Project Review: X-Men 2: PART III-3D Logos from a Single Vector

 A double plate 3D Logo design I did for X-Men 2, with some mild pitting in the scratched steel face.

 A glass plate with a heavy bevel and a thin metal plate on top for this X-Men 2 Log I did back a decade ago.

 The top X-Men 3D Logo objects have a heavy thick bevel and the holding device has about half as much. Sitting on a gloss black surface.

 Here I did a hollow face logo for X-Men, with a very big bevel in a warm environment for lighting.

 Here is a deep extrusion coming up from infinity to reveal the above logo with a much deeper holding post.

 A solid two plate design with the X objects pulled out from a bit in 3D space for this X-Men 3D Logo.

 For this alternate I revered the type move and put the "2" out front, I also then cut out the insides to make a deep pocket in there for heavy shadows on a simple x, and a 2.

Project Review

X-Men 2: PART III

3D Logo Designs from a Single Vector File

Client: 20th Century Fox Via BLT and Associates.
Art Director: Zack Ris
Date: Spring 2001

I had well over 200 logos I did for X-Men 2 from a decade back now, when I was an in-house 3D  Designer over at BLT and Associates, and today I have details on one sub-set all based on a single Vector file.

Part of what was great over at BLT, was that an Art Director would give me a single vector file designed in 2D, and also give me plenty of design space to create a dozen solves, not just one. 

Since I am versed in 3D design space,and most importantly, I was taught to think in three dimensions via my Industrial Design Degree from A.C.C.D., I always see a flat vector in multiple solves at delivery in 3D. I usually drop a few suggestions to an Art Director, but typically I do just one design for each logo, but here on X-Men 2, I had time to do about twelve per vector file.

I will be posting a few more solves from other vectors in the future for this X-Men 2 series I have here on my design blog.

You can view PART I here and PART II here, or you can search the blog using X-Men to see my X-Men 3, and First Class stuff as well.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review X-Men 2: PART IV 3D Logo "BOX" X-2 Concepts

First pass was an easy box with type objects placed on each side. I re-used the brushed materials from X-Men 1 logo work.

 This idea took two type ideas, a brushed flat face with a heavy bevel in a case warm metal extrusion. I then turned the "2" and scaled it to fit into the side of the "X".

I really liked this idea, I booleaned out the two from the side of the big "X". It has some legibility issue, but it was a fun solve none the less.

This was a simple look but a complex model, as I did this before I knew Quad Subdivision modeling which would have been a better asset, but the image still read well and carried the same materials from the prior posters.

 This file took the type from the first design and deleted the box object and did a bit of scale to fit of the two parts to match up. Dark Cast metal inside with bu rushed faces.

Roman Numerals were next on the plate, but the X and the II read 'twelve' instead of X-3.

 A second type box with the Roman Numeral two.

Project Review

X-Men 2: PART IV

3D Logo "BOX" X-2 Concepts

Client: 20th Century Fox Via BLT and Associates.
Art Director: Zack Ris
Date: Spring 2001

I had well over 200 logos I did for X-Men 2 from a decade back now, when I was an in-house 3D  Designer over at BLT and Associates, and I have part IV up today that will focus on a sub-segment of ideas that I did for Partner "L", Rick Lynch in having the X, and 2 intersect to create a "box" logo.

It was a heavy metal box as the original doorway was , some parte were flat machined, some cast metal, but all ideas would be used for a teaser posters, and AV trailer ideas we were pitching for the project.

As a 3D Designer, the number of ways to combine two type objects in 3D, are almost endless, so I had a good amount of time exploring in 3D, which most clients do not make time or budget for, and that is the exact time when you make your creative discoveries. BLT always had time to explore, they pushed the design limits on almost everything that I did for them.

I will be posting more solves for X-Men 2 in the weeks that come.

You can view PART I here and PART II here, and PART III here, or you can search the blog using X-Men to see my X-Men 3, and First Class stuff as well.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013-3D Logo exploration PART II

In my 3D Logo exploration back in 2013 for X-Men Days of Future Past, this concentric ring concept was fun direction to explore.

 This version had the center on the "X"  in X-Men, radiating outward to the end of this 3D Film title.

 For this round I added some kinetic animated 3D radial-blur as if the type spun down to the still revealed in the print version of the 3D Logo.

I did a full set with the circles centered in the full title and had a bit more symmetry to the look. I also used multiple metal textures to accentuate the rings a bit.

