This week’s Creative Mondays piece comes from a project I heard about on Twitter earlier in the week. The project created by @ph7labs entitled Illuniverse enables artists/illustrators to submit their own created planets onto a website showcasing their work. The aim is to create an entire universe with a variety of different styles.

The project seems to have taken off pretty well and you can already see a nice selection of styles from artists around the world. As an added bonus, each planet links back to it’s creator’s website and serves as a brilliant resource to explore a very creative collection of people!

What’s great about this project is that it’s an open idea. The brief is very open leaving you to create pretty much anything you want!

My first planet (I call Reddy) was an exploration from scratch. I sketched out a circle and drew whatever came into my head. I then worked on fleshing the planet out in Photoshop and the result seems to be some sort of red dripping spotted planet with a double halo ring!

The idea for my second planet was an homage to a scene from The Empire Strikes Back where Han Solo and his companions land the Millenium Falcon on an asteroid in an attempt to escape from the Empire. I created this planet in Illustrator as I rarely work in this program and wanted to expand my knowledge. Watch the clip below to see the scene that I’m talking about.

So I hope you enjoy these little guys and be sure to check out the entire collection over at Illuniverse.com!

I do not know your name

I do not know your name, but I know you died
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died

Your uniform, branch of service, it matters not to me
Whether Volunteer or Conscript, or how it came to be
That politicians’ failures, or some power-mad ambition
Brought you too soon to your death, in the name of any nation

You saw, you felt, you knew full well, as friend and foe were taken
By bloody death, that your life too, was forfeit and forsaken
Yet on you went and fought and died, in your close and private hell
For Mate or Pal or Regiment and memories never to tell

It was for each other, through shot and shell, the madness you endured
Side by side, through wound and pain, and comradeship assured
No family ties, or bloodline link, could match that bond of friend
Who shared the horror and kept on going, at last until the end

We cannot know, we were not there, it’s beyond our comprehension
To know the toll that battle brings, of resolute intention
To carry on, day by day, for all you loved and hoped for
To live in peace a happy life, away from bloody war

For far too many, no long life ahead, free of struggle and pain and the gun
And we must remember the price that was paid, by each and every one
Regardless of views, opinions aside, no matter how each of us sees it
They were there and I cannot forget, even though I did not live it

I do not know your name, but I know you died
I do not know from where you came, but I know you died.

Kenny Martin

Every now and then ideas pop into my head and I just have to put the idea down onto paper. Zombie Astronaut was something I came up with about a month or so ago and it just so happened that it was perfectly timed for Halloween! Zombie films,  zombie television show, zombie games and well basically anything to do with those crazy undead creatures instantly captures my attention. Even some of my earlier sketches and a couple of my illustrative pieces on this site feature a few zombie creations.

The idea behind the poster was to replicate something similar to the photos that the real astronauts have taken of themselves. It was going to feature a zombie posing for the camera much like this photo below:

NASA Astronaut, Michael T. Good. This is NOT who I based the illustration off of!

I liked the thought of replicating this but as I progressed, the idea of zombies not needing oxygen popped into my head and how terrifying that threat would be in space.

In the past, I would create my illustrations mostly by sketching first, scanning the image and drawing using Adobe Flash. For this particular illustration I wanted to work entirely within Photoshop as I’ve been trying to get used to the different brushes and more particularly the detail you can get from using a stylus. I went to town with the gore on this one and with the help of a few blood brushes created some decent splats and sprays. I built up the image using layers of shading and then added dirt/grunge and blood on at the end. This enabled me to go back and make any adjustments on any layer I wanted. A really handy tip if you ever make a mistake and have to go back to redo anything.

With the title of the piece I was inspired by the look of The Warriors font with it’s rough spray paint style and The 1985 Twilight Zone title. I wanted to create the title rather than use a font so I decided it was best to try and sketch my version out by hand and once again scan it in. I still haven’t mastered writing using a stylus so this was an easier option for the time being. I refuse to give up the sketching!

