The Wretched Novelization

On the surface, yes, this is just another variation on the poster previously posted.  But what's that on top?  My name?  Holy crap, y'all, it's a book.  Yes, that's right, the official novelization of The Wretched is now available on Amazon, in both paperback and ebook versions.  And hey, if you buy the paperback, you get the ebook for free!  By Grabthar's hammer, what a savings...

The Wretched poster evolution

In addition to my own films (Full Noon is going slow, but still going) I occasionally work on films made by other people.  One of these is a horror film entitled The Wretched.  When principal photography began a couple years back, I was unable to participate, but thanks to the loan of my microphone, I was credited as assistant producer.  Some time after that, I volunteered to write the official novelization, based on the script, production stills, a trailer, and personal knowledge of some of the locations.  It's technically done, and available to read here.  Then, in 2016, reshoots happened.  This time I was able to be there, and handled the camera for a good chunk of the shoots.  Bundles of fun.

All of this leads to a couple of weeks ago, when director Nathaniel Davis contacted me about putting together a poster.  Well, that was one of my favorite things, so I jumped at the task.  Given a set of promotional images and the concept sketch below, I set off to work...

...and ended up with this.

The concept is simple: a poster for the protagonists' latest porn video (did I mention they're porn stars?) is disrupted when the wall on which it's resting is disturbed by an incursion from the villain of the piece.  It wasn't intentional, but I realize now it was influenced by the poster for the horror classic (sarcasm!) Rumpelstiltskin.

After some notes from Nathaniel and a quick confirmation sketch from myself to make sure we were on the same page...

...we eventually got to a better design that's a) more its own thing and b) closer to Nate's original concept.  Plus, the information on it is no longer copied over from Full Noon.

After that, Nate ran it through some filters to dirty it up a bit and make it seem like a weathered B-movie poster, as seen below.  Hopefully, the final film will be out soon, and you can see this poster in all its cheesy glory on a VOD channel near you.  For more information about The Wretched, please check out their awesome website.

One last thing: here's the poster for the in-movie porn (sadly designed too late to be used in-movie):

The title comes from the subtitle of the Marquis de Sade's Justine.  And yes, I'm aware the hazard sign is backwards.  It fit well with the character, especially juxtaposed with her smoking, and she worked better flipped the other way.  Besides, it's a cheap porno poster; you really think the people making it (in-movie, remember) would care?

Full Noon, Update 1

Preproduction is underway on Full Noon, a comedy/horror feature film written by myself, my girlfriend Felicity, and her two friends Leota and Ashley.  I'll also be directing, while my co-writers will star.  We've got a script, we've got a budget, and God willing, we'll have a movie this summer.

We're currently in the early stages of securing funding.  A grant/pitch contest didn't pan out, so it looks like Kickstarter is in our future.  Until that happens, I'm going through and storyboarding the film, which is what a responsible director does anyway...

Be on the lookout for future updates, including our fundraising demo and trailer.

Basement

I've returned to film.  Following the disaster that was Compulsively Yours and my disillusionment following film school, I've started to make movies again.  First was the short Mint In Box.  Next is the feature Full Noon.  But right now is Basement, a film my writing partner/girlfriend Felicity Hull and I developed for the Project Greenlight Reel Fear contest.  While creating the pitch video to submit to the Project, I made a few concept drawings to illustrate some of the visuals we envisioned, as well as a creature design modified from an unproduced animation project that I did some concept work for.  Please enjoy!

Captain America!

I'm a big fan of the stealth costume from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but I wondered what it would look like in classic colors.  I plan on making this into an action figure, but for now I did a quick mock-up, using a picture stolen from John Mallamas' toy review blog, Jin Saotome's Five Minute Toy Review.  Check it out; its a cool blog.  And be on the lookout for pics of the custom, coming (hopefully) soon.

The Beast From The Sea

See that second picture?  I found that on 9gag, and thought it was cool.  So it and maybe ten other pictures went into making the above.  The beast from the sea!

Six Books, Six Films

I hated the Lord of The Rings films.  I'm sorry, I did.  Out of the six books making up the series, they adapted five.  Guess which one they left out?  The last one, the climax of the series, the one where all the important stuff happened.  So when Cracked.com opened up a contest to make book-accurate posters for film adaptations, I churned this out, using stills from various films as well as pictures of Weta Workshop statues.  I didn't get this poster submitted in time, but I still think it works as a good portfolio piece.

Expanding the Batman Universe

After finishing up the Batman seen below, I decided to add in some more characters.  First up is Two Face, also played by Ben Affleck (why not?).  Made up of two different pictures of BA for the base- face, then three or four pictures and procedural generations for the burns.  Next up is Deathstroke the Terminator.  This wasn't planned, but when I saw a picture of the new Taiwanese special forces uniform, I new I had to make this.  I'm also about half-way through a Poison Ivey (Hilary Swank), but it probably won't be finished...

The Batman Of The Future...

