Introduction

I'm a freelance illustrator/designer/art director and if you think I can help with your project, want to offer words of encouragement or simply say hi, feel free to get in touch.

I'm also on Twitter and Facebook. Follow me to find out every time I haul bits of imagination kicking and screaming into reality.

Tuesday, 2 July 2013

An open Letter to Warner Bros

I needed to air my desires for the continuation of the DC universe on screen following recent statements suggesting that the Dark knight trilogy won't be part of the cinematic canon.

This seemed like the best place.

 
As with the recent Dark Knight Trilogy the following ideas take plots form key DC comics weaving them into a new pattern to fit alongside the recent cinematic outings showing that just because Bale has stepped away from the role, there's still room for the DC franchise to embrace the recent films rather than starting over.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to wipe the slate clean after such a critical and financial success of the Dark Knight trilogy, and recent franchise entries of both Trek and to a lesser degree 'Bourne' have displayed its possible to re-invigorate a franchise without resorting to a total 'reboot'.

The Dark knight trilogy has also shown that with a deft hand, film makers can stray from the source material on some key aspects of a franchise and still retain the loyalty of the original fan base.

So with that in mind, here are a few ideas.

Man of Steel 2
I imagine that well underway already, but Lex. All Lex.

Batman 4
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robin begins his role as Gotham city's new crime fighter Nightwing. Younger and quicker, he makes light work of smaller crooks, but realises it was the cowl of Batman that delivered the fear required to tackle the ever increasing trend for supervillains.

Batman: A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended.

The films should introduce a new Batman, a new origin story for a new character taking on the mantle of the bat, being guided by JGL's Nightwing who, we begin to understand, has a creeping doubt as to weather the new batman is fit for purpose after a few over enthusiastic skirmishes. However, the new batman completes a heroic act and takes his place as the Guardian of Gotham.

Wonder Woman
Deep in the jungle a young Wonder Woman meets a young Bruce Wayne as he travels the globe learning ass kicking off different peoples. the first man she has ever seen, she is curious and enquires as to his nature. She learns that her tribe of female only Amazons were 'grown' by a technology long past their understanding.

A few years later and with curiosity burning away inside her, she sets off on her own journey of discovery, all the while looking for Bruce Wayne, finally arriving in Gotham to find him gone. Out of place and confused by the modern world she spars with Batman/Nightwing and ends up escaping in the batwing, now improved with a cloaking mechanism in place. She meets superman who helps her learn of her heritage, that she is a descendant of an ancient Kryptonian outpost. Finally understanding her place in the world she joins the good fight using her abilities in the fight against evil.

Man of Steel 3
Doomsday. We all wanna see it, though I don't know how you'll top the Zod fight for sheer destructive chaos, but it would be fun to see you try.

Batman 5
In the next film Batman begins to lose sight of his goal, Night wing will try to stop the new Batman as his methods become much more akin to the foe he's previously try defend the city from. He fails.

Enter Kal-El, last son of Krypton, the man of steel, the Superman. The only person with the strength for the Smack-down that the world has wanted to see on screen since their inception. Batman Vs Superman.

The darkest of knights resorts to dirty, underhand, and downright ungentlemanly tactics, that put him on an even keel with Superman. The most prevalent being the rare 'Kriptonite' that sits in the labs of Wayne Enterprises.

Unable to defeat each other the two characters, exhausted, part ways, warning each other that they should never cross paths again. Superman unwillingly leaves Gotham under the control of a borderline psychopathic Batman.

Batman 6
The battle between Superman and Batman would leave Gotham in ruins. Batman is forced to begin saving the population from the cataclysmic event, leaving room for the more nefarious types to rise up, taking over territories and gaining control of what's left of the city.

Torn between saving the city and stopping the corruption he resorts to murder and violence, finally crossing the line and becoming what he always fought against.

Then the missing presumed dead Nightwing returns with an old acquaintance. Bruce Wayne, (just imagine the hype when they convince Bale to return to the role in 10 years time) back in his batsuit after 10 years away, brings his decades of training and expertise back to Gotham City. Here we get to see two batmen, one suped up 'bad' batman, and one 'classic' meditative warrior go at each other through the crumbling ruins of Gotham.

