 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) concept art by Po Sing Chu |
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was a huge gamble. A space opera about a bunch of losers including a talking raccoon and a sentient tree seemed like an an instant failure. But the gamble paid off and is now Marvel's third highest-grossing movie to date. The sequel is green-lit for July 28, 2017 and promises to be one of their most popular franchises. Director James Gunn worked hard to ground the film in reality and he worked with MPC (The Moving Picture Company) to create the mind-blowing special effects. One of the many talented concept artists was Po Sing Chu and he kindly talked with me about working on the film. He even sent me some concept art of various ships, props, Groot and an alternate look at Thanos.
Chu is a professional concept artist who's worked on Hollywood projects like X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) and Paul McGuigan's upcoming Victor Frankenstein (2015).
Click on the images to enlarge.
Chu said after finishing high school, he went to the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and studied Illustration there. After he graduated he moved back to England in 2013 and eventually interviewed with MPC and began working August last year. His first job was putting together "moodboards" for the weapon fx of the spaceships. He said, "depending on the spaceship, I would look anywhere from shooting stars, to a slow-motion of a frog sticking out its tongue, to a timelapse of lava being rapidly cooled. My coworker Mark Tompkins constantly reminds me to look at nature for inspiration, and surprisingly it's where I find the best reference and inspiration from nature all the time as I always used to underestimate it."
See more of Po Sing Chu's wonderful portfolio at http://artofpo.blogspot.com and more of MPC's effects at http://www.moving-picture.com.
Click on the links if you want to see more of Po Sing Chu's work or Guardians of the Galaxy artwork on my blog.
What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Guardians of the Galaxy what do you think of the designs?
Official Guardians of the Galaxy Summary
From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team--the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits--Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand--with the galaxy's fate in the balance.
Directed by James Gunn
Production Design by Charles Wood
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio del Toro, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close
Release date: August 1, 2014 (USA)
Official Site: http://marvel.com
© Copyright 2014 Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. All rights reserved
Follow @filmsketchr
Beautiful work. It's great to learn something of Chu's training.
ReplyDelete