See Super-Sexy Bat-Girl Costume That Was Never in 'Batman and Robin'

The Bat-Girl costume in Batman and Robin was pretty lame. Clunky and chunky, but had a certain charm. If they'd gone with Miles Teves' designs it could have rivaled Catwoman from Batman Returns. Teves has an amazing set of credits having worked on Indiana Jones 4, Iron Man, Men in Black and many more.

The guy is pretty out-spoken, so I'll just leave him to describe his illustrations using quotes from his website.

This is a glossy rendering that owes a debt to early good-girl illustrators like [Alberto] Varga.

I knew as I drew this that it could never work on Alicia Silverstone. Though she was sweet and adorable, she was also not 9 feet tall, and had rather more realistic proportions.

Bob Ringwood, the costume designer, always asked me to draw my figures to be about 9 heads tall like they do in the fashion world. He didn't seem to mind that what would work as a concept on someone with those impossible proportions, would not work on a [person]with real-world human measurements. However, it did make for more heroic and 'sexy' drawings that could sell a design to a fussy director or nervous studio head.

I regret that my idea of the cut-out Bat symbol window on the chest, showing a little skin and cleavage, didn't survive into the final suit. I thought it was kind of clever, and added just the right amount of wholesome flirtiness to the character.

I called this one 'BatGirl-Rear End' as a spoof on the absurdly overrated 'Batman: Dead End' short that made such a stink on the Internet a few years ago. Though it was drawn in 1996. This one always stops people when they are thumbing through my portfolio. Nothing like a tight girl's rear end in glossy black PVC to stop a viewer cold. Even if she is 9 feet tall. 

An alternate Batgirl design that is truer to what made it to the screen.

This is a strange blue version I was asked to do. I think they used this as the final design, only fortunately they made it black.

I had nothing to do with the suits that had the chrome additions to them. That was pure queerness incarnate.

Here's what the final costume looked like.

You gotta see his designs for other characters in Batman and Robin including a spiky version of the Uma Thurman's Poison Ivy costumes at his site http://www.milesteves.com/gallery/v/ILLUSTRATION/batman+and+robin/

What do you think? Should they have added some Bat-Girl sexiness to the film? 

What Would House M.D. Be Like As a Video Game? Christian Lorenz Scheurer Shows Us

Update: Added episode summary

If you're like me, you've often wondered what the medical drama House M.D. would be like as a video game. In season 6, we got our wish. In "Epic Fail", a patient starts having horrific visions  of the hospital as a video game and Christian Lorenz Scheurer designed the look of the hospital and doctors in his hallucinations.

Episode Synopsis: House leaves the hospital and tells Cuddy that he's making major changes in his life. At the hospital, Foreman wants House's job but is having trouble with a case involving a video-game designer who posts his symptoms on the Internet, and takes treatment suggestions offered by online correspondents over those offered by the team. This development upsets Foreman and threatens his relationship with Thirteen. Dr. Darryl Nolan: Andre Braugher. Original Air Date: Sep 28, 2009

One More Fake Rejected Godzilla Concept Art Image?

Is this Godzilla concept art rejected by the studio Legendary Pictures?

According to Comic Book Movie which broke the image.

Like I said these were posted almost a year ago in the magazine, but outside of a few Godzilla fan communities this didn't seem to get picked up by most sites. I think it is certainly worth a peek. As you can see the first version is much more like the original design of Godzilla, while the other one has more of a T-Rex like look to it. It Reminds me of the Roland Emmerich version.

Everyone says G-Fan Magazine swears to it's authenticity, but I haven't read the article myself. Several say it's the "latest issue", which would be the fall 2011 issue (#97). But, it doesn't have any article titles even close to this. Unless its the article "King Kong vs. Frankenstein Part 2".

Comic Book Movie says it's in the February issue and the magazine is published quarterly. So, I'm assuming that's issue #94 in the article called "Godzilla still in Legendary limbo?"
What I find most interesting is the font is pretty generic and doesn't look like magazine font at all. In fact, at least one copy of the image is in landscape while the others are portrait. Smells like MS Paint to me.

Just like all the others, it may be fan art. Still cool. I like the different sized spines he has.

No word on the artist(s). You can read more about Legendary Pictures at http://www.legendary.com/.

Via Shock Till You Drop

UPDATED: Whacked Out Russian 'Arena' Concept Art

Update: The producers confirmed the artist is Anton Kokorin
The Russian site Film.ru posted some crazy, crazy concept art for a Russian film called Arena (Арена) by Janik Faiziev (also known as Dzhanik Fayziev).  Even if you don't understand Russian, this looks like an epic science-fiction film.

