So I just saw this movie with pretty high expectations, as you can't help but have them with any Nolan movie.
I didn't want to write a big review or anything but would love to hear some voices about it.
I respect Nolan highly as a movie maker and love almost all of his films. His cinematic syle just really speaks to me.
DKR was good, there was enough to make me appreciate it for what it was. But it's safe to say that I wasn't blown away by it as opposed to the Dark Knight which really is the best in the trilogy. In a way, successful movies tend to be the ones that are able to hit certain trends in society and bounce off of the zeitgeist so to say. The timing needs to be right. Somehow I believe that Nolan's large scale narrative movies have already been embedded and embraced into mainstream so they don't stand out so much as something new anymore. Society's trends are fast paced I feel. Landing a big hit once is fairly easy but doing it repeatedly is the real challenge.
Mad props go out to elevating a comic book character to such an epic and in depth scale in a trilogy that definitely is a huge achievement in movie making history.
Opinions are always subjective and you could probably go as far as explaining away any plot hole or ironing out uneven elements that one deems in need of explanation but others won't. It's just a matter of taste and how you choose to look at it I guess.
There are some plot elements that I didn't like so much and toward the end, some choices seemed a bit too forced or even unrealistic but it always stands against certain limits in a movie format and artistic liberties. If a director chooses to tell aspects in certain ways, let them. It's their vision after all they are bringing to life and I know from own experiences how demanding filmmaking is. (Honestly, sometimes I get annoyed with 'hard core fans' who extensively go out bashing every movie they can find, trying to sound superior when they have never tried to make a movie themselves.)
Personally & negatively speaking:
I didn't like some of the one-liners this time (which seemed to be taken straight from a Michael Bay movie) but then, we're looking at a PG-13 movie.
One of the twists they used at the end was just bad in my eyes. It ruins a lot of what is told up to that point and just didn't seem right.

Joseph Gordon Levitt's role was probably the most cleverly used I think. I really like how his character filled the story.

Anyway, what did you people think? I am curious to know how a 2nd viewing would affect my opinion.
The other day, I watched the Prestige for the 3rd time and I feel it's one of those movies that get better with repeated viewing.

Just found a neat little trick in Photoshop CS 5 by accident and wanted to share.

Anybody who has always wanted to have a shortcut for the color picker: Alt+Shift+right-click brings it up! Not sure if this works in CS4, too. It's different than the standard picker also, the color selection is swift and intuitive. Hover over color, release buttons!
So whoever didn't know, this comes in handy I think.
Well, if not, that's also ok. The world still goes round.

PS: Also, brushtool selected, clicking alt+right-click and dragging resizes brush.

I wonder how many comments I'll read about how I was the last person to know these things lol.

I will be in New York for a couple days!

That is all.
Plz be good while I'm gone.

I enjoy painting fanart/redesigns. Any suggestions for what I could paint? Curious to know!
Anything goes! I need some inspiration!

It would also be interesting to try interpretations of certain characters in a different genre like Steampunk etc. maybe

So far, I did stuff like Dark Knight, Star Trek, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Akira to name a few.

I am finally making my driver's license, it's fun!

3DWorld had a big feature on
      AZUREUS RISING in their August 2010 issue (sorry, late update ), front cover material! It had a nice article on the production from concept stage to finalizing. You can still back-order this issue btw.
    

      

And as I announced earlier, I created a tutorial on this piece (Light Mansion) in Rob Alexander's
       HOW TO PAINT FANTASY ARCHITECTURE
      
        

The book also has a double page spread of my Megastructure piece beside 2 others of mine - pretty cool stuff

Not sure whether I am gonna regret this but what the heck!

My brother & me worked on a music video as actors and fight performers.

Yeah, that's right. I have never talked about this secret passion of mine on here but there is always a first!
Anyway, it's a music video for a German band from Frankfurt called Morning Boy. The new song is called Trippin Children.
We choreagraphed, directed and also edited the fight scenes. The rest was done by Alain Brunotte, a young filmmaker from Mainz.
The video is featured on a pretty big German TV station's website - Pro Sieben!!

