B-Movie Entry: Andrew Calhoun

#1

Andrew Calhoun is entered in the “B-Movie” update: View Challenge Page

Latest Update: Final Image: The Space Empire of Fu Manchu

#2

After some fits and starts, I had this idea floating around in my head and sketched out for several weeks in my sketchbook. Finally, I told myself I was going to sit down and do it, more for the experience and to get some critique and criticism than anything else.

I happen to be a fan of b-movies, and I think the Fu Manchu films (and to lesser extent, books) are somewhat overlooked in that regard, but they were common fare in the 1950s-1970s. The inspiration actually came to me when I was watching Grindhouse recently, and saw the preview for Nazi Werewolf Women of the SS. I figured, why not do a sci-fi schlock update of Fu Manchu, and slap him with some typically B-grade alien characteristics. Right now, I am going for a 1950s/1960s painterly throwback style, with sweeps of color, paint daubs, and somewhat garish colors.

#3

LOL, not much to say about your image as of yet but great casting choices. Wow to see those guys together in one piece…I can just imagine chow yun fat and cheech marin getting along lol

#4

A bit further along and cleaned up, with a crumpled paper texture for effect. May tone that down. Still hashing out the final details of Fu Manchu and maybe possibly change the background to something more appropriate. I’m becoming happier with the overall product, but it still needs quite a bit of work.

#5

Starting to flesh out the details. HAVE AT IT!

#6

Next milestone. Critique appreciated. Thanks.

#7

Yo andrew. I think if your going to go for the crumpled paper look you are going to want to distort the text/image to fit your folds of your paper.

#8

I’m going to have to flatten the image soon because its growing beyond where I can reasonably compress it. Please let me know how its going thus far though. Thanks a lot!

#9

As I realized I am approaching completion / the end of the contest, I felt like doing a conceptual update was a good idea – especially since the cool kids are doing it. </tongue-in-cheek> Anyway, I did some research and looked at the various old-era posters when I was planning the peace. I also did an initial sketch which I will post in a followup shortly, that I ended up scrapping – though the idea was still there, when I began painting. I scanned it but I felt that the Manchu I designe was just a bit too alien and I did not particularly like the direction I would be forced to take with it. But below are some of the movie posters I drew some inspiration from and the infamous Nicholas Cage image from Grindhouse that started the whole thing.


#10

This is the original concept I sketched out, and never ended up using, but the basic ideas did survive into the production piece I am creating now. I wanted to do a modern update of the old posters while remaining faithful. This was meant to be a mockup I scanned in and painted over, but I opted to just use it as reference and let my muses decide for me where I would go.

#11

Next iteration. Hopefully I did not have to crunch it too much, it was causing it to not ready well. Let me know what you think so far.

#12

Decided to play with his clothes a bit since the lower half of the image was reading flat, and blended the skin a bit to make it blend better into the shadows. Getting frustrated with the ‘clay’ like texture though. Any critique / help would be appreciated. At this point, doing it for fun. Everything else is gravy.

#13

I realized the extension of the hair looked a bit flat still, tried to improve it a touch. Same as before though, on the critique. The compression still is not allowing the picture to look as good as it does on my screen and that makes me sad.

#14

A few minor tweaks, rearranging of the letters. Will likely change actor names to avoid liability for final submission.

#15

I’m entering the final stages and will likely be submitting tomorrow. Speak up now or forver hold your peace. Thank you for your input / visiting my image! (Again, there are still compression issues, so try to imagine it a bit LESS squished)

#16

An alternate, giving him a slightly larger, thinner head.

#17

Software: Photoshop

After an extended period of relative lack of inspiration and hiatus from art in general, I happened to be watching Grindhouse again, and was laughing hysterically at a number of the previews for theoretical ‘exploitation’ movies. I recalled the level of political incorrectness and just brutality and cheesiness of these films, I was particularly inspired by Nazi Werewolf Women of the SS, which featured the oft-forgotten (at least by many of my more contemporary cohorts) Fu Manchu.

