'And a Happy New Year too!

From all of us here at SRM Industries,

'Wishing you a Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

GIANT MONSTER PLAYSET!

Hey folks,

This last summer, I had the pleasure of helping out my friend filmmaker Greg Pope on his new Monster movie short film. I was asked to contribute some art pieces that support the big muguffin of the film, but also really had a great time assisting on the set, and even helped out with a bit part..... watch out Leo D. Without giving away too many of the details here's a short synopsis of the film:

"After receiving and opening a mysterious package, a young boy innocently plays with it's toy monster contents. Simultaneously a gigantic beast appears, bent on the destruction of his own small town. The boy's older brother discovers the connection between the two and realizes... only he can stop it."

Ooooh SCARY right?

My job was to create the box art for the toy monster that the kid opens and plays with. Our thoughts were to pattern it after the Aurora monster kits and Famous Monsters covers from our youth- that had such heightened and dramatic cover art... you couldn't help but drool over the wanton distruction and saturated colors!

At the time that I started, Greg already had a strong idea of the creature design and was still building the action figure that would be used in the film- so to start I had some of his early sketches and then photos of the unpainted-un "furred" creature to base my art on.

We also knew that at some point in the story, he was going to be holding a train with a tanker car--that and a confrontation with the military (both in the air and on land).

Early color blocking layout.

Final pose sketch.

Full near-finished box illustration. 

Simultaneously I was developing the "toy company" logo- which comes into play not only on the box, but also on the mailing label and elsewhere in the story. As well as creating a wrapping paper for the mailed package that would nod to the monsters' hide- as well as serve a dual purpose in the sides of the box art packaging.

Logo variations with the "winner" asterixed lower right.

Package wrapping paper.

Full box art graphics for the printed toy package.

Package stills from the film.

After all was said and done, we needed to create a one-sheet for the film, and we decided to use the toy packaging as the tease.
And finally...Here's the official trailer!

The film is currently under consideration' at several film festivals and depending on what happens there we will release the film online and on DVD. Check the official blog for updates:

www.giantmonsterplayset.blogspot.com

Remember, whatever you do...

DON'T LET THEM OPEN IT!

Merry Christmas!

Hoping everyone has a safe and joyous holiday with family and friends,

Merry Christmas from the Conrads.

The Mother Hen Project

I had the honor of contributing this artwork for the Mother Hen Project which is a charity auction, benefiting the Chicks in Crisis, Saturday, Nov 20 4:00p to 8:00p at The Galleria, San Anselmo, CA.

"An exhibition and art auction to benefit Chicks in Crisis. Featuring over 50 works by artists in the fields of animation, illustration, graphic design and fine art. Including work by a host of directors, animators and designers from Pixar and beyond. Date and time details are for the auction itself, the exhibition will run for two weeks beforehand."

You can check out some of the really great artwork and artists featured at the Mother Hen Project blog Here.

If you can, please come to the event and contribute to this great cause!

Monster Maker!

This year I wanted some fun Halloween decorations for the Conrad domicile, but after doing some scouting out at the stores, all I could find were generally either the more "gory" representations of all that monsters and Halloween have to offer or stuff that was perhaps a little too "kiddie" in tone. Not that there's anything wrong with either....

But not exactly what I had in mind...I was looking for stuff more in the spirit of the classic Universal Monsters, The Mad Monster Party, The Munsters, Disney's Haunted Mansion etc.. Also for the actual decorations, what I was looking for was something along the lines of the old halloween mainstays; The cardstock witches, cats and pumpkins that folks used to tape up on their windows and door frames... but especially the printed/cardstock Skeleton with posable limbs, my favorite as a boy... except I always wanted it to be a FRANKENSTEIN!

(Yeah, I know...technically he's Frankenstein's monster, or creature... but c'mon, when we were kids, that's what everybody called him!)

So... I decided to MAKE my own MONSTER!

