Project Review: Sucker Punch

The finished poster from over at www.impawards.com the premiere movie poster site here

A huge Sucker Punch Movie Billboard render at 18,000 pixels wide done with multiple light sources with all logos in a single file render.

Here is a behind the Art view at the three main steps I used to create the type.

A straight on view of the final logo with Simbiont Procedural scratching and photographic dirt and grime used with the Cebas Final Render Shaders.

This was the final view and lighting for the Payoff Poster for the film Sucker Punch.

An earlier concept type treatment where it was extruded about double deep.

Rendered for the red lit comp done for the character Rocket from Sucker Punch.

Rendered for the yellow lit comp done for the character Blondie from Sucker Punch.

Rendered for the green-yellow lit comp done for the character Amber from Sucker Punch.

Rendered for the cool lit comp done for the character Sweet Pea from Sucker Punch.

Ask and you shall receive! Here is the requested "Baby Doll" Logo I did. Enjoy...

Sucker Punch 2011

Client: Warner Brothers Pictures via Mojo LLC.
Creative Direction: Andrew Percival. 
Art Director(s): Alessandro Cornia. 
Project Date: November and December 2010.

This is my very first theatrical finish for Mojohouse LLC , for work I did last year around the holidays for Sucker Punch, which came out today in theaters. This was a fun conceptual film to help create artwork on. I had worked with Alessandro 9 years prior, over at BLT and Associates in Hollywood, and I enjoyed working with him in the past. I also worked very close with the studio Creative Director, Andrew Percival on the property for about two months on various aspects of the advertising.

I built out all the 3D text using a quad modeling method to soften the shapes up more, and round all edges down, to take away the CG sharp look. Once the look was approved by the client I did all the variations for the other names and applications. I added in procedural scratching, as well as photographic dirt and grime to the chrome material to get the look just right as directed by the Creative Director at Mojo.

Also on this job, I was able to light each type treatment on a per piece basis, and reflect the comp itself into the type, so lighting and colors were key to each use. I did many names in a basic chrome with a blue-sky background, and then I did specific to comp ones, in red, green, and blue etc.

I also did a big wide 30 sheet render with all names in a single file so the perspective would match and, this comp was lit by multiple colored lighted backgrounds from the flat artwork, and still look somewhat real. That image alone was a 19,000 pixel wide render and they needed the assets at a huge scale. A normal 30 sheet uses a 5000 pixel wide render so this was extra big.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Tomb Raider 2 The Cradle of Life Part I

A stone version of the iconic Tomb Raider dual layer 3D Logo.

A jagged edge on a new font treatment for the main Title logo for Tomb Raider 2.

We almost finished this Logo for thew poster, I even rendered it at 5K size for finishing and we had a finish made, but were passed at the end.

The circle concept was used for an Icon for the sphere that they find in the film.

An underwater ruins backdrop for a poster concept with Laura Croft in the foreground in Full Scuba.

A second concept piece for a backdrop to a big head shot poster concept.

A sphere floating above a series of fingers of rock.

A caged sphere concept.

Project Review
Tomb Raider 2 The Cradle of Life
Part I

Client: Paramount Pictures.
Art Director(s):Rick Lynch, Warren Nung, Zack Ris, Marcus Almaraz
Project Date: Summer 2002.

Working in-house at BLT and Associates as the 3D designer responsible for all 3D assets for print and AV[ audio-video] I was put onto the Tomb Raider 2 project very early on, and spent a good four months doing logos, and 3D environments since the film was yet to be shot yet, so I did concept designs for the teaser poster ideas from print.

A fun project where I had to first duplicate the look of the 3D logo done for the first film. That simple brushed metal with chrome on top of a gold holding device is the most referenced 3D logo I have experienced.

There also was also a magic sphere in the film that we conceptualized in a few ways that can be seen along with the underwater ruins that were done. A really fun project.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Novel Comics Gumboman

Recently I built a Cajun Swamphouse [ buy it on Turbosquid!] that was influenced by this story Gumboman from Novel Comics.

Gumboman himself!