The list of bizarre things in these illustrations could take up a phone book, but two things come to mind. One, the guy is running around on an alien planet barefoot. Two, the guy's arm gets stripped to the bone and he's still alive.

I don't understand a word of Russian. Thanks to the magic of Google Translate, however, I can get a close approximation of what the site is talking about.

Synopsis:

And mankind, and the aliens - an equal chance to become Supercivilizations, if not the war they waged with each other. The main battle - will completely destroy one and plunge to the very origins of the others. Will the "higher reason" decides to fight the battle of the two soldiers. The possibility of physical superiority, and randomness. How will the man who turned out in an atmosphere that simply can not be? War, thousands of soldiers - far away, in another reality. And here - only you - naked and helpless. And your enemy - I would like to believe that in the same position. Man is very tenacious - and to win we must reject it. Make yourself a moment to sink into the abyss, from which, perhaps, has not come back. But if after - you can open your eyes - then surely you can and win.

Doesn't make sense to me either. It seems to be an alien war between a man and some kind of higher powers.

So, here's how the site describes the project:

Janik Faiziev with the producer center "Ivan" prepared to work on a fantastic project , "Arena". On Youtube-channel production center "Ivan", responsible for the creation Novels of Paul Sanaeva "The Game" , was found a curious video. Producer and director Janik Faiziev talks about the concept of a fantastic project , "Arena" , which we expect and spaceships that are based on current available technology earthlings, and the match between the different galactic races, which will decide the outcome of the battle.
The story is accompanied by a demonstration of numerous concept art, illustrating the idea of the director, "Turetsky Gambit" . In general, it seems pretty interesting. In the presentation of ideas a lot of time to detail and visuals, while not lacking motivation of characters, a coherent narrative structure. In fact, it all comes down to the story of the duel, and the temptation, but the proposed visual range is very curious and worth it to give this video 12 minutes of your attention.
Update: The producers asked us to remove the video, apparently, intended more for potential co-investors of the project, than for the general public. But to sweeten the pill, to the public given nine concept art, from those that flashed in the video. They are, in principle, and illustrate most of the described Janik Fayzieva scenes.

Great Scott! Storyboards of Marty And Doc's First DeLorean Test From 'Back to the Future'!

One of the most pivotal scenes in Back to the Future (1985) was the first test of the DeLorean using Doc Brown's (Christopher Lloyd) pet dog Einstein. Andrew Probert () did storyboards for the film and posted the scene on his site.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the scene has some great visuals, from the license plate spinning in the street to Marty McFly's (Michael J. Fox) hair being blown back by the re-entry. Plus, there's a nice description of what the script calls the "Time-Slice."

I love Doc Brown's hair in these images. I don't know if it was before or after he was cast, but it's great. Probert describes the storyboards this way.

This is the sequence where Doc Brown runs his final test on the DeLorian [sic] Time Machine.

Review: 'Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)' Blu-Ray Review

Captain America: The First Avenger has no concept art gallery. I was going to drop my rating because of it, but then I watched the gorgeous featurettes and stopped complaining.


Product Details

• Actors: Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving, Samuel L. Jackson, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan
• Directors: Joe Johnston
• Writers: Christopher Markus, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, Stephen McFeely
• Producers: Alan Fine, Amir Madani, Dan Masciarelli
• Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English, Spanish
• Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish
• Region: Region A/1 (Read more about DVD/Blu-ray formats.)
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Paramount Studios
• DVD Release Date: October 25, 2011
• Run Time: 124 minutes

Special Features

• Includes Digital Copy
• Deleted Scenes
• Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes
• Marvel One Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer -- Go deeper inside the Marvel Universe and unveil secret plans to assemble the ultimate superhero team, the Avengers. 
• And more!

Here are some of the featurettes I found interesting along, with some admittedly poor screen caps from the disk. I just couldn't resist putting some of these on the site.

Featurette Review
Designing the Costume
The director and producer talk about the challenge of designing a faithful comic book costume while making out realistic. Some concept art with interviews with lead concept artist Ryan Meinerding and some brief, but beautiful pan and scans of the illustrations.

Heightened Technology 
The producers and actors talk about the desire to bring advanced technology to WWII without looking out-of-place. We get a few shots of concept art on boards during production and some beautiful images of Daniel Simons' vehicle designs. He's the star of the featurette since he talks extensively about his design principles.

