Thursday, 13 October 2011

Artists who inspire me - Yoshiyuki Tomino - Gundam Wing

                                                                   Yoshiyuki Tomino

A concept artist in manga, he is well known for gundam wing obne of my favorite anime, Gundams are a large machine that, the main characters and enemies use, they are giant pieces of armor, that can change into ships, its a sci-fi style anime with great drawings and amazing and intese fight scenes.

 These are the machines ( Mobile suits) the characters use, the main characters name is ,Hiiro Yui.
                                                                    The story
In the distant future, Mankind has colonized space (with clusters of space colonies at each of the five Earth-Moon Lagrange points), and, down on the Earth, the nations have united as the United Earth Sphere Alliance. However, the Alliance oppresses the colonies with its military power. The colonies desire a peaceful resolution to the situation, joining together in a movement headed by the pacifist Heero Yuy. In the year After Colony 175, Yuy is shot dead by an assassin (believed to be Odin Lowe), forcing the colonies to search for other paths to peace. The assassination also prompts five disaffected scientists from the Organization of the Zodiac (more commonly referred to as OZ) to turn rogue after the completion of the mobile suit prototype Tallgeese.
The story of Gundam Wing begins in the year After Colony 195, with the start of "Operation Meteor": the scientists' plan for revenge against OZ. The operation involves five teenage boys, who have each been chosen and trained by each of the five scientists, then sent to Earth independently in extremely advanced mobile suits (one designed by each of the scientists) known as "Gundams" (called such because they are constructed from a rare and astonishingly durable material known as Gundanium alloy, which can only be created in outer space). Each Gundam is sent from a different colony, and the pilots are initially unaware of each other's existence.
The series focuses primarily on the Gundam pilots: Heero Yuy (an alias, not to be confused with the martyred pacifist), Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, and Chang Wufei. Their mission is to attack OZ directly, in order to rid the Alliance of its weapons and free the colonies from its oppressive rule. The Gundam pilots each start out on separate missions, but encounter each other and then join forces later while on Earth.
Along the way, Heero meets Relena Darlian, the seemingly ordinary daughter of Earth's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. However, after her father is assassinated by OZ's ruthless second-in-command, Lady Une, it is revealed to Relena that she is really Relena Peacecraft, heir to the pacifistic Sanc Kingdom.
Although the five Gundams succeed in destroying several of OZ's supply bases and mobile suit factories, the sinister organization is still able to complete its ultimate goal of overturning the Alliance and becoming the new ruler of Earth and the colonies. Wufei attempts to kill OZ's ambitious yet chivalrous leader, Treize Khushrenada, only to be defeated in a sword duel. Treize, however, admires Wufei's fighting spirit, and allows Wufei to escape so they can fight again another day.
Throughout the series, Heero has several mobile suit battles with OZ's "Lightning Count," Zechs Merquise (whose true identity is Milliardo Peacecraft, Relena's older brother). During their second encounter in Siberia, however, the colonies are held hostage by Lady Une, who tries to force the Gundam pilots to surrender their mobile suits to OZ; Heero, in response, self-destructs his Gundam, nearly killing himself in the process.
Later on, the Gundam pilots return to outer space, only to find that the colonies they were sent from have now sided with OZ. Marked as rebels, they fall on hard times; Quatre witnesses his father's murder, Heero, Duo and Wufei are captured by OZ, and Trowa enlists as a soldier of OZ (secretly as a double agent).
At this time, the Wing Gundam ZERO is introduced. This mobile suit was the original Gundam designed by the five scientists, but was never constructed due to its signature feature: the ZERO System, a combat system that directly interfaces with the pilot's brain and feeds the pilot tactical data on the fly. The downside of this is that prolonged exposure causes hallucinations, and in some cases, insanity. Quatre, who has been driven mad with grief over his father's death and the colonies' betrayal, discovers the schematics for Wing ZERO and has it built. He then uses it to go on a rampage against OZ and avenge his father's death, but he is eventually stopped by Heero and Trowa (although Trowa is nearly killed and suffers temporary amnesia).
After returning to Earth, Heero and Quatre take refuge in the newly reopened Sanc Kingdom, which is governed by none other than Relena. The kingdom, however, is being pressured by the Romefeller Foundation (the group that controls most other countries, as well as OZ) to dissolve. By this time, the Foundation has reformated OZ's military force to consist primarily of mobile dolls.
Trieze has been confined to Romefeller's headquarters due to his outspoken dislike of the use of unmanned suits in combat (which he feels negate the true spirit of battle). In his confinement, Treize builds the Gundam Epyon and later gives it to Heero. Much like Wing ZERO, Epyon is equipped with the ZERO System. After being affected by the System, Heero fights once more against a returning Zechs, who is piloting Wing ZERO. After the battle ends in another draw, they exchange Gundams and part ways.
At the same time, Relena formally dissolves the Sanc Kingdom due to the tremendous pressure from Romefeller. She then becomes the chief representative for the Foundation (at first as a figurehead, but gradually gaining more and more power) under the title "Queen of the World".
Eventually, Treize is released from confinement, and he relieves Relena of her crown, telling her that while she has successfully laid the foundation for true peace, he is the one with the strength to bring it to fruition. Treize then takes control of the Romefeller Foundation; at the same time, Zechs returns to space to become the leader of the White Fang organization under his true name: Milliardo Peacecraft. White Fang has seized control of a Peacemillion-class battleship OZ was building for Romefeller to show its military power, called Libra. Zechs fires Libra's main cannon at the Earth, causing great damage to the planet. This prompts Treize to start gathering all of the military power he can muster from Earth's forces to retaliate, while the Gundam pilots remain neutral.
White Fang continue to battle the Earth forces by taking out the only remaining OZ base in space: Space Fortress Barge. Eventually, the Gundam pilots choose to fight against White Fang. During the epic final battle, Treize is killed (of his own volition) in a rematch against Wufei, while Heero fights against Zechs one last time. Their battle is broadcast to all of Earth and space by Lady Une; when the citizens see the meaningless battle, they put aside their differences, whether they are from the colonies or from Earth, and form what becomes the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. However, White Fang refuses to surrender, and sends Libra plunging on a collision course with Earth. After several attempts from the other four Gundams to prevent this, Heero intercepts the battle station's remains as it enters Earth's atmosphere and destroys it with Wing ZERO's twin-barrel buster rifle, bringing an end to the war.