A popular icon of villany from the turn of the 20th century, in books and in film form (frequently played by Christopher Lee), in the 50s through early 70s, Fu Manchu represented many things in the supervillain archetype. Manchu was of extreme intelligence, had a vast criminal empire, and employed a variety of arcane and modern methods to perform his schemes. Given that the era films featuring him came out, I decided to go for an update of the traditional 50s-70s B-movie schlock images, with the ‘daubed’ colors and extreme contrasts. The character as featured on the poster, would likely be a man in ‘blue face’, as Fu Manchu was frequently played by a Caucasian actor in yellowface during his run in the movies. The aforementioned segment which was the inspiration for this poster featured Nicholas Cage in yellow face and even early versions of the poster had him as a starring role, but to avoid potential liability / infringement of creative ideas, I decided to err away from known actors in my final composition and place those ideas in the realm of ‘tongue-in-cheek’ production jokes and placeholders. The characters mentioned are either actual characters from the books and movies or updates, in the case of Sax to fit modern expectations. Given that Fu Manchu also never had an ‘adventure in space’, I figured that was the perfect title for this ‘film’. Having done everything else, ranging from Victorian / Boxer Rebellion era heists to post-nuclear apocalypse, it was time for him to become an alien warlord and take over the galaxy.

My focus here was not to be perfect, or blow the world away, but portray the kind of low budget cheesiness that B-Movies are known for, whose posters often featured equally low budget artists. At the same time, I wanted to give it a gritty modern update. There is an element of ‘deliberately bad’ to the image to help me psychologically counterbalance the ‘unintentionally bad / faux-seriousness’ that B-Movies frequently have, to this day. I used photoshop, both basic and texture brushes to create the image. Many of the markings on Fu Manchu’s face and hands were painstakingly crafted to give him an illusion of eeriness and the appearance of a war scarred master criminal / dictator. The original images were done to ‘blot out’ the various shadows and light areas, before I got into the details and serve as ‘palette’ guides when I began truly detailing the image. The eye glow was created using overlay in photoshop, as I thought it added a certain, almost required cheesiness. Near the end, I stretched the head out to make him appear more ‘skeletal’, though gaunt features were already a highlight. While remaining faithful to the Fu Manchu of old, I retained the iconic mustasche style, while giving him slightly pointed ears and removing his coolie hat.

Given the idea was for a B-movie, I figured it would be best to go with something that would be easily created with some cake makeup and prosthetics, rather than CG modification. The fonts and appearances were also chosen to emphaise the frequently horror-comedy / sci-fi schlock that B-Movies are known for, including the ridiculously named filming technique. Ultravision sounds like something that would have existed in milleau of the old grindhouses, espousing hypersaturated colors for the ‘appropriate’ content.

I hope you enjoy my piece for what it is, an homage and return to art after a brief hiatus, and am looking forward to the next challenge.

#18

After an extended period of relative lack of inspiration, I happened to be watching Grindhouse again, and was laughing hysterically at a number of the previews for theoretical ‘exploitation’ movies. I recalled the level of political incorrectness and just brutality and cheesiness of these films, I was particularly inspired by Nazi Werewolf Women of the SS, which featured the oft-forgotten (at least by many of my more contemporary cohorts) Fu Manchu.

A popular icon of villany from the turn of the 20th century, in books and in film form (frequently played by Christopher Lee), in the 50s through early 70s, Fu Manchu represented many things in the supervillain archetype. Manchu was of extreme intelligence, had a vast criminal empire, and employed a variety of arcane and modern methods to perform his schemes. Given that the era films featuring him came out, I decided to go for an update of the traditional 50s-70s B-movie schlock images, with the ‘daubed’ colors and extreme contrasts. The character as featured on the poster, would likely be a man in ‘blue face’, as Fu Manchu was frequently played by a Caucasian actor in yellowface during his run in the movies. The aforementioned segment which was the inspiration for this poster featured Nicholas Cage in yellow face and even early versions of the poster had him as a starring role, but to avoid potential liability / infringement of creative ideas, I decided to err away from known actors in my final composition and place those ideas in the realm of ‘tongue-in-cheek’ production jokes and placeholders. The characters mentioned are either actual characters from the books and movies or updates, in the case of Sax to fit modern expectations.

