Project Review: Aquaman Key Art Concepts and Finish April-July 2018

 

Aquaman 3D Key Art- My first concept design using the green and orange color palette. This one has the ribbed Icon with glass letters and an orange brushed metal DC badge. This was my favorite.

 

Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab showing the lighting set up. To get exact highlight placements it is really quick to put individual lights for the letters, as well as a global light set up as I have the Cebas Final Render rectangular lights for long light box like highlights above and below.

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader showing surface from the camera. This is the subdivided mesh with 4 iterations so a very mesh dense object to get the ribbing smooth.

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader showing surface on the Poly Base Mesh with no Sub-D added.

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader 3/4 front low angle, here you can see the displacement needed the 4 levels to get them smooth enough for render-time.

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader from behind shows the Icon is 2 sided since it was glass and needed better internal refraction's with more geometry.

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a second render with the type kerned in closer using all the same settings as above, with the highlight lights moved in to each letter.

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab with viewport materials and no edged faces. this lets me see the smoothing on the Icon to see if I needed more geometry before rendering, which was long.

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader showing surface for this tighter design.

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab with map and materials called out.

 

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- This brighter version is what they picked and I made the finish on the logo used.

 

 

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader showing the surface and lighting I used to get the even highlights from the top.

 

 

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader showing the big reflection sphere I used here to match the MGFX treatment.

 

 

 

Aquaman 3D Key Art- a Screen Grab in Clay shader showing a large off camera light box I used for reflections into the glass Icon. Letters were metal so this was to get more contrast in the icon as in a lighter space it needed that differentiation.

 

 

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- some early glass concepts for the icon. At this stage I was still on black with the dark feel of other DC films.

 

 

 

 Aquaman 3D Key Art- I loved this one very subtle highlights with higher contrast. I built this scene for Superman Returns years earlier in 2006 so I had the glass dialed in already.

 

 

 

Aquaman 3D Key Art- This became the finished material just did a night to day swap on the environment.

Project Review
Aquaman Key Art

Concepts and Finish April-July 2018
 

Client: Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc + DC Comics via BOND
Creative Direction: Patrick Dillon. 
Project Date:  April- June 2018.

     Today I can post the work I did for Patrick at BOND for DC's Aquaman. I love superhero films, and I have had the pleasure to work on many of them over my career. 

     Aquaman was introduced into the DC film universe with a cameo in Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice back in 2016, so I was looking forward to working on Key Art Titles for the film in 2018. The character dates back to 1941 right before we officially entered WWII and appeared in the 50's and 60's, so he has been around a while. I am Gen-X so I grew up with both the comics, and the Saturday morning Cartoons. I remember the distinctive orange and green, being complimentary colors looking nice in his suit so you will see my paying respect to this color combo with my earlier concepts I have.

 

   I also posted Behind the Art images with some wire frames and Clay shader screen grabs showing the concept and final finish build out. I also show the displacement map I created for the custom designed ribbed texture in the glass Icon I developed in the early stages that was not picked for the final. It the film the gateway entrance uses this shape as well as the tips of the trident.

 
    I built out the Icon first, then the type was laid out for me by designers and Art Directors at L&R, and delivered in both a compact format and spread out and kerned very wide, which is what they ended up with. The 3D models I build all can be reused and rendered out at many different angles, finishes, and using displacement the geometry was built to be quads so I could add a real 3D texture to the work, or keep it smooth as glass.

 

    The first postings above are of the Key Art concepts, and this is where I had some creative room to build out what I saw as a nice dark and moody render of the logo on black. I was playing off of Jack Snyder's influence in this iteration of the DC universe in both Batman and Superman films, as both had a much darker look than where this film moved to. For this project, glass was an integral part of the designs in both versions. It played off water as a transparent texture.

     I did go to a bright look that is much whiter and smooth for the final that was picked. I did get the finish on the Key Art, and they used my 3D Logos and Icon for both the first and second films, along with all 3rd party marketing as well as at the films premiere with a 9000 pixel icon render that was almost 17 feet tall on Hollywood boulevard at the Chinese Theater.

     A cool side note is they reused the Logo and Icon for the sequel too. Often like in the X-Men films, each film gets a new Icon and title look as I did work on a number of them myself.

 

     I am back full time doing freelance as I hunt for a full-time place to work at, so if you need a bid for a 3D Illustration or 3D Logo, or a 3D Model feel free to contact me for a quote. I am open to Hourly gig's, Work Retainers, Part-time, and Full Time opportunities [ Open to relocation ] would be best. I have worked remote since 2009, so I am ready to help you.

                                 Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Toy Story 4 3D Logo Neon Illustrations for Key Art 2018

3D Neon Toy Story 4 Key Art Title Concept Designs. This first image was so close to being the final pick. A straight on shot with the aged and rusty finishes. This is still my desktop on my workstation. I loved this project for PIXAR!

