James Lincke's "Misfortune," a Superman Reboot Parody

 

 ..as Presented at the Superman Homepage, the Official Website for All Things MAN OF STEEL!

Michael Bay's TEENAGE ALIEN NINJA TURTLES - COMING SOON!

 

SHAPING THE LANDSCAPE OF TWISTED EARTH

Promotional poster for Robert James Aldrus' TWISTED EARTH by Russell R. Cera

  By: Russell R. Cera

   "Twisted Earth is a journey to the darkest depths of one's heart, soul and imagination. An inspiring yet poignant tale of friendship, love, acceptance and transcendence, it's story is told through the eyes of an ailing young boy forlorn over an unrequited love for his absent father.  His obsession for answers leads him to a collection of paintings and a tattered, forbidden journal, through which he is banished into a realm of terrifying nightmares from which there seems no return..." - Russell R. Cera

    While there's plenty more to the story of Twisted Earth, including many surprises, twists and turns, it currently resides dormant like a great beast awaiting to be re awoken... and it shall be.  While RJA Creations - James Lincke and myself, are thick in the development stages of GUARDS, our animated comedy adventure series, Twisted Earth is on hold short of us conceiving or notating and my writing the parts and pieces which will eventually become this epic tale.

   Still, it continues to exist and expand on two fronts.  The story itself and the creative process, although marked by my writing it into a novel, always was and will be conceived through visual means. It is the artwork both conceptual and finished that birthed it and will continue to see it grow.

   Much like GUARDS and our other future projects, there is a process of course in delivering a creative entity to a would be publisher, buyer or studio. We are learning more and more about this process every day. I'm speaking about the treatment, or in basic terms, the pitch.  A treatment basically lays out everything: synopsis, plot, characters, demographic studies, strategies, merchandising, visual concepts, environments, concept art... you name it and it's game to be in there.  It is incredibly hard work with no guarantees and the longer haul is spent promoting and shopping the work.  

   Yet one advantage we have as a creative source for original stories, is the ability to conceive the worlds we imagine visually and not just through words and promises.  While a promotional poster for a would be film for Twisted Earth does not actually exist, it in fact can be designed to inspire interest or excitement to an audience.  And while greater tools and sources are presenting opportunities for us to promote our would be works through art and video, our pitches can be produced in such a way that they are impressive, informative and completely convincing at the same time.

   The Twisted Earth poster presented here was created for just that purpose.  You'll also see this landscape in an up and coming video preview of Twisted Earth, in which it will be utilized like a matte painting, with live action superimposed over it.  Yes folks we're talking green screen!  And while we do not have the most sophisticated tools at our disposal just yet, we are confident that we can produce something quite convincing through our ingenuity and drive to take things as far as we presently can go.

   Take for example this poster, which is a combination of my hand painting digital art and using composite images to create an overall sense of reality.  To explain hand painted digital art, that means the art is sketched, drawn and painted by hand using a drawing tablet in a computer program such as Photoshop.  Composite images are actual photographs that are altered or rendered in such a way that they realistically aid in depicting the scene or setting.  This process is one that is used continually in today's creation of movie posters or promotional images.

    In formulating posters like this, there is often what is called a hook, or in other words, an image meant to invoke a response rather than follow the storyline faithfully.  Trust me, you'll see it everywhere in promotional imagery for film or publication.  An example of it on this particular piece is the hand rendered image of "death" in the clouds.  If you haven't discovered it yet... it's that rather large skull peeking out amidst the heavy dark clouds at top.  This is of course a divisive decision to create an image that people immediately identify with.  While I much rather would represent the actual antagonist of the story, his appearance is far too ambiguous and would not translate as easily to an audience promised a "world of nightmares."  So the skull is in and our villain is out, for the poster anyway!

    One aspect of RJA Creations that I've always aspired to is to share the creative process in a way that better connects with our audience.  In upcoming articles, I will preview other promotional posters for Twisted Earth and discuss the technique by which they were created.  This poster will be available as part of our indiegogo fundraising campaign, in which a contribution of desired amount returns to you some very cool exclusive RJA Creations merchandise and art!  

   Stay tuned and hope to see you in Twisted Earth!

Note:  The current working title Robert James Aldrus' TWISTED EARTH, all imagery, titles, story lines are copyrighted and sole property of RJA Creations. It is therefore forbidden to copy or use the imagery or verbiage without expressed permission from RJA Creations.