Video article on The Third Floor's previs for X-Men: First Class

TheDaily.com has a new video featuring interviews and footage from The Third Floor. You can learn about the previs process as well as see what our shots look like before they're handed off for the final effects work.

300 sketchbook update

Another page of 15 minute sketched heads, colored in Photoshop. Sure, it takes time away from the minicomic, but I have to keep sharp. These are more topical than the ones I've done in the past, which were mostly drawn from pages of the LA Weekly.

Chris Christie (Gov-NJ), Anthony Weiner (Rep-NY), Louis CK

American McGee's "Alice: Madness Returns" show at Gallery 1988

A belated post, but here's a writeup my friend Ben wrote of the art show for American McGee's "Alice: Madness Returns" video game. We attended the opening on Thursday and I was pleased with the artwork. NC Winters and Kevin Tong had some standout pieces, as usual. I got to speak with American and his art director Ken (who I was photographed with on that blog post), who provided some insight on the game's production. American had just started up Red Dead Redemption, so we talked about that a bit as well.

I'm about three pages into my minicomic, and am trying to redouble my efforts to make sure it's finished in the near future. I underestimated how long it would take, and I think making it digitally has been about a wash in terms of time saved compared to making it in 2D. I'm planning to post the first six or so pages here on the blog when they're ready.

300 sketchbook update

So this blog has been static lately, but for those who have been asking for updates, here's the latest 15 minute head sketches from my 300 heads sketchbook. I colored them up a bit in Photoshop. See how many you can recognize from the headlines over the last few months:

Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, Imed Trabelsi

Muammar Gaddafi, Vice Admiral Alex Gortney, Michael Keaton

Melissa Leo, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale

My spare time has been spent on a ten page mini-comic that I'm doing 100% digitally. It should be finished soon (before ComiCon) and I'll make it available as soon as I can.

Now on Etsy...

Visit my Etsy store! (actual items will be available for sale in the near future...)

Articles on The Third Floor's new partnership with Silverdraft

Good reads for those interested in visual effects and the way previsualization is changing the game:

FXGuide: Introducing Silverdraft Mobileviz

Hollywood Reporter: Silverdraft Rolling Out Mobile Digital Studio

Now in Tumblr form...

Add me on Tumblr!

New interview and info about my latest print series at 8-bit Cubist.com

Over the last couple months I made a mini-series of video game-themed prints for the upcoming PAX East convention. Exclusive pictures of the prints and an interview I did about them are now available over at 8-bit Cubist.com, so check them out and let me know what you think!

"Shigeru Miyamoto: 8 Bit Legend" print and WIP shots

I drew several caricatures of Shigeru Miyamoto when I started out his piece, and decided on the one on the left. His world had to be Mario-related, and since Mario Galaxy was skyrocketing in popularity at the time, I decided to depict the Nintendo designer in space. The font for his name was in my head very early on, but at the end it was clear that it needed to be fleshed out in 3D.

The final print (I have one left for sale at my online store):

"Nolan Bushnell: 8 Bit Legend" print and WIP shots

The portrait of Pong designer Nolan Bushnell was always going to be done in a different direction. My initial ideas had him literally part of the game as the floating brick, possibly in 3D. In the end though, it was cooler to go with a "man in the machine" looking back at you. As the other prints became busier and more detailed, I added the Pong arcade cabinet around the border. The point being played for would end up making the score 2/5 (Bushnell's birthdate).

The final print (I have one left for sale at my online store):

WIP shots of the "8 Bit Legends" prints (Alexey Pajitnov)

Now that they're done, I thought it would be fun to show the work in progress files I made for each of my 8 Bit Legends prints. The objective I worked out with Ben at 8BitCubist.com was to show each of them immersed in the worlds of the games they created. To help things stay receptive to changes early on, I made greyscale sketches of each design, and polished from there.

Alexey Pajitnov's concept was clear from the start. I placed the Tetris skyscraper in Moscow, along with some of the other notable buildings in the city. This was definitely a fun way to refine my perspective skills.

