Project Review: The Phantom 2040- PART LXVIII[68]

Here is the 26th Phantom that visits Kit in 2040 with a respirator mask to breath with as part of his outfit.

I did an overlay over Kit to get the designs for the belt and cuff just a generation back in design for his father as The Phantom.[ 22nd]

This one was FUN! I really old phantom from a few generations back[ not the striped shorts]

Here is a sketch for Kit where I revised the sidearms from what another artist had done[ a bit too fat].

Phantom 2040-PART LXVIII [68th]

Phantom Character Designs for Other Phantoms

Client: Hearst Animation Productions.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date Spring 1993.

In this 68th post on "The Phantom 2040" television Animation Series I have posted some of the overlay sketches I worked out for various other Phantoms for the show that I based on the design done a year earlier by Peter Chung, who did our main character line up before I came on board.

In Phantom 2040 , Kit Walker is the 23rd Phantom in a long line of them, so I did a few past Phantoms, Like his father, and great great grandfather. I also had a Future Phantom visit with a respirator attachment as the air was unbreathable in the future in the series since the "Ghost Jungle" was in danger by Maximum Inc.

The Television Series was an amazing experience to help develop the look for the whole world in the Phantom 2040. I have over 400 images uploaded now here on my design blog, that I have scanned and xeroxed, you can search via the Google Search bar up top, or use the Phantom 2040 Tag to the right.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Virtual Set Illustrations or Virtual Photography PART II

This Virtual Set Image was done for Beyond X-mas DVD release for Creative Director Cheryl Savala at The Cimarron Group in 2003.

A Rooftop for the main Superhero to stand on above the school for Superhero Movie. Previous Work Here, here, and here.

A Large Metal Bank Vault Door Image I made for "Jumper" One Sheet Ideas while at The Cimarron Group.

A low angle on the street in a generic big city done for a one sheet for Yes Man back in 2008. My prior post for 3D Illustrations on Yes Man is here.

An up angle on a Virtual Photoshoot I did for the Home Entertainment group at Cimarron for Art Director Darren Keller.

I did this Virtual Set for Art Director Chris A. Hawkins for a Poster Idea for "Banana Shpeel" for The Cimarron Group. Logos I also did are here.

Behind the Art
Virtual Set Illustration or Virtual Photography
PART II

Client(s):20th Century FOX Home Entertainment via The Cimarron Group[Beyond X-mas]
20th Century FOX via The Cimarron Group[ Jumper]
Warner Bros. Pictures via The Cimarron Group[ Yes Man]
My Network TV via The Cimarron Group [Sinners and Saints 2007]
Dimension Films via The Cimarron Group[ Superhero Movie]
Cirque Du Soleil via The Cimarron Group[ Banana Shpeel]
Art Director(s): Calvin Sumler,Chris A. Hawkins, Joseph Stamper, Charyl Savala, and Darren Keller.
Project Date(s): 2003-2009.

This is my second posting on the Virtual Photo shoots I do for my Advertising clients. About half my work consists in this type of deliverable, a Smart 3D asset, where some think that 3D Logos is all I do.

I have posted a few examples from various projects where I needed to create anything from a full vignette of a big city, as I did for YES MAN, and a small building top ledge for Superhero Movie.

Sometimes I can re-use the model from a prior project and adjust the proportions as I did with the big Bank Vault Door I did for the HEAT DVD TV spots, I modified it to fit a Theatrical One Sheet for Jumper comp ideas.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Absolut Vodka "Bot Bar" PART II

Here we have the emotions with a Coy and a "Come On" portrayed by the female character "Trophy".

Here we have the emoticon Designs, a "Smile" and a "Frown" portrayed by "Trophy".

Here we have the emotions of I'm Impressed, and I could care less, as portrayed by the female character "Trophy".

Here we have the emotions with Sad feelings and being Sassy, as portrayed by "Trophy".

Here we have the strong emotion of FLAME[ pissed off], and Jelly, as portrayed by my character design for "Trophy".

Here we have the base emotions of Love and Hate, as seen in "Trophy".

Absolut Vodka Website
"Bot Bar" Character Designs
1996 PART II

Client: Absolut Vodka via Troon Ltd.
Art Director: Chris Trages.
Project Date: April 1996

In this second post I am covering the series of characters or "emodicons" for an online chat room for the website for the Vodka brand Absolut that I created. I was contracted by the Design Studio in Santa Monica, Troon LTD.

The characters were to be done in a Picasso-esque style as abstract art characters, and the second character I designed was the "Trophy Wife" called aptly "Trophy". They wanted a ditsy looking club hopper with costume jewelry, so I designed her around this look.

I had to come up with 12 separate emotions for each character and each was an exaggerated look to identify the feeling as these were eventually scanned in and put on the web back in 1996 and they were tiny, like 256 x 256 at the largest resolution.

