Steampunk Oamaru

'How was your weekend, Greg?' you ask. Well thank you for asking, it was pretty bloody brilliant!

I was very graciously flown down to Oamaru in the South Island of New Zealand by Sally, Iain, Helen and Patrick of the League of Victorian Imagineers Oamaru as a VIP guest for their Steampunk celebrations.

The town has been celebrating its Victorian heritage for over twenty years and The League along with other like minded and artistic locals like Steam Punk Oamaru and others, have taken it upon themselves to inject a massive dose of Steampunky creativity into proceedings.

The town has beautifully preserved Victorian architecture running throughout and each year the locals have a Victorian Fete and thousands dress up for balls, functions, street parades and the like.

It's really quite unlike anything I've ever seen before.

If you're a US or European Steampunker wanting a fun trip, then I'd seriously look into bowling down to New Zealand and checking Oamaru out.

Christ, if you just like rad shit, and you live up the way in Wellington or Auckland you should get down there!

Oh yeah, we were put up at the amazing Pen-y-bryn lodge - sweet digs. Thanks!

Ok, I have completely turned into a tourism agent for Oamaru now, so I'll call it there.

Check out some photos and follow some links!

The League of Victorian Imagineers Oamaru

Victorian Oamaru

Prints at Eyeball Kicks

I've had these two prints for sale at the fantastic Eyeball Kicks gallery in Wellington, NZ for a while now, and I don't know that I've ever pimped them!

Bad Greg!

They're selling quickly nevertheless, so get in quick if you want to grab either of them.

They are limited to 20 (Idrisopod) and 30 (The Fall) prints, and are signed and numbered.

New prints on the way too, to coincide with the White Cloud Worlds exhibition at the Dowse.

EYEBALL KICKS!

Coilhouse Illustrations

Recently I did some very quick pieces for an amazing magazine, Coilhouse.
It's the brainchild of the super cool Meredith Yayanos and is one of the flat-out styliest, high production value magazines I have ever worked on.

My illustrations on he other hand are very low production value as I took the job on because I love the mag, not realising how little time I had to actually do them due to my many commitments and projects.

Nevertheless, fast illustrations are super fun for me, and often come out better than those laboured.

The magazine article for which these accompanied was about a lost era of Chinese science fiction. Something I never even knew existed before Meredith brought it to my attention.

The mags been on sale for a bit, and is near to sold out, so get in quick if you want to pick up a copy.

Also check out Paul Tobin's blog for a glimpse at his amazing piece for the same article.

Check out the magazine!

COILHOUSE

The Wrong Directions

He is lost.

White Cloud Worlds signing at Unity book store in Wellington

Yo!

No new artwork yet I'm sorry. Coming soon, I promise.

In the meantime, if you're in Wellington, come on down and say hi to us at Unity bookstore (best bookstore in Wellington) for the White Cloud Worlds book signing.

And thanks to everyone who came by at Armageddon in Auckland.

Was fun!

5pm Saturday 30th October 2010.

New Books - Art of District 9 and White Cloud Worlds

Two new books featuring my work, as well as that of many others from Weta Workshop are nearing release.

The Art of District 9 which was put together by Weta's Daniel Falconer is out soon. This weekend in fact.

I, along with Leri Greer, David Meng, Daniel and Richard Taylor will be presenting a short talk this Friday about the making of the movie at Wellingtons Embassy Theater as part of a launch event for the book, and following that a few of us will be signing copies at the Wetacave.

If you're in Wellington, come along and say hi.

It's a pretty stunning book if I do say so, and showcases a massive chunk of the work we did on the film. You'll get to see plenty of art that's never been seen before, like Christian Pearce's early concepts that didn't make it into the film, but formed a bedrock for us to work from, as well as some of my production art featuring much earlier iterations of the final designs.

Following that, White Cloud Worlds is due out, which is an anthology of New Zealand fantasy and sci-fi art.

It's the result of the earnest efforts of my good friends and fellow Wetites, Paul Tobin and Kate Jorgenson.

I'm super proud to be part of it as I've always sought after books of this type my whole life - compendiums of fantastical art - and now I get to be in one of the best.

I hope you enjoy them!

Update - link to limited edition version White Cloud Worlds at WetaNZ
link to White Cloud Worlds Official Website

Dr. Grordbort's: RAYGUN App for Iphone

Yo! Apologies for the lack of new artwork round these parts. I did some really great stuff, but the dog ate it, I swear.

In the meantime though, check this shit out - We went and made a Dr. Grordbort's raygun app!

Well, more accurately, Touchcast and Carnival Labs went and made it, and I looked at it and said "oooh, that looks nice!".

Now, those high falutin' types who have an iphone can get their hands on one of my rayguns and do what they've always dreamed of - Turn a defenseless animal into giblets and mist.

ZAM!

Link to app on Itunes

Link to app at Touchcast

Interview with Sci-Fi Universe

While I was in Switzerland for the NIFFF and Imaging the Future Symposium, I did a few interviews, this one was with Romain Basset from SciFi Universe.com

It was mainly about District 9 but they will be following up shortly with another focusing on my science fiction world, Dr. Grordbort's.

Oh yeah, the article is in French, but the video interview is in Freddie Mercury's English.

Link

Simian Wukong

This is a piece I did a few years back now. Found it buried at the back of my garden - I clean forgot about it!

I've been really interested in Sun Wukong, the Monkey King since I was a kid.
A lot of people might remember the super fun Japanese television show, and while that hooked me, it wasn't until I read an English translation for Journey to the West that I became properly fascinated with the character.

While I was in Shanghai I got to talking about Monkey again with a young guy, Jackee, who helped us put on the Grordbort's and Weta exhibition there, and he gave me a new, four volume set of Journey to the West, by a different translator.

It reminded me that I really like these types of characters, and that in a way, I've made my own, Lord Cockswain in a similar mold.
Sun Wukong is really an anti-hero, and an indomitable ego, someone beyond the influence of anyone - Kings, Gods and public officials are just obstacles or annoyances.

Something about that sort of impervious psyche is appealing to me, and fun to embody in a character.

The Ass Scent of Man

Oct

This song was recorded ages ago, before I started at Weta Workshop even.
I was always planning on re-recording it with actual drums, but I still like it as it is.

Dr Grordbort's Exceptional Exhibition moves to Shanghai

After Sichuan and Hong Kong, it's time for Dr Grordbort's Exceptional Exhibition to travel to Shanghai.

This was announced at a press conference with actor Jackie Chan, director Stanley Tong and Richard Taylor. The exhibition will open in Shanghai on 8 August, during the World Expo that's currently taking place in Shanghai.

I just copied and pasted that from our Weta newsletter. What a lazy cunnagle I turned out to be.

Yes, you read it right - Jackie Chan! The proceeds of the exhibition go to his charity.

I can't tell you how spacked out I am by this.

His films ruled by pre-teens. I think I ruined the Whakatane video stores VHS copy of Project A when I was a kid, by watching Jackie fall down that clock tower again and again.Pow! Right on his head! Maniac.

Anyway, geek out aside, it should be a great exhibition. This time I will be alongside some incredible artists and hopefully these will be publicly revealed soon.

On top of that, some previously unseen Weta movie props will be showcased, and my good friend and fellow District 9 designer, David Meng will be coming and exhibiting his sculptures.

Looking forward to it already.

The Stroll

Nice day for a hikoi.

Neuchâtel Fantastic Film Festival and Imaging the Future

I'll be attending this years Neuchâtel Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland and giving a talk at the 'Imaging the Future' symposium.

I'll be talking about designing District 9 and the creation of the world of Dr. Grordbort's.

Come along and say hi if you're in the neighbourhood.


links

NIFFF

Imaging the Future

The Trapeze

Sweet mother of Chris Christopherson, it's more god-damned music.
I know, I know, you come here for the strange robots and what do you get for your troubles? Half finished, poorly recorded music!
Well, give it a listen anyway. If it sucks, write me and I'll email you back your lost minute.
I promise.

It's another quick loop piece called The Trapeze. Why does it keep on looping you ask? It was made on a loop pedal
Give a cousin a break!

The Ballbuster

Nice robot. He's friendly to children, good natured and clean.
He really is a great robot, but needs more space to run around than what we have to offer. He is a very fast learner, and great company. He is microchipped but not de-sexed.

Hydrochloric Euphoric

I thought I'd see if you can embed music in a blogspot post, and holy crap, you can!
So this is a piece of music I wrote a while back. It's called Hydrochloric Euphoric.
I wrote it under the band name Mucho Pudenda.
Now that I know how to embed an MP3, I may post a little more from time to time , although I very seldom record anything so don't expect a flood.

In case you wonder how it's made, and why it's so lo-fi, it was created in several impromptu takes on a loop pedal.
I play something, and if I like the sound of it, I record another take right over it, and repeat to taste.
You have no ability to adjust levels, and it renders it all in glorious mono, but it's a fun way to make off the cuff music, which is about all I have time for after working all week on Grordbort's and other Weta film work.

Hope you like.

Back from the void

Long time, no post.
Been busy, lazy, drunk. You name it.

I haven't done any personal work at home for months, and I thought, tonight is the night.
I've been pretty slow with my illustrations lately, so for better or worse, I decided to do this in one sitting.
I think it took about three hours (not including the original sketch).

It's in it's original form at the bottom, and because the creature is kinda small in the frame, there's a close up for your edification.


Oh yeah, exciting news on the Dr. Grordbort's Exceptional Exhibition coming soon!
New city, new exhibition partners.
Can't wait to reveal it.

Dr. Grordbort's Exceptional Exhibition - Cyberport, Hong Kong

Next showing of the Dr. Grordbort's Exceptional Exhibition will be at the Cyberport in Hong Kong starting March 24th, 2010.
I'll be there giving a talk on film design and the World of Dr. Grordbort in the first few days.

If you're in the area, come say hi!

LINK

World War Fun

Ok, so World Wars aren't fun, they're horrible.
Nobody enjoys them at the time and everybody complains about them afterwards.
In short, they're crap.

But I did a picture of one anyway, this time with added robots.
Because that's what war really needs, giant fucking robots.

Valentine in Space

Robot meets alien Whatthef...
Tis love.

For Kate

District 9 Concept Art - Dropship

The Dropship from District 9 was developed very quickly. Just a few concept drawings, all of the same design and it was on it's way into the film.

That's a pretty rare occurrence in film design.

Above you can see one of the early sketches that nailed down the silhouette and angular form, followed by a paint-over from a later stage of an in-production film model.

This quick concept sketch shows concepts like the modular slave hold, mimicking an insectile abdomen at the rear of the ship.
The idea was that the Dropship would carry various modular containers and in this case held a prison like container for the worker aliens.

images©wingnut film

The Embassy VFX created the first model from my super basic, quasi-retarded Sketchup mess, but I needed to do this paint-over to illustrated details and construction that weren't evident in the first concept drawings.

In the end, Weta Digital handled most of the Mothership and Dropship scenes in the film and added even further detail so that it held up when the camera got very close.

The Gravy Interview

I was interviewed for a really great art show called The Gravy late last year and it's now out online.
Check it out.

District 9 Gun Replicas

Behold, as I unleash my inner company shill!

At long last, we finally have things in place to release the District 9 guns as collectible replicas.
These are both made from the original masters that I designed and oversaw the construction of during the production of the film.

They're about as close to the actual movie props as you could ask for.
If you wanted to go hog wild, you could buy one of these US$560 (approx) limited edition babies (I think we're making only 200 of each), and cover em' in rubbish, slime and maybe a few handfuls of fecal matter to make them even closer to how they were treated on set by Joe Dunckley and Sarah Rubano.

But that's your prerogative.

So far, we have the Arc Generator and the Gas Thrower, but keep your eyes on the WetaNZ site for more collectibles in the coming months.

Head on over to WetaNZ to check them out in detail

-A big thanks to Tim Launder at WetaNZ for all his hard work making these happen.

UPDATE - The Arc Generator has sold out .

The Fall

The Robot, he fall.

What is the cause?

It is an enigmatic mystery dilemma that may pain you till your dying day...

Unless I just tell you it's obviously another robot throwing cars at him.

Pow!
Take that Retardmobot!

Doosh

Wrong place, wrong time.

Grordbort's Exhibition in Chengdu, China

This is my first post about the Exceptional Exhibition that we put on in Chengdu, China at the Sichuan Provincial Museum
Chengdu is the first city in the world to see this exhibition, that in it's Grordbort's form will continue to tour the world over the next several years.
I would have written about it sooner, but it was a crazy whirlwind of action just putting the thing together, and shipping it to China, all in a ridiculously short amount of time.

The exhibition, entitled this time round, the Exceptional Exhibition: Weta Workshop presents the World of Dr. Grordbort holds around 150 of my Grordbort's paintings and roughly 30 sculptural and model made pieces - the Rayguns themselves as well as mounted Venusian heads, Venusian bugs by Jamie Beswarick some incredible Grordbort character sculptures by Max Patte.

