Friday, October 30, 2009

"Hey Bobby Terry, you scrooooowed it up!"

I think that was the line in the book where Randall Flagg chomped poor Bobby Terry... I made this a looong time ago. See since nobody every asks me to make book covers (well not much anyway) I just make the ones I feel like making and I'm satisfied!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Kong Lives!

I love King Kong. The original. No... not the "seventies one", junior. But it always ends badly with our hero dying. So I started messing with an alternate ending where Kong got tired of the airplanes and climbed back DOWN the building, got gas-bombed again and knocked out --- and taken back to his island... Here is what I was thinking...



POST Mortem


So I found out this blog was set so only members could post comments after somebody told me they wanted to post but couldn't and I fixed that. So in case you might be moved to comment it is no longer such a pain.
Meanwhile here's a monster card promo for a thing David Vaughn at Digital Masterpieces at Morbidmonster.com David is a great guy who makes faux boxes for Aurora kits we wanted to see and much more... Go check him out!
The monster cards were a Halloween giveaway idea. Still laying there like the proverbial lox...

Sunday, October 18, 2009

HEY HEY HEY!

Art departments are funny little communities that spring up during film productions, flourish, evolve and suddenly vanish when they are finished with us. This is from the Fat Albert movie- but the version that didn't get made. Forest Whitaker was to direct, and he was great fun. Evidently he and Bill Cosby had creative differences and it didn't work out. I had to go and see Mister Cosby one day and he baffled me... he sat smiling under a giant picture of himself and asked me "Who is the boss?" I wanted to guess... Bruce Spingsteen? Tony Danza? Was this a trick question... ? His friend and interpreter, a tall black man whose name was Crosby as I reall explained the desired answer was "the Director" and I sagely and promptly agreed. It was a strange experience and I am still not sure what it was about. Bill Cosby told me "everything these days is niggamuthafucker niggamuthafucker" and that was not going to be the case with this movie. Not that I was trying to make that the case, mind you! Then he smiled and said "integrity". I sat there in mid-transition from thinking "WOW! Bill Cosby said niggamuthafucker" and "the man's insane! I've got to get out of here!" It was quite an experience but the whole thing was great and a version of the movie of course did get made... But I don't think any of the people pictured here were involved. Just another fun couple of months in storyboard land.
The room..
Stelllla!

The Fat Albert junkmobile.

August and Mike.

Forest Whitaker, our director, the producer and Bill Boes, the production designer.

Bill a little bleary.

Me pitching to Bill Cosby and company.

Darryl Henley pitching to Mr. C.
Darryl Henley, the pensive artist.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Something That Got Up Off the Ground


Oldest house in Columbia County (Ghent, New York) and a thing that was buried there long ago...

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Dem Bones

These shots were animated by David Allen for Doctor Mordrid, a piece of crap in general but it did star Jeffrey Combs and I storyboarded it. The backgrond plates are from the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History and the skeletons were actually created using commercial plastic model kits to start with. You probably know the ones!





Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Keeping Posted


From my story "Catching Hell" in Morbid Volume 1

SNAKE!


From my yard. How cool is this guy?

Monday, October 5, 2009

DVD CAPTURES OF COOL STUFF

Some killa moments from THE BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS by the one and only Ray Harryhausen, THE BLACK SCORPION from the legendary Willis O'Brien and THE ANIMAL WORLD on which they both worked. Note the empty tabletop with painted backdrop for the triceratops scene the The Animal World... hard to get a shot with no animal in that world. Also note the LIONEL train from the Black Scorpion train attack!














Not a lot of variety but some very cool moments here!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

CHARLES R. KNIGHT The GrandMaster of Nature Artists In NEW BOOK!

My longtime pal, Richard Milner, is authoring the definitive book on the immortal Charles Knight, perhaps the greatest animal artist of all time. He is being ably assisted by the fantastic Dan Varner, a great artist in the classical tradition in his own right and an authority on Knight! (Look up the "Oceans of Kansas" book and'or website for a selection of Dan's wonderful work.)

The Knight book is a year or so away and will be published by Harry Abrams. More will be revealed here as it develops. I know Richard and Dan have uncovered an astounding trove of unseen art and information and this book will be a true landmark achievement, showcasing Knight's sculpture as well as his paintings.
Meanwhile here is Mister Knight's rendition of an adult male gorilla skull, as yet unpublished (until right now!).

ETs with DTs?