This bittersweet gallery of concept art for the failed Akira movie is pretty damn cool

I loved Akira, so it may seem odd to hear me say I'm glad that Warner Brothers pulled the plug on the full-scale movie adaptation of Akira. I had my reasons though, mostly attributed to the fact that it was taking place in America and they were going to cast American actors in the roles. I spoke about that on a blog post located HERE.

Anyway, I present you with a bittersweet gallery of conceptual art I found online courtesy of Screen Crush. When I see this kind of stuff, I want the project to be alive again, only under the helm of a director that understands the importance of the incredible source material. I also wish that cyberpunk was a more popular genre, because these pictures are very exciting in much the same way Tron or Neuromancer excites me.

I know what you're thinking. This bittersweet gallery of concept art for the failed Akira movie is pretty damn cool, right? And if you're not thinking that, well...I never said I was psychic. But answer me this: why can't we get a genuinely awesome Akira movie instead of rebooting the Terminator franchise? And yes, in case you haven't heard, all new Terminator movies have been scrapped. Hollywood is returning to square one and rebooting Terminator and starting anew with a trilogy. This is my "grrr" face ==>

"GRRRR. WE DON'T NEED A TERMINATOR REBOOT!"

Speaking of art (shameless self plug for attention) I finished a new painting. If you want to view it, click on the "My Artwork" tab above. It's the very top two pictures on the page. If you do take the time to go and look, be sure to shower me with compliments. I love compliments :)

An older sexier Hiccup flies in on the back of Toothless in 2014 and brings us the coming of age dragon story we've always wanted

Coming in 2014, here is what you'll see...

Hiccup is growing up. I think he looks quite dashing on the back of Toothless here. Looks
maybe around sixteen or seventeen years old and the flaming sword is a nice touch. This is
a leaked photo taken by someone touring Dreamworks Studios, and I first saw it on Perez Hilton.
This image isn't from Perez Hilton's blog though. It's from HTTYD Tumblr. And the image is
all over the internet now so I doubt Dreamworks Studios can do any damage control at this
point. They're probably just going to count it as viral marketing.

This is a coloring pencil sketch that shows Hiccup's face better in the upcoming movie
"How To Train Your Dragon 2." It's done by artist Aty S. Behsam and you can find her
Deviant Art page HERE. HTTYD has "LEGIONS" of fans. Seriously. Not underestimating
this at all. It could quite possibly have an opening that joins Iron Man 3 or The Avengers.

Astrid has become a young Viking woman. I like the way her hair is done. Her dragon looks
pretty too with all of the vibrant colors. Image taken from HTTYD Tumblr. Has anyone read
the books that How To Train Your Dragon is based from? I've been told they have no
resemblance at all to the movie adaptation. Usually there's a "little" resemblance. But a
trusted source told me that the movies are 100% better than the books and that she wouldn't
recommend them at all. Interesting, eh?

Story and images courtesy of inhonoredglory's DeviantArt page located HERE.

Is it just me, or does the older Hiccup look like he could be the brother of Dreamworks'
"Jack Frost" from the movie Rise of the Guardians before he became the "cool" kid with the
white and silver looking hair? Maybe Dreamworks just knows what kind of guy white
 teen-aged girls will go "squee" over and aims at the models that could sing for "One Direction."
For the record, I own Dreamworks stock so I'm part of the problem. You white people
out there with your white kids need to go see more Dreamworks movies so my stock goes up!

Guys! An older sexier Hiccup flies in on the back of Toothless in 2014 and brings us the coming of age dragon story we've always wanted. I think as far as animated stories goes, How To Train Your Dragon was a home run for Dreamworks Animation Studios. I enjoyed it more than Shrek, The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, and Despicable Me, and a few other titles that are quite frankly...pretty forgettable. I think that's why I watch the television series on Cartoon Network, and I wonder if they are going to incorporate any of the stuff from the series into the sequel. For example, Gobber is now a dentist for the dragons, Hiccup is a dragon trainer at the newly opened "Dragon Academy" and there's a section of bad guy vikings that live on their own island exiled from the main tribe, and they are pretty horrible.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to see as many Dreamworks
films as possible thereby increasing the stock so I get a payout. See how
that works? Disclaimer: Any raving I do about Dreamworks' projects is
not selfishly motivated in any way :).

