Christy Wallace FIEA Art Blog

Here's some more film studies I did from Kill Bill! Reference: Study: Reference: Study:

1. Who was the director of the film? What other movies has this director produced? Don Bluth directed this film and he's known for other movies very similar in style: An American Tale, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go To Heaven, Thumbelina, Anastasia and Titan A.E . 2. Artistically, what did you like about this film? The animation style of Don Bluth films is something I've always liked, though it's a little hard to pinpoint why. The best way I can put it is that it's less polished than later Disney films. This means that a lot of the animator comes through in the animation and in the mistakes, kind of like early Disney films animated by Milt Kahl (although he never made mistakes, guy was an animation God). It's so much easier to see the artist in them, if that makes sense. 3. What was Mrs. Brisby's husbands name? Jonathan. As we heard many times from everyone calling her Mrs. Jonathan Brisby. (Which is weird, to be referred to as your spouses full name.)

This week we finished our Illustrations from last week. Because I already spent time finishing the illustration last week, I added some touch ups and extra lighting to make the image pop more. My final version: And a comparison:

This week we could either touch up our initial final illustration or do a new one. I chose to do a new one. My new one: My (very, very) crappy old one: And a comparison:

This week we could either improve our previous lighting assignment or do a new one. I chose to do a new one. My new one, a study from Alien: The original scene: And my previous assignment: A comparison:

This week we watched The Thing . Due to unfortunate circumstances I was unable to watch the full movie in class, however I've seen the movie numerous times before. 1. Who was the director of the film? What other movies has this director produced? The director was John Carpenter, who made films such as: Escape from L.A., Big Trouble in Little China and Halloween.  Interestingly enough, in the movie Halloween there are numerous instances of characters watching the original 1951 The Thing From Another World . 2. A rtistically, what did you like about this film? The practical effects are incredible and the monster designs as well. The dogs are always the most horrific to me, since they're still alive as they're being pulled into this creature. Some of the lighting is very interesting too, with a strong use of orange and blue. The camera is unsteady but it suits this movie well and it's something John Carpenter does often. There are some cheesy parts but it just...

This week we could either improve our perspective drawing or do a new one. I decided to do a new one. My new drawing: My old: And a comparison:

This week we had to either redo our previous composition or make a new one. I made a new one. My new piece: I tried to show that the light is coming behind the plating of the demon's skin. But I'm not sure that's totally clear. My old composition: And a comparison:

This week we watched The Fifth Element . My answers to the questions: 1. Who was the director of this film? What other movies has he produced? The director was Luc Besson, who I've never looked up but somehow this film makes more sense now that I know the director is French. He made Taken ... which, wow, Taken ? I wasn't expecting that. Huh. That's about all I recognize by him, but for a list; Taxi, 3 Days to Kill ... honestly, these are the exact type of films I never watch. 2. Artistically, what did you like about this film? The vibrant colors and fun costume, alien, and machinery designs. There's a lot of unique ideas and creativity in this film that was the collaboration of many minds and it's crazy cool how they all come together to make a cohesive world. The world itself is nonsensical and yet... still makes sense. That's not an easy thing to pull off. 3. What actor played the role of Zorg? Gary Oldman. From the movie Rozencrantz and Guildens...

We had to either fix up our old value drawing or do something completely new. I chose to do something new. My new piece: My old piece: And a comparison:

This week we watched Alien . Unfortunately, I wasn't there for the showing but I've seen the movie numerous times and I own it as it's one of my favorite movies. My answers to the questions: 1. Who was the director of this film? What other movies has he produced? Once again this is good ol' Ridley Scott, coming at you with another fantastic film and the GREATEST Science Fiction Horror movie to currently exist. Now don't get me wrong, I love The Thing, but Alien is just too good. I've already said what movies he's worked on before, but for a concise list: Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven and he's currently been working on the prequel films to Alien (which are kinda garbage but I remain optimistic) 2. Artistically, what did you like about this film? One of my favorite things about Alien is how suffocating the areas on the ship can feel and how much they convey that there's no escape in the isolation of space. ...

We had to either fix up our old silhouettes or we could do something completely new. I chose to do something completely new! My new silhouettes: My old silhouettes: And a comparison:

This week we watched Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome . My answers to the questions: 1. Who was the director of the film? What other movies has this director produced? This film had two directors according to numerous sources: George Miller and George Ogilvie. I assume you're looking for George Miller however since he was more directly involved in the franchise. He helped produced Mad Max: Fury Road on top of directing Beyond Thunderdome . 2. Artistically, what did you like about this film? Definitely the set and costume design. The Mad Max universe is so distinct and special and has inspired so many other movies, shows, games, etc. The cinematography itself I found was nice but nothing that really stood out to me. The lighting was pretty cool in certain moments though, like within the Thunderdome itself. 3. Who runs Bartertown? Master Blaster! I mean, Aunty Entity is there too but we know who really runs Bartertown.

This week we could either re-do our shape assignment from before or do a new one, as long as it shows improvement! My new image: My old image: As you can see, I chose to do something completely different, but kept a similar color scheme.

This week we watched Blade Runner . My answers to the questions: 1. Who was the director of the film? What other movies has this director produced? The Director of the film was Ridley Scott who worked on fantastic movies like Alien, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down . The questionably good Kingdom of Heaven , the embarrassment that was Exodus Gods and Kings and the honestly-pretty-bad prequels Prometheus and Alien: Covenant that I will continue to pour money into anyways because I love Alien . 2. Artistically, what did you like about this film? Everything! The lighting, the composition, the sounds, the mood, the designs! This world is so fantastically built, a future where animals are rarities, life is dirty and grimy and over-all dark. It's such a gloomy setting and it work's perfectly with the smoky silhouetting and the green/blue/yellow lighting. The air just feels filthy. Visibility often being so low makes the important details stand out more vibrantly. I co...

For this assignment we had to do a final illustration using everything we learned and inspired by one of the artists we covered. My illustration: Based on Drew Struzan: If I had to do something different... well, I wish I had planned for more time to add in details and render the faces nicer as well as capture the kind of strokes Struzan uses.

This week's artist was Boris Vallejo, an illustrator who's really a lot like Frank Frazetta and paints beautifully but had strange subject matter. I mean, everything feels very sexual, if you're into that. My Pinterest: My Reference Sheet:

For this assignment we had to choose a composition layout and make an illustration based on it.  I chose to do a study from the film The Magnificent Seven which utilized the rectangle/L composition. My study: The original image: If had to do something differently, I would have maybe chosen an image with less straight lines. I had to trace over the buildings to get the correct positioning, and tracing generally makes me uncomfortable.

For this weeks assignment we needed to paint something with three point lighting. I asked if I could do a study from a film and painted a scene from Blade Runner My lighting study: I added the black movie border because the dimensions of film are so wide The reference image I based my study on: I think if I redid this I would try and get more of the smokiness and also the grittiness of Harrison Fords face. I feel like I painted him too smooth and round.

This week's artist was Jim Henson, known for his puppet work in the Muppets, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Sesame Street and others. His characters are always filled with life and very creative, and there's no one aesthetic to them all. God, I love Labyrinth . My Pinterest: My reference sheet: