Previsualization / Concept Art / Environment Design / Comic Book Pencil Art: FUTURISTIC CITY

In this post and this post also, I wrote about illustrating samples for a supposed video game company that ultimately expected the work I did to be done on 'spec'.  This is the last of the designs I had done to try to get the job that turned out not to be the kind of job you get paid for.

At the time of the job posting I saw, I didn't have anything formal in my portfolio that would serve to demonstrate my abilities for designing environments.  So when I saw this ad, I illustrated these pieces as fast as I could, but I was afraid I had taken too long and missed any opportunity for this 'job'.  I contacted this 'client' to let him know I was completing things for him, and I then sent him what I had already done.

In the description of this 'job' ad, the 'client' was looking for a futuristic city to be designed, along with roller coasters and an armored warrior woman.  I had continued my theme of placing all of these designs in the form of a comic book page (or in this case, a double-page spread).  

After I sent the initial pieces I finished, that is when I got a very positive reaction from the 'client' who asked me to send the piece you see above, even though it wasn't finished.  When I sent this to him, the 'client' slathered me with compliments, and told me all about his project, and then that's when he told me he wanted me to work for 'back-end' pay.

It's such a sucker-punch when you do all the hard work you can to get a job, only to get the carpet yanked out from under you.  It's an education on what is real, and when you should develop a sense of when it isn't.

One day, I'm going to carve out time and take this piece to finish.  I'd love to see how the roller coasters will turn out.

Previs Concept / Environment Design / Character Design / Comic Book Pencil Art

Back in this post, I talked about doing design work for a video game company that when I showed my design work, I was told that the company expected me to do work on 'spec' for them.

A number of designs I had decided to put into a comic book page format, which included character design, the futuristic city environment design & robot design.  Again, I had a very positive response from the supposed client, right before they told me that I would be working for free.

I declined.

Previsualization / Concept / Environment Design: IGUANA ENTERTAINMENT

Some years ago, I went to visit a friend at Iguana Entertainment in Austin, Texas.  They were best known for developing the Turok, NBA Jam, NFL Quarterback Club, and South Park video games.

As I was visiting there, I talked with the Creative Director & all-around person in charge Matt Stubbington, whom after a brief conversation, surprisingly right off the bat offered me an Art Director's job.  I made sure I asked him to clarify so I wouldn't jump to any conclusions, and he said again plainly that he would like for me to work for him.  We talked for another hour or so afterward, with him telling me about what all was going on in the company, and the various kinds of things he saw me doing for his company, which was very exhilarating.

He also told me about his dream for Iguana, which was to have a place that would be a full-service visual effects & animation studio within five years.  He was basically describing the very place I ultimately got to work at for almost 4 years, Reel FX Creative Studios.  He had mentioned that he wanted to do a promotional video, showcasing all the various kinds of visual effects and 3D character design & animation his company could provide.

He said that it would take several weeks to make a spot for me, indicating nothing but positivity.

I went back home to Denton, Texas, and I started making plans to move to Austin.  At one point, I got it into my head to do a previsualization concept piece of the the promotional video that Matt Stubbington mentioned to me earlier.

The result is what you see above, where I came up with a scenario of a kid playing a video game, when a sunglassed iguana would come through the computer monitor & yank the kid into a video game-type world where our kid encounters & interacts with all sorts of monsters, aliens, tornadoes, again showcasing all the various kinds of visual effects one would see in a great scifi movie.

Matt Stubbington reacted very well to the piece.  He again was very positive about the job offer, and told me that he would be able to call me soon to inform me when he'd want me to start.

Then he simply never called me back.

He never returned any of my phone calls to him.  To this day, I don't know why.  You hear stories about this kind of stuff, and it seems like an exaggeration, even though you know it isn't.  Then when it happens to you directly, you're still surprised.

So, whatever job opportunities that are 'talked about' with you by anyone, no matter how nice and positive they are with what they say... don't believe anything until it actually happens.

A job isn't real until it's real! 

*UPDATE* I'm sorry to say that I never will get to know what happened in the situation I described above.  I got news that Matt Stubbington has died too early in life at the age of 39.  My condolences and sympathies go out to Matt's family and loved ones.

Previsualization / Concept Art / Environment Design / Comic Book Pencil Art: DOME CITY

I was scouring through ads looking for work back in 2002, and came upon an ad looking for a Concept Designer.  In this ad, it specifically asked for designs for a number of things, including a domed city in a desert.  I spent several days working on these various environment concept designs, and sent them out to this company.

I got a call back from the person in charge, who told me how much he really liked what I did, and would absolutely want me as a part of the development team for whatever video game that was being produced at that time.

One catch: all my work was going to have to be on 'spec', and I would be paid on the 'back end'.  To be clear, when someone asks you about this, this PLAINLY means that they want you to work for FREE.

They have no money to pay anyone.  More likely they have money, but they just want free work from you so they can lay claim to ownership of the designs you did (because you "worked" for them on their project).  They also have no business model with which they can demonstrate to you that if you do the concept design work for them, once they sell 'X'-amount of units of said product, you would then get 'X'-amount of dollars for it.

These are hard lessons to learn...

Previsualization / Concept Art / Environment Design: HASBRO GI JOE Commercial Ad

My very first job at Reel FX Creative Studios was to work on the second all CG-animated one-minute GI JOE.com website commercial.

The opening shot of this commercial was of a destroyed Cobra base of operations.  I was asked to come up with a design, which I turned in the next day.  In that design, I augmented the pencils with graytones from markers.

I went right on to storyboarding the commercial.  Several days later, I was shown the opening shot.  It was awesome!  Creative Director Brandon Oldenburg took my Cobra base drawing, did a color treatment in Photoshop of it, then had it pasted on stock footage of a mountaintop pan shot with smoke billowing out of it!

It was only a 3 second shot, but it was simply amazing to see how things get put together.

Previsualization / Concept Art / Character Design / Movie Poster Design / Comic Book Pencil Art: HEAVY METAL 3 - THE MOVIE

 

A couple years ago, my friend Josh Prikryl approached me to ask if I would come up with a movie poster concept for, of all things, a new Heavy Metal animated film. A former VP at Mike Young Productions, Josh has also been a production manager at the animation firm he and I both worked at, Reel FX Creative Studios. He's spent the last number of years as a Producer for animation film projects, currently running his own virtual animation studio called Overseas Virtual in Hong Kong.

Josh was able to pitch his concept for Heavy Metal 3 directly to Kevin Eastman, co-creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who owns the Heavy Metal property. From the time Josh asked me start, to the time he actually pitched it to Mr. Eastman, I was able only to create this penciled version to compliment Josh Prikryl's presentation.  I had my good friend Josh Lewis work up the logo treatment and credits, having fun with using names of actors I liked.

Now that I think of it, to help the presentation, maybe I should have used Kevin Eastman's name as the director, eh?  Sigh.  Oh, well.  Sadly, Kevin Eastman went in another direction with the movie, which left Josh Prikryl out of the running.

However, I had a blast working on this piece! I keep trying to find time to go back and do a full color version of it. One day...