I hope that there will be a seamless transition from the first movie to the second using stuff from the television series, but also striking out on its own with a plot that's even better than the first. They also need to hire the right musical composer to give us the soaring scores that have made How To Train Your Dragon iconic. I also would like to see some intense romance between Astrid and Hiccup that's clearly foreshadowed. If they do it right, this could be the next "billion dollar" franchise because the romance will appeal to all the YA addicted readers out there who might embrace Hiccup and Astrid in the same way that audiences hungered for Bella and Edward (sans vampires, werewolves, and a female protagonist) while appealing to boys who think dragons are cool and who identify with Hiccup's awkwardness (not to mention disability).

Maybe Hiccup will be the "boy band" equivalent in animation, culling the legions of fans that make One Direction such a huge hit.

MY OTHER POSTS ON HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON:

HTTYD in Gifs! How can you not like Gif stories?

How To Train Your Dragon

Dragons: Riders of Berk

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Today is the Writers 4 Writers monthly marketing blitz for authors who have signed up on the list featured on the W4WS Facebook Page located HERE.

Please visit the following author blogs and send out the pre-fabricated sentences they have constructed and copy/paste and then tweet them to your following on twitter. I used to have the W4W's button in my sidebar linked to Stephen Tremp's blog, but that link is broken. I need to hunt down a new one for Stephen.

Anyway, it's as simple as that. Perhaps we can get them some viral marketing and witness sales soar through the roof! Wouldn't that be cool? Unrelated to W4WS, my friend Mimi Strong is experiencing stratospheric sales on her erotic book For You. I think she's probably nearing the 100,000 mark, but haven't spoken to her in a while (her real name is Tamara Paulin, but she also goes by Dalya Moon). I featured one of her YA novels called Practice Cake on my blog way back when (some of you old timers may remember it). Anyway, Mimi is kickin' some ass and may sell a million books before the end of the year. She's already been picked up by USA Today and raved about (another self-publishing success story, and this time from someone I knew when she was in the trenches!) For what it's worth to you, Mimi was ignored/brushed off by agents everywhere. She tried and tried. I know cause I was there comforting her on one of  her fourteen blogs (she has more blogs and more identities than Briane Pagel).

Lesson: It could happen to you!

You can also retweet other people's tweets by visiting #W4WS on twitter.

LAURA ENO

MARIAN ALLEN

Let's take over the internet fellow Writers 4 Writers!

Have a great Monday.

Breaking Dawn concept art looks really damn cool

Okay, I haven't seen Breaking Dawn Part 2 yet in the theater. But it is on my "to do" list along with "Lincoln." I was perusing io9 (one of my favorite websites) and came across this concept art. Those of you who follow and read my blog regularly already know that I like to dabble with art and that I own some art books. So naturally, I clicked on the concept art for the movie, and it looks pretty damn cool.

I tried to read the original "Twilight" book in 2008. I went to the book store across the street and picked up a copy, and I remember really looking forward to it because it had to be an excellent book if so many people loved it. I remember feeling disappointed by it, and I stopped about a third of the way through. But I did go and see the first two movies. One of the things that I liked about Meyer's vampires are their strange powers. I hadn't seen that in other vampire books (aside from what I consider to be normal vampire powers). You do get some of that in Anita Blake but it's more or less reserved for ancient vampires. In Meyer's books, the vampires are more like super heroes, and I think that's just really cool.

My friend went to Twilight with his wife. He tweeted: @MichaelOffutt OMG. I paid for the whole seat #breakingdawn2 but only used the edge!

So have you seen Breaking Dawn 2? What do you think of this concept art? Did you like the way Meyer's vampires have super powers?

