Saturday, July 4, 2009

PREDATORS


"I can't go too much into the story right now, because we're still writing. But it still involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning. Aliens was a different take on the Alien idea, and an original movie in it's own right, and that's what we want to do with this. " -Robert Rodriguez


Ahhh. I just finished reading Rodriguez's 1993 PREDATORS script on this fine 4th of July and so far, the premise quoted above sounds very much like his original script. This very well could be a Predator planet without being THE main planet.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS (if the script remains close to this one... and it sounds like it could be)

Liked/Didn't like:

Liked: The first 3/4 of the script.
Disliked: There doesn't seem to be anyone you would really want to root for except for ol' Dutch.

Liked: The large cast of roughnecks.
Disliked: Most of their personalities... well, they didn't have any or they all blended into one another. The protein loving Cadillac who eats everything from cockroaches to BBQ'ing freshly killed Predators did stand out.

Liked: This did have an 'ALIENS' feel, these guys could have easily been USCMC.
Disliked: It was a situation of, "you don't see them screwing each other over for a contract". We are somehow worse than the bad guys. Also, how did we suddenly get planet traversing technology since Predator?!? Dutch is still alive and this happened? What is up with the pirate ship (not just a pirate vessel, but an actual sea-sailing wooden vessel) he's on in the beginning? It never goes into detail wtf that was about. I was expecting Wesley Crusher, Data and Worf to appear like this was some sort of halodeck mission!

Liked: The pit fighting with all the different species going at it, with bystanders biting the dust and the bloodthirsty predator crowd loving it. Didn't like: the story didn't 'go' many places. It seemed to stay around the general area of this arena. I feel a story should go more places/be broken up more for the progression.

Liked: That we saw older, more powerful and better sophisticated predators with higher technology (as if our previous viewings of Predators were of inexperienced cub scouts with the predator world's version of over the counter technology, and NOW we were seeing the real stuff)
Disliked: The "Rambo" ending where one human had a shoulder cannon on each shoulder. Whaaa?


and from here on out it's all the stuff I didn't like.............

The Human zombie workers w predator legs and insect arms. What...the... frak? So stupid. Why not just have a race of slaves (insects) working? Like some race the predator race originally enslaved is now mutually intertwined? That makes sense to me.

The Predator sleds. Yah, OK... so they have the rocketsleds/choppers. Right. Fine... they could be cool? However the "Return of the Jedi" race in the woods? Lame. Been there, done that... some parts were ripped directly from ROTJ. Ducking and having 2 run into each other? Jumping off and having the chaser smash into a tree? Horrible. Please come up w something original.

Dutch/lead. Well, he doesn't do much as he's a prisoner in most of it. At least make him free half way through like Riddick. Hey! Riddick? Now, that Arnie isn't involved, I could picture someone like the Riddick character in this. In fact, Dutch sounds just like him in the beginning... where he is quietly observing everything around him to make his attack. I wonder if David Twohy read this script before... Naaaahhhh!!!
:nerd

The ending. So the 'twist' with releasing the rouge predator to help the humans? Hmmm... I'm not so sure if Arnie's character should 'ride off into the sunset' with him. Sorry, but too corny for me. Maybe if this was PG-13, but thank go the amount of gore in this, well, yah. This ain't no PG-13. I did appreciate the gore level in this one. It did go over the top and might be a bit too saturated where at the end you are desensitized to it all. As Transformers 2 or Terminator Salvation demonstrates, if you don't care about a character = you don't emphasize when they get hurt or die. When the characters in Predator die, you are sad for their deaths... even tho they are gnarly, asshole mercenaries. I mean, I get a pang whenever seeing 'the body' Ventura get his guts blown out by an unseen enemy. You don't really have that here. Then again, maybe some great actors' portrayal could bring some to these guys?

There's a lot that can be brought here and worked on. On the bright side, even tho this script is not that great (it is just a 1st draft from the 90's anyway) it in its present form is still miles better than AVP or AVP2.

With Nimród Antal directing it? It might just have that interesting character development and dynamic action this type of script needs. Looks promising... hey, anyone who cast fooking Remo Williams, Morpheus, and Leon the Professional in a film can't be too bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEV7bTWpG8w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IdKpgwA2eo

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Space Jockey ALIEN prequel


I for one would love to see this be done right. Above is my sketch of the Space Jockey biomech race and shows how I think only sticking closely to the original H.R. Giger aesthetic would be the ONLY art direction to take this.

"When word leaked earlier this week that Ridley Scott was working on a prequel to his 30-year-old sci-fi classic, the original Alien, fans pounced on the news. But the project may have already hit its first speed bump: The filmmakers and Fox, the studio that owns the rights to the franchise, seem to have conflicting ideas about who should direct. Scott plans to produce and had handpicked commercial director Carl Erik Rinsch to make his feature debut. Sources at Fox, however, tell EW that the studio is not interested in greenlighting a prequel unless Scott himself directs."

I think it would take Ridley Scott or someone with his vision to bring this movie to life. I only hope they get the space jockey race done right as H. R. Giger intended. For the first time, I think FOX has finally woken up.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

BHEADWORKS


I recently found some cool sculptures by a Korean artist and concept designer Jeong Yeon Gyun a.k.a. "BHEAD". They are incredible post apocalyptic Shiflett Brothers meets Tank Girl sculptures from his "Day After WWIII" series done back in 2007. Feel free to browse through his illustrations and sculpture of Desert Punk, videogame concept art and his Day After series. The 2D is O.K., but I feel it's the 3D sculpture where Jeong really shines!