The final print (I have one left for sale at my online store):

Red Dead Redemption gets 2010 "Game of the Year" award at GDC

Red Dead Redemption, was given "game of the year" in San Francisco this week at the Game Developer's Choice Awards.

From the article:

"There was no shortage of groundbreaking titles across platforms and genres this year. From big-budget blockbusters like Red Dead Redemption and Mass Effect 2, to indie darlings such as Minecraft and Limbo, 2010 was truly an incredible year for games, and we're delighted to honor them here," said Meggan Scavio, Event Director of the Game Developers Conference.

Congratulations to all my former teammates on that great project who took home awards for Design, Technology and Sound. (Maybe one day animation will be recognized at the GDCAs) For my comprehensive list of awards RDR2 has garnered, visit this blog post.

PAX East Video Game Prints Update: Getting Closer...

As mentioned in earlier posts, I've been developing digital paintings themed after designers of the 8-bit video game era in my spare time. The paintings have been a collaboration with my friend and former Rockstar coworker Ben Johnson at The 8-Bit Cubist for the upcoming PAX East video game convention. Tonight I picked up my mini-proofs from Static Medium. They look great, and I'm very excited to get the final/larger 18" x 24" prints this weekend. 

Mini-proofs of my renditions of game designers Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario Bros./Legend of Zelda, Nolan Bushnell (Pong) and Alexey Pajitnov (Tetris). Taken with an iPhone.

If you like what you're seeing, I'd like to mention that these prints are a VERY limited run. If you would like one or more of them to decorate your walls, email me at joshlange at gmail dot com. Each comes with a certificate of authenticity with background on the print and subject, signed by Ben and myself.

February Art Update

Lots of new things in development this month, including an upcoming mini series of prints that I'm working on with The 8 Bit Cubist. Those who love video games will get a big kick out of them. On top of that, I also signed up for a class on making a mini-comic at Meltdown Comics. I've been developing several story ideas for what feels like ages, so I chose one of the shorter ones for the ten-page comic I'll be creating. My goal is to have it be a level of quality worthy of being on shelves of Los Angeles bookstores and beyond.

As for my ongoing "300 heads" sketchbook, I'm maybe 40% through at this point. Here's a scan of a page I did last week, with a spot of digital color. Strangely, my wife and I watched Love Actually yesterday and it turns out all these actors are in that movie. Weird...

Alan Rickman, Colin Firth, and Hugh Grant. No more than 15 mins on each head.

Last weekend I also watched the Lemmy documentary about the Motorhead frontman, and drew a cartoon of the subject while it was on. Oddly enough, there's an annoying DJ in Love Actually who wears a Motorhead shirt.:

Mr. Ace of Spades.

And lastly, some silly cartoons done while watching a spot of TV. This is in the second sketchbook I'm filling up, which has one single rule: "nothing based on reference." It's nothing spectacular, but I want to post this as something to compare later on when I'm hopefully much more skilled at drawing from scratch.

NFL 2011 Faces

Here's a selection of Superbowl-themed faces from my "300" sketchbook that I'm filling up these days. I put more time into shading the heads on this page, so I figured I'd throw it on this blog.:

QBs Aaron Rodgers, Ben Roethlisberger, and Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

Time for bed.

Gallery 1988 "Multiplayer" Show

Ok, time to jump into 2011 with my first post of the year. Last Saturday I attended Gallery 1988's inaugural show at their new Santa Monica location. "Multiplayer" featured prints of all kinds of (mainly) retro video games, and garnered a large turnout. If you're at all into video game-related artwork and are looking to spiff up your walls with some new posters, check out the artwork on their gallery. My fellow ex-Rockstar Mister Benja over at The 8-Bit Cubist did a write-up over at his blog, featuring a photo of yours truly.

If you're more into videos, Hailey and the Coin-Op.TV guys got some nice coverage of the event as well, featuring interviews of standout artists Kevin Tong and Mike Mitchell:



P.S. I also attended the "Is This Thing On?" comedian artwork show at Gallery 1988's Melrose location, but was too swamped that weekend to post about it. It was awesome. Consider that my writeup. Thanks!

