My favorite filmmakers, Peter Jackson, David Chase and David Simon have really already achieved their magnum opuses with The Lord of the Rings, The Sopranos and The Wire respectively.
Others such as my favorite game designers, Hideo Kojima and David Jaffe, even though they have created their best work in their careers already, they have a mighty long way to go before they run out of steam creatively.
One thing I never take into account though with all of my heroes who create contemporary art is that artwork itself, drawing, and painting help those works come to life and give them a sense of identity. Games especially rely heavily on concept art when they are being created so that everyone on the creative team has an idea about what they want from the project and where the project is going.
I decided to look up some of my favorite creations' concept art and really, really enjoyed what I saw.
The concept art for The Lord of the Rings films really blew my mind.
Here are a few drawings from renowned concept artist Alan Lee, who director Peter Jackson asked to help make concept art for the film after he himself worked with author J.R.R. Tolkien on the books.
A drawing of the tower of Orthanc in which the evil Saruman, (Christopher Lee) conspires with the dark lord Sauron to try and enslave the earth.
A drawing of a rendering of when Sam (Sean Astin) and Frodo (Elijah Wood) capture Smeagol aka Gollum (Andy Serkis) and force him to lead them to Mordor to destroy the Ring of Power.
Here is a rendering of the Mines of Moria, a place that the Fellowship of the Ring visit in the first film in the trilogy.
The Elf city of Rivendell from the first film, "The Fellowship of the Ring".
Perhaps Alan Lee's age wouldn't allow him to fall into this particular category of artists, but I think his work is simply astounding. Incredibly detailed, with beautiful colors that can either be very vibrant or very dark. This concept art was very key to how Peter Jackson and his production designer, visual effects team, and others made the sets for the films. Lee's work is masterful here, and he really shows a powerful command of the subject matter, and his passion for the story of The Lord of the Rings really shines through here.
An artist that would fall into this category is concept artist Yoji Shinkawa who designs the characters and look of the Metal Gear Solid games. Shinkawa's work like Lee's, is vital to the vision of the director coming to fruition. Shinkawa works heavily in designing the characters in rough sketch works that have a sort of brutal grittiness that captures the essence of the games. Here is some of his work from all four Metal Gear Solid games.
A sketch of Solid Snake and Meryl Silverburgh from Metal Gear Solid. Two characters that stand together and fight together no matter what the odds are. In the background are some of the adversaries and friends they encounter along the way of this legendary first adventure.
A really nice shot here of series protagonist, Solid Snake. Dark and in your face, Shinkawa's style in this sketch personifies his artwork. There's no underlying meaning, it's in your face, it's powerful and it captures what Shinkawa is trying to say through the guidance of series creator and director, Hideo Kojima.
A very cool drawing of the threat in "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty", Metal Gear Ray landing and standing very menacingly. The design of Ray is very intimidating and I really like the white part of the background that indicates the force behind Ray's landing. Very well done.
The cover work for the special edition of "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater". Perfectly captures the main character of this game, Naked Snake, aka Big Boss' emotions throughout the game which is not letting the people of his life in, and also really gets good emotions from the women in his life, EVA on the left and The Boss on the right. I like the fact that Big Boss is colored in and EVA and The Boss are sort of like shadows in the background that are always watching him.
This image here is some of Shinkawa's best and most interesting work. I haven't seen in any of his other paintings such vibrant uses of color. This seems to be the closest thing he comes to an expressionistic painting. The lonely shot of Big Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3 is captured beautifully. The bright, red colors really make this one stand out and the black dots that I assume are the sky add an incredibly dark tone to a very beautiful image. Really can't stop gawking at those reds and pinks. This is beautiful work right here.
Shinkawa returns to his older ways of sketching here in a nice profile shot of Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. Captures Snake's feelings and has very distinct and somber feel to it.
Shinkawa's work has become relevant to me because of my recent passion for this series since last Summer. Really enjoy his work and I'd say he is definitely one of my favorite artists. Love his style, and I love the characters he draws. He seems like a man who is very passionate about his work, and is a big help to Kojima in terms of how the characters look in the game.
Other artists who's work I really admire are Cecil Kim and Andy Park, concept artists for the "God of War" games. Probably the most blood thirsty and most action packed video game series of all time, God Of War is a series created by one of my favorite game designers, David Jaffe. God Of War is an ancient Greek mythic tale centered around main character Kratos, who is betrayed by the Gods. Out on a quest to avenge the loss of his wife and child at the hands of Aires, Kratos will stop it nothing until he defeats all of the minions of Aries and Aries himself, trying to become the first mortal to ever kill a god.
Jaffe, inspired heavily by great action films like "Raiders of the Lost Ark", and needed to give his game a huge, grand, epic feel. He enlisted the help of concept artists Cecil Kim and Andy Park to help him map out the feel for the game. They acted as storyboards in some ways for the development team working on the first game. To me, these works are very surreal and impressionistic, but I think that could definitely be up for debate.
Really nice use of the blood, and in a kind of over the top manner, really like the look of the cyclops. Kratos is incredibly blood thirsty here. This definitely feels like a painting that was painted in a time period that we would have studied in class this year.
Same would go for this painting. The background especially reminds me of many paintings we have studied over the year.
Flat out bizarre work right here. One of the many beasts that Kratos must defeat on his epic journey. Really a disgusting background of strange hues creates an uneasy feeling and the detail of this creature is masterful and sickening.
Those are three artists, Shinkawa, Kim, and Park, that are on top of their games.
I have to say that over the course of my life, I don't think I've given visual artists enough due for creating the artwork that really gets what the director wants on a page and really lets the rest of the creative team know which direction that the character design or the environment design is heading. Concept artists and directors have to work hand in hand. I have a much broader appreciation for that relationship, and will remember that in the future for my own work.
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