Harrenhal

I'm gonna talk about the second season of HBO's Game of Thrones today (as it is coming to a close soon). I think that there are two episodes left (at least that's what the preview indicated this last Sunday).

This is an HBO screen capture of the castle of Harrenhal

More specifically, I wanted to talk about Harrenhal because it's one of the important castles that we see in George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy, A Song of Ice and Fire. Last year, I wrote about the Eyrie, and I compared Ted Nasmith's version of the Eyrie to the one that we saw on film. You can find that post HERE if you want to read it. Now, I'm going to do the same treatment for Harrenhal.

This is concept art for Harrenhal

First, a little history.

In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, Harrenhal is a colossal castle consisting of five massive towers (the Tower of Dread, Widow's Tower, Wailing Tower, Tower of Ghosts and Kingspyre Tower) and immense walls.

Concept art, interior of Harrenhal

The castle was built by House Hoare, the ruling house of the Iron Islands which had overrun and conquered the Riverlands. It took three generations to construct. King Harren the Black completed the castle, boasting that it was impregnable.

Painting of Harrenhal by award-winning artist Ted Nasmith

King Harren was betrayed by his bannermen during the War of Conquest and the castle was largely melted by dragonfire: while Harren had thought the castle's walls were tall enough to withstand any assault, he neglected to consider that the Targaryens' dragons could fly right over them. Aegon the Conqueror roasted Harren alive in the tallest tower of the castle, now known as the Kingspyre.  As a result Harrenhal is half-ruined, with stone towers melted and twisted by the flames of the dragons, giving it an ominous and nightmarish appearance. No lord has held the castle for long since Harren's death.

Since Harren's death the castle has passed through a number of other noble houses (Qoherys, Towers, Harroway, Strong and Lothston), each of which has come to ruin. prior to the War of the Five Kings House Whent, loyal vassals to Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun.

Harrenhal is technically the biggest castle in Westeros.  It is so ridiculously large that the surrounding area cannot possibly produce the necessary food to support the massive army needed to fully man it. Rulers of Harrenhal usually lose money and resources simply by possessing it. As a result, Harrenhal is rarely if ever fully manned.

*****

So what do you think? Did Ted Nasmith's vision fully capture Harrenhal? Or do you think HBO nailed it with their version? Or do you think the concept art is closer to how you picture a castle would look that got melted by dragon fire?

Brave

This is our first sort of fairytale,” John Lasseter told an eager crowd on the of Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, “This is our first period piece. This is our first female main character. This is Brave.”

The first clip showcased featured the lead, Merida (Kelly Macdonald) riding on her giant horse through the forest, shooting down targets hanging from the trees with her bow and arrow. The horse stops short of a log, throwing her into the mud. In anger, she throws a clod of mud at the horse’s nose, and he snorts it back to his face. She approaches him, angrily, but then kisses his muzzle.

Lasseter was joined on stage by the film’s director, Mark Andrews (clad in a kilt) and producer, Katherine Sarafian. They pointed out that they had two different research trips to Scotland to get everything down.

“We’re inspired by all the stories that are already there,” Andrews told ComingSoon.net backstage after the presentation, “There are stories about every landscape and every tree and every rock. It was inspiring to try and fuse that idea of how it connects us all.”

Sarafian told the crowd that Scotland’s phenomena of blue bog gas, called Wil-o’-the-wisp, will feature prominently in the story. The wisps have the power to “change your fate”, and lead Merida to the cottage of a witch. Seeing this as an opportunity to get away from being married, she insists the witch cast a spell. Naturally, everything goes wrong and the spell starts a chain of events that brings the highlands closer to war.

Concept art for the witch in BRAVE

Macdonald and fellow voice talent Kevin McKidd then took to the stage. McKidd pulls double duty in the film, voicing both Lord. MacGuffin and his incomprehensible son, Young MacGuffin.

“He’s a lovely guy and his heart is in the right place,” McKidd told us, “but no one can work out what he’s saying because he has a strong Scottish accent.”

The next clip featured King Fergus (Billy Connolly), who has called Merida’s suitors together to compete in a game of her choosing, the winner will receive her hand in marriage.