New "The 300" Sketchbook

I've started a new 100-page sketchbook that I'm filling with just portraits. Specifically, 3 portraits per page, totaling 300 when I'm completely finished. It's mainly for keeping sharp with my draftsmanship skills, so I'm trying to keep each head to around 20 minutes. The early ones used a lot of shading, but I'm now standardizing the style to be more line-based, with a head-on perspective.

28 pages into my "300 Heads" portrait sketchbook.

11/12/12 Update: I've started using #300Heads as the hashtag for my Twitter updates regarding the new portraits.

The Complete List of Awards for Red Dead Redemption

This weekend Spike TV held its annual Video Game Awards. Red Dead Redemption was nominated in the following categories:

Game of the Year
Best Song in a Game ("Far Away")
Best Original Score
DLC of the Year
Studio of the Year (Rockstar San Diego)
Character of the Year (John Marston)
Best PS3 Game
Best Action Adventure Game
Best Graphics
Best Performance by a Human Male (Rob Wiethoff)

When all the dust had cleared, Red Dead won the coveted 2010 Game of the Year award, along with Best Song, Best Original Score, and DLC of the Year. In what has been the most incredible year of all my time working on video games, I can't think of a better way to wrap up 2010. All three games I made at Rockstar San Diego went on to be nominated in their respective categories at the VGAs, but Red Dead Redemption was the first one to take the grand prize. I want to take this space to congratulate the massive team that made it such a great work of quality, and thank the fans who have supported the game since its release. It's been a very special thing to be a part of, and I'm happy to be able to look back on RDR2 and see that it got its due.

Update: There are many more awards rolling in. Here is an ongoing update for the other awards Red Dead Redemption has won for 2010:

X-Play's Best of 2010 Awards:
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best DLC

Machinima 
Game of the Year
Best Narrative
Most Compelling Character
Best Original Score
Best Sound Design

ShortList
Best Game of 2010

The Times of London
Game of the Year

GamesRadar
Game of the Year
Reader's Choice Award
Runner Up: Most Graphics
Runner Up: Cutscenes You Actually Want to Watch

IGN
Funniest Game (Undead Nightmare)

GameSpot (nearly a clean sweep, taking awards in the following categories)
Game of the Year
Best DLC
Best Story
Best New Character
Best Atmosphere
Best Original Music
Best Voice Acting
Most Improved Sequel
Best Writing/Dialogue
Best Ending
Best Action/Adventure Game
Best PS3 Game
Best Xbox 360 Game

Game Developer's Choice Awards
Game of the Year
Best Technology
Best Game Design
Best Audio

CTN Animation Expo!

This Saturday I went to the CTN Animation Expo in Burbank and had an absolute blast. I love ComiCon and I love Siggraph, but there was something special about this event--it felt intimate, but it attracted a lot of talented animation and art professionals. It felt very satisfying to meet artists I've admired for years like Eric Canete, Robh Ruppel (who turned out to be a big Red Dead fan!), and if that weren't enough, J. Scott Campbell, who I happened to catch at a moment when there wasn't a line to see him! (impossible to imagine were it at ComiCon).

Me and legendary comic book artist J. Scott Campbell after he signed two of his books for me. He and Jim Lee were the artists who  most influenced the way I drew comics when I started in the early 90s.

This week I'll be looking at the websites from all the business cards I collected, as well as working on a new sketchbook which will be 100% focused on heads. I got the idea after speaking with artist Michael Buffington, Jr., who was selling his sketchbook filled with a whopping 1,000 head sketches. He did it in just over a month, so I think I can do it in less than three for sure.  I also saw the presentation that my company, The Third Floor, gave about previsualization at one of the convention rooms, and it felt exciting to be a part of such a forward-thinking company in an industry as new as previs. Needless to say, I'll be attending next year.

2010 "Proof-of-Concept" Pumpkin

Argh. I always look forward to carving a Halloween pumpkin each year, but this time I couldn't pull one off due to time constraints. However, I was able to mock something up in Photoshop in honor of the new "The Walking Dead" TV series:

Click here for some sketches I did of the Walking Dead TV series panel at the 2010 ComiCon.