Killing Them Softly 1: Scoot McNairy

So i've been absent for quite some time. I burnt out hard, got lazy, threw a lot of paper in the bin and then moved flat so I've got my excuses. But time to get back to it. I got inspired by the film Killing Them Softly. It was so good, and the characters were so intense that I just wanted to draw them all. Didn't know this guy before I watched it but he is an absolutely incredible actor. Scoot McNairy. A fair few mistakes, but not bad for the first thing i've drawn in nearly 6 months.

EMP (and not EMP) Postcards

As a little addition to link my full size posters with the vinyl toys I decided to make postcards of  the full posters but also with photos of the vinyl toys and the type from the posters. I included the name of the character & the name of the actor that played them & once they're printed they will all be signed & for EMP purposes the cards showing the figures will be numbered as a sort of authentication certificate system. And since it's nearly show time I though it would be good to have some other bits to hand out so I've gone for some prints of my favourite old pieces as well.  

Back

Big Trouble In Little China

Troll Hunter

Small Town Folk

Others

EMP Poster 3: Small Town Folk

No messing around with this one. Get it done. Took my inspiration for various other horror movie posters where the killer is visable in centre frame but is obscured in some way, either by their back being turned or something hiding them to leave some suspense to finding out what they look like. I went for a simple fade out on three edges and the sickle coming forward on the right. I went for a simple colour palette this time. After creating two heavily coloured and heavily detailed posters I felt that I needed to try my hand at something a little more refined. White, grey, black, two shades of blue, red & a flare. I sat the figure on a black background to allow the fade. The typography again is the same in terms of the information text and the title typeface is Arno Pro (display) which is close to the typeface used in the original artwork. I chose to use only a single splash of red so that it really stands out from the rest of the image, it can be easy to use too much red which ruins the balance of a piece and I wanted to keep it minimal and suggestive rather than painting blood all over the place.

EMP Poster 2: Trollhunter - Finished

After hours of fiddling about with different coloured backgrounds, tag-lines, different coloured type, fonts, styles, slanting the type, throwing on textures and taking them off again I decided - no, I'm just going to leave it simple. So I did and I think it works well. I already talked about the illustration in an earlier post so I'll skip that. In terms of the text I wanted to keep it similar to the official typeface and Franchise is the closest I could find, it's very similar. It's all in lower case but looks like uppers. I also wanted to keep the yellow of the Trollhunter title as I think that is something that is really memorable from the original artwork. I found that having the whole title in plain yellow left it a little lost in the imagery, I tried it with a black stroke but that didn't help much so I reversed the two, black with a yellow stroke seems to work well. It doesn't get lost because of the boldness of the black but keeps the yellow that I wanted. I carried this across to the information section at the bottom to bring a little consistency and add more yellow. If you compare the layout of this type with that of my BTILC poster you'll notice that they are pretty much the same. This is to keep the series bound as a set. 

Overall I'm happy with the outcome of this piece, I think that it displays the mood of the film but in my own illustrative fashion and compliments the original artwork well. 

EMP Poster 1: Big Trouble In Little China - Finally Finished

This has been, without a doubt, the most extensive period of time spent on a single illustration I've ever done. According to my blog record I posted the first character for this on the 30/01/12, and that took a few days in itself. So I've been working on this for nearly 3 months and it is finally finished and I am SO glad. I've added in the Kim Cattrall character (You have to have a woman in the poster somewhere. It's a rule.) and I've dropped the guardian simply because of the logistics of fitting him into the frame. Because of his shape he was being really awkward and wasn't fitting properly with any of the other characters and was throwing out the whole balance of the image so in the end I had to cut him from the final piece. I went with a black background & blended that into the bottom of the characters. 

I also abandoned the hand-made text I had after some feedback regarding its inaccuracy and general shoddiness. I tried to keep the typeface as close to the original movie posters/cover as possible as I think it's a fairly iconic part of the imagery for this particular film. So I used the same colour gradient with the same stroke for the lettering. The typeface used for the title is Big Noodle Titling (which frankly sounds like it was made for this piece anyway) which was close enough to the original to be similar but not so 80's as to look as tacky. The typefaces used for the information at the bottom are OSP - DIN ( my favourite that I use on everything ) and I wanted another sans-serif to compliment it and after trying a bunch ended up with Trebuchet. ( I think that's how it's spelt. ) I like the effect that using different weights and sizes of the same font within a line has; I think it really helps to emphasise certain words without being too distracting or breaking the flow. These two typefaces and positioning of the information will be constant across all my posters to create a sense of them being a set.

Overall I'm really happy with the final outcome of this poster. I think that the illustrations have all joined together well to create a strong, balanced image that holds its own but is supported by the typography. I wanted to do justice to the original imagery used and I think that by taking elements of the compositional style and typography that I have managed to do so whilst bringing in my own take on the characters. 

Enough talking.

Here's a picture.

I can't wait until this is blown up to A1.

I also made a tiny body-bag as packaging for my Small Town Folk vinyl today. But it's not quite finished so I'll hold off on the imagery for now.

