LEGO

So Ian and I found his childhood LEGOs and instruction books.  So recently we have been assembling some of his childhood sets and using the internet to find some of his other sets.  Along with spending too much money at the LEGO store on our way home from DC, I thought it would be fun to google "lego artist"

What did I find?  Pure awesomness.

9. Nathan Sawaya

 Nathan is a New York based artist that works in LEGOs.  He was born in Washington and moved to Oregon before settling in New York.  He works as a full time freelance artist, working on commissions from individuals, companies, and conventions.  His inspiration to work in LEGOs came from childhood, as he played with the colorful bricks as a young boy.  After attending NYU for college, he re-discovered LEGOs as a medium.

I love his 3D style and his ability to create human forms.  The thing I like about LEGOs is that they are bright and colorful.  You can create anything out of them!  Sawaya really takes brick building to a whole new level.

I found it interesting to read that he glues his creations together, which makes sense if you're sending LEGO sculptures all over the world.

His Q&A is really interesting to read about the process http://brickartist.com/about/

 I'm rather jealous of his LEGO studio.  I wish I had a ton of LEGOs to build frivolously with.  Maybe one day...  We have a decent sized box of LEGOs but not enough for a senior seminar's worth!  I really want to see one of these things in person.  I don't feel the pictures do it justice.

DC Trip

Well, I've fallen behind in blog posting this summer.  Busch Gardens has absorbed my life.   Are you surprised I haven't melted away in this heat yet?

Ian and I did manage to escape and take an educational field trip that I thought would benefit me in my seminar research.  It is so much better to go look at art than it is to look at it on a computer screen.  So we packed up our bags and headed to DC to see an exhibit at the Smithsonian Art Gallery entitled, "The Art of Video Games."  I was really excited to see some concept art in real life, especially from games that I have played.  I was lucky enough to snap some pictures and the artists names to research them for my blog.  So here it goes:

6. Adam Adamowicz
 

Adam is a concept artist living in DC.  He works for Bethesda working on famous titles such as Fallout and Skyrim.  Above are concept sketches from 2005.  One is of the locations in Fallout 3 and the bottom most creature is a monster he designed for the same game.  I could not find out any information on his educational background but he apparently spent a "lot of years surviving on odd jobs from driving an icecream truck, building haunted houses, fabricating window display sculptures,to apprentice tattooing, and yes, as a cake decorator for a bakery specializing in erotic cake designs" (from his personal blog).

I was heartbroken to find out upon researching Adam more that he recently died earlier this year.  Well,...there goes that whole researching a "working artist in the field" thing.  He is very recent and I had looked forward to his concept sketches for more Fallout games to come.  Artist #6?

7. Chris Metzen
 

The top image is a Forest Troll concept from the game World of Warcraft, done in 2000.  The one on the bottom is an early Kerrigan concept drawing, from the game Starcraft, in pencil from 1997. 

Chris Metzen is a concept artist for Blizzard Entertainment.  He has provided work for Blizzard's most popular running games: Diablo, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft.  I also learned that he has provided voices for some characters as a voice actor!  He holds the title of Vice President of creative development for Blizzard.  Chris Metzen says that his style is "heavily influenced by Walt Simonson's and Jim Lee's penciling styles for form" while preferring the "costuming, themes and general feel of Larry Elmore and Keith Parkinson's fantasy paintings."  I love the loose sketchynes of this drawing style and I was really excited to find concept art for one of my favorite video game characters (Kerrigan).

8. Thomas Jung

This concept drawing is of Northshire Abby in World of Warcraft, done in 2000.  Thomas Jung, whom now works with Stray Bullet Games as an environment artist, drew this work for Blizzard Entertainment.  He has educated at the college level in concept design at the Art Institutes of California-Orange County.  He served as the Art Director in 2003 and 2004 for the school.  He is known for his works in big titles like: Diablo II, Warcraft III, and World of Warcraft.  It's a shame he is no longer with Blizzard, especially since the release of Diablo III last month.

Well we had a lot of fun in DC, especially at our exhibit.  If you get the chance to see it, it was totally worth it (and free!).  I believe it will be in DC until September.

Oh and here's a picture of me with my blog background,...minus Darth Vader :).

Monster Man

Cleve Hall

Made famous for his show on the SyFy channel, Monster Man, his work inspires me as a makeup artist.  He grew up in Florida next to his family's cemetery.  His parents regularly took him to see low-budget horror films as a child.  That is what inspired him to make a Godzilla suit that caught the attention of Six Flags Amusement Park.  They hired him to make another.

Even in a world where special effects rule the movies, Cleve still creates his monsters by hand.  He is the creator of his own special effects company, Imagimation Productions, which has been running strong since the 1980s.

He won an Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design/Styling" for the kid's show, Yo Gabba Gabba in 2007.  Guess not all of his creations are scary monsters!

He has a daughter that works with him in the special effects business.  A family that builds scary monsters together, stays together!

he is a gallery of his creations from the show:  http://www.syfy.com/monsterman/photos

I thought about doing something like this for senior sem.  Creating the classic movie monsters, but I don't think I'm good enough to build a Godzilla (just yet).  I love the talent that it takes to build these things and that after years of movies going with digital effects, it still lives!

Maybe I can try some things out with some good ol' paper mache and face paint.