The above artwork is a follow-up to the "Jimmy/Joker" illustration in the previous article. Enjoy!
(and for the record, I enjoy all superheroes!)
~ James
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
"The Bizarro Boogie"
I recently completed a new illustration featuring Superman's twisted goofball clone, Bizarro! He loves to tear it up at clubs!!! .. and it appears that the other members of the Legion of Doom aren't too pleased..
Enjoy, folks!!!
~ James
Friday, March 23, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
SHAPING THE LANDSCAPE OF TWISTED EARTH
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| 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.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
THE HOBBIT 'AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY' TRAILER ARRIVES.
By: Russell R Cera
When someone refers to something as "much of the same", you can probably bank on the idea that they aren't very enthused about it. This couldn't be any further from the truth in regards to the first teaser trailer for The Hobbit 'An Unexpected Journey', from Peter Jackson, director of 'The Lord of the Rings' Trilogy. In fact, it is that very "sameness", if I may make up a word, that many if not all fans of the original trilogy were hoping for, and it ensures that regardless of it's smaller stature, we will receive yet another treasure, much like the additional footage on the extended versions of LOTR. Watching the trailer is almost eerie in a way, in that outside of Martin Freeman's appearance as Bilbo, it feels as if we are visiting the same people and places all over again! Oh wait, of course! That's because we are! Well sort of, in many cases. Nothing seems to have changed. Not the wide scope cinematography, nor the effective use of flashbacks and flash forwards that Jackson employed previously, nor the narration of Ian Holm as Bilbo.
Exactly! Thank you! Perfect!
When you note that all of the key players in making 'Lord of the Rings' have returned, from it's director to its writers Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, to Richard Taylor and the wizards at Weta, to composer Howard Shore, to concept artists Alan Lee and John Howe, to all of the key actors necessary to reprise their roles, it's no wonder, that successful or not, by 2013 there will be six films in total that feel as cozy and comfortable as one!
One of the biggest questions leading up to this trailer is how Peter Jackson planned on utilizing the returning talents of Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins. Another was if and how they would use Ian Holm, if at all, to tie in the appearance change from him to Freeman. It seems that these two questions are immediately answered, and as expected, the entire two film piece will in fact be a flashback of Bilbo in later life (Holm), more than likely transcribing the details of his adventures into the Red Book of Westmarch or 'The Hobbit'.
Now there are a few things of course, that fans will just have to gulp down and get over regardless. The first of those is the previously mentioned appearance of a younger looking Bilbo (Freeman) when he should look much the same as he does when Gandalf first visits him (Holm) in LOTR. "You haven't aged a day." If taken literally, he shouldn't have. The ring brought to Bilbo the same extraordinarily long life as Gollum. However, we could make the case that the statement can be derived as figurative and complimentary over completely accurate. In other words, we have to just let go as staunch followers of Tolkien's words and just roll with it!
Another obvious mismatch are the appearances of some of the company of Dwarfs. Where I wrote a previous article about the subject, I will not reiterate the details here, however it seems that Jackson favored a diverse visual approach rather than sticking to the descriptions given by Tolkien wholeheartedly. Again, we have to take into consideration that there will be massive changes in film adaptation, much like there were in LOTR. Some of the diversions in the trilogy were preposterous to the books and others were cut (thank goodness). Some examples of this are Arwen's arrival at Helm's Deep to do battle and the reemergence of Sauron in the physical form to battle Aragorn. Now those would have been some inexcusable stretches!
Yet let's get off the negative, because those points are few. Before I wrap this up let's just note some of the highlights we should expect in The Hobbit and note the LOTR tie in pieces of the trailer itself.
• The narration of Ian Holm as Bilbo. The appearance of Holm is clear from the onset, and while I'm not sure that his scenes are not completely regurgitated from the Trilogy, it is a good thing to know that he was available to some extent to tie in the Bilbo of old to new. Or new to old?
• The appearance of Elijah Wood as Frodo and Biblo's relating the story as a flashback to him through the Red Book of Westmarch. This is a perfect devise to tie in the original films and I cannot think of a better way to do it.
• The return of the indelible Ian McKellan as Gandalf the Grey. It is incredible to see him once again back in charming Grey form as opposed to regal White. Of even more special note is the return of Christopher Lee as Saruman. This sets up for the back story of 'The Hobbit' which in fact was never presented in the original book but in a later publication called Unfinished Tales.
• Rivendell in all it's glory and the approach of Biblo to the Shards of Narsil. This is of course the blade that cut the ring from Sauron's hand and eventually the sword that is mended back to Anduril. Nowhere is such detail in the book of 'The Hobbit', yet this is another perfect tie in.
• The appearance of Kate Blanchett as Galadriel, the knowledge that Hugo Weaving will reprise the role of Elrond and the cameo appearance by Orlando Bloom as Legolas. Note the latter two do not appear in the trailer.
• Sting is unfurled by Bilbo. Enough said.
• Last but not least, the return of Gollum (Andy Serkis) both in vision and voice. I can only assume that his sequence will wrap up the first installment of the two piece interpretation of 'The Hobbit'.
Will 'The Hobbit' be the outlandish success story that 'Lord of the Rings' was? That remains to be seen, however it is almost sure to be a financial hit regardless of it's critical reception. While I assume there will be many critics chomping at the bit to fork over a negative review, I can't imagine how the two piece set won't garnish the same type of acclaim that it's predecessors did.
How can I say that?
It is that made up word I spoke of before - "sameness" - that nearly guarantees it!
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