My focus here was not to be perfect, or blow the world away, but portray the kind of low budget cheesiness that B-Movies are known for, whose posters often featured equally low budget artists. At the same time, I wanted to give it a gritty modern update. There is an element of ‘deliberately bad’ to the image to help me psychologically counterbalance the ‘unintentionally bad / faux-seriousness’ that B-Movies frequently have, to this day. I used photoshop, both basic and texture brushes to create the image. Many of the markings on Fu Manchu’s face and hands were painstakingly crafted to give him an illusion of eeriness and the appearance of a war scarred master criminal / dictator. Near the end, I stretched the head out to make him appear more ‘skeletal’, though gaunt features were already a highlight. While remaining faithful to the Fu Manchu of old, I retained the iconic mustasche style, while giving him slightly pointed ears and removing his coolie hat.

Given the idea was for a B-movie, I figured it would be best to go with something that would be easily created with some cake makeup and prosthetics, rather than CG modification. The fonts and appearances were also chosen to emphaise the frequently horror-comedy / sci-fi schlock that B-Movies are known for, including the ridiculously named filming technique. Ultravision sounds like something that would have existed in milleau of the old grindhouses, espousing hypersaturated colors for the ‘appropriate’ content.

I hope you enjoy my piece for what it is, an homage and return to art after a brief hiatus, and am looking forward to the next challenge.

#19

Software: Photoshop

Let me start off to say, I’m sorry about the spam if it happened. I thought I had to upload the smaller version as well and my internet has been very wonky. So, here it is – the final version and I’ll stop uploading it repeatedly. :slight_smile:

After an extended period of relative lack of inspiration, I happened to be watching Grindhouse again, and was laughing hysterically at a number of the previews for theoretical ‘exploitation’ movies. I recalled the level of political incorrectness and just brutality and cheesiness of these films, I was particularly inspired by Nazi Werewolf Women of the SS, which featured the oft-forgotten (at least by many of my more contemporary cohorts) Fu Manchu.

A popular icon of villany from the turn of the 20th century, in books and in film form (frequently played by Christopher Lee), in the 50s through early 70s, Fu Manchu represented many things in the supervillain archetype. Manchu was of extreme intelligence, had a vast criminal empire, and employed a variety of arcane and modern methods to perform his schemes. Given that the era films featuring him came out, I decided to go for an update of the traditional 50s-70s B-movie schlock images, with the ‘daubed’ colors and extreme contrasts. The character as featured on the poster, would likely be a man in ‘blue face’, as Fu Manchu was frequently played by a Caucasian actor in yellowface during his run in the movies. The aforementioned segment which was the inspiration for this poster featured Nicholas Cage in yellow face and even early versions of the poster had him as a starring role, but to avoid potential liability / infringement of creative ideas, I decided to err away from known actors in my final composition and place those ideas in the realm of ‘tongue-in-cheek’ production jokes and placeholders. The characters mentioned are either actual characters from the books and movies or updates, in the case of Sax to fit modern expectations.

My focus here was not to be perfect, or blow the world away, but portray the kind of low budget cheesiness that B-Movies are known for, whose posters often featured equally low budget artists. At the same time, I wanted to give it a gritty modern update. There is an element of ‘deliberately bad’ to the image to help me psychologically counterbalance the ‘unintentionally bad / faux-seriousness’ that B-Movies frequently have, to this day. I used photoshop, both basic and texture brushes to create the image. Many of the markings on Fu Manchu’s face and hands were painstakingly crafted to give him an illusion of eeriness and the appearance of a war scarred master criminal / dictator. Near the end, I stretched the head out to make him appear more ‘skeletal’, though gaunt features were already a highlight. While remaining faithful to the Fu Manchu of old, I retained the iconic mustasche style, while giving him slightly pointed ears and removing his coolie hat.

Given the idea was for a B-movie, I figured it would be best to go with something that would be easily created with some cake makeup and prosthetics, rather than CG modification. The fonts and appearances were also chosen to emphaise the frequently horror-comedy / sci-fi schlock that B-Movies are known for, including the ridiculously named filming technique. Ultravision sounds like something that would have existed in milleau of the old grindhouses, espousing hypersaturated colors for the ‘appropriate’ content.

I hope you enjoy my piece for what it is, an homage and return to art after a brief hiatus, and am looking forward to the next challenge.

#20

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.