Finally friends, the last piece of work I have to share at this time, is my fan art and or advertising/editorial piece that celebrates the entertainment franchise Transformers, particularly the creation of its famous protagonist, the Autobot Optimus Prime and the incredible artists, who brought him to life: mechanical concept artist/designer, Shoji Kawamori and voice actor, Peter Cullen.
I was intending to finish this in time for last year’s ‘Supernova’ convention, since Peter was a special guest (whom I also had the special opportunity of meeting), but unfortunately time escaped me. This has also been one of those pieces I’ve had in the archives for awhile, but haven’t showed it until this point, as I haven’t been too pleased with its execution. However, since the last couple of weeks, I’ve been refining it again, do I feel it’s pretty close to what I originally envisioned. Not to mention, previously I didn’t have Shoji included in the artwork, as I didn’t think of it at the time, so illustrating him too, as well as capturing both of their likenesses has been the reasons for the time lapsed in making this artwork.
In addition to this closely finished illustration, I’ve also included all of the thumbnail ideations, I created that helped shape the composition, I eventually arrived at.
(Work in Progress)
As for the thought process behind this piece, my main objective was how to best capture the personality and abilities of Optimus Prime and equally demonstrate how these two creative individuals, lent their skills to form this iconic character. Since Optimus’ archetype is a proud and noble leader, is large in stature and yet is mobile - by aptly transforming his appearance, I therefore decided to create him from a dynamic top down perspective, to dramatically emphasise his scale. For it is drawn as though he engrosses the page, much like Optimus’ demeanour. Additionally, since the character is the result of both Peter and Shoji’s visions, this perspective, helps to achieve the arrangement, of symbolising Optimus Prime, as the inception of their ideas, by emerging proverbially from Peter’s head - mouth and from Shoji’s head - hands. Ultimately transforming him into existence. Hopefully these ideals are communicated effectively and therefore understood.
Both Shoji Kawamori and Peter Cullen’s impact on pop culture and entertainment cannot be understated. Peter’s voice changed a generation, by lending his voice, to breathe life into what would become one of the most memorable and much loved animated characters of all time, in Optimus Prime. But he also has a long line of credits, which include popular animations, such as ‘The Jetsons’ and Voltron: Defender of the Universe’. Shoji’s work history is also impressive and highly influentional. Apart from designing the great cultural icon, Optimus Prime, he has also designed vehicles and robots (or mechs) for anime, which include Macross (Robotech in the U.S.), Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell, to just name a few and is responsible for creating the mechs, in the long standing, cult gaming franchise, Armored Core; amongst other game titles.
Shoji and Peter’s works can be found via their IMDB and Wikipedia pages and on various entertainment websites, listed below:
Shoji Kawamori:
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0442828/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dji_Kawamori
- http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=31
Peter Cullen:
- http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0191520/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cullen
- http://www.supanova.com.au/previous-shows/adelaide-2014/peter-cullen/
All in all, hopefully I’ll have this piece fully completed, by the end of this week and I hope you have enjoyed all the content parts of this Journal Ambience #24.
Again many thanks for continuing to support me, and as a reminder expect work to definitely be posted, no later than Sunday 6pm ACDT, each week.
As always, please like and follow my other domain at:
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www.marcforzadesign.blogspot.com
I also do in fact have DeviantArt and LinkedIn profiles, but please keep in mind that they have yet to be updated properly. You can find them below at:
- http://au.linkedin.com/pub/marc-forza/1a/681/b78
- http://mforza1987.deviantart.com/
Lastly, please feel free to leave your constructive opinions and advice, in the comments section below and on the blog domain.
Thank you.
Marc
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