3D Neon Toy Story 4- Key Art Title in a clean finish similar to the other films.

 

 

3D Neon Toy Story 4- Ambient/ Dirt Render to accentuate the intersections in the geometry as well as add in ambient pass lighting to get better realism.

3D Neon Toy Story 4- Key Z-Depth Pass for distance based edits in post for the Art Directors at the Leroy and Rose agency.

3D Neon Toy Story 4- A subdivided Clay Screen grab from the Camera View showing the mesh levels used in the build.

3D Neon Toy Story 4  Base mesh Low Poly Screen Grab in Clay material showing just the forms.

3D Neon Toy Story 4  A Screen grab with Materials to show inside the 3D Neon Tubes as well as the the clips and rivets in my build.

3D Neon Toy Story 4  Key Art Title Concept Design View #2 a Low Angle with a bit of fish-eye on the lens. This is the cleaner of the two finishes.

 

3D Neon Toy Story 4  Key Art Title Concept Design in the rusted and weathered look.

 

3D Neon Toy Story 4  The Ambient Render pass. This angles shows the deformations on the rough wall back plate better at an angle.

3D Neon Toy Story 4  The Z-Depth mask Render Pass here falls off for more distance based edits after the image is delivered.

 

3D Neon Toy Story 4  Screen Grab showing the side of the build. If you look closely there is a neon tube behind the sign tin backing to give a back glow on the wall.

 

3D Neon Toy Story 4  Super close up Screen Grab in Clay material shows that little toggle switch I built.

 

3D Neon Toy Story 4 Super close up Screen Grab in Clay material shows the tube clip details. 

 

 

3D Neon Toy Story 4 a high angle view in the Clay materials. This view shows the hangers on top.

 

3D Neon Toy Story in Clay material finish showcasing surface only in a low angle up view on the sign.

Project Review

Toy Story 4
3D Logo Neon Illustrations

for Key Art 2018
 

Client:  PIXAR/ Walt Disney Feature Animation via Leroy and Rose
Creative Direction:  Melchior Lamy 
Project Date:  February to June 2018.

     I can now post work that I did for Melchior at Leroy & Rose for PIXAR's Toy Story 4 from back in 2018. This design went all the way to the 11th hour and was close to finishing, but they went more simple in the end.

     As a 3D Artist, doing anything for PIXAR is an honor as they were trailblazers in the field of 3D Animation which helped mainstream the technology to where it is at today as now it's considered common place.

 

     I also posted Behind the Art images with some wire frames and Clay shader screen grabs showing way I build out 3D Neon. I have always loved neon signs, from the light they give off, the flickers, and the buzz they emanate. Being a Classic Car nut, these signs are found all over Vintage Car shops so it is a natural fit for me a gear head. Also, I am a fabricator and builder, and love the craft behind real the ones.

    I found over a few years of building out neon a few simple things I do. I create both the exterior glass tube, that's two sided with a 3DSmax Shell modifier added to the spline to give it a glass thickness. I also build out a second internal object spline that that represents the gas inside the tube that glows, and this is where I put the self illumination glow on so it refracts a bit through the tube glass. I also add color to the glass itself to simulate color bleed so red glass with red glow etc. I love the little clips that hold the tubes as well.

    For this 4th installment of Toy Story I was directed to go with neon for the main 3D Logo, as a good portion of the film takes place in a county fair environment as well as inside a antique store. I did both a clean versions of the sign, as well as aged and rusted version. So, my baseline was a delivery of 2 views in 2 finishes. 

 

    I did work on Key Art 3D Titles for Toy Story 4 for a few other vendors as well after this, but this version was a wall mounted hanging sign design with a lot more vintage bits added in. The toggle switch was placed on the bottom extrusion of tin sign. That 3D Model I built, and sell at TurboSquids Stock 3D model site here. I also built out the wall hangers on the back and the vintage square nails with cross hatched tips. A few wires completed the look and an aged wall was built as a 3D Displacement with modeled out surface cracks and irregularities.

 
    Again, just this one 3D model can be reused and rendered out at many different angles.The first comp is where the time is mostly billed at, yet once made, the re-shoots are so much quicker when the model is already ready to go, so it really deserves a few shots at least.

 

     I am back full time doing freelance as I hunt for a full-time place to work at, so if you need a bid for a 3D Illustration or 3D Logo, or a 3D Model feel free to contact me for a quote. I am open to Hourly gig's, Work Retainers, Part-time, and Full Time opportunities [ Open to relocation ] would be best. I have worked remote since 2009, so I am ready to help you.

