Super Mario Bros. Theme Park Attraction - by Josh

I've recently started to play around with the 3D software Google Sketchup, trying to find away to incorporate it into illustrations. This is my first test. What I did was create a very basic 3D model in Sketchup. I then took a JPG from a certain angle of the model and painted over it as my bases for an illustration. My goal was to see if I could create a drawing where it would not be blatantly obvious that I used a 3D model.


The drawing is an exterior of a Super Mario Bros. Theme Park Attraction that I made up. I plan to make this a part of a series of drawings where I also explore the interior and the ride itself, which is primarily a motion simulator.


The setting is the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing Service Center. Mario and Luigi have created a plumbing company and they have opened their doors for tours and plumbing recruits. The company guarantee is that they will send a plumber to you not matter what the terrain (land, water, or air). From these headquarters they blast their plumbing vehicles, like cannon balls, from the four large pipes at the top of the building.

Superbusy

Yes, it has obviously been a very long time since our last post. This is not because we’re lazy but because we have been very busy both professionally and personally. I’m not sure how the average blogger finds the time to make posts in times like these. Anyway, let’s get ya’ll up-to-date!
The short comedy film of Superpowers has been completed and had its premier in San Diego on Saturday May 26.We got word that it was a huge hit and due to the audience demands, shown three times!
We missed the premier since we were in Dallas for the wedding of my lifetime friend Randall Knuton to a woman who is a true blessing from God, Ryanna. I was the Best Man! Thank you Randall and CONGRATULATIONS to both of you!! Speaking of weddings, my friend Ryan Agadoni also got married on the same day to a wonderful girl named Amy. CONGRATULATIONS!!
Superpowers was a great film to work on and I feel very grateful that my friend and director Mike Olson let Katie and I share in the creative development. I completed the comic book pages that were featured in a great opening credit sequence created by Jared Gerbrandt and Nathan Morgan.These pages were created using Photoshop, they do not exist in real life! I basically pasted the comic onto some scanned paper that I crinkled and then added a rough paper texture along with painting in some paper stains to show decay. Katie provided all the text for the comic book and the opening credits themselves! The film will be available online soon and when it is I'll let you know.

These days I’ve been working a large illustration and design project for a summer camp curriculum with a superhero theme. How funny is that? The projects are many and diverse (character, logo, costume, set, etc.) One of the projects I’m working on is a small four page comic that will act as a flyer for the camp program.
Here is a sneak preview:This job has taken up most of my time these days. I’ve been working on this while going to an 8-5 job with traffic, a life drawing class two days a week, my birthday (May 8), our trip to Dallas, and our computer was down for almost two weeks. I hope to have more info and images in my next post!

The site that may never be

During October last year, I did a good chunk of drawings for a Superpowers! website. It was deigned to be completely done in Flash animation. The navigation buttons sat on the side of the main frame and were designed to look like elevator floor buttons, in fact the whole site was designed with an elevator theme.Within the main frame was an elevator room where Smiley and Darko would stand around in various poses and with small bits of animation (ex. a tapping foot). The doors would open and close revealing different areas of the site along with some fun random images. Speaking of random, if a visitor happed to press the big red button something wacky would happen. Such as . . .Sadly the web designer was unable to finish working on the site. However, he did design the opening page.
Kenfield Trivia: Even though it doesn't show too clearly, Katie created the floor design for the elevator. Ten points to anyone who finds the hidden "signature." Hint: Try tilting your head slightly to the left, standing on one foot, and whistling Dixie (purple monkey washing machine). No, but seriously, there is something hidden in the squiggles.

Post-Hiatus Post

Hi ya'll!
Still alive and drawing!
As I said in my previous post, I'm working on creating a fake comic book to use as the opening credits for Mike Olson's short film Superpowers! This is a rough drawing I made that shows what the final comic might look like. Katie is supplying all the font including the credits themselves.The opening credits will be drawn in a 1950's style comic introducing the two main characters and their history together. It will all be tied together with an exciting music score written by the Livesay twins! So far it sounds fantastic!
I'll let you guys know how it turns out when we're done, which should be soon!
BTW- Check-out what would have been the offical website for Superpowers! I did all the art for it and I will post what was not used sometime later.

Drawings that Fit

Back in October I made these drawings for a comedy short film by Mike Olson titled, “Superpowers!”The film is about a caped crusader called Darko The Night Watchman, and his archenemies, Smiley, set in a 60’s style Adam West (Batman) world. These characters get stuck in an elevator together at a point when their careers are on the way down. The drawings I made are the comic book versions of the characters during their prime years. I designed these characters with Mike before the script and casting was completed.When Katie and I visited the set during the shoot we had a very surreal experience. While my eyes were still adjusting to the darkness of the studio a tall figure in a cap walked up to greet me, I don’t believe I returned the greeting very well because I was in shock. It was Darko in full garb! Now, just to clear things I have done a little costume design work in the past mainly for stage productions, but this was very different. Not only was this guy dressed in a fantastic Darko costume, but it was exactly like my drawing! I thought that the costume designer was just going to use my drawings as a base to work from but never did I expect the costumes to turn out just like them! Matt Biedel, the actor who played Darko, was a very nice guy and he did a great job with his performance.The man who built these wonderful costumes was Randal Sumabat, another nice guy. He comes from San Diego and worked on these outfits during his own free time within a very limited schedule! Randal, in a very giddy way, showed me his work on the Smiley costume, and again I was floored!Matt Gaydos, also a nice guy, played Smiley and pulled off an equally great performance!I am credited as the Concept Designer for this film and I still have more work to do. Currently Mike and I are designing the opening credits of the film which will feature more comic book drawings of the characters. I’ll be sure to tell you guys more about that later!
- Josh