Inspiring artists - James Kei, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Kat Von D, Ami James



                                                                            James Kei
  LocationTucson, Arizona

James Kei, does concept design on games and movies, some of the best examples are Left 4 Dead 2 The scarifice Downloadable content concept and the recent movie Sucker Punch.

James Kei's Concept work.

He seems to use an airbrush like tool for the fine colour, tints and shading he uses on his images.
his design style uses drawings which he changes to digital images and then uses an airbrush.

My review of his work is that the pure style and creation of the games and movies poster is, well fit and diverse as the airbrush tool adds a really cool effect and helps promotion, i enjoyed the drawings and airbrush design, the scenes are really well designed and purely amazing.

                                                                                 Kat Von D

Kat Von D, Tattoo artist, tattoo illustrater.
Kat Von D is a tattoo artist who covers black and white tattoos, she is an inspiration as i have admired the beauty and meaning in and behind the tattoos, she covers meaningful and sometimes healing pieces of body art. Her signs are used in realism and she covers alot of potraits of the deceased to keep them in memories and show love and respect for the person.

Kat Von D's website

This website has her tattoos, designs, and art work. Many of her pieces are based on real life, as she does a lot of portrait illustration.

My review of Kat Von D's work is that i really think that it's awesome, i enjoy the realism in her work, the beauty and context behind her work really speaks out and is a really cool illustration, as it shows a real life image on a flesh canvas.
                                                                           Ami James

 Ami James, Tattoo artists and Tattoo illustrater.
Ami focuses on traditional tatoo artwork, though he does do others, in tattooing Ami, Kat and all other tattooos illustrate a design on paper before actually inking onto skin, this is to see if the client likes the design, and to see if the size will fit on the limb it is being placed on especially if its a small muscular canvas. This design and style method, helps alot in body art. Ami, like Kat does alot of meaningful tattoos, the beauty behind the art and design is astonishing. The skill, precision and attention to detail is amazing in illustartive areas.

Ami James Website

My review of Ami James' work is that it's purely amazing, i always have loved the japanese art style, the way he recreates the illstration into a totally different design is pure genius, i have always admired Ami's work as it helps alot of people and i have full respect for that and the artist talent behind the work.
                                                              
                                                                           Yoshiyuki Tomino

 Yoshiyuki Tomino, Manga artist and illustrater.
Yoshiyuki's drawing style can be seen alot in manga most famously in Gundam Wing, his design style is amazing with colour, futuristic illustration designs and the drawn skill, and attention to detail prowess, its amazing style and design is what made it famous. The detail on the characters, 'mobile suits' is awesome with the attention to detail on the nooks and crannies of its armor, weaponary and colours.

Yoshiyuki Tomino's, Gundam wing website

i was unable to find Tominos website, so i found his most famous creation's wiki Gundam Wing.

Yoshiyuki's body of work, i find is inspiring, as it was the first manga/anime i watched and that really got me into the genre as the drawn style, shading and colours are amazing i have always enjoyed this illustration style as it looks beautiful.