Check it out over at his blog website. Click on 'blog' at the top menu to see examples of his work: http://blog.naver.com/systemgore

UPDATE: Looks like one of his figures 1/6th scale will be available soon... hopefully REALLY SOON from the E-UREKA SHOP!

NEW UPDATE: just found out some bad news. From the website:

"We apologize that the Bhead project was cancelled by the artist due to personal reasons.
Sorry about that.
I hope one day things change and he decides to continue with the project.
We will let you know... if..."

Zuno... ^L^

If anyone has any inside info as to why the artist changed his mind, please let me know!

Friday, May 29, 2009

Domiance War IV Complete.




Dominance War IV is finished and the winners are awaiting to be selected. I signed up with POLYCOUNT and my entries can be seen here. Unfortunately, I was only able to complete my Concept Sheet, some main entry sketches and Character Sheet due to a busy schedule. "Maybe next year?" I always tell myself. Yes... next year. :(

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Do you believe in Lamination?


http://www.animax-lamb.com/asia/main.html

Synopsis of LaMBs 

The Inhabitants of a harsh deserts planet called Cerra have perfected a system of imprisonment without walls. Called "Lamination", this system of virtual slavery ensures that those convivted of serious crimes remain productive, if not free, members of society. Prisoners are hence called LaMBs.

The system has made both jails and the death penalty unnecessary in a world where human ingenuity, creativity and labor continue to be precious commodities that cannot be replaced by robots or any form of "artificial" intelligence. This system has sparked off philosophical debate among the citizens of Cerra on whether lamination is ethical.

LaMB is an upcoming animated film produced by Animax directed byRyosuke Tei with the original script written by Carmelo S. J. Juinio that will be broadcasted across several countries in 2009 in high definition. It is also the first and biggest Animax original production.  

Funny... I wonder where the 'B' comes from in LaMB? Wouldn't LaM be better? Well, whatever the case... I'm liking the looks of the featured babe.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Dominance War IV

This year's Dominance War has started up again. I just wanted to put a 'shout-out' for you artists to join in. It always has some great prizes and produces some amazing artwork. This year I will actually be able to finish the sucker! I will post my "General" for the Dominance War IV mini challenge when I finish it before the deadline this coming Monday. Posted above is the poster representing Polycount's entries ( the forum I will be posting my work to). An amazing 11 different forums from around the world will be competing!


Link to the Dominance War IV homepage:

http://www.gameartisans.org/dominancewar/homepage/index.php

and links to the different forums competing:

http://www.3dtotal.com/
http://www.cgland.com/
http://boards.polycount.net/
http://www.gameartisans.org/
http://www.3dvf.com/
http://www.cgsociety.org/
http://www.hxsd.com/
http://www.3d4all.org/foruns/index.php
http://www.cgtantra.com/
http://www.cghub.com/
http://www.cgtalk.ru/

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Shallow. Lowbrow. Hipster. Crap.


I am up again with insomnia, flipping through a Hi*Fructose magazine. I both love this mag, Juxtapose and Giant Robot and yet despise them at the same time. I swear, if I see another 'threadless' pea-soup green and powder-blue deer with scrollwork fleur de lis painted on a piece of plywood, some heroin skinny big-eyed waifs looking vapidly or lazy-eyed to the viewer or an Abraham Lincon made of meat, I... I... well, I don't know what I would do. I guess what I would do is exactly what I am doing: venting finally in my blog.

I'm not a great or witty writer by a long shot. No. I'm not about to win any debates. I don't use this blog to vent wittily like others... I don't think I could possibly type fast enough to keep up with my thoughts anyway. I wish I could, as I think my thoughts are pretty spectacular (Actually I don't really like my thoughts, they tend to be annoying, like I have a pissed off 80 year old Henry Rollins living in my head). I guess that's the same smug feeling many artists out there feel about their work. But they are unashamedly pumping out the same work they've ripped from Ryden, Baseman and others who had the balls to do something different. It's not that I think the artists of today are unintelligent (they are bright and I know many would agree with me) but the work displays lazy, shallow and lacking any creative personal vision. However... it makes money. Or something. Maybe fame? I don't know, but it's pissing me off. I wish I could burn it all, put each artist on a deserted island without any outside influences for 5 years and see what they come up on their own. The same can be said with Hollywood. I would put all those writing fucking remakes and see if they could come up with an honest, personal and original script that wasn't a 'reworked origin story', but that's another rant.

I like sci-fi and anime. I like 'dark' subject matter. I enjoy painting the female form. So what do I paint? French "Metal Hurlant" or Japanese "SMH" inspired decaying pipes, wires and technology, desolate worlds all populated by curvy females. Large floating rocks on vast dead landscapes. It's what I would love to see when walking into a gallery, it caters to my personal taste and that's it. I have been tempted to just throw the towel in and paint some 1970's looking crap on a wooden board to see if it would sell, but fuck that! That's not me. What if it did sell?! How terrifying. Let's be clear: I don't have a problem with art being a money making business... if it puts food on the table. However, I think you can create marketable work without completely compromising your personal vision. I guess I can still find gems amongst the turds... unlike with postmoderist works of the 80's. Damn if I could never jump on the 'sticks and mud painted white in the middle of the gallery floor' bandwagon of crap, except maybe some of David Lynch's work: have some ants eat out some meat glued to the center of your painting? O.K. that's some brilliantly weird shit.

I know some day soon a new trend in art will replace this one. Yes, the hipsters will claim to have been there first. We can't help that. My only hope is that it is created with honest and personal vision by the artists. Now excuse me... I'm off to paint on wood a vapid, wide-eyed Abraham Lincon stag centaur made of meat being held aloft with elegant powder blue scrollwork. You just know you want a t-shirt of that, don't you.