Painting type

Tried my hands at painting type. Started with writing in pencil and then filling in with watercolour using a paint brush.

The artwork was later scanned so that it can be traced in illustrator with final touches added in Photoshop.

Mama? The Muppets do Bohemian Rhapsody

Some of you may have read my earlier post on Adam Lambert  and the (then?) possibility of him becoming the new Queen frontman. So far it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen—and rightfully so—while Mr. Lambert hasn’t achieved much else except for a vapid contribution to the soundtrack of 2012 and leaning heavily on attention-seeking antics (a really ugly album cover and a performance on American Music Awards so desperately scandalizing it’s uninteresting).

But fear not: the Muppets are here to save us all. Nuff said.

PS: If your computer can do 1080p video, head over to YouTube for the HD version. It’s worth it.

Thor (2011): Warriors Three cast

I know 2011 is still pretty far away, but those of you who are eagerly awaiting for the big-screen debut of Thor may like to know that the Warriors Three have been cast. The Warriors Three are supporting characters in the Thor comic series, and Marvel has confirmed that they will be played by Stuart Townsend (Fandral), Tadanobu Asano (Hogun), and Ray Stevenson (Volstagg).

Interesting choices. Though Punisher:War Zone was a let-down, I thought Ray Stevenson played the role of Frank Castle pretty well. I kind of liked Townsend in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, another promising idea that fizzled out. I’ve not seen any of Tadanobu Asano’s films before, but Mongol was fairly well-received, partially due to his reportedly charismatic performance.

With Kenneth Branagh at the helm, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Thor is coming along very nicely. Come May 20, 2011 we’ll see if it lives up to its promise.

PS: Now what about that Cap America movie, Marvel?

Trailer: Kick-Ass (2010)

To be honest, I’m not really a Mark Millar fan. Sure, I loved what he did with The Ultimates, and Civil War was decent. Wanted is mildly interesting as a comic, but I love the way Timur Bekmambetov took it to the big screen. So, will Millar’s Kick-Ass fulfill its title as a film? Seems to the case, judging from the bootlegged clips from this year’s Comic Con, and also the teaser trailer which has just surfaced. Click on the poster below to view it.

I first knew of Matthew Vaughn as the producer of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, but he definitely caught my attention with Stardust. Any one who can make me enjoy a film adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novel with Robert De Niro swishing around in a dress on screen is definitely worth the attention. With Vaughn once again taking directing and screenwriting credits, let’s see if he can work the same magic this time round. (Too bad we got to wait till April 16!)

PS: Though it doesn’t have much to offer at the present time, you can check out the official movie site and sign up for updates if that’s your thing.

Sherlock Holmes (2009): Trailer 3

I didn’t think it possible, but Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes is actually looking more and more fun. While I don’t doubt Robert Downey Jr.’s ability to carry the film all by himself, I wasn’t too sure about Jude Law and even the usually infallible Rachel McAdams. Law is pretty acceptable when not starring in a moving picture (e.g., doing print ads for Dunhill) but as a leading man he’s not very charismatic and is liable to cut a movie off at the ankles. And McAdams looked like she didn’t fit in anywhere.

However, this trailer offers significantly more verbal exchanges between Watson and Holmes, and even McAdams’s character feels less like a novelty now. Also, I really liked Mark Strong’s perf in RocknRolla, and I hope Ritchie’s given him more screentime this time around. Overall, Sherlock Holmes looks like more of blast than before.

Enjoy the trailer.

Copenhagen Layout

Currently working on the layout for Copenhagen. Can’t seem to decide if it is wierd to break the word “Copenhagen” in two. Any thoughts?

I am still giving this opener a think because i am not sure if the 36 hours shd be in a 3D block.

hmmmm.

Did another version, this one has more text on it and the 3D block removed.

I still cannot decide is this layout is too complicated. Or maybe something simpler would be more suitable?

Here is a smaple of the inside layouts.

Trailer: Black Lightning (2009)

Those who have been following my ramblings for a while know without equivocation that I’m a Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Day Watch, Wanted) fan. So imagine my surprise—and delight!—when I came across the trailer for something called Black Lightning that apparently is scheduled for December 31, 2009. I’ve not heard a peep about this project anywhere, online or in print, and there’s no mention of it on IMDb, so pardon my initial skepticism when I read about it on The Awesomer.

But the trailer looks legit enough (not like the many faux “trailers” proliferating on YouTube), and I’m getting strong flashes of Spider-Man, Back to the Future, and and the final tank vs. helicopter scene in Rambo III (I like it; shut up now) in a potent, zippy mix with Bekmambetov written all over it. Although I’m not a hundred percent sure Bekmambetov is directing it (the YouTube sub says “Timur Bekmambetov Presents”), it still looks like a very fun film to end the first decade of the twenty-first century with.

Sometimes, bad is bad – A brief comment on the Polanski affair

I believe most of you, like me, have been inundated by the media ruckus surrounding the arrest of Roman Polanski in Zürich last week. From Whoopi Goldberg’s “it wasn’t rape-rape” to Cokie Roberts’s “just take him out and shoot him” (now, don’t be a putz; stop overreacting and continue watching the video past the 1:45 mark for the full context) and the support of many in France and Hollywood for Polanski’s release, it’s been quite a show. I think we’ll start hearing some voices of reason right about now. For a start, check out Josh Olson’s take here on the idea that Hollywood is supporting Polanski. I know, I know, he’s an asshole, but the writing’s frank, colorful, and Olson makes more than a few valid points. (Besides, we assholes gotta support one another.)

Personally, I’m not much of a Polanski fan, but I think that has little bearing on his alleged crime and the fact that he went on the run. I ‘m surprised at the number of people who signed the petition for Polanski’s release, and I suspect that a good number of them signed the petition for all the wrong reasons. In any case, it’s impossible to take the petition seriously without Polanski facing trial in an American court and giving his side of the story. I’m even more surprised that Polanski’s artistic contributions as a film director and the severe personal trials he has suffered are mentioned as possible mitigating circumstances. Supposing a cache of Hitler’s paintings were discovered today that showed unmistakably he was a supreme artist, would we scramble to effect a posthumous exoneration, or erect a memorial? I know the analogy is far-fetched, but extreme examples are often the best tools for exposing lapses in human reasoning.

No, I won’t boycott Polanski’s films and the films of those who signed the petition, but I’d be lying if I said these matters won’t pop into my head every time I watch Chinatown or Frantic. (I still find Rosemary’s Baby and The Pianist overrated, and The Tragedy of Macbeth had less impact on me than The Three Stooges.) Let’s hope this affair ends better than it started.

Melbourne Spread

Working on a spread for Melbourne at the moment. Needs some changes and more pretty pictures.

My editor feels that the surfer girl on the right is too brochure like, as well as the koala. I will probably have to find more images for the Melbourne skyline, or images of the great Melbourne landscape.

Moments like this, i wish we had a photo department.

Magazine layout

I do layouts for a living, and often find that there isn’t enough blogs about magazine layout.

The spread above is a opening spread i did on artist Richard North-Lewis, the man behind the murals at Changi Airport.

I Don’t think it’s great, but overall, the feature is interesting to read, with big pictures to look at and snippets of information about the artist’s work.

The trick is how to keep to the magazine template and yet make the feature unique. This is often very challenging. To help myself in the design process, i frequently save bits and pieces of layout i like from websites and flickr for inspiration. Below is one such example. It is the work of one of my favourtie designers, Luciana Ruivo.

She does some beautiful layouts for BBC Historia Brasil.