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Artist Comparison - Jack Kirby Tyler Stout Bill Sienkiewicz

I have chosen to compare three artists

Today I will look at these three artists body of work, they all do comics and a lot of animation, like DC, X –Men and Transformers, all of which are massive around the world.

                                                                  
                                                                          Jack Kirby


 Jack Kirby’s main body of work can be seen in the DC universe, He has worked on big figures like Spiderman, Batman and Captain America. All really famous comics that are loved by millions, and have sold millions more, One of the main productions to start the comic book franchise, this amazing thing has been turned into TV series and even movies all around the world, using animation, computer design and hand drawn graphics, they can be seen in cinemas everywhere.  Another famous piece of work he helped on was Iron Man; this has so many comics as well as a part in the avenger’s comics.
He sketches using a lot of colour, always hand drawn and are amazingly detailed, to more modern day, the characters are more than likely made using computer graphics rather than hand drawn.  The most popular early creation by Kirby at DC was the boy commandos, a fighting squadron of four teenagers gathered from around the world – England, Netherlands, France and Brooklyn – by adult military man named Rip Carter. The Commandos was his earliest success.  More of his success was seen through the Second World War with comics like, The commandos, The sandman, Man hunter and The News Boy Legion.



                                                                                         Tyler Stouts
Tyler Stouts worked on one of the world’s biggest franchises EVER! The ultimate sci-fi / comic nerd fantasy ever…. Star wars, Tyler stouts, work on star wars, can be seen in the characters as concept design, you can see the clear detail and the amazing colouring in the characters, for Luke Sky walker, Obi Wan and Yoda for example. He added the finest detail and amazing colour effects and concept to make it look and be one of the most well known and most respected sci fi franchises, in modern day his star wars trilogy posters are being sold and very high prices and in mint quality. 
He also worked on one of the first animes and its trilogy posters, Akira, is the first most popular anime again keeping to is sci fi style, the design and colour is amazing and it is a very futuristic film, this film started a revolution to let such amazing animes like, Bleach, Naruto and Death note, start, all of which have an amazing essence of detail, passionate drawing and amazing storylines.
Another piece of work he did ties in with Kirby’s work, Stouts also worked on Captain America a DC piece of work,  as in most of his work he mainly did the trilogy posters, again with the Captain America poster capturing an intense scene, and his fine detail on colouring and drawing.
Tyler stouts, Jack Kirby and Bill Sienkiewicz all worked on there on design and concept of Iron Man and have helped in the avengers comics.
                                                                                                 Bill Sienkiewicz
Sienkiewicz worked on such comics as X                -men, one of his biggest pieces was for Marvel in the form of X –Men, this really well known in the comic world and involves lots of characters all well drawn, well coloured and well thought, each character has its own individual story, powers and team, whether good or evil. That is why it has sold so much because of all the planning and detail in the characters own persona.  Another famous piece he did transformers, which have a few comics, all with well drawn, sci-fi, and complex design as they are machine and have to have every little component amazing drawn and coloured, especially in the movies the animation is amazing with the way they transform with a lot of hand drawn concept art it looks amazing.  His sheer design and eye for detail in all concept art and comic he did is astonishing in an amazing way.
One of his most famous concept can be seen in a big comic company call DC, He, Bill Kirby and Tyler Stouts have worked on a version of Iron Man, which no doubt has gone into the Avengers comic at some point.

                                                             Comparison!

The similarities.
One similarity is that all three have had their own design and concept of Iron Man, they have all worked on it at one point which brings another similarity in the way they all have worked at DC at one point or another.
Another is all 3 have worked on comics with great detail and colour for comics, whether, concept art, publication or even the trilogy posters they all have worked on a comic design at one point.
They all prefer hand drawn concept design to computerise as they each cover different but sometimes the same areas in comics as each other.
They all have similar styles in their hero’s characteristics, with the hero’s muscle concept for example they use the same drawing style.
Differences.
There are quite a few differences in their work, for a start the companies they worked for Bill worked for Marvel, Kirby for DC, and Stouts for LucasFilm.
Though they all worked Iron Man, but because of their own unique concept style, the colour of Iron Man will be a bit darker but in some cases a bit lighter.
Though Kirby and Bill have worked on a lot of super hero’s comics, Stouts did a lot of work on Star Wars which is sci-fi and because the other two don’t really touch sci-fi in their popular body of work it is a difference.
They all have covered different areas but Stout stands out again, as he worked on anime such as Akira and has work on a lot of trilogy posters more than concept art and character design.
Bill and Stout seem to enjoy doing things with complex detail as in machinery and robots like into; Bill has worked on transformers which includes a lot of complex robot design and transformation, Stout on the Tai Fighters and other vehicles in Star Wars.