When I wrote ‘millions’ in the previous post I thought maybe I’m a bit exaggerating. But according to Fox, Avatar trailer smashed all records on Apple.com with more than 4 million streams (not counting YouTube with 1 mio views and other media sources).
The reaction to 2D trailer was mixed but after experiencing 3D preview at Avatar Day people were blown away completely. It was fun to see the negativity in comments drops to zero. Looks like it was planned to let people see 2D version prior to 3D so they could feel the difference. Was it a marketing move or not it worked pretty well. The only problem is that there aren’t enough 3D digital cinemas around the world.
By the way, if you’re into that movie I’m recommending you to check out Avatar Movie Zone. It’s an unofficial website related to that epic movie with infos varied from news to conceptual artists credits.
Also the official website got some revamp with story and photos sections:
That was the Na’Vi line that probably millions of people have heard last night (or day depends on you world location). Prior to that the web was hitted by new shots from the upcoming James Cameron’s (JC) epic adventure called Avatar. There were a lot of buzz and hype around the movie taking the fact that nobody outside the film crew haven’t seen ANYTHING from the movie. No leaked shots, no spy shots, no official media… nothing. Yet the hype was really strong. It’s JC new movie after all!
The first shock wave came from screening at CinemaExpo, Amsterdam. We’ve got a couple of pictures with spaceship orbiting the planet [Pandora] and amazing, unearthly looking location with two humanoids walking on the tree in the night swamp. In addition to that the web was buzzed with impressions. The second wave came from ComicCon, San Diego where about 6,500 people were able to experience ~25 min preview from Avatar. The net go nuts again.
It’s been announced at ComicCon that August, 21 would be an ‘Avatar Day’ with ~16 min preview in as many 3D cinemas around the globe as possible. In addition the first official trailer was planned to release on the net right before the Avatar Day. Countdown clock was ticking at Apple Trailers page and last night I was checking how the numbers are goin’.
It was fun and exciting to see the clock ticks to 01 min, then 00 min and… nothing happened! I believe 10 or so minutes later Apple Trailers change the clock to Avatar banner linked to the trailers. Yay! But no one link were working. Duh! It was really fun to monitor some websites (like MarketSaw) updating almost in real-time with people buzzing about this sh*t. I don’t recall any other movies generating such vibration, besides maybe Phantom Menace.
I’m sorry for that long introduction but you can get an idea how much expectations and attention is going around Avatar. It’s not a big deal to describe how cool the footage is, how the scenery and characters looks like etc. just watch the trailer!
And considering the reaction, it’s quite mixed. Some believe it’s sort of advanced cartoon while others prise the JC’s effort and got really excited.
Man, sometimes character design could be cumbersome. You knew almost exactly how your character should look and feel but you still can’t get a picture of it. I’m talking about Iris Noa, one of the leading characters from Rainbow Dreams project. I’ve came up with her idea somewhere in 2007 and spent hella a lot on rendering her variations. The recent one (facial closeup) was an enormous rendering process with me painting every pore in her skin and every hair until it looks good in my eyes.
I’ve posted in online to see the reaction and the results were so-so. Some 3D guys liked the texture but the whole character doesn’t fired up the emotions I need. For the character designer it means that (s)he wasn’t successful in translation of characteristics or design is really weak. It feels, well, not suck but more like you have to find a key that unlocks a flow. Each character concentrates and represents some energy so you feel sympathy or anger or crush or something else to him/her. If you don’t bother at all it means that there is no flow between you and character.
Even if you’ve years and years of experience under your belt you can’t avoid obstacles. Some younger artists may look at your work and think, dude this guy is awesome! but you don’t feel so. You constantly see new challenges and trying to deal with them. It’s not a big deal anymore to draw some superhero chick you’ve been dreaming 10 years ago (it’s all about chest and legs guys!), but your mind is working on puzzles like how to express this and that character trait and so on. This is where most of tutorilas fail because they focused on external side (how to draw) and not internal (what to draw). So you’ve to rely on your own, personal experience and try to express that character you’re looking for.
Oh my, I’ve to go back to my desk and start again!
Last month I’ve lost my workhorse – Wacom Intuos 2 tablet I’ve been using for 4 or 5 years. I’ve got it from a good old friend of mine and it was quite used back then. Wacom doing great tablets, even my first Intuos A6 I bought 10 years ago is still alive! It’s so small just like a postcard and I can’t imagine how to draw with it but it’s still works. Althought they lasted for that long I’ve discovered some problems with Intuos 2 Grip Pen which sometimes is getting out of sync and produce wavy lines while you draw straight ones.
There are solutions like replacing the Grip Pen or buying a new tablet however you can just adjust the screw located under the double-click pen button.
Recently I’ve been browsing some asian resources and discovered a blog by Lei Sheng. Everything is written in chinese, even the title says 华丽的裸奔 but you don’t need to know language if you’re looking at pictures.