The Transformation 
A great explanation of how the creators got Chris Evans to look skinny and why they did it the way they did. There are only two illustrations, but the focus is on the technology.

Behind the Skull 
This feature talks about how they brought the character of the Red Skull to life. Artists Ryan Meinerding and Charlie Wen take about the challenge of balancing the anatomical effect of a man with his face burned off while maintaining the classic image of the comic book character. Here are some really nice illustrations in this video. The best on the disk really.

Overall, it's a really good set of disks. The concept art for the Marvel films are some of the best in the business and, besides the lack of a gallery, it's still a good disk to own.




Charlie Wen's website is http://charliewen.typepad.com/ and Ryan Meinerding's is http://boyrobot.com/. Both guy's are pretty busy, so Wen's site hasn't been updated since 2010 and Meinerding's blog domain has lapsed. Just go to Marvel.com to see their stuff.

M. Night Shyamalan Shares Tantalizingly Blurry ‘After Earth’ Concept Art

M. Night Shyamalan posted some concept art for his upcoming film After Earth. Actually, he just posted some images that had concept art in the background. I guess, if you're starved for concept art, this works.

His concept artist is Dean Sheriff, who also worked on three of the X-Men films (X2, X-Men United and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and Watchmen.

Shyamalan captioned both of these via his website and Twitter to explain.

This is Dean [Sheriff], an amazing illustrator. He’s illustrating an early scene from the film. (I’ve picked tantalizingly vague pictures haven’t I?)

These are paintings and photos I’ve collected over the year. They are up on the inspiration wall in the art department of After Earth.

Details about the plot are few, but one description gives some details:

M. Night Shyamalan is directing the pic, which had previously been titled 1000 A.E. The story is set in a future in which humans no longer live on Earth after it becomes inhospitable. The elder Smith is playing a hero, while Jaden is his son, considered a failure as a warrior. When the two crash-land on Earth, it's up to the son to save the dad. - Hollywood Reporter

Check out Dean Sheriff's site at http://www.deansherriff.com

Via: /Film

Exclusive: Aaron Sims Talks About The Film Archetype And The Aaron Sims Company

Update: I've gotten many kind words and emails about this project, but I'm not affiliated with the Aaron Sims Company in any way. Go to http://www.aaron-sims.com/ to learn more.

You may not know the name, but you've seen the work of Aaron Sims and his concept design work a lot.

He's worked on some of the biggest films like Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Transformers and The Thing. He started out as a make-up artists working with Academy Award winning make-up artists like Stan Winston and Rick Baker. It was in 2007 that he founded his own concept design studio called the Aaron Sims Company which bings together the work of some of the most visionary arstists in the industry.

Since, his new short film Archetype is coming out today I sat down with him to find out more about the creative mind of Aaron Sims.

Q: How did you get started working in make-up and special effects?
[Image: From Beyond (1985)]

I started working in make-up effects 1985, on a film called From Beyond. I was hired to design the creatures and I loved it so much that I made a career out of it.

Q: What was it about concept design that drew you from make-up and how did you make the transition?
[Image: A.I. (2001) concept art]

I was a designer way before I was a makeup artist. When I was a kid, all I did was draw monsters all day. After years of doing makeup effects I taught myself VFX . I started working at Stan Winston's as his Art Director, and headed his Digital Department. After five years I decided to take all the knowledge that I acquired of both makeup and VFX and use it for designing.

Q: Tell us about your new film Archetype.
[Image: Archetype (2012) concept art]
Archetype is a short film that I've been working on for a bit. I wanted to stretch my wings to show my directing ability. I had so much fun with the process of it that I'm of focusing on a feature version now. It'll be based roughly on the short film but the feature script is bringing a lot of fun surprises and depth with it.

Q: What was the most surprising thing you learned directing Archetype?
I would say the greatest thing I learned was developing a mindset for working with actors. Actors have there own language and I realized I needed to understand how to communicate my vision in a way they would understand. This was a process, but I definitely learned a lot.

Q: Did the experience change your view of concept design?
For me it only justified the importance of concept design, and committing to them early on. It became an exceptionally powerful way communicate all my ideas to everyone - the Set Designer, DP, Actors, etc...

Q: Can you tell us the most challenging project you've worked on?
To be honest, the most challenging project for me so far is Archetype. The most challenging thing was completing the short on almost no money. It was definitely a labor of love for me and the entire crew. That's what helped make it real.