Many of the Grordbort's illustrative pieces are over 3 metres in length and almost 2 metres high.




On top of this, and just for the purposes of this first exhibition, we took a multitude of Lord of the Rings, Kong and Narnia props as well as, for the first time in China, Richard Taylors 5 Oscar awards.

In the rush to put it all together, I only took Iphone photos (very blurry unfortunately), and very few of them, so here are a few of the photos taken by Jacek Irzykowski at the event.
It gives you an idea of the exhibition, but barely scratches the surface.


Richard and I did several talks to universities and schools while in Chengdu and that was a really great experience. We were treated like kings where ever we went. Red carpet, bouquets, the works.
I really found Chengdu to be an incredibly welcoming place and everyone we met was incredibly warm to us.
There seems to me to be a massive and burgeoning enthusiasm there in the younger generations for science fiction and fantasy and that was really cool to see.


The exhibition will continue to tour the world, and perhaps grow a little with a few more Grordbort's pieces as it goes and is set to go to India, Switzerland, and France amongst many others.
I would personally love to bring it to the US and back to New Zealand where I have had such great support from fans as Grordbort's has grown.



Massive thanks go to Sarah Morris and Andrew Gillespie for their tireless efforts bringing this all together in such short order.
And on the IDF and Greenleaf side (who worked relentlessly over in Chengdu to make this all happen) a monumental thanks to Xiaomei Liu, Gavin Crombie and their team, pushed on by the brilliant Hai Dong Liu.

All proceeds from the exhibition in Chendgu go towards the Sichuan Earthquake Relief effort.

Dr. Grordbort's Gelaskins

Yo, Gelaskins - makers of fancy pants stickers that go on your fancy pants Apple get-ups are selling my Grordbort's art.
Now you can make your brand new tech feel all retro and dirty.





Link

District 9 Exo Suit Concept Art - part 2

images©wingnut film

In this weeks instalment, we see two more of the Exo suit concept pieces - it's like a sequel you see.

The head close up was done for Weta Digital and Embassy VFX to aid the modelling and texturing of the final model. It shows the mandibles that were there to reflect the alien physiology externally. I figured if the aliens had the equivalent of a 'hand' on their face (the complex crab like feeders as well as tentacles) they would use them for communication - a more complex, maybe pictographic version of our facial expressions.
If that was the case, then this would be integral to them and it would be necessary to make an analogue on the robotic suit too.
It also makes it look 'mean as' and also 'muy alarmante'.

The second illustration was a simple frontal plan view - very quick and dirty but showed the frontal proportions for the modelling process.

There were also side on views, internal views and diagrams showing how the chest opened and the internal system extended out to take in the pilot.
But you can't see those here because I have pasted them in using invisible pixels.

Tune in next time when more pictures of things are accompanied by hyper-nerdy descriptions.

District 9 Concept Art - Some Guns...

images©wingnut film

Guns! I like to design guns. What a sad human being I am.
They're pretend guns so that makes ok though eh? Hello?....

These three designs were all based on a phrase or concept that Neill threw out to me:
An electric 'lightening' gun (the Arc Generator), a Gas Thrower- something that would project out gas or liquid like a flame thrower, but unlit - perhaps some destructive, corrosive gel or gas (it ended up just blowing shit up in the film - corroding humans costs a lot of effects budget...) and an Assault Rifle.
The Assault rifle has all these little tubes down the side - the idea being that each tube discharges an explosive burst of gas one after the other down the length of the barrel behind the projectile - a linear accelerator gun, like a rail gun but without the magnets. Of course it would fire these all rapidly to get a high rate of fire.

That shit is nerdy.

We went through a few colour schemes - the arc generator was originally black with red accents (we tried a few colours) and Neill sent back a tweaked version to me (hence me crediting him on the design, and the leftover watermark).

There were also versions of the Arc Generator and the Assault Rifle adjusted to go on the Exo suit.

ImagineFX Isssue 50 - District 9

Issue 50 of ImagineFX mag is out soon (now?) and has a feature on the conceptual design we did at Weta Workshop for District 9.
There's a good compliment of our concept art included as well as interviews from David Meng, Leri Greer and myself.
There's some really nice photos of David Meng's incredible Prawn sculptures and a lot of Leris' preparatory work for the graphic design of the alien language.