Detailed image:

So here’s my poster in all it’s GORY! I hope you enjoy it and have had a fun and safe Halloween! Might get one of these printed and see what she looks like full size!

I’ve always wanted to do a poster featuring my favourite web-slinger and I can now show you the finished piece! I like to make sure at some stage throughout each project to learn something new and this poster was no exception. I’ve never really gotten into illustrator before so I decided this was a good opportunity to dive in head first.

The entire poster was created in illustrator (all except a few touch-ups with lighting and the text) starting from a sketch I’d scanned in. As Spidey is frequently seen swinging through New York’s amazing cityscape I felt I could take advantage of Illustrator’s new ‘perspective tools’ and create a convincing backdrop. It takes a little getting used to but once you let the perspective do the work for you, you’ll get a better idea of the composition you’d like. Within Photoshop I added a few textures to the buildings, added his webbing and created the glow effect you see around him.

I’ve always sketched out comic book characters as a kid and it’s really where I started in terms of my interest in drawing so to be able to transfer those skills to digital art was a really fun experience!

If you haven’t seen ‘NIMH’ and you’re a fan of animation then I can’t recommend it highly enough. Don Bluth’s work was rivalling that of Disney’s at the time and presented a more sophisticated and somewhat darker style of animation that respected it’s audience rather than dumbing itself down.

So why all this rambling about The Secret of NIMH and it’s style? Well while searching the internet to see if there was any news of an upcoming ‘Blu-ray’ edition I found this unfortunate image of the DVD release:

Not sure where to begin here. Firstly this looks about as far as you can get from the film, it doesn’t capture the mood or anything about the story but places the now bright, colourful and somewhat cheaply illustrated main characters smiling all together with not a care in the world. This couldn’t be further from the truth in terms of plot and animation style.

It’s not just the artwork that suffers. It shows how much as a society we closet our youth from anything that might be somewhat ‘real’ or intriguing. The design is clearly advertising the film as something it’s not and this false advertising ruins the film for an audience expecting to see something completely different. Ironically The Secret of NIMH does deal with issues that everyone can relate to. From death and the scientific testing of animals to love and a mother’s courage to protect her family at any cost this film inspires and respects its audience enough to enjoy it on many levels. It’s thought provoking even for a child and Don Bluth’s animation is the perfect tool to distance the child from a harsh reality but at the same time still teaching.

Now if I can show off one of the posters for the film on it’s original release:

This poster filled me with wonder and curiosity. There’s so much going on, so much detail and character in the illustration that it immediately captures my attention. More than that, it tells the story of a struggle, not every thing’s fluffy and light and ‘full of Disney songs’.

Even in An American Tail, regarded more as a Don Bluth film with a wider appeal, the poster artwork was impressive and detailed. It tells the story in one frame simply and effectively:

Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the DVD release:

More and more I find artwork that looks lazy or cheaply put together without any storytelling ability. I always thought the phrase was, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’… and I can only see about one.

Saw Duncan Jones’ Source Code a while back and quite enjoyed the film (big fan of his first film Moon). He brings an intelligence to popular science fiction stories without having to go over the top and while there’s plenty of special effects in his films they’re not always dictating what happens next.

I was inspired by the various posters created by others and wanted to attempt a version myself. A lot of the other versions were very detailed so I wanted to create a minimalistic ‘teaser style’ poster for the film that would draw the viewer in but not give any information away. Immediately the visual of the train tracks stuck in my mind with both being parallel to each other and one abruptly ending.

I really enjoyed creating this style of work and it helps clear the clutter in my brain with a simplistic design once in a while!

Click the image to see the full poster!

Okay, so I’m not really into labelling anything as ‘favourite’ but watching Inception I can see why people could call it their favourite film of 2010. It’s one of a few films that has come out over the past couple of years that has made sci-fi sexy and cool without having to ‘dumb’ everything down for the viewer. It’s also one of those films that by watching it a second time you can be ‘gifted’ with another great experience.