     So... Ben Affleck is Batman.  And now the question is: Will he look good as Batman?  Well, I took a photo of Affleck as Daredevil into Photoshop to find out.  The original image is below:

Green Dog Productions

     So, I'm starting to push forward with my film career...  After participating in the 48 Film Project as a boom operator under director Tracey Trost, I'm setting out to direct my own film, Compulsively Yours.  And as I'm getting ready to start a serious career, I need a serious logo.  So, Green Dog Productions, replacing my previous Beware My Wrath and Peng Productions (though I still may use Peng in the future...)
     Logo made by tracing a picture of my late dog, Goliath, in Illustrator, then titling in after effects.  TO see the whole Green Dog intro video, click here... http://youtu.be/ruWVWBLqGx8  Footage taken from my previous short, Dogs of War (his last role!)

Beware The Dentist!

     So, I was at the dentist today, and decided to play around with Daz...  Then once I had a render, I decided to take it into Photoshop...  Then this came out.  Not sure what it is; possibly a companion/villain for Gigawatt?  Jacket by wilmap.

E.H.U.D.: Prelude To Apocalypse

     So, for those of you who haven't been up to date with my other blog, The Realms of Neldak (see sidebar), I've been writing a novel, E.H.U.D.: Prelude To Apocalypse.  The story is finished, and although there's still some polishing up to do, I've decided to embark on an epic quest to adapt it into an interactive web-based adventure.  Think Hinson Totoro, but with more reading.  Anyhoo, I've been working up some artwork for the novel, and this is the background/menu for part of Chapter 1: Ashleigh spilling the tea.  Yes, that's how my 500 page long sci-fi political thriller begins.  Deal with it. The site, along with the first chapter and intro video, should be up soon.  Until then, please check out the book over at The Realms!

The Mysterious Fate Of Mister Hinson Totoro...

One should never say never, but...  It looks like Hinson Totoro is going on indefinite hiatus.  Even if I do finish the first game (Only 2-3 videos and some voiceover to go!) I will never truly be able to finish this first arc, due to the passing of my father, one of the key actors.  So, to not let so much work go completely to waste, I proudly present ALL THE BACKGROUND PLATES!  Created entirely in Photoshop using primarily pictures scrounged from Google, these took... a lot of time, and may have indirectly led to me failing a class.  What fun!  Hope you enjoy, and if you have any questions as to the specifics of these pics, please comment below. 

Action-y Action Figures...

So, way back in 2008, I began experimenting with stop motion and chroma keying.  Using my old point-and-shoot, I took a series of photos on a blue background, separated them in photoshop, and made the above, then the following.  I never really got back into it, save for a bit of Deadpool and Starscream, but it was fun while it lasted.  Enjoy!

Dungeons & Dragons For The Morbidly Obese...

     So, working for Rhett and Link...  I was recently given the job of finding some pictures for a sketch.  These pictures, that of a Troll, Dragon, Sorceress, and unnamed fourth character, were to be used as new circles on a twister board that in turn would be a part of THE MOST COMPLICATED BOARD GAME EVER!!!!!  (it should be coming out soon...  I'll post a link when it does...)  Anyway, being me, I instantly decided that the best way to "find" pictures would be to make my own.  Well, Daz studios comes preset with a dragon, a sorceress, a warrior (the unnamed fourth character), and I had already bought a troll, so....  Yeah.  I posed, lit, and exported for post in Photoshop.  Hope you enjoy!

Novacane

     So, being in filmschool, it seems crazy that I'd actually design a poster, right?  So anyway, last night my flatmate Raul asks me to design a poster to go with the script he's writing for class.  One plot description and fantasy casting session later, the above is what I came up with.

     Then come the revisions.  Turns out the title "Novocaine" refers not to the common dentistry anesthetic, but rather to the not-R&B song "Novacane."  Combine that with a darker color scheme to match Raul's tonal vision, and you have the above, final poster, ready for class display.  

     

     But if the above is final, what dwells below?

     My own little version, achieved by playing around with filters and then playing through Zac Efron's unedited face and hands.

     Anyhoo, hope you all enjoy this, and please feel free to leave comments and critiques!

Makin' Movies

So, I'm working on a short film (a real one, with a budget!) as a production designer.  During the early parts of development, I was tasked (along with my friend Kelley) with designing the characters' school uniforms, based on some ideas and images provided by our director.  We went out to Goodwill (always a good start) and took some photos of clothes.  I then took those photos, reconstructed the parts covered by hands and hangers, and colorized 'em.  Using Daz, I rendered out a little girl, then warped the clothes over her.  One posterization later, and this concept sketch was complete!  The design was ultimately rejected for something a bit simpler, but I think this 'sketch' is good enough to share (and to just show what the heck I'm up to here in Hollywood).  Enjoy!

Also, if you need a production designer, contact me; I'm good.  See?

That's The Business...

Business cards?  Business cards.

Rhett & Link!

So... I've got my Los Angeles internship... with Rhett & Link.  Yes, those Rhett & Link.  Here's a screen shot from 30 Rock, edited to look like a combination of--you guessed it--Rhett & Link.