“[Merida] is reeling against her mother,” Macdonald said backstage, “She doesn’t want a suitor. She’s quite happy and wants to live her life, but her mother is trying to create this perfect princess. It’s a bit of their battle and their reconnection.”

Concept Art for Queen Elinor

“Merida sees an opportunity here,” Andrews told the audience in reference to the clip, “Do you know what game she picks?”

To which the crowd shouted back, “Archery!”

Unfinished, the scene played with some parts featured only as animatics and others roughly rendered. Most of the parts with Merida in them played beautifully. As the suitors shoot their arrows, Merida and King Fergus laugh about their ineptitude.

First is Macguffin. He timidly shoots his arrow and barely hits the target. Next is the Gene Simmons-esque son of Lord Macintosh, who fares better than Macguffin but misses the bullseye. He angrily tosses his bow into the crowd, where a young girl shouts “I caught it! Yay!” Finally, the aptly named young Dingwall goes next, barely enough brains in him to knock the bow. King Fergus angrily shouts at him to get on with him, and the spooked by looses the arrow and miraculously gets the bullseye.

Enraged, Merida appears on the field and shouts that she will be competing for her own hand. As she gets a perfect bullseye in the first target, her mother screams at her to get stop. Merida ignores her, and goes to the second one. At Dingwall’s, she not only splits the arrow, but her arrow cuts all the way through to the scaffolding of the target. Merida then turns to face her furious mother and the clip ends.

“We have our own take on Scottish lore,” Sarafian said of the overall tone of Brave, “It’s really Pixar lore, but it’s set in Scotland and its inspired by Scottish storytelling and designed to be a story that’s perfectly set in that landscape.”

Brave hits theaters on June 22, 2012, right after Prometheus :)) Oh summer...how I love thee.

H.R. Giger's Alien movie concept art revisited in Prometheus

H.R. Giger is in my opinion, a mad genius. I own a couple of his "coffee table" art books, and they are scary stuff. I own Biomechanics, H.R. Giger's Alien, and his Necronomicon. In reading about him, I discovered that within his lifetime he has rubbed elbows with just about every major artist in the world including Ridley Scott and Salvatore Dali. He's had a girlfriend that committed suicide, is the atypical primadonna with huge demands and uncompromising work ethic, and is notoriously difficult to work with.

But his art captures my imagination the same as artist Michael Whelan (if you don't know who this is, you could google his name). Or, you could just visit my post that I wrote on Michael Whelan HERE. I also talk about him extensively on a post on general cover art featuring books by Patrick Dilloway, Cindy Borgne, and Andrew Leon. You can find that post located HERE.

In my ever growing excitement for this summer's Prometheus, I revisited the afore-mentioned H.R. Giger's Alien, and it looks like to me, from the trailers that are now available for viewing online, that Ridley Scott is revisiting the ground-breaking artwork that this crazy guy created for 20th Century Fox (that was scrapped from the 1978 film). Here are my comparisons.

First off the Alien Pyramid concept in which H.R. Giger originally wanted 20th Century Fox to use on the planet LV-426 (NOTE: You can click on these to make the picture bigger for your viewing pleasure).

Contrast this image above with the one that I pulled from the Prometheus trailer below:

And then there is H.R. Giger's Alien Heiroglyphics which also got scrapped from the original 1978 film:

Compare this with the heiroglyphic sequence that I captured from the theatrical trailer in which Michael Fassbender utters "Tell me that you can read this..."

And of course, they are still going with the original design for the derelict spacecraft, the space jockey pilot, and the interior of the ship--all of which was designed by H.R. Giger. Since the derelict spacecraft features so prominently in the trailer, I'm not including screen captures of it. But it is identical to the drawings below. Note the odd shape of the portals that lead into the derelict spacecraft from the original Alien movie. They are intentionally shaped like a vagina because H.R. Giger uses a lot of phallic symbols and vaginas in his artwork (and I mean tons).

Interesting, eh?