 This 3D Title had a 3D brushed metal backdrop behind the 3D Logo for X-Men Days of Future Past.

Another 3D Logo for X-Men 4, with the Radial Spin, designed for a living one sheet as well.

 I took the logo and did a full edge to edge 3D render for a teaser title only One-Sheet.

 This 3D Logo got a bit of volumetric back lighting centered on the concentric  circles in the chopped up 3D Font.

I still did some 'bright-on-bright' looks too, but stayed withing the original darker looks for most of the work.

I did experiment with the concentric cutting on the Big X mark as well this was the top lit brighter version.

Here is the alternating ring and darker version of that Big X-Men X Icon in 3D brushed Metal.

Project Review

3D Logo exploration for: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013

PART II

Client: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation via Gravillis Inc.
Project Date May 2013.

Today in PART II in my series of 3D Logo explorations for X-Men Days of Future Past back in 2013 I am covering a fun concept that graphically  broke up the text into rings. I am very familiar with the franchise as I worked on most of the prior X-Men films, from X-Men 2, X-Men 3, and X-Men 4:First Class, and I ended up and finished the X-Men 2 logo as well as the X-Men 3 ones in the past, so I took the full final title layout and created a sereis of looks with the style.

It has been popular to cut and slide type for a while in 2D, and I have done this in 3D as well as seen here for the first Wolverine spin of X-Men film, and on Blood Diamond here, and here on, A Perfect Getaway,

This  4th X-Men film deals with time travel, so they wanted something graphic to show this and time-ripples were a direction they wanted to visualize so I went with a pond-ripple effect by cutting the type in the concentric rings that I bumped, slip and dragged around in 3D space top show a break[ in time].

I will have another PART III posting for this X-Men work I did in the future, so please enjoy the post.
You can review PART I here.

                                               Cheers,   THOM

Project Review: 3D Illustration for: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013 PART III

 The first 3D render done for the placeholder Sentinel for the Comp presentation for X-Men Days of Future Past. This Key Art Comp was done in the Summer of 2013.

Each 3D Illustration I deliver comes with a Z-Depth s mask for depth based post FX for the CD's and AD's using it.

I did a dark and bright pass for each camera angle delivered for the X-Men Sentinel.

 Here is the Quad Sub-D base mesh I designed in 3D for the placeholder.

The base-mesh subdivided to level 3[ I did it @ 4 for renders though]

 For a more menacing feel you raise the camera-up, so they are looking over the eyebrow area so this is V2 for X-Men Days of Future Past.

The brighter pass on the placeholder Sentinel in view two[ V2] for X-Men.

The Base 3D Mesh for the Sentinel Head from X-Man.

The Sub-D mesh of the Sentinel.

The 3/4 view X-Men 4 comp.

Final Sub-D Mesh of the Sentinel. 

 Here is the base model I built for all X-Men Sentinel comps.

Project Review

3D Illustration for: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013

PART III

Client: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation via Gravillis Inc.
Project Date May 2013.

Today is the final installment in my series of 3D Illustration work I did for X-Men Days of Future Past back in 2013. Today in PART III, I am covering a piece of place-holder art for teasers.

Placeholder Art is used to accurately convey an idea, when a final asset is not designed yet, and at the time I was doing this back in 2013, the final Sentinel design was not accessible to the vendors so I had to rely on a few Comic Book images to go with for this piece.

Place holders are used to sell the idea and be replaced with the film asset if approved. I have both designed many robots in the past, and modeled them in 3D,  so I was able to get this done in a quick longer-one-day [12 hrs] gig.

 I'm familiar with the franchise as I worked on most of the prior X-Men films, from X-Men 2, X-Men 3, and X-Men 4:First Class, and I also ended up and finished the X-Men 2 logo as well as the X-Men 3 ones.

This 4th X-Men film, deals with the Sentinels who were created to destroy the X-men so they wanted some Dark comps with the main mask and eyes in it. I did two main views with an ALT for the third 3D Illustration,  a 3/4 side shot at the end.

You can review PART I here.
You can review PART II here.

                                               Cheers,   THOM

Project Review: 3D Logo exploration for: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013- PART I

For round one exploration on X-Men:Days of Future Part, I did a big X as seen in the prior film finishes I worked on, and did a giant bevel look to move away from the smaller bevels found in the early work. A Brushed steel with some cool reflection tones to match the earlier versions was added to tie this new look over. This was a teaser image.