Justice League
With Batman holding contempt for superman over the destruction of Gotham, wonder woman holding a flame for batman, and superman unable to trust batman, we have the beginning of some dynamics on which to base a Justice league film around.


The gritty real world feel of the DC titles would allow a fan base to flourish along side the already established Marvel franchise, allowing the uninitiated audience to tell them apart and prevent the two juggernauts from stepping on one another's toes and allow them to co-exist without direct competition.

Regardless, if you like the direction, there's a decade of films to be had here.

You're welcome.

Sunday, 30 June 2013

Svensk vol. II

Anticipating a bit of time off this summer I got to thinking about last years trip to Sweden and I realised I hadn't done the planned follow up to last years wind farm painting 'Svensk' despite knowing exactly what I wanted to do. So I did it.

 
Although based heavily on the picturesque inlets around the island of Orust just north of Gothenburg, the lighthouse was inspired by the one that sits next to the Øresund bridge that joins Sweden and Denmark.

The result is a splash of colour in the overcast inlet that was damp with the rain that had made the area so deep green and lush. But in reality, who'd put a lighthouse in a bay.

Monday, 17 June 2013

Scarlet

Following on from my recent Robin of Loxley picture, depicting Robin Hood and Little John, I present (a slightly rushed) Will Scarlet.


Throughout Robin Hood lore, several references are made to Scarlet being the finest swordsman in the merry men so I thought it would be fun to have him as some kind of martial artist, wielding two swords and able to fight multiple assailants at once.

Drawing on themes of the templar knights also gave him that cleaner edge than some of the grubby woodfolk who make up the Merry Men, and compounded the idea that he was a highly skilled and trained fighter.

To me it felt natural that the image be tinted with reddish and autumnal hues to reflect the name Scarlet.

Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Fine art?

Promise I'll post some more art soon, but for now I'll continue pimping out this. Little Luke's Destiny available on the official Star Wars fine art website. Get to it!















 
http://www.starwarsfineart.com/product/SWOTLTD233P/Little-Luke%27s-Destiny.html?cid=

And yes, as people have been asking, I'm working on others in the series ;-)

Tuesday, 14 May 2013

Imagine that!

Just a quick one to say that I just noticed the nice people at Imagine FX made my recent Loxley picture their image of the day. Very kind of them :-)

Follow the link to see Nicola's kind words http://beta.imaginefx.com/image-day-69098

And here is my original post http://nscurfield.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/robin-of-loxley.html

Or just scroll down a bit :-)

Saturday, 4 May 2013

SchkwzzzZZZzzzZZZzZZZzzzzzicht*

Its May the fourth so its only fitting that I announce (in a frothing fit of rabid excitement) that two of my recent Star Wars pieces have been officially approved by Lucasfilm an will shortly be available to order via www.starwarsfineart.com/

As a life long fan Star Wars has been a constant source of inspiration and its an honour to be able to pay tribute to the franchise with these pictures, and hopefully others to follow.

Here's the information I've received regarding each print.

Little Lukes Destiny
Type of Art: Giclee on Paper
Edition Size: 150
Size 13 x 19 paper dimension
Retail Price $89.00 (£58 €68)
















Shadow of the Hunter
Type of Art: Giclee on Canvas
Edition Size: 50
Size 16 x 20 paper dimension
Retail Price$250 (£160/€190) Rolled Canvas /$295 (£190/€224) Gallery Wrapped


































Both of the prints will be on sale in coming days. Watch this space for news or subscribe to the mailing list at www.starwarsfineart.com/ to be updated on future announcements.

OK, I need to go and stock up on provisions in order to watch Empire. Have a good one.

May the fourth be with you.

*Lightsaber hum

Sunday, 7 April 2013

Littlejon

So here's the Littlejon character design I did for my recent picture. I wanted to make him, not only tall but built like the proverbial 'out' house. Giving him the neck of an ox weighted him really nicely, resulting in a powerful looking figure who would calmly bat away even the most aggressive opponent with barely a second thought.












A concern I had was making him seem powerful and simultaneously playful without him appearing incapable, like a medevil version of Steinbecks ill-fated Lenny. The sterner expression on the final pose was added to address this issue.

