Blasto Poster Pt. 3

Finally got around to finishing up that Captain Blasto poster I started working on for my brother last year.And here's the first pencil sketch from September '07.

CaptainBlasto.com Update

Just wanted to let you all know there's some new content over at captainblasto.com. Under the PICTURES section I've added some of the comic artwork and chapter illustrations from the film, such as the ones seen below.

Blasto Sketches

Here's some sketches (circa 2003) I found on the computer the other day. Each of these were drawings that I digitally inked, colored, and inserted into various comic panels throughout the film.
Blasto breaks out, from the scene where Colin slips out of the ropes in the warehouse. Obviously Captain Blasto is modeled after Superman. It seems like every picture of Superman in the 70's and 80's had him breaking out of chains. What villain was taking the time to wrap chains around him?

This image is from the same scene. It's one of the only times that a picture of Colin is used in comic panels to illustrate that the lines between the two "worlds" are beginning to blur.

Profile shot of Blasto. I believe this image is in the very first burglar scene as the kid chases Daryl.

Burglar from the same scene. Drawings of Daryl as a burglar are modeled from 1960's Doctor Octopus.

This sketch of Blasto never made it in. Looks much too oafish.

Blasto eyes from the chase scene as well. This image was also used on the new DVD artwork seen on a previous post.

Mercury Men DVD Artwork

Here's a look at the design for The Mercury Men DVD screeners. Notice it's not too far off from the concept art made a while back.

New Design
Concept Artwork

Misc.

Thought I'd post some random film related stuff since the past few posts have mostly been Japanese related in some manner.

I just found out that Captain Blasto was the Jury Prize selection for Best Feature Film at GenCon 2007 Film Festival. That's right...2007. August 2007 to be precise. Unfortunately there was some miscommunication and I was never notified that it had won. I was not even aware that it had been accepted or was screening at all actually. I just happened to spot it while randomly checking a few sites yesterday. Regardless, it's an honor, and obviously everyone is thrilled. Throw another set of them palm branches up!

I'm heading to LA this Monday for meetings, meetings, and more meetings. I'm armed with two dozen copies of The Mercury Men and about as many of Captain Blasto. The Blasto DVD packaging was redesigned recently. The first packaging design seemed to confuse people into thinking the movie was animated. I've been swapping around the photos into different panels, so this image isn't final, but you get the idea.

Two DVD's which should be at the top of your list to watch. In the Shadow of the Moon, documenting NASA's Apollo program and the first moon landing, and King Of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, about a science teachers run for the Donkey Kong world record. Both are remarkable in their own ways. Shadow of the Moon features some of the most stunning archive photography I've ever seen. Kong features a great stuggle against some of the pettiest enemies film has ever offered.

Christmas Card

You're officially a married couple when you send out Christmas cards. Typically it's a picture of the kids, or if you don't have any yet, the dog, or often times a combination of the two. But us Schnur-Preksta-Green's don't roll like that.

Above is the Christmas card we sent out this year. If you didn't get one it's simply because we didn't have your address. Either that or we don't know how to spell your names and rather than fess up to our incompetence we're simply going to withhold all general goodwill and camaraderie. In fact we even tried to stop all other Christmas cards from reaching your house so that we wouldn't look as bad. In cased you missed them: all the kids you barely know are growing fast and that dog looks hilarious in that Santa hat.

But now the error has been corrected and the card has been provided for your printing pleasure. So break out the Epson and Merry belated Christmas from the Schnur-Preksta-Green's.

Fable: Book Two

I posted a Fable "animation" here several months back. Thought I'd share another.

The Mercury Men Logo

Here's a gander at The Mercury Men logo. As you can see, very classic sci-fi B-movie.

The film for the most part is completed. I'm going to screen it a few times this month to see if there's any changes to make. Unfortunately I cannot post the video online, as much as I would love to. Film festivals aren't too keen on screening films that people can see online for free.

For those of you in Pittsburgh, I've got the film on DVD and iPod and will gladly show it to ya if asked. Perhaps I can do something for the consistent readers and post a link for only a few hours on a pre-determined date.

Kevin Dart

I love finding artists that create in a style that is similar to my own, but on a level I will NEVER reach. Kevin Dart is one of those artists. I was floored by print after print upon discovering his website. He's got a lot of great movie poster style illustrations. Got to figure out a way to get him to do a poster for one of my films.

Check out his stuff at www.kevindart.com

Pittsburgh Strip District Scene

While I love filmmaking, it unfortunately doesn't pay the bills...yet. In the mean time I do freelance graphic design. I'm currently working on the interior design of a new restaurant franchise here in Pittsburgh. The theme of the restaurant is an outdoor city cafe utilizing Pittsburgh landmarks and locations. I've attached a piece of artwork here for your viewing pleasure. This is a rough-mock up of one of the walls. I'll post the finished piece once it's completed.

Ed Piskor

Just discovered Ed Piskor's blog at http://edpiskor.blogspot.com/.

Ed is not only a nationally recognized Pittsburgh comic book artist, having illustrated some of Harvey Pekar's books (the guy Paul Giamatti was playing in American Splendor for those unfamiliar with non DC/Marvel comic books), but he is also a fellow Munhall native and a graduate of Steel Valley High School.