I sketched out a few early doodles and I was liking where the idea of tracing the name and the buildings was headed. On a large scale I mapped out the maze one section at a time until the full piece came together.

The idea behind this design was to create something simplistic at first glance but once you get closer you could easily get lost and keep looking to find new twists and turns. I kept the style very monotone to reflect the drawn out colour of the film.

So here’s the result of my first effort creating a Na’vi version in Photoshop from one of my photos.

My Avatar – By Jason W Stanley

I started by getting a few tips from some video tutorials online and a couple of DeviantArt tutorials I found and then trying to learn how to adapt a style that would suit me. Using multiple layers and the burn/dodge tool I was able to create a colour I was happy with and start with the finer details. The skin texture is actually leather and I drew the rest of the patterns directly onto the face. At this stage I hadn’t gotten the hang of the Na’vi nose so I kinda smudged it around a bit.

Once I became confident that I could get the colours and the overall look right I needed more ‘subjects’ to experiment on:

These three were a lot more fun to work on as I’d already I’d established a quick and easy method to transform each person. This meant I could now focus on adding the ‘little’ touches and details or trying to create a Na’vi from a different perspective rather than just a profile shot. I used various animal textures such as a Zebra, Tiger or an average tomcat to give me striped effects on both the skin and the hair. The third image here (Avatar Jess) was the most enjoyable to do as I found the better the quality of image (also black and white) created a decent canvas for me to work on.

Inspiration

The film wasn’t the only source of inspiration what with the web (Flickr in particular) springing up hundreds of Na’vi Photoshop manipulations. So in keeping with the apparent Avatar addiction I have, I thought I’d share a few of the other Na’vi manipulations I managed to find while looking for inspiration and tips online.

Ich als Na’vi, tags – by Dorothee Rieß

avatar – by Yana =)

Sophia Na’vi caffeineandpixels

My Avatar – By nevnarien

Conan and Andy Avatar – By the_keiser

AVATAR… – By Fahadi

Avatar – By Junior Codi

angelina-AVATAR – comparacion – By benjja1

My na’vi avatar – By elenaledesma

Transforming Into a Na’vi – By Gerass

Avatarified! – By Brady~

For Frédéric – By juliempg

AVATAR… – By Fahadi

Myself as an Na’vi (Avatar) – By Danny.Boy_88

A while back I read about James Goodridge, an illustrator who actually designed a poster for the film but was eventually rejected. His style of artwork for film posters is quite iconic and provides a very unique alternate look for the film.

On the left, James Goodridge’s verison and on the right the official Inglourious Basterds poster.

What fascinates me are the different ideas and interpretations artists can get from films and use in their poster designs. Unfortunately to hire many different artists to design the poster of just one film would be a costly project and honestly wouldn’t be that necessary as its the job of the designer to capture exactly what the director/producers want in the first place.

Luckily, Quentin Tarantino, Upper Playground and The Weinstein Company have teamed up to present, The Lost Art of Inglourious Basterds — This creative team has assembled the following select group of accomplished artists, David Choe, Sam Flores, Estevan Oriol, Grotesk, Jeremy Fish, Patrick Martinez, Alex Pardee, Dora Drimalas, Munk One, N8 Van Dyke, Rene Alamanza, Morning Breath and Skinner Davis, to create their own poster art based off their interpretation of the Oscar Nominated film, “Inglourious Basterds” artwork.

The Upper Playground Art Gallery in Los Angeles will be previewing this artwork on February 18th 2010 from 6pm – 9pm as a fundraiser for The American Red Cross to help the victims of the Haiti Earthquake. You can purchase prints of these posters (apparently only six of each will be made) for $300 which will be signed and numbered by Quentin Tarantino.

Few shout outs to /Film, Unreality Magazine and FirstShowing.net for some of the info.

- Jason

Also if you’re interested all the logos here were found at logopond.

Out of all these logos, which was your favourite? Are there any other animal logos you can think of that you find inspiring? Feel free add your feedback below!

- Jason