Tuesday, 2 April 2013

Robin of Loxley

I was looking for a small project that had enough mileage for me to be able to produce both characters and also a rich environment for them to sit in. Enter, Robin Hood. I selected the famous moment when Robin hood encounters Little John for the first time, described below in one of the 17th century Robin Hood ballads.


'Thou talkst like a coward,' the stranger reply'd;
'Well armd with a long bow, you stand,
 To shoot at my breast, while I, I protest,
Have nought but a staff in my hand.' 

From The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
by Francis James Child, 1888.

Despite its popularity the Robin Hood mythology has only spawned one notable animated adaptation so I felt there was room for me to explore new versions of the characters without treading on the toes of previous incarnations.

The reverence that has been built up surrounding Sherwood forest allowed for a nicely atmospheric depiction without feeling too far removed from the English countryside.

Friday, 1 March 2013

The Evil Queen Bavmorda

I've harked on about Star Wars more than once on here, but there is another film that I used to adore as a kid. Willow. I LOVED it.

It was on one Christmas and recording it I proceeded to watch it as often an humanly possible to the degree that I can still recite vast portions of it almost word for word.

It felt grounded and, as with Star Wars, it hinted at a world beyond what was on screen. It had Little people, dragons, trolls, great warriors, drunk brownies, faeries, sorcerers, love potions, princesses, witches, bar brawls, a troll skull wearing bad guy, armies, magic and sledging. What's not to love?!

The Evil Queen Bavmorda ruled, sitting in her looming, slate grey castle, her robes clearly inspired by the garments of catholic nuns and Jesus' thorny crown, whilst her willingness to stab a baby to death was testament to her being a fully qualified nasty piece of work. Jean Marsh played this off brilliantly against the gentle and somewhat paganistic 'nature magic' of the simple country folk personified by Warwick Davies' perfect turn as the titular, naive Nelwin.

Twenty five years later its arriving on Bluray (11th march kids!) and I cant wait to sit down and watch it in shiny HD. I'm half tempted to order hundreds of copies in the hope that Disney are gauging if there's a market for a sequel.

I'm pretty sure there is. Right? RIGHT?!



OK. Love letter over. Move along.

Monday, 25 February 2013

The Next Link

Not been able to throw myself into my personal work as much as i'd like as of late so I set myself the challenge of doing a picture in just one hour. I managed to complete this in just under.

Inspired by watching a documentary showing that primates have now been recorded using a number of tools I imagined what they'd be up to in the future if we left them well alone. It was tempting to put the ruins of our civilisation amidst the trees in the background but it became a little too distracting and interrupted the serenity of the scene.

Having learned of the brutality chimps are capable of when hunting or patrolling their territory, the fact that we have always been a pretty temperamental species is hardly a surprise.

Put it this way, they don't just eat bananas.



Sunday, 10 February 2013

Boba Fett

Despite any official Announcement its looking likely that along with Han Solo, revered Bounty Hunter and fan favourite of the Star Wars saga Boba Fett is to be the star of his own film, so this seems to be as good a time as any to put out this image:-)

Last year I did an image of Judge Dredd, a character that bares some similarities to Mr B. Fett so I was encouraged to revisit the image with a Star Wars take on it.

As with my most recent Star Wars image Little Lukes Destiny, this is also part of a series featuring  armoured characters from the Star Wars universe, as they all posses such iconic designs and can be easily recognised from the bare minimum of information.

Hmmm... Perhaps I should do an accompanying Solo image? 


Lets hope that these new films will build on the best Star Wars has to offer and like the outstanding Clone Wars series, really deliver what was missing from the prequels.



Tuesday, 15 January 2013

The Return of Space Jane

Its not the first time I’ve drawn space Jane but this is definitely a new approach. I wanted to retain the 60s inspired elements of her space suit (the miniskirt, boots, Afro-esque helmet and that eras utter lack of political correctness), yet give the image a more updated feel with a richer palette.

Deciding on an 'animated' style I looked towards the likes of Shane Glines and Bruce Timm for inspiration whilst avoiding their more angular lines. The half-tone texture and weathered landscape poster format were also supposed to retain a 60's feel despite the more modern approach.


In a side note, I've noticed that the last few posts have all contained 'widescreen' pieces. Too many movies perhaps? Too few? Answers on a postcard.