                                 Cheers, THOM

Project Review: 3D Glass Logo Concepts for Key Art for the film Glass from M. Night Shyamalan in 2019

This 3D Logo I did for Key Art concepts for the film Glass, from M Night Shyamalan was my favorite one personally in the group.

 
 

 This Screen Grab shows the boolean objects I used to make the cracks. I designed the cracks based on a real bullet hole image I found and I hand drew and vectorized the file to make the cutter object.

 

This Screen Grab shows the Cebas: Final Render Rectangular Lights I used to accentuate the edges for legibility since glass materials can be tricky to light for Key Art use.

 

 This flat Clay shader in the screen grab shows base surface at the camera viewpoint. Surface in a 3D Model is what makes the lights and material work. Very important to have a nice model.

 

This 3/4 angle shows the thickness as well as where I hand moved some pieces out, and removed some entirely.

 

 

 

This Screen Grab for the Film Glass, shows everything in the cracks are radiating from the center hole in the letter "A".

 

 This last Screen Grab is a close up on the 3D Logo model letter A the start of the destruction to the logo.

 

 

 

 This 3D Rendered Logo used the same type as above, and shows a solid 3D file with a procedural texture of surface scratches. It's a much faster render with less face count, and a different look.

 

 

 

This last render on that same font above is a simple sharp beveled edge render. Clean.

 

 

 

This next design I also cut it using the shatter cutter I had in concept one above.

This render is a Center Bevel , or Single Point Bevel with both front and back bevels using a mirror modifier. This gives a lot of internal reflections rather that a plain flat extruded style.

 

  This same type face set for me I  also created a soft rounded edge design which is liquid like and  gets nice smooth highlights. To do this I built it out as a Quad model and add in Sub-D to soften and melt the edges. you get no sharp hard chisel reflections.

 

 This last type layout also need to get shattered. I loved doing these as you can see. The second film Split in the trilogy was my inspiration for bringing that look back as an echo to the prior film Poster use of shattered glass.

Project Review

3D Glass Logo Concepts for Key Art for the film Glass from M. Night Shyamalan in 2019

Client:  Universal Pictures via BOND
Project Date:  May 2018.
Direction: Patrick Dillon.

        This next posted project for Patrick Dillon @ BOND was to build out 3D Logos for the final film in his trilogy of films from Unbreakable, to Split, and finally Glass, from M. Night Shyamalan. It was a real treat for me, as M Night is one of my favorite directors, and I loved the two prior films of Unbreakable and Split, so I really wanted to do this freelance.

     I began doing glass logos and illustrations in 3D back in 2001 while at BLT Communications on the James Bond Die Another Day Film. I first did 3D Glass Logos for 007, then I built out his signature Walther PPK firearm as a full X-ray model with all interior parts. The theory at the time was to use it in a Motion Graphics piece. That never came to fruition at the time however.

      Coincidentally a visiting Director at the agency, Todd Phillips saw the piece I did, and I got to sit down with him and discuss using that glass look for his current project Starsky and Hutch in my office at the workstation to show the 3D X-ray model I built. He had a great concept with an 8-Track player in the car that would shift over to glass for a Title credits sequence. Though that did not finish either, it was a great talk with a really great director as well. An experience I will remember.

 

      For each of the Glass title concepts I was given type set up for me by various Art Directors and Designers on the project. They provide the vector outline file, then I am off to build. As a 3D Visualization Artist, I see many ways to take an outline and make it a solid and dimensional. Some are sharp edged, some rounder, and some are destroyed as you see in this post. One single file can have a multitude of dimensional solution, and the posted images above show this.

 

      Glass itself as a 3D material, is very difficult to get legibility to work as a Title Logo, as it is entirely dependent on the environment. It reads in both dark and light, but darker environments with strong highlights is better. Also studio lighting with liquid reflections from light boxes and wands works best in CGI as in a studio.

 

        I did concepts where the logo was shattered apart and made from glass, and not just a static design to me but 'a frame in time' that crossed from 3D Illustration into a 3D Logo. I have a Screen grab showing the cutting object that I made a hand drawn vector with a little gap and thickness since in 3D, CG glass likes that space so reflections and refraction don't take forever to render.

 

     As a Behind the Art aspect to this post, I dropped a slew of screen grabs showing the base mesh and surface details without lighting or textures in a flat Clay material in 3DSmax. If you look closely you can see once the object was cut via a boolean, I slightly moved and rotated the shards a bit to indicate the motion fame caught in time. It also give the render a more realistic feel as all face planes are not parallel.

      Need my help on a project? My Linkedin Profile button on the right column has all my contact details in there along with in my experience section here, with links back to samples on this blog. 

    That Google search widget window up top in the Blog page is helpful for finding work going back to 2009.

Thanks for stopping by.