A Swamp truck from the project.

A yummy bowl of Gumbo!

The Alligator triplets.

A Color Key I did of the Gator Boys.

The Banjo Twins.

A Demonic Urinal. Imagine that coming your way, Yikes!

Half Man and Half Crawfish!

The Who-Doo Queen.

An old Gumbo shack I did back almost a decade ago as a test in the first 3DS max in 1995.

GUMBO MAN

Client: Novel Comics.
Creative Director: Bryan Thompson.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date: 1994-96.

Back in the mid nineties when I was full time at Hearst Animation Productions working on The Phantom 2040, and The New Adventures of Flash Gordon, I met and worked with Bryan Thompson who worked at Hearst with me. He wrote a great treatment for his original story GumboMan, and after reading it I wanted to do some visuals for the story.

After leaving Hearst I helped Bryan out with visuals for the project with some preliminary character concept sketchs and some various vehicles to support the project that you see above. Brian has a company called Novel Comics that he does all his story work out of as a freelance writer in Hollywood CA.

A very fun project that took place in the swamp, and I return to the swamp house theme in my 3D as seen above with the model I sell of the Cajun Swamphouse on TurboSquid[ link on sidebar>>].

Project Review: Lord of the Rings

A Sample of some 3D type I did back in 2001 for the first film.

I used a Simbiont Procedural map for a displacement to get the severe pitting here on this plate type.

A two line variation with a simple extrusion and light bevel.

A graphic view interior set piece I built for a comp idea.

A made a poster width gate shot for a few comp ideas that was filled with a CGI army.

An alternate view of the gate for another poster idea.

Lord of the Rings

Client: New Line Cinema via BLT and Associates.
Art Director: Rick Lynch, and Alon Amir.
Project Date(s):Fall 2001 and Fall 2003.

I did a small amount of 3D Illustration work for two of the three film ad campaigns for the Trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, back in both the fall of 2001, and of 2003.

Early on I did a few 3D extruded logos in various materials. Back in 2001 I had not developed the technique to effectively do a single point bevel so this type did not get that treatment which it was made for.

For the Return of the King, I did more set pieces with the castle wall you see above, and a few interiors as well. A day or two of work at most, but fun stuff to work on.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: The Phantom 2040 PART 53

Aunt Heloise's living room was a regular set we visited in the show with the rock fireplace above.

A typical exterior city shot done as a quick production background replacement.

A detailed lab interior looking down from the ceiling.

One of the fifty plus shots I revised for the train sequence in the opening movie with The Phantom 2040.

Phantom 2040-PART LIII [53rd]

Production Layouts

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

In this 53rd post on "The Phantom 2040" television Animation Series I have put up some of the layouts that I did for production. These are done very quickly as I was fixing the backgrounds that were done by our vendor in Canada that were wrong.

As an Art Director on an Animated Series I was responsible for the look, and even though we were a low budget show, as far as our competition was concerned, I still wanted to get the look right, so I took it upon myself to fix as many backgrounds as I could myself.

We had all layouts done in Canada, and I went up there for a few days to help establish the look, but I still had to correct a good portion of what we got. The biggest area of concern was the simple proportions. We lived in a "Tall and Thin" world as the characters were all 10-12 heads tall and super gaunt, as they were built from Peter Chungs concept sketches. The layouts tended to be even shorter than real life, like a midget world, so I had to redraw full sequences. as they shortened the height in some areas rather than to stretch them up.

Above you will see a few examples of some areas that I had to revise. Also a Production background is a much more simple design over a Establishing Shot Background, as there are hundereds per show so it was not like an establishing shot, where you do just one shot and they match the rest, I did all the shots for the train car as an example, which came to over fifty backgrounds just for the train area. Also each sketch is between 15 and 45 minutes to design and draw so you must work very fast compared to a few hours for the establishing ones.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Zu Warriors

The finished Zu Warriors Movie Poster for the Re-release with my 3D Illustrations used.

Here is the Final Wings set I created that went to finish.

This variation had the main character coming at us so I spread the Knife Wings out.