Q: What's next for you and you company?
My company recently added previs as a tool [to] help directors and filmmakers tell their story early on. This especially helps projects that are heavy in design, and effects.

Thank you for your time.

You can learn more about Aaron Sims and his production company at http://www.aaron-sims.com/
Also, check out the short film at http://www.archetype-movie.com/.

Check out more of my interviews with amazing artists on my List of Interviews page.

These Are NOT Concept Art For Tim Burton's 'Superman Lives'!

A few weeks back the Internet was abuzz about newly found concept art for the unproduced Tim Burton movie Superman Lives.

Pete Von Sholly's designs got into the mix on TimBurton.jp and people went off on them saying how ridiculous they were.

Of course Dudes. They were a joke!

Here's what the artist says on his blog:

Did this for fun while working briefly on the not-produced Tim Burton Superman movie. Somehow somebody got hold of it and posted it as part of some concept art and people went [apes**t] hating it! Most amusing that they took it so seriously!

Anyway here it is and here's the story as I explained to the poster of the pic: "

Just FYI the superman "robo-suit" drawing I made was a JOKE! I only worked on the movie for about 2 weeks and mainly drew monsters for Brainiac's intergalactic zoo.

I just made a couple superman pix for fun and to relieve the monotony- no idea how or why anybody has begun to take it seriously. A lot of stuff gets generated in the concept art stage, some of it just for fun among the artists.

Anyway, everybody relax about that drawing, puh-leeeze!" 

A little research shows he wasn't trying to fool anyone. Back in 2009, he posted on his blog about it.

Anyway, even though they're not for the movie, they're still cool. So, here they are.

Pete Von Sholly's blog is fantastic, so I highly recommend it. Lot's aof great insights to the industry. Check it out at http://vonshollywood.blogspot.com

Check Out Bizarre Designs for the Original 'Star Trek' Enterprise by Matt Jeffries

The most iconic spaceship ever created is the "USS Enterprise" NCC-1703. The man who designed it is the famous illustrator Matt Jeffries. But, he faced an interesting challenge. Creator Gene Roddenberry didn't really know what he wanted, but he knew what didn't want: A 1960s rocket ship. That meant no fins or cigar shape. How do you go from a list of no's to a practical design?

Here, in his own words, he explains his design process.

"In my approach to Star Trek I wanted to be as practical as possible," Jefferies says. "I could tell Gene was serious enough, but I really didn't know where to start. I knew the Enterprise was going to be on the cutting edge of the future, but essentially he gave me the job of finding a shape, and I didn't know what the shape looked like."

"Gene described the 100-150 man crew, outer space, fantastic, unheard-of speed, and that we didn't have to worry about gravity. He had emphasized that there were to be no fins, no wings, no smoke trails, no flames, no rocket.

"To show fantastic speed he was talking about on air, I knew we were just going to have flash cuts; you cannot sell speed by holding a vehicle, automobile, airplane, or whatever and moving the background. It just doesn't work; it's going to have to come from infinity to you or the other way. So I wanted to keep it very simple, but immediately identifiable - a shape that you could instantly pick out. 

"There was a lot of floundering going on because I didn't know where the hell we were going, and I had to start coming up with an envelope to work outside of. I did hundreds of sketches. Gene liked a piece of this and a piece of that and a piece of something else, so I tried to see what I could do with the pieces. I did have a lot of material from NASA on work that they were doing, and I was a member of the Aviation Space Writers' Association and active as a consultant with the Air Force Museum in Dayton, so I did have a source for a lot of what was being thought about.

"Over a period of about three weeks I was getting more frustrated all the time, but finally I came up with something I thought had possibilities.

"My thinking was, because of the ship's speed there had to be terrifically powerful engines. They might be dangerous to be around, so maybe we'd better put them out of the way somewhere, which would also make them what in aviation circles we call the QCU - quick change units - where you could easily take one off and put another on.

"Then for the hull, I didn't really want a saucer because of the term 'flying saucer,' and the best pressure vessel of course is a ball, so I started playing with that. But the bulk got in the way and the ball just didn't work. I flattened it out and I guess we wound up with a saucer! I did it in color on a black matt board, and by the time I finished I thought we really had something. I rushed down to the mill, and the boys did the dish and the lower hull out of balsa wood, and they said that as soon as the lathes were open they would do the engine pods. I said, 'No, just grab some birch dowel,' so we put it together and put a hook in the top with a string."

