DarenDoc’s Slightly Nifty Musings Inc.

Even though I’ve been doing 3D for quite a few years now, and it’s one of the primary tools in my work arsenal, I still get to do more “conventional” artwork now and then… Occasionally, on films like “Master and Commander” I’ll get to break out the old Berol 314 thick lead pencils and go to work… other times, Inks and Markers.  Nowadays, though, the only time I get to do conventional drawing and painting is on the computer… in good old Photoshop.  

On X-Men 3 I did my share of 3D work… but I also got to do some illustrations in the 2d world… these tend to be more loose and “moody” than my 3d… but that is sometimes a good thing…

[View with PicLens]

A lot of these images don’t turn up in the finished film… at this stage they are mostly for “mood”… and for others, to bounce ideas off of the director.

With the release of the new BluRay edition of Season One of the Original Star Trek Series, I’m well on my way to being content… at least for now.  

Having the ability to own a copy of the original series as close to the original film elements as possible is truly a wonderful thing.  Never before have the episodes looked better… not even when they were originally broadcast.  With this new release, we can finally judge once and for all if it was necessary to replace the VFX in the originals with new ones “Because they look so bad in HD”… For some that is probably the case.  For others, such as myself, who grew up with it and practically memorized every frame… it’s good to have them feel “whole” again.  The addition of the original release Mono tracks fills my completist heart with songs of joy.  

When I came up with the idea of a “Trek Enhanced” release all those years ago, it was meant as a way to bring new fans into the fold, and ease them into the enjoyment that we got when we were younger… without the visual “handicaps” that tell of a different state of the art… I didn’t always agree with the direction of the “Remastered” project that the studio eventually did.  But I hoped that it would at least provide the reason to treat the originals well, and pay for their journey to this new medium.  With this release, they take care of both needs… the need to catch new fans… and the need to cherish old ones.  I hope this attitude continues.  Let’s support Paramount and CBS for doing this.

The new fans have an illusion, and we have reality.  May we find all our ways as pleasant.

Back in 2002, my good buddy Mojo, (who had done an amazing job bringing in line all the elements from Foundation on the Star Trek TMP project), asked me if I wanted to contribute to the calendar project for Pocket books that he was working on.  The previous calendars in the “Ships of the Line” series that he and Rob Bonchune had started were really lovely collections of images… (I believe there were two issues of it out by then) so I jumped at the chance…  That year’s them was going to be a little different than before… with the overall theme being “Planetside” related.  I knew what I wanted to do… the often talked about, but rarely actually seen, homeworld of Spock.  I took as inspiration the ringed city of “Shir’Kar” from D.C. Fontana’s “Yesteryear” episode.

Spock's Hometown

I didn’t intend it to be the same city, but wanted it to be visually similar… so I made it a city with dual hubs, like sister cities… sort of the vulcan Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Then, since this was a calendar ostensibly about spaceships… I used Andy Probert’s great Vulcan Shuttle with Warp Sled as the background ships… (I didn’t have enough time to build a very highly detailed model of it… so I did a basic low res version and concentrated on the texture maps…), and John Eaves’ Vulcan Lander from “First Contact” as the foreground element.  I think Mojo is planning a little “behind the scenes” entry in his blog about how this and other pictures were done… but I’ll give you a secret… the vulcan lander was created in a most “old school” way… 

This image is the one I sent to Mojo… and with one revision (the size of the lander in the shot) this is what got into the calendar.

SOTL '03 Vulcan Space Central? Maybe...

I’ll be putting up images I did from the calendars once a week til I’m out of them.

The time in-between jobs can be a scary one… there are many times in-between jobs in the movie industry.  That’s just the nature of it.  We’re all nomads, and circus folk.  It’s a time to collect your thoughts, organize your portfolio, and brush up on your skills.  One such period had me working on honing 3D skills, so I decided to do something fun… something that I wanted to see.

Meanwhile...

HOJ view 2

HOJ view 3

Yes, it’s the Hall of Justice!  From the iconic 70s Saturday morning cartoon show: Superfriends.  

The Original

I’ve always liked that building… and thought it would be fun to see it in a more “realistic” portrayal… yet still maintain some of it’s cartoon roots… I think I was mildly successful… but in looking for research for it, I found out that it was based on a real building…

Cincinnati Train Station 1

Cincinnati Train Station 2

Cincinnati’s old Union Terminal building, which now houses the Cincinnati Museum Center.  A true Art Deco masterpiece…   and who says you can’t learn anything from watching TV.   Ok, well, I didn’t learn much… but  I do know the pre-amble to the Constitution from watching Captain Kirk… so there.

A small update to the Bowl Story from last week…  here is a little video of Craig Huxley playing the instrument…

the BLASTER BEAM