Starting out, I made his head (posted previously), and followed with his various body parts, (a lot like Dr. Frankenstein when you think of it...) Because of the size limitations of my printer, I had to divide some pieces that would ordinarily be "one": The forearms/wrists and hands, or lower leg, ankle and boots for example. After I created the pieces in Photoshop, I printed them all out:

Then, using an exacto, I cut along the edge of the thick black outlines that I put around all his parts. After I cut everything out, I took a black marker and ran it along the exposed white/cut edges...just to help it all blend a little better when assembled.


Next, I inserted black metallic "brads" for the posable joints (I bought mine at Wal-Mart in the craft section, but I bet you could get them at Michaels or Hobby Lobby too):

Taping the remaining elements to the backs of the forearms, lower legs, and the head to his shoulders, I taped a length of string to his back and then attached the other end to the top of the door frame.... add a little lightning from the storm ... and VIOLA! My Monster is Alive!... It's ALIVE!


I've included files below for printing, if you'd like to try this yourself at home! The format I printed on was 13x19... but you should be able to scale these down fairly easily for whatever sized printer you have. Good luck--and Happy Halloween!

Head & Hands

Upper & Lower Arms

Main Body

Upper & Lower Legs

Boots

Let's give him a hand!

...Two of 'em while we're at it.

Can I be Frank?

Frankenstein's Monster

Counting down...

..the days to Halloween!

The Count

Happy Birthday Ray

A little late... as I'd hoped to get this out before Mr. Bradbury's birthday (being his 90th) on August 22. But due to numerous circumstanci at the Conrad domicile (What's the saying?, "Sometimes you eat the 'bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you.") it was not to be..

Hopefully there's still a piece of cake left in his fridge.

Now, let's see if remember how to work this blog thing...

B is for Bradbury

My mom was librarian of the small Missouri town I grew up in, and many a day after school I'd sit camped out in front of the science fiction section, pouring over the paperback covers and spot illustrations found within some of the older tomes. Greats like Virgil Finlay, Frank Kelly Freas, Richard Powers, Ed Emshwiller, Ralph Brillhart, Jack Gaughan and so very many other un-credited cover artists explored all of these fantastic themes before my hungry eyes.

In this piece, I wanted to honor both Bradbury's canvas and those "old school" science fiction book covers that I had poured over in my youth as well as "texture it" with physical wear, as many of those books I studied were worn from many readings. I thought it might be fun to use The Illustrated man as the anchor, with the titles of some of Bradbury's stories and books as his tattoos. R is for Rocket was my first experience with his work, and the "B is for..." seemed natural to include as the large central focus of the main figure's back. A Sound of Thunder being one of my favorites, I had to include the time traveling hunter's encounter with the T-Rex. I loved that story, and the twist ending was so surprising then, and has been aped by many since.

Here's to you Ray- You took this small town boy on quite a tour; The frontier of space, the planet mars...I met ghosts of ancient alien civilizations, fire starting firemen, went to mystic carnivals and prehistoric safari's all along the way. For the ideas you shared and all the many places that you led me to I thank you. Cheers.

Update:

The piece was put up alongside several others on the official Bradbury Week tribute FB page.

Besides the art gallery, if you scroll through the pages, there are great video clips and interview pieces from the week long celebration.

For those interested, an overview of the process follows.

Paperback Cover Reference

Thumbnail Sketch Ideas

Rough Color Thumbnail

Vector Color Layout

Finished Painting

Graphic Design for the "paperback cover" elements.

Including a publisher's mark.

Alternate Author Treatment

I toyed with this wonderful 70's style type for the title, but opted for something "plainer" to stick with much of the particular era style from my reference, and to also separate the "publisher's" graphic design from the Illustrated man tattoo type.

And finally again, with distress and wear added:

Help the Hodges

UPDATE: 2! LIVE AUCTION HERE.
UPDATE: Official Press Release

Hey Folks,

I wanted to alert you to a non-profit ebay auction this coming Thursday, January 21 to raise funds for the family of animation artist Tim Hodge, whose son was in an auto accident last August and remains in a coma today.

Tim explained on his blog:

"As many of you know, my son was in an auto accident with a train back in August. He has still not regained consciousness, but is doing a little bit better each day.