EMP Poster 2: Troll Hunter - Illustration

This took about 4/5 days to draw and 2 solid days on Photoshop to paint.

I went with Photoshop instead of illustrator, and a more stylised illustration because I'm trying to work with different styles/techniques across the range of posters to demonstrate my various abilities. Outline first, scan, select range, drop the backing out & then paint underneath the outline. Start with a base colour, usually a mid, then go a shade darker, then again & continue to build them up until you get the desired tones in the right areas. Throw in some extra colours, drop some opacities to get the tones/shades coming through. Many brushes. 

The inspiration for this piece (aside from the epic scene in Troll Hunter where he battles the Jotnar) was old movie posters for monster movies. Films like King Kong, Godzilla etc, where the monster towers over everything. 

 

Fee Fi Fo Fum

EMP Vinyl Toy - Small Town Folk - Axe Killer (not quite finished)

Killer Mask Guy from Small Town Folk. If you don't know the movie you should check it out, it was shot in my hometown.

This is made using a 4inch glow in the dark DIY Munny toy which obviously I've customised by cutting the ears & tail off, painting & sewing the mask. There's also an axe to go with this but it's not painted yet, I may add some detail underneath the mask and I'm also going to make a second mask as this one is removable. I tried some different techniques to paint this from last time. I used fewer colours for a start which proved to make it a lot easier as you don't have to constantly be waiting for it to dry. I also watched some tutorials on painting vinyl toys and was convinced to use a wash. I painted the dungarees in a cerulean blue, then washed over that a couple of times with an ultramarine to pick out the detail, and then once more with a brown to give a muddy appearance. Then I did a little dry brushing to a couple of areas in a white to make the clothing look worn. After inking in the outlines I added a really light splatter to the front & the hands. The key to painting blood splatter is to be sparing, otherwise it looks really unrealistic.

Face zipped up.

Face unzipped.

 

Left hand side.

 

Back with buttons on mask.

 

Right hand side.

 

The point of getting the glow in the dark vinyl was so that it would shine out of the eyeholes & mouth. Unfortunately taking photos of this has proved to be fairly difficult. I will sort this out.

EMP Poster 1: Big Trouble In Little China - Wicker Hat Man #2

The second Storm from Big Trouble In Little China. It's all about enormous wicker hats.

I'm not as happy with this one as with the other characters, I may go back and re-work a lot of the detail and colouring. Just seems to be lacking something, maybe I forgot something. Don't know. I used the same colours for the face as the last Storm to keep it consistent. Next up I've got the third Storm to illustrate, then the guardian. Also I'm going to start work on my Troll Hunter poster and I'm halfway through painting my vinyl figure of James Hong. Photos to follow.

EMP Poster 1: Big Trouble In Little China - Title Text

Title text for my first poster.

Added the Chinese translations for obvious reasons.

EMP Poster 1: Big Trouble In Little China - James Hong

EMP (extended major project) has begun.

I am producing a series of highly detailed, illustration movie posters for some weird and wonderful movies.

The first I picked was 'Big Trouble In Little China'.

Here's part 1 - James Hong.

Close up.

Full.

Gradient, blend & a lot of time on illustrator.

Next: Kurt Russell.

Design And Art Direction Awards Not Quite Final Piece

 

So here's the half of the video that Eddy Mac and I got finished before we succumbed to illness and had to drop out of the running. We're both really disappointed we didn't get to see this one through because on watching this back just now we we're both really pleased with the outcome. If we'd had more time there would have been some additional footage on the third screen section and ideally the same process completed for a second song.

I think that the succession of food being hit with the hammer is a really effective portrayal of the notes and makes for interesting watching, especially with the changing of speeds that comes with the chorus and the faster sections of the song it creates various lengths of clip which give a different effect. I think that the middle section is also very effective as the speed of the movement juxtaposes with the slowness of the third screen. I think that the 3 different speeds across 3 different screens works really well and the addition of some stop frame work on the third screen would have brought in an extra element to the video which would have completed the set. 

December 2nd 2010: In The Land Of The Felines...

Coming soon to a cinema near you.

In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, one dog's struggle to overcome the odds and be reunited with his family is hampered by peril. Accompanied only by his pet rat, Bruno must fight for survival and outrun the pack of evil cats that are close on his tail. Toxic waste and the bones of old friends fill the streets while vulture circle hungrily overhead. Will Bruno make it? Will he reach the biscuit factory in time? Or will he succumb to the trickery of the cats, and be lost forever to the morose world that has become... The Land Of The Felines. Directed by Ben Mercer. Staring Will Smith as Bruno, Ross Kemp as RatBoy and Bono as Ginger Tom.

"Heart wrenching... I've never cried so much" - The Tymes

"A glorious story of the overcoming of odds and slapping those cat b*****ds" - Daily Telephone

"Will Smith gives an amazing performance... undoubtedly the best film of the year" - Will Smith

Rated 15 by the British Film Association. Contains strong violence, bad language, drug use and scenes of a sexual nature throughout.