (Nicole Ayers), Tossing it Out(Arlee Bird), Amlokiblogs (Damyanti Biswas), Alex J. Cavanaugh (Alex J. Cavanaugh), Life is Good (Tina Downey), Cruising Altitude 2.0 (DL Hammons), Retro-Zombie(Jeremy Hawkins), The Warrior Muse (Shannon Lawrence), The QQQE (Matthew MacNish), Leave it to Livia(Livia Peterson), No Thought 2 Small (Konstanz Silverbow), Breakthrough Blogs (Stephen Tremp) and Spunk on a Stick (L. Diane Wolfe)

@ Copyright 2009 Marvel Studios, ARTIST, All rights reserved

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"Previs is invaluable to get everyone on the same page." - Joss Whedon said about Marvel's The Avengers.

Previsualization (also known as "previs") is like having digital storyboards and the team at "The Third Floor" has been doing work for blockbuster films like Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).

 Here's your chance to see previs samples from Thor, X-Men: First Class, Captain America: The First Avenger, I Am Number Four, War Horse, Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2, Avatar and more.

Check out the video after the jump...



See more of previs work and services from "The Third Floor" at http://thethirdfloorinc.com

What do you think of the illustrations?
 
@ Copyright 2013 The Third Floor Inc. All rights reserved

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The movie Thor had some insane visuals, but one of the scenes that got the biggest cheer is when Thor got his hammer and wasted the Destroyer armor.

One of the storyboard artists on the film was Federico D’Alessandro (I Am Legend, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger) and he has a storyboard on his website I had to share.

Here's the scene if you haven't seen it. Prepare to be amazed.


This is the scene from the script dated 03-26-10

Clad in his full battle armor, holding Mjolnir in his hand -- the God of Thunder once more.


Thor kneels, brings Mjolnir down onto the ground. 

KRAKABOOM!


Lightning strikes the Destroyer. It convulses.


Thor swings Mjolnir around, takes off straight up into the air, as the Destroyer gets back on its feet and looks up at the Thunder God. Storm clouds gather around Thor as he summons gale force winds.


Debris from the battle begins to rise up into the sky. The Destroyer stays there, kept grounded by its massive weight. It lifts its head up at the Thunder God, opens its faceplate, locks it in place, unleashes its blast. Thor dives downwards straight at it, with Mjolnir before him.


Mjolnir collides with the Destroyer's fiery energy blast, overpowering it, pushing it back, forcing it downwards at the Destroyer. Thor jams his hammer deep into the Destroyer's faceplate. The fiery energy within the creature builds up and EXPLODES within him, firing out of all his openings.


Thor smashes the Destroyer to the ground in a tremendous heap, the fiery energy within it extinguished forever. Thor pulls Mjolnir from its faceplate, walks away from its lifeless carcass. As he does, the other objects and debris pulled into the air by the gale winds drop down from the skies, around the Destroyer, burying it.

Amazing stuff.I actually prefer the way it was boarded since we get a side shot and a full view of the hammer just plowing through the armor.

See more of Federico D’Alessandro's portfolio at thefilmartist.com.

What do you think of the storyboards?

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