 

                                 Cheers, THOM

Project Review: NOS4A2 AMC Series- 3D Illustration of 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith for Key Art 2019 - PART II

 

A Camera view straight on  the 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith built Skull Icon with all the bells and whistles. I added blood spatter and some aging along with dramatic lighting, which made this concept my favorite.

A Camera view straight on rendered out with out the blood spattering so it is clean so the client can rough it up the a level that they want too.

 A Lowered front Camera view that tipped the skull back so it was looking down at us. 3D illustration makes this a simple camera move and re-render, an economy of scale with tight budgets.

 

 

A 3/4 left Camera view shows some more depth in the build. Since multiple Art Directors are using these 3D Illustrations this gives them more options to pick from.

 

 

A 3/4 right side Camera view. I also used the Z-Depth pass to darken the lighting as the skull tipped back on the left to stage it better.

 

 

A elevated Camera view straight on looking down showing of the "chin" area below the radiator grill and those chrome strips on elevated sheet-metal gave a similar lighting like teeth sockets in the skull or the gums.

 

 

Another elevated Camera view tilled slightly, but I used a much shorter lens with the Cebas Final Render fish-eye camera instead.

 

 

A Camera view straight on in the Ambient/ Dirt shader render pass. I use this to add depth to the render by darkening geometry intersections. It also add a bit of roll to the lighting and material naturally found in real life.

A Camera view straight on screen grab in the Red Clay showing the Quad Subdivision Base Mesh

A Camera view straight on screen grab in the Red Clay showing the Subdivision set a 2.

Aclose front perspective view in the Red Clay showing more details in my build.

 

A 3/4 screen grab in the Red Clay shows the dimension as well as those fabulous horns taken from the classic car.

 

A 3/4 screen grab in the Red Clay showing that cool 'chin' just below the grill. it made great 'teeth' for the skull!

A 3/4 screen grab in the Red Clay close up shows the woven screen on the horns. I grabbed that from a microphone I built out in a prior project, and flattened it back out, as I saved it flat for this reason for later use.

 

A 3/4 screen grab in the Red Clay showing surface and dimension on the grill area

This screen grab shows the Hood ornament as a base mesh with out Sub-D added yet as the main character, Charlie Manx along with the Rolls Royce logo changed out to his initials to CM.

  A view-port material view screen grab shows that I did build out the interior inside the headlight buckets with bulb, reflector back that was properly fluted, and the bulb holders and internal filament too.

Project Review
NOS4A2 AMC Series

3D Illustration of 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith

for Key Art 2019
PART II

Client:  AMC via Leroy and Rose
Creative Direction:  Melchior Lamy 
Project Date:  February 2019.

     I am now able to post more work that I did for Melchior at Leroy & Rose for some Key Art work for the AMC Series NOS4A2 [ a.k.a. Nosferatu ] I love working with L&R!

      This project was a really fun concept that I was given to take a classic 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith front end and use the parts to emulate a human skull with the headlights as the eyes. It also has an old county fair Ferris wheel that made the round top of the skull.Everything except the Ferris wheel were built out in Quads for subdivision surfaces. 

 

     I also posted some Behind the Art images with some wireframes and Clay shader screen grabs showing the base poly mesh and the subdivided smoothed one above. I love the 'Jewelry', or shiny bits and details found on classic cars, take a look at my Instragram and you will see that I take a lot of close up shots on classics, so this love of mine translates over to my 3D builds.

 
    This project really showcases the power of using 3D assets for this type of work. It could have been a "Frankenstein-Comp" using Photoshop to piece it together bit by bit, but when you do it in 3D you have the benefit of rendering it again with different camera angles, lighting, textures, and even a unique camera lens with a fish-eye exaggerated views as shown in my images above. So one base 3D model at different angles with a variety of textures was possible with a single 3D build, and then rendered over and over. The first comp is where the time is mostly billed at, with the extra shots at a much quicker pace when the model is ready.

 

     My Global Illumination render plug-in of choice is Cebas Software Final Render, as it include extra cameras to have full control of the level of distortion so you get a true curved lens output in 3D.I highly recommend this software as a plug in for 3DSmax or Maya.

   As a Transportation designer I love all things automotive, so from the 3D Logo License Plate to actually building out classic car parts to put together into a really fun concept of a skull was super cool, and a rare type of gig I get. Also as a huge Horror fan the concept was a privilege to do this work.

You can view PART-I here. The License Plate 3D Logo that made it to finish, and was also used on the new reprints of the novel Book Cover as well.

     If you need a bid for a 3D Illustration or 3D Logo , or a 3D Model feel free to contact me for a quote. I am open to Hourly gig's , Work Retainers , Part-time , and Full Time opportunities [ Open to relocation ]. I have worked remote since 2009, so I am ready to go, but I would prefer an in-house team.

                                 Cheers, THOM