As you may not realize, our short term insurance expired in September. The rest of the family could renew, but Matt became a pre-existing condition. So Matt's healthcare since that time has all been out of pocket. Vanderbilt Hospital was gracious to us and forgave our six figure debt to them. But Matt's ongoing care and future rehabilitation is still in the balance."

The website HelptheHodges.com has images and details about all of the donated artwork so far . It's already an incredible collection that includes pieces from folks like Pete Docter, Chris Sanders, William Stout, Drew Struzan, Charles Schulz, Nick Park, Frank Thomas, Craig McCracken, and Mike Mignola. Should you wish to help the family without participating in the auction, the Hodges’ website also has details on how to make a fully tax-deductible donation to the family.

If you can, please help this family in need.

(posted art above in order by Chris Sanders, William Stout, Frank Thomas & Multiple Artist "Jam")

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's from the N.P. Forest Service!

This card came in the mail today and I thought I'd share. I made a contribution a few years back and I guess I'm still on the mailing list! They're still doing great work up there for sure, and don't forget their motto;

"Keep 'em Lit!"

Merry Christmas to everyone and Here's to a happy 2010!

UP is OUT

In conjunction with the release of Pixar's Up on DVD/Blu-ray I'm showing some of the work that I did ( graphic design and illustration for the production). I also thought that it might be interesting to show not only the pieces as they made it into the finished production, but also some of the process and development along the way. By no means is this all of the graphics work that was done for Up, by myself or others, nor am I showing all of the steps or versions, but these are certainly some of the highlights along the road.

WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!

There are important plot and story spoilers in this post, so if you haven't seen UP yet, you should really wait and look at this until AFTER you've watched the movie.


*ALL ARTWORK PROPERTY of PIXAR/DISNEY*

TEPUI ETCHING.
Ellie as a girl, has "procured" some pages (including this illustration of Paradise Falls) from various library & text books and pasted them into her own Adventure book. Later, Carl carries it with him on his own adventure in South America.

My first concept sketch, also showing that Ellie was going to attach her own drawing of her dream house on top of the Tepui illustration.


Style exploration and test.


Sculpt of the Tepui by Jerome Ranft, (Left and Top corner/Side) view. The bottom right image, shows the above digital shot that I altered for a faux geographic style magazine article that Ellie thumb-tacks up on their living room shrine.


I began to work with the digital shot as my reference and foundation for the "real" Tepui ...a difficulty with this, was that the actual model for the set had yet to be built, or finalized in it's design. As you'll see in the steps shown, there is some evolution to the silhouette of the location within my illustration.

The final image (in the film it receives the addition of a house drawn by Elie Docter. See the first image of this post.)



MAP OF SOUTH AMERICA
The facing page to the Tepui Etching in Ellie's Adventure book.

Initial sketch and screen shot of placement during the layout phase of production (this helped to determine if elements of the illustration needed to be moved for visibility and emphasis);


Early rendering.
Final rendering.



PLANE TICKETS
The plane tickets for the trip to Venezuela that Carl and Ellie never take.

Early concept sketches (these were to tie in with the logo and signage for the travel agency/airline location that Carl buys them from).


An early round of design as we determined the overall look and level of detail that the tickets would have.

The final two tickets.
The final two tickets-/ with color adjusted for environment. (Sometimes, as noted with the South America Map, solutions are determined after a design element has been seen in the context of environment, lighting, interaction with character, etc..)



CARL'S HOUSE
As Carl is a senior citizen, his house was to be filled with a lifetime of items that he and Ellie had collected...along with that, a lot of clutter that Carl had ceased to be able to take care of properly. So, scattered about his house are notes, receipts, pill bottles, coupons, letters etc...

Some letters, a postcard back and a screen shot of the living room shrine, during layout for placement purposes.


Two postcard fronts (subtle reminders throughout the set of the trips that they never took).
Magazine covers.


Album and record label.


Layout screen shots of Carl's front foyer and living room for graphics placement.