So, here you go:

[link]
(sorry, only available in Germany )
Hope you enjoyed this, I am the guy wearing black btw...


edit:

alternative link:
[link]

Heck, I don't know why I am posting this here... It's still art, isn't it...? Oh yeah, and I painted the Sumi paintings on the wall and also retouched the childhood photo

Howdy from Tokyo!
Been here for a while now, it's a different world but I like it better each day! I still feel like a stranger and a little isolated but it'll be fine. Meeting friends is a welcome exchange from staying in this guest house. I hope my japanese will improve in heaps.
Shibuya is maybe not as crazy as I thought it would be. That, or it's not yet dawning on me that I am actually in Tokyo.
People are so different here. They mostly keep to themselves it seems, feeling a little detached around them. And then they have occasions with 'forced' socializing. It's all about wearing different masks and playing multiple roles I guess. Maybe I am not as japanese as I thought I was...
Hunting for artbooks is fun but there are not as many as expected.
Found Sentinel II by Syd Mead which is almost a must-buy but it's 6800 yen which is quite a bit... I think I will give in eventually
Got some Ghibli books at Mandarake which turned out to be just archives so I wanted to return them - unsuccessfully Got a couple other nice ones though
If anyone knows secret places for artbooks, let me know! So far, I have checked 2 Mandarakes and a few Book Offs where they have nice sales.
The weather is hot and humid but I am not really affected by it. Does me good.
Watched Inception the other day: finally we have something absolutely original coming out of Hollywood and done at such perfection it's refreshing. This movie is going to create a whole new pop culture classic just like in the old days when we had franchises like Indiana Jones or Alien that affected a whole generation. Nolan is probably the best director working in Hollywood these days and I am looking forward to seeing Batman 3. Or maybe 'Inception 2: Dream bigger, darling'?
And do I sense a Joker replacement/flashback scenes with Joseph Gordon Levitt?

EDIT: went to Nakano, Broadway the other day - it was golden!! Thanks to everyone who pointed that out!
I found two books I had been looking for everywhere - Kusanagi background illustrations vol. 2 and 3
And then I found Syd Mead's Oblagon which was just too good to be true! For a laughable 4200 Yen which is roughly 38 Euros! Will get that other one (Sentinel  2) in Akihabara later as well
Also, today I found out that Mr. Mead had been working on a new book title for the last decade which will hit shelves in October! OMG, check it out and get it, y'all!
[link]

I will climb Fujisan some time soon, that will be an adventure! Also gonna check out the Ghibli musuem and most likely be at Dr. Sketchy in Shibuya Tokyo on 25th of August.

Yo folks,

I will finally be traveling to Japan very soon! First I will spend some days in Korea and then stay for 2 months in Japan! Tokyo is my city of choice where I will be for most of the time and travel around as much as funds permit.
I will actually be continuing to freelance over there so don't hesitate to contact me with inquiries since I can certainly use some extra pocket money
Hey, maybe I will find my lost motivation and inspiration once I am there!

Folks, it's out!!!
Azureus Rising, that animated shortfilm that I worked on for David Weinstein is finally done!! Wow, I am so excited!!
It actually won Best animated picture at the Malibu Film Festival and received awesome reactions from the audiences.
As you know, I worked as art director/concept artist on this, creating all the designs for the scorpion tank, the flying drone, cars and of course city-scape, the wall area including the turrets (heck, I even designed the lamp posts). Plus, they seem to have used one of my paintings as a matte background
I should be able to post all the concept art that I did on here, so stay tuned!

And now... please enjoy Azureus Rising in HD on youtube!

[link]

Be sure to check out the website as well with additional info on making of etc.!

[link]

edit: lol, please don't give me more credit than I deserve, guys! I was responsible for most of the concept art, but this was written & directed by David Weinstein and his crew worked hard on the 3D modelling and animation. I was not at any screening as well and don't know a lot about the project itself other than what is on the website.

Assuming, someone was to write a book titled 'How to paint Science Fiction', what would you guys expect and hope to find inside? Obviously, it would contain an introduction to the genre, design aesthetics and elements popularly found in Sci-Fi, followed by practical education, right?
I'd really like to hear a few more specific things from you if possible. What would you like to find in such a book that would help you in creating Sci-Fi art?

Don't ask why I am actually posting this rather weird journal entry...and please don't assume anything I didn't actually say

Thanks folks, I'd appreciate any thoughts on this!