In high school you could always pick our outwork out of the all the stuff hanging on the walls, since we were the ones drawing comics and super-heroes while everyone else was doing portraits of Tupac and Biggie.

I encourage you to peruse his selection of art on the blog or on his website.

Blasto Poster Pt. 2

On this next pass you can see there's some more detail, primarily light and shadows. (Click to see the larger image.)You'll notice the chest emblem is still just a red circle. I've been working on redesigning the Blasto logo and haven't come up with it yet. While I like the original bomb logo, it doesn't quite work as a chest emblem in the way the Superman "S", Bat symbol, or Flash lighting bolt does. Need something a bit cleaner and more stylized.

Blasto Poster Pt. 1

I'm making a Captain Blasto poster for my brother for Christmas and thought this would be a great opportunity to show you guys the process of making the artwork for the film. Below you see the first step. While most people assume all the artwork is 100% digital, it all starts with a simple pencil drawing. This will eventually be the crimson comet himself soaring through space.After I've scanned in the pencil drawing, I begin to trace over it with colored shapes using the vector draw tool. It starts out very flat with very little depth or detail.

The Art of G.I. Joe

This may be one of the top five websites ever found:
The Art of G.I. Joe: 1982 - 1985

League Concept Art

Here's another shot of concept art for the upcoming short:
This is a member of the league, responsible for protecting "the battery," which you'll see in later posts.

Star Wars Maps

I have a confession to make. I have a REALLY REALLY dorky hobby. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I make Star Wars maps for board games. Before you judge me, remember, you've got some dorky hobby too. I'm sure you've got Beanie Babies tucked away some where, or a miniature railroad in your basement.

Why Star Wars maps? Well, I stay up really late. Ashley and Sawyer usually head up around 10:30 - 11:00, but I usually don't hit the sack until about 2:00 - 3:00. Typically I'll fill that time with writing (screenplays, film shorts) or editing. But every few months, when I don't have a current project in the works, I find myself translating famous Star Wars locales into overhead maps for various games. It began with Hoth several years ago, just to see if I could it it, and for some reason I just kept on going. Jabba's Palace, the Death Star, all the way through to the Ewok Village.

Now in my defense I have benefited somewhat from this hobby. 1) I've learned an incredible amount more about Photoshop, which has helped me on other projects. 2) The maps have been noticed by the lead designer of the Star Wars game and he has offered to potentially use them in later releases. 3) I've uploaded the various maps onto different sites and they've been downloaded by thousands of Star Wars game fans and are used in homes, game shops, and conventions around the world. (You wouldn't believe how many downloads I've had from Brazil alone.) They have even been featured in an online version of the game. Every once in a while I check in with CafePress.com, an online printing company that offers these maps via print-on-demand, and they have made several thousand dollars off of them. (Unfortunately none of that profit is extended to the artist due to copyright.)

Recently I created a website where all the maps can be seen, downloaded, and(or) printed and I thought you normal people might enjoy seeing them, and get a glimpse into my dorky nightlife.
http://starwarsmaps.blogspot.com

Invader Concept Art

Here's another piece of rough concept art I did for the upcoming short depicting "the invaders."

Fables

A year and a half ago I did a series of short animated "fables" for my church. I use the word animation lightly because there's not much movement. They're more a combination of character art, music, and sometimes text.

Beyond the obvious influences (Samurai Jack, The Legend of Zelda), the idea of doing this style of picture stories ultimately comes from older video games. Before they were able to do full 3D characters, environments, and audible dialogue, video games were limited to showing still images with music and captions. Even with these limitations they were able to tell some great stories.

Below is one of them, the fourth in a series of five. And the rest can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/CPreksta. I will leave each of their meanings to your own interpretation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_X-_9wvbDTg

Ridiculous Talent

Once in a while I'll come across an artist that is so freakin' good it makes you feel like you're the must untalented human to walk the earth. Honestly, with art/design this good, why bother?



You can check out more of Ragnar's stuff at http://symptomatica.blogspot.com.

New Design Concept

One of the problems we've been experiencing with the poster and DVD cover is that lots of people mistake the movie for a cartoon. That's a fair mistake considering the title. With us coming to the end of our first batch of 1,000 DVD's and a potential new batch in the near future alone with upcoming treatment/press packet covers I've begun to rethink the Blasto design/poster/cover. Here's a rough concept:


What I'd like to do is get some good publicity photos of Colin and Daryl to put on the DVD. So instead of a drawing of Colin or Blasto, it would be a photo. We'll still be sticking with the black, red, and white color scheme. Not only does that tie in well with the opening credits, but it was such a vibrant and stark color scheme that it captured attention.

Now before anyone makes any references to the Star Wars: Episode I teaser poster I'll have you know the idea for this poster is a variation on an old "More to Come" title card from the Tonight Show way back in the Johnny Carson days. I saw it when I was little. It was the image of a boy in pajamas, a towel cape around his neck, with a lamp and an oscilating fan at his feet. The shadow he cast on the wall was that of a muscle bound hero. There were a series of cards like this. A kid with a hat and a hose projected the shadow of a firefighter, and so on. I think that concept captures the entire feel of our movie perfectly. We may not be heroes, but we are the shadow of one.