"When Gene and the NBC people came in - I think there were about eight of them - they did navigate to the color piece, and I said, 'Well, if you like that, how about the model,' and held it up. Gene took it by the string and immediately it flopped over, because the birch dowels were heavier! I had an awful time trying to unsell that.

"And, of course, when our first show hit the air and TV Guide came out, they ran a picture of the ship on the cover, upside down."

"I constantly had to fight anyone who wanted to put surface details on the thing,"

"I thought the atmosphere or lack of it out there in space might produce different colors, and this gave us a chance to be able to play light and to throw color on it."

"I wanted a very simple number that could be spotted quickly. You'd have to eliminate 3, 6, 8, and 9, so I just went for 1701, which incidentally and coincidentally, happens to be very close to the license number on my airplane - NC-17740. But I have never really stepped out and squashed the rumor that the number on the Enterprise came off my airplane."

More of Walter Matt Jefferies' work can be found at http://www.mattjefferies.com/

What do you think of the designs? Which is your favorite rejected design?

All images from "Designing The Starship Enterprise" - February 2000 Issue 10 Star Trek: The Magazine Copyright Of Paramount Pictures. " Archived from lcars.com

Updated: Promo Film For The John Carter Film by Kerry Conran is Out Of This World

There were many, many attempts to bring the "John Carter of Mars" series to screen. We've already seen concept art for the Disney movie John Carter coming out this year. Plus, we've seen concept art from the film when Robert Rodriguez was supposed to direct.

Looking Glass Films has a video by Kerry Conrad, the creator of the visually stunning Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. It was found by the massive John Carter fan site Barsoomia.com. The production predates the 2012 version by several years.

The promo reel is gorgeous and expertly put together. The concept art really captures the feel of a moving and emotional action film while the voice-overs help to explain the images without being obvious.

Update: A YouTube commenter identified the artists as Ian McCaig and Ryan Church. I see one more style in there, but don't know who.
Some (unfortunately low-resolution) screencaps are below. I have no idea who the concept artist is, but the colors and style is exceptionally well-done. There are shades of Avatar with the six-legged horses and other designs, but Cameron stole the ideas from John Carter first. Check it out after the jump...

Want To See Concept Art from 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars?' Check Out the Prequels

Much of the concept art for the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is based on unused concept art for the Star Wars  prequel films.

After watching the series and reading the books I knew some of the designs looked familiar. This has been confirmed by the supervising art director Dave Filoni in an interview.

"Quite often we use concept art from the original films or from the prequels, stuff that was developed but didn't make it into any of the films."

This was also referenced in the Star Wars Blu-Ray DVD. Here are some that I've noticed, but I'm sure there are more.

The design for the leaders of the "Nightsisters" on season three was based on this concept art for the "Sith Witch" from Star Wars Episode II. One of the artists designing the character of an evil Sith Lord thought they should be a woman and designed many illustrations around this idea.

It eventually became the design for Clan Mother Talzin the home of the evil apprentice for Count Dooku A Ventress.

Source: starwars.wikia.com

Ahsoka Tano's design looks familiar. It was the design of an unused Jedi head and costume for Star Wars: Episode I.

The design of Agajj Ventress herself was based on another concept illustration for the Sith assassin from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones nicknamed the "Sith Witch". Artist Dermot Power based her on samurai clothing.

Here's how Dermot described the design.

It started with a Sith...was thinking about African tribal scarification. Also wanted to use two light sabres.Great to see a character take on a life of it's own as this one did when she evolved into Asaj Ventress.

So, the next time you enjoy Star Wars: The Clone Wars remember a lot of it came from the movies.

'Jack the Giant Killer' Concept Art A Fantasy Come True

The upcoming Bryan Singer retelling of "Jack and the Beanstalk" called Jack the Giant Killer (2011) looks pretty amazing. One of the artists helping to shape that vision is Justin Sweet (Chronicles of Narnia).

Here's what he said about the illustration.

Here's a piece of concept art I did for the film "Jack the Giant Killer". Much of the work I've done over the last couple years can't be shown. I saw that this one was released on line a while back.

I couldn't find it anywhere else, so I decided to post it.

Official Synopsis: Jack the Giant Killer tells the story of an ancient war that is reignited when a young farmhand unwittingly opens a gateway between our world and a fearsome race of giants. Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing the young man, Jack, into the battle of his life to stop them. Fighting for a kingdom, its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend—and gets the chance to become a legend himself.

Trailer:


Read more at muddycolors.blogspot.com

Justin Sweet's website is justinsweet.com/