Another version with a "heart" shaped negative space in between the wings.

An ornate flying boomerang I built for the Poster Comps.

I did a close up of the Yin-Yang Sword hilt details for the Poster as well.

Sometimes a quick 3D illustrations saves loads of time as with these little posts to stand on were a fast addition to the project as well.

Zu Warriors

Client: Miramax Films via BLT and Associates.
Art Director: Alon Amir.
Project Date: Winter 2001

Almost ten years back one of my early Theatrical Advertising finishes over at BLT and Associates was the America re-release of Zu Warriors , a Chinese Fantasy Film with some very beautiful visuals that needed some of my 3D Illustrations done for the poster.

The film was a few years old and I rebuilt some key assets for a One Sheet for the American and Spanish releases. One of the main characters has a set of wings made out of these knife blades, so I built them out in 3D and posed them into various forms for the different comp ideas, until one went to finish. I also did a close up of the main sword that is used to defeat the enemy with the Yin-Yang hilt. There was this disc shaped flying boomerang knife that I built as well. And sometimes I even have to do some smaller parts like the rock columns that the Warriors stand on. A fun design exercise.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Phantom 2040 PART 52- Phantoms Hero:Mustang

The Phantom 2040 drove a modified 199 model Ford Mustang in the year 2040. [Designed by me in the year 1993-94]

Here is a closer to elevation angle of the floating car used in all 52 episodes.

A 3/4 top view of the Mustang when it was in "civilian mode" so Kit Walker could drive it to school.

A Re-post form a vehicle series I did last year, but this was the main sketch of the simplified Here vehicle[ The non-Mattel version]

This is the convertible version of "Hero", closer to the concept car Ford did in around that time, and this version had lots of bells and whistles.

Phantom 2040-PART LII [ 52]

The Phantom/ Kit Walkers Mustang Hero
Design Drawings

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

In this 52nd post on "The Phantom 2040" television Animation Series I have put up the rest of the scanned sketches I have found for Kit's Flying Mustang called "Hero" based on the original characters Mustang Horse he rode.

I had posted one shot in a prior post focusing on various vehicles that I designed for the series and this post covers the Hero once finished with development. As a Transportation Design Major from Art Center in Pasadena, I long for jobs like this one, a future car that hovers, what could be more enjoyable. It should be noted that the 199 Mustang was a future car in 1993 when I sketched these, which makes the designs I did almost 18 years old now. There was a concept car mustang done in 1993 that I used ques from the reach the look, but I modified them to my tastes to what you see above.

I did two main versions of the car, one in basic driving mode that was used when Kit Walker was Kit, and the second was when Kit transformed into the Phantom and the car floated. I also did a much more complicated version more like a toy with 10 pop out panels and such that you can see here, but in the end we simplified the design for production.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: James Bond 007:Die Another Day 2002

A 3D Model of a Walther PPK in glass for the Print Advertising done for Die Another Day.

An alternate angle rendered on the 3D Model of the Walther PPK in glass.

Here is an exploded view of the PPK I build knowing it would be X-Rayed so to speak so it needed guts.

A shattered Camera Iris done in Ice[ An Art Director asked for this, but once I built it I figured he wanted the barrel rifling so I made that too]

Looking into the PPK loaded.

Looking out the PPK,... Where's James?

A quick Ice room comp for a print idea.

Die Another Day
James Bond 007

Client: MGM via BLT and Associates.
Art Director: n/a.
Project Date:Summer and Fall 2002.

While designing over at BLT and Associates for a variety of Film advertising campaigns, I was assigned to the new James Bond film, Die Another Day, which had a large component of "ice" being used in the film, so it was pushed into the concepts.

My first task was to build out a Walther PPK, the gun used by James Bond in all his films. I went online and found blueprints to it and I had just a day to build it out., so no quads I used regular Boolean Operands.

This was the first of many firearms I have built fully inside and out. I did the rifling or twists inside the gun barrel as well which is also an iconic image for Bond in 3D as well. Look for a second posting for this same project shortly on the 3D Logos I did as well.

Cheers, THOM