Actual Size as Used

You can see the first character "Manhattan" here.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Virtual Set Illustrations or Virtual Photography PART I

This 80's styled classroom Virtual Photoshoot was done for Superhero Movie.

I did this dramatic door shot for the remake of The Fog a few years back with the evil light coming thru the cracks as the young child has taped the door shot trying to keep the FOG out!

I did this Virtual Set for Art Director Chris A. Hawkins for a Poster Idea for Table for Three back in 2009 while at The Cimarron Group.

For It's Complicated they had a bathtub shot and needed a new room to drop the photo into so I did this for The Cimarron Group back in 09' as well.

I did this Virtual Set for Art Director Chris A. Hawkins for a Poster Idea for "All Good Things" Starring Ryan Gosling, back in 2009 while at The Cimarron Group.

Behind the Art
Virtual Set Illustration or Virtual Photography
PART I

Client(s):Magnolia Pictures via The Cimarron Group[All Good Things]
Anchor Bay Entertainment via The Cimarron Group[ Table for Three]
Universal Pictures via The Cimarron Group[ It's Complicated]
Columbia Pictures via The Cimarron Group [The Fog 2008]
Dimension Films via The Cimarron Group[ Superhero Movie]
Art Director(s): Calvin Sumler,Chris A. Hawkins, and Joseph Stamper.
Project Date(s): 2006-2009.

About half my work is doing 3D Logos for films and various clients in Advertising, Video games, DVD's etc., but the second half is sometimes missed and that has to do with virtual sets. Clients have a few choices so they often miss the advantages to the Virtual shoot.

Stock Photography is a HUGE business, and it has been a staple resource for advertisers for years. Hiring a Photographer and a Set Design firm is also a way to go and shoot what you need.

The Virtual photo shoot however gives the client full control over everything in the shoot on a level that traditional ways cannot. 3D Illustration is different in that the 3D Designer is doing all the artwork in 3D, and delivering a finished piece. A Virtual shoot provides an asset to a Art Director to use in a comp or idea they have where they may already have a masked actor ready to go but need something like the room they stand in, or prop they are holding.

As to cost, 3D beats stock photography every time just in the royalties and usage because the client owns the 3D image outright. Enlargements are just a render away, and because it is 3D, a different angle, or lighting version alt is fast to add to the mix.

I have posted a few examples from various projects where I needed to create a wall or backdrop of some sort for a Movie Poster comp as seen.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Absolut Vodka "Bot Bar" 1995 PART I

Here we have the emotions of Boastful and Lust portrayed for the Absolut Vodka Website from 1996 for the character "Manhattan".

Here we have the emotions of Impressed and Fake portrayed by "Manhattan".

Here we have the emotions of Love, and Meaness portrayed by "Manhattan".

Here we have the emotions of the stare, and the smirk portrayed by "Manhattan".

Here we have the emotions of Inrgatitude and "Punny" portrayed by "Manhattan".

Here we have the emotions with a Smile and a "Come On" portrayed by "Manhattan".

Absolut Vodka Website
"Bot Bar" Charaacter Designs
1996 PART I

Client: Absolut Vodka via Troon Ltd.
Art Director: Chris Trages.
Project Date: April 1996

Back in 1996 when the Internet was still just a few years into the public life, I had a chance to create a series of characters or "emodicons" for an online chat room for the website for the Vodka brand Absolut. I was contracted by the Design Studio in Santa Monica called Troon LTD and I worked in-house for a week to create a series of characters for the site.

The characters were to be done in a Picasso-esque style as abstract art characters, but a bit stereotypical so they could be recognized easily on the screen in the chatr oom format. I had a rocker, a hippie, a bombshell etc.

What I have posted today is the first part in the series of characters I designed for Troon, called "Manhattan", who was a rat pack aging man in his late 50's. I had to develop the basic structure of the character, and then present about 12 basic emotions that would cycle about as you spoke to one another in the chat room online in the bot bar as they called it. "Manhattan" was designed with a widows peak and slick greased back hair with an exaggerated look to his cheeks and lips.

This is the first post in a series on the character designs I did for Absolut, so check back for additional characters to come.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: X-Men: First Class PART II

On X-Men 3 I did a bunch of Cerebro styled round portal doors with logos superimposed over them, and this was a continuation of that theme for this film.

Same angle as the finish for X-Men 3's teaser poster I did, with new font use. This was the direction given. We often re-explore an earlier films direction since we deal with the same people, and they tend to stay with certain themes.

A big giant X with a bit of surface part lines added to give the simple metal a bit of detail without changing the look rendered for photography to be overlayed on top of the cast from X-Men:First Class.

A higher view over the big Metal X with some strong fish eye on the lens.

A negative space X with the shape as a cut out with severe motion blur.