There are lots and lots of artists in Asia and what sparks my attention in Lei Sheng’s works are stories (or if you’re familiar with spiritual techniques, it’s vibrations) he put into his works as well as vivid and bright vision. I really like that kind of stuff. It makes you feel good and energize you.
Besides the fairy tales there are some great characters illustrations with oriental design elements and some are depicted in a classic Chinese style.
While browsing blog pages (just click the numbers at the bottom of the page) you can also find some work in progress steps, photos and all that stuff.
Mitumasa Yoshizawa’s website REFLECT got a total revamp. If you aren’t familiar with Mitumasa, well go and check his works now! He’s one of the coolest japanese sculptors creating amazing girls in cooperation with Shunya Yamashita (another great japanese artist).
The site is in japanese but you won’t be lost since everything is clean and simple. Oh and these dolls are truly beautiful (and expensive!) creations.
I suppose within 10 maybe 15 years later they will got CPU or cyberbrains and all that electronic/MEMS stuff inside just like Chobits.
Digital Art Masters vol.4 is a new book of a series compiled by the guys at 3D Total and published by Focal Press. The book is all about creativity expessed in variety of media from 3D high tech imagery up to loose sketchy paintings. Each book featuring a selection of artists from all over the world and the new installment is no exception.
There are 50 artists published in 4th volume showcasing over 900 images in five sections: Sci-Fi, Scene, Fantasy, Character and Cartoon. Andree Wallin, Marc Brunet, Marek Okon, James Paick, Srefan Morrell, Viktor Titov, Alex Kashpersky and many others are sharing their experience while creating stunning imagery. Even if you’re a professional artist you can’t get tired of exploring other people’s approaches in drawing, painting and 3D modeling. Some artists speak of general approaches while others dive into detailed explanations so the book would benefit both pro and aspiring artists. There are also portfolio samples so you can enjoy the talent and creativity even more.
This book wouldn’t teach you how to paint but definetely feed you with various methods and techniques and maybe even slap your growing edgy ego creatively speaking (at least it happens to me). I think it’s good feeling since it’s pushing you to reach new heights.
I’m happy I was a part of this massive project, it was really great to work with 3D Total guys though my contribution is fairly modest with a making of article on ‘Beach mecha’ painting.
More info on Digital Art Masters 4 would appear soon on 3D Total website, so stay tuned!
Just saw an announcement of the upcoming video from MassiveDVD featuring Donato Giancola’s painting ‘The Mechanic’. No more details available except estimate release date set to late July / August 2009.
I’ve got a chance to talk a little to Donato during the AVATAR 2D/3D Art Competition (we conviced him as a judge) and man, I’ve got the highest respect for this artist. What impressed me the most is that after so many industry awards and world wide success he’s still acceptable with a friendly attitude towards the people. Donato is probably the busiest man on the planet but he always replied to our emails within few hours. Amazing!
If you’re somehow aren’t familiar with his works then go and check his website www.donatoart.com There tons of cool stuff and info on his techniques.
There are also some nice threads rolling on conceptart.org.
Randis Albion from HD Fortress has posted an amazing vampire-themed piece for the Newborn contest. Beware of the mature content though!
Jason Chan’s Pre-workshop dump! is quite old but it’s still pure eye-candy stuff.
Andrew Jones quickly pop his head with a KUSKA painting and upcoming events announcement. Don’t miss his light painting stuff, it’s a truly new form of visual art.
razer is a crazy guy from Russia posted a massive art dump with tons of sci-fi stuff. Go check if you’re looking for the fresh input!
Ow man, I just throw eye on my stuff at deviantart gallery and there are just girls, girls and even more girls… Fully clothed, half dressed, nude, in bikini… for someone it may looks totally silly and boring.
Anyway did you ever thought about getting into the Blizzard Entertainment? Joystic team has sneaked through Blizzard’s campus in Irvine, CA and shoot tons of photos! I’ve seen few reports after Blizzard moved to the new campus but Joystic did quite a coverage.
The first thing you’ll see outside is a massive Orc Wolfrider 12-foot-tall statue done by the fabulous guys at WETA Workshop, New Zealand. Around the statue is an eight point compass, which highlights the company’s development mantras:
Concept Art World is a wordpress-based blog about, well you name it, conceptual art. There are posts about videogames and movies concept art and artists as well as various artistic projects like Exodyssey or BATTLEMiLK. The structure is simple and neat so you won’t be lost under the piles of text. There are also few small sections with information on books, training and studios. Here is an example on Star Trek 2009 concept art feature:
Another cool blog I’ve just discovered Eavesdropping with Johnny have tons of info on Star Trek, including photos and concepts from the recent Star Trek 2009 movie. If you’re sci-fi fan or futuristic designer don’t miss this one.
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