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!