In this comp I added some glass geometric shapes reflecting on the simple wall for the prior designs adding in a bit of second read details for the X-Men:First Class look.

X-Men:First Class 2011
PART II

Client: Twentieth Century FOX Film Corporation via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director(s): Calvin Sumler and Joseph Stamper.
Project Date: Summer 2010.

This is PART II of the posts I have for the 3D Illustrations I did Last Summer, I had a chance to work on these Logos for the next installment in the X-Men Origins series with the newest film X-Men First Class which hit theaters over the weekend.

We explored text only teasers, as well as some large concepts of huge metal monoliths, where all the characters would be standing on top on a giant "X". Also revisited the Cerebro Door concept wit a few logos over the round doorway look[ altered], as a way of paying homage back to the original x within a circle from X-Men one.


My Prior posts for the X-men Movie Series:

Over 200 Logos from X-Men 2.
Logos for X-Men 3.
Logos for the Origins spin-off X-Men: Wolverine .
PART I of these X-Men:First Class Logos.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: X-Men: First Class -PART I

This Idea was done for Art Director Calvin Sumler for a Teaser Image.

We did a large series directly connected to the looks of the prior films that I had finished as seen here.

A new text layout with a much thinner "X" than what finished on prior films.

I used a bit of "fish-eye"on the lens here with a n up angle on the layered metal text wall for X-Men First Class.

A liquid metal pool with the Logo coming out of it was a quick direction we explored as well here in a concept for Art Director Joseph Stamper.

A Logo Image using the fragmented metal plates from the "Brain Room" scenes associated with the first film in this new logo. Lots of energy blasting in away as well here, fun stuff to be a part of doing artwork for X-Men First Class advertising.

X-Men:First Class 2011
PART I

Client: Twentieth Century FOX Film Corporation via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director(s): Calvin Sumler and Joseph Stamper.
Project Date: Summer 2010.

Last Summer, I had a chance to work on some Logos for the next installment in the X-Men Origins series with the newest film X-Men First Class which hits theaters today. I made the finish for X-Men 2 while at BLT and Associates back in 2001, and I also made the finish for X-Men 3 while at The Cimarron Group a few years later. I even did work in X-Men: Wolverine the origin series film from a few years back as well, so they called me to create a few logos in that same look for this film.

I had about a day and a half to create about a dozen looks for the pitches for the teaser One Sheet Poster. A fun project as Superhero films always have great Logo possibilities. I have posted PART I to the work I did for the project today, and will post the rest next week sometime, enjoy the film in theaters now.

Cheers, THOM

As a P.S. The Google Search Widget seems to be broken today I will look into it, sorry for the inconvenience.

Project Review: Praxis Filmworks_Cadillac STS PART II

A Liquid filled light up bubbling Deco Column design from early in the project, inspired by Jukebox designs from the 30's.

A very simple design look with some truss and pipe elements off the shelf.

Foreground objects from super simple to very complex were explored during design.

A mock up line drawing with the STS and all the blocked elements in the simple version.

The STS in a the launch tunnel shaded and detailed out.

Cadillac STS 1993
PART II

Client: Praxis Filmworks.
Director: Robert Blalack.
Project Date: Summer 1993.

This is the second post on the set design work I did for Robert Blalack's Praxis Film works for Dodge and a few other clients back in the mid 90's in Hollywood. When we did this New Cadillac STS spot, I designed sets that would be built three times: First the full size practical props, second the miniature set used for the tunnel move, and finally the limited CGI[ new] for the effects and set extensions.

Above you will see a bit of exploration in design we did with some stylized deco columns and foreground elements for the look. Some of the Iron beams made it into the final.

It ended up finishing as a miniature shot with some CG effects. FUN!

You can review PART I here.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Bad Boys II [ two] 2003

This Logo went to finish and was done for Art Director Jeff Barnett.

This alternate with the word "very" added to Bad Boys was done for Rick Lynch at BLT.

An extreme up angle on the Bad Boys Two sign done for Art Director Alon Amir.

Another version done for Art Director Jeff Barnett.

The almost final version of the logo in 3D done for Columbia Pictures for Bad Boys II.

The final Finished Logo done for the International Version for the Films Poster.

Bad Boys 2

Client:Columbia Pictures via BLT and Associates.
Art Director(s): Jeff Barnett, Rick Lynch, Alon Amir.
Project Date: Fall 2002.

While working as the in house 3D Designer at BLT in 2002, I built out a 3D Sign for the title of the new Bad Boys two film, based on a rough "MIAMI" sign seen in the first film title sequence. The final sign went to finish , but it only finished for the international Movie Poster , and not the US released Posters.

I also exported the model out to our 3D Animation Director Matt Hartle for some MGFX looks for the sign.

I had built the Hollywood sign prior to this for a Key Arts Award Image done for Tommy Drissi to support his efforts so I had a practice run for this task.

Cheers, THOM