HOME | DD
Jerome-K-Moore — SPACE CHIMPS - Luna
Published: 2008-07-19 21:03:09 +0000 UTC; Views: 9710; Favourites: 102; Downloads: 719
Redirect to original
Description
20th CENTURY FOX Marketing Art, Luna, SPACE CHIMPS. Pencil.I was contacted by an independent design studio to render the Space Chimps main characters for Fox directly from publicity stills as provided by Fox animation. Easy money. HaHa! It was my job to merely translate the 3-D art into 2-D line work. Nothing fancy. Just tedious.
Since the release date in the U.S. was yesterday, I guess it's relatively safe to now post this online. Nevertheless, all copyrights belong to 20th CENTURY FOX.
I think it was either very brave, or very dumb to launch this animated film in the wake of Pixar's WALL-E, Dreamworks' KUNG FU PANDA, and on the same release date as WB's THE DARK KNIGHT. I haven't seen CHIMPS, but from what I've glimpsed and read, it seems the studio may have produced the movie on a far less competitive budget. This strategy has succeeded in the past for those rare surprises. The marketplace is so cutthroat these days, but hopefully CHIMPS will find the audience and success it deserves.
Related content
Comments: 33
I never thought I'd say this, but for a chimp...she's pretty cute.
Still, they are much stronger than humans (hell, female circus chimp called Suzette pulled a weight of 1260 pounds).
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Shouldn't be a long wait. Heh.
Thanks.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
There's plenty of intimidation to go around, no matter what your status, professional, or amateur.
It's all about finding your own little place in the big scheme, whatever it may be.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
So far, review wise, Space Chimps is faring better than the Love Guru (roughly 6% liked it on rottentomatoes.com) but it's still got a 38% rating.
Ouch.
The viral marketing on Space Chimps is pretty nasty too. I'm really tired of seeing them everywhere. The previews weren't funny. I will give them props for being able to hold poses, that's the one thing that irks me the most about Dreamworks. Let's just show everything RIGHTNOW so we don't lose our audience. Ah well.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Which puts this about 2 percentage points above SPEED RACER. I don't really know how accurate or relevant Rotten Tomatoes' opinion polls are, though.
In the end, practically every film manages to acquire a devoted fandom somewhere. And this is not a bad thing when the film has a decent heart.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Vanguard wants to get out there and be somebody, so I wish them all the best. It's nice to see animation out there that isn't Disney or Pixar or Dreamworks. I may rent Space Chimps when it comes out, the trailers really didn't do much for me.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Or Blue Sky Studios. Or Disney Digital 3-D. Or Sony Pictures Animation. Or Digital Eye Candy Studio. On and on...
Everybody seems to be in on the digital animation game now. This is good and bad. The positive is in the job opportunities for animators. The bad is in the over-saturation of the marketplace with sub-par entertainment, thereby ushering a collapse. Already there are grumblings, and signs that audiences are growing disenchanted with digitally animated films. Perhaps the pendulum swing back the other way toward traditional animation will begin sooner than expected, before the proper balance is struck. Who knows?
I just think there's far too much product being produced across the board, animated and live action, with too little concern for depth of quality.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Total agreement. The projects I've worked on, they want tiny budgets, but the most bang for their buck with little care for quality or story. Jerome, I WISH, I wish I could tell you about the script from the last project. I wanted to put my head through a meat grinder, it was that bad, and as someone who spent the last eight years carefully studying story, and even longer creating my own stories and worlds, it's been driving me crazy. Within an hour I had revised the entire story, and when I pitched it to my art director, she loved it, but of course, I'm not a screenwriter, so who am I to tell someone with 20+ years of experience how to tell a story right?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
It's a reality check, Karen.
Most often, screenwriters in Hollywood must stifle their egos as scripts are rewritten over and over again, incorporating "suggestions" from myopic, and untalented marketing executives who are chiefly considering target demographics and focus groups. Low risk, for high profit. The bigger the budget, the closer the scrutiny along matters more statistical, rather that creative. Carol Police, bless her heart, can cite you chapter and verse as well as I can. It's a business after all, and the aesthetic does give way to the best interests of the stockholders, and the self-aggrandizement of the "powers that be."
My pal BroHawk and I used to sit dreaming up awesome treatments for various comic book characters, expanding on vast untapped potential. Our excitement was palpable, as our conversations doubtlessly resembled the most lively pitch meetings, and we seemed to solve every faux pas Hollywood has committed in recent years. It was so plain, so simple, so inspiring. So bereft of corporate interference. And therein lies the insidious and awful reality. There we sat in the belly of the marketing beast, and we understood the sheer futility of innocent dreams.
Only a handful of pure visions survive the gauntlet, as the gargoyles sleep, or are taken by surprise. But once Quality triumphantly appears with a resounding thunderclap, all of corporate Hollywood scrambles to where lightning has already struck. And then another brand of ruination ensues.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I know... trust me I know. Hearing the horror stories from Carol, along with being a part of several projects that were meddled with by "those people." I just keep hoping. When Avatar came out, it was this beacon of hope. WOW. TV animation can not only be good, but it can still tell a good story. The story of what happened to films like Quest for Camelot and Sweating Bullets... Empire of the Sun.
Part of it, yes, does give me the reality check that in some ways, breaks my heart. On the flipside though, it makes me want to make get out there and make things better. Goats after all, are stubborn creatures by nature.
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
Even though you're drawings are great, as always, these renderings remind me too much of the toy monkey my sister had when we were kids. That thing freaked me out. Same face and ears. *shudders*
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
I think I remember exactly which toy you're referring to! HaHa! Maybe.
Anyway, the one my sister had was furry material over a flimsy wire frame, and when accidentally dropped in the water-filled bathtub, it was reduced to a soggy, shedding mess. Creepy! HAHAHA!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Ugh, that sounds totally creepy. My sister's was stuffed and was wearing tennis shoes and had a banana in it's hand. She would lay that thing next to her equally creepy baby doll and I had to turn both their faces away from me when I was in the room alone (we shared a room). I swear to this day, that they were staring at me!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Oh! And then there is that classic creepy wind-up chimp with the buggie eyes, that clasps the cymbals and grins.
That toy made an appearance in the 1977 Spielberg film, "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND."
But Luna here reminds me more of Dr. Zira, from 1968's "PLANET OF THE APES." So, I kinda like her.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
YES, Planet of the Apes, that's what they look like too. Okay as long as you compare them to that movie, then I think I can handle it better.
That monkey with the cymbals was also key in a Stephen King short story. Veeeery creepy.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
You're funny.
I just watched the Creedy movie again. No change. He got fried by the dragon, same as last time.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
WAAAHHH! Stop reminding me that Creedy got crispy fried!
Creeeeeeedy!!!
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Okay, okay. I just thought maybe you like toast?
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
*wwwaaaaaaaAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!*
Stop it.
(hehehe)
👍: 0 ⏩: 0
I suppose that expression serves as a typical clue that she's smarter than all the males.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Naturally she'd have to be better than the males to be considered for the position.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Like I said: typical.
👍: 0 ⏩: 1
Doc Milo didn't make it out of the zoo cage. Most tragic. Got punked by a less-evolved simian, and went out like a chimp--er-- chump!
👍: 0 ⏩: 0