Carl's cereal box and milk carton (Another example of design elements moved for visibility during the layout of the film is the empty space on the left of the cereal box front, something that wouldn't happen in the "real world".) I got a kick out of showing that Carl had opened the wrong side of the milk carton.




SHADY OAKS
Shady Oaks is the retirement home that Carl has been court ordered to move into. Here is the logo for the van that comes to get him, the brochure (3D models would later replace the storyboard drawing that I used for placement during design) and the ID badges for the orderlies.  Sculpture of Nancy by Greg Dykstra.



CHRISTMAS CARD
Made during production, the card featured the bird, then named "Gary" with a different body design and coloration than the final version.



STORE FRONTS
Signage for the modern stores that have built up across the street from Carl's house, including models and layout screen shot for placement. The thinking here was to be slick, plastic and generally the antithesis of Carl's aesthetic.



CARL & ELLIE'S MAILBOX
Ronnie Del Carmen became the official source for Ellie's hand writing (I also used him for the "Paradise Falls" label on the side of the glass jug where they saved all of their coins). The two names shown here are several scanned tries by Ronnie using various brushes, which I then combined and cleaned up. The two hand prints were created by having Harley Jessup be our hand model for Carl and Stephanie Hamilton for Ellie. We basically coated the bottoms of their hands with various paints and inks, and then had them make several prints on paper... after scanning those in, I took the best sections of each and composited together an Ellie hand and a Carl hand, matching those proportionally to the actual CG hand models of the characters.


Screen shots from the film of the store fronts and mailbox.



BILLBOARD
During Carl's flight from the city, he clears a billboard as he flies over the rooftops. We wanted to underline his escape from his urban prison with an image that echoed his flight "up".

One idea was that through the decay that you often see on billboards, we would be able to combine an underlying image with a tattered front to convey the up and out movement.


Later the thinking was to tie in the billboard with the travel agency/airline where Carl had previously bought his and Ellie's tickets.


Until finally we ended with a much more simplified version of the airline logo, in a subtle blue (shown with layout screenshot).



WILDERNESS EXPLORER LOGO
Russell is a member of an organization much like the boy scouts or webelos, called the Wilderness Explorers. We knew that we wanted to communicate all that goes along with those institutions (exploration, the outdoors, camping, etc..) and subtly point in the "up" direction as well.

Early sketch ideas.


First round of design.


Final design, with a render of Russell's backpack for design application.



WE MERIT BADGES
Russell wears a sash that is covered with several (47) Wilderness Explorer merit badges, with one open space for the "assisting the elderly" badge that he is attempting to complete by helping Carl.
The ideas for the badges were hatched in a jam session with several of the story team artists, so as you will see in the following four images, we had 185 initial badges to choose from for Russell in the first review.
Keeping in mind that Russell has grown up in an urban setting, one of the ideas was to have badges reflect those type of skills and adventures rather than completely reflect the outdoors counterparts that are more commonly known. Believe it or not there is a name and meaning behind every one of these....





Once narrowed down to the final badges, placement and color coordination began.


The final 47 badges.



WE MANUAL
Referencing old scout manuals, alongside my own memories of being a cub scout, webelo and boy scout, I wanted to distill all of those types of ideas into the design of Russell's WE manual cover.
I also thought it might be cool to somehow incorporate an eagle and bear motif to go along with the hand signal and "call" that Russell makes throughout the film, as well as the Explorer motto that he recites.

Cover sketches.


Early round of design.


Finalists.


Final cover design.


At one point in the story, Russell was going to explain the jet stream to Carl using a spread from his Manual.



WE GPS
Interface/display (Don't blink or you'll miss it):



SODA BOTTLE CAPS
I believe that this was my last assignment on Up. At the beginning of the film young Ellie, has fashioned several pins or medals out of soda bottle caps and initiates Carl into her club of two by pinning him with the Grape Soda cap.


Round one.


Finalists.


Final cap and with Carl in the film.




And Finally, at the end of the film, Carl pins it onto Russell, naming it... the Ellie badge.




*ALL ARTWORK PROPERTY of PIXAR/DISNEY*