 Here I opened up the 3D Lighting more and warmed up the reflections and ambient. I also rendered with the background plate accepting big 3D shadows for this round to make it stand off more.

 A real 3D cyclorama with some distressed metal texturing was added as I pulled way back from the X for a longer shot.

 The client set-up the type block and wanted the same super bevel added to the title so it was a large hexagonal like block of type. a fun alternate look IMO.

 For the alt we moved away from metal textures and did a white on white in low light looks with minimal textures and bright blown out high-lights, to add a dream like feel to it.

 I also was asked to do a simple 'X' like I did for X-Men 3 only in a portrait proportion vs. landscape.

 

 The distressed version of the X was to be a pitch for a Living One Sheet where it flickered between the clean and busted up one. Sparking effects were to be added in the final animation if it went to finish.

 A 3/4 shot of the clean X as an alt. Render with alpha to putt the logo off the backdrop is a typical request and standard with my 3D deliveries if needed.

 

 Here is the distressed one at 3/4 showcasing the full twisting and bending each leg in the 'X' under went, not fully seen in the direct front shot.

Project Review

3D Logo exploration for: X-Men Days of Future Past 2013

PART I

Client: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation via Gravillis Inc.
Project Date May 2013.

Back in May of 2013 I was happy to work on the next installment of the X-Men franchise with another in the Prequel lineup called, X-Men Days of Future Past. I worked on most of the prior X-Men films, from X-Men 2, X-Men 3, and X-Men 4:First Class, and I ended up and finished the X-Men 2 logo as well as the X-Men 3 ones in the past, so I am very familiar with both the franchise itself, as well as the marketing for the prior films. 

I am also a super-fan of the films as well, so this was FUN STUFF!

I also finished the final logo for X-Men 5 thru another client We Are Bond in 2014, and here is a link to that finished image found in the trailer a seen here below:

                                 Screen Cap from the Motion Graphics for the Trailer here.

In this PART I posting today, I am covering the first exercise in doing a big "X" and some type. They supplied me with the vector files approved for 3D layout, which is the typical way most clients work with me, though I do lay out type myself, for about 25% of my 3D logo work, most is pre-set from the client end to begin with.

Since this was a time travel genre, I was asked to do before and after concepts and they wanted one Big "X" version to have in clean and dented. I did a few conceptual images based in this direction throughout the project.

I will have another PART II posting for this X-Men work I did in the future, so please enjoy the post.

                                               Cheers,   THOM

Project Review: X-Men 2: Part II-Cerebro Door Icon Designs

A Cerebro Door Icon I designed that had a metal brushed front plate, with blue glass sandwiched in between, with some fasteners l holding it all together.
 

By far my personal favorite for the Cerebro Doors I did for X-men two, was this example, with a cast iron double base plate, and a machined top face.

I took the top brushed face and first level of casting from my 'fave up there', and created a "spherical" LOGO that would spin up for the AV and web usage[ my first intro into Motion Graphics]

Metal face with blue glass within with a floating negative space reading "X". A fun solve for X-men that ended up looking alot like what was finished for Fantastic 4 a few years past[ by another artist].

I had this one with 'pachinko' pinball balancing the four parts forming the X for X-men 2 Cerebro Doors that I designed.

 An X door on a rock wall split into two doors, with the lighting taken from the first films finished look at BLT


Project Review
X-Men 2: PART II
Cerebro Door Icon Designs

Client: 20th Century Fox Via BLT and Associates.
Art Director: Zack Ris
Date: Spring 2001

I had well over 200 logos I did for X-Men 2 from a decade back now, when I was an in-house 3D  Designer over at BLT and Associates, so today I have gathered up a set of my favorite Cerebro Door Icons that I did for the project to foucs on them in a better scale to view.

I love doing big metal superhero logos , and this part of the project was a blast to come up with some looks. I had a basic brushed metal look, established in the first film that I used as my spring-board, so I did some direct replicas in 3D, since the first film uses a 2D illustration for the big X, since it is not a real 3D asset.

I had a great amount of design room given to me on this[ BLT's strength!], to come up with some heavy metal, and iron looks for these icons. I did cast metal, brushed metals, lots of blue glass[ that eventually went to Fantastic 4]. A fun process and end product.

You can view PART I here or search the blog using X-Men to see my X-Men 3, and First Class stuff as well.


Cheers, THOM