Mutie lover!

Neillien, in cyberspace no one can hear you scream! At least I can't...awfully quit....(tumbleweed)....

So whatever happened to good old fashioned nonsensical mutants? You know, the kind that blended with scorpions and bats and shit because of fallout. Hell, Total Recall had a whole city filled with them. Granted, those were the space variety, but still fun stuff. I mean mutants were all the rage in the 70's and 80's. I sort of miss them. We need another really good, fun, scorched earth movie staring some really trippy mutants. I bet you'd be good at making one of those. Just saying.

Watch out for the mastodons;

Doug

Cockswain!

NEILL-CHA! Sup, curly-q?

Here's a piece of lunch art and me wrapping up and old piece of fan art.

The fan art is of a character named Lord Cockswain created by this totally awesome concept artist who works down at Weta. Fella's name is Greg Broadmore. If you have not heard of him, you should totally check him out. Trust me, you won't be sorry. I sort of dropped the ball on the art piece (Sorry Greg, Cockswain deserved better!), but there's enough in it I liked that I figured I should share it. In case the image's story is sooo muddled you can't tell what's going on, Cockswain has blown a few holes into some big wormy beetle thing, and a lady is swooning for him while an alien serves tea. Fairly easy story.

The other pic is an alien. No story there. If you don't get that it's an alien, then I really fucked up that one.

Your Kringled Kris;

Doug

Touching up an oldy.

Neillios, greetings human! I know how you like the sci-fi, so I gave you a sci-fi name. Sweet, isn't it? Neillllllios.

This is an old piece. I always liked the old robot, but man the original foreground character made me want to vomit on top of a puppy. So quick new foreground element. Not much. Trying out the new Cintiq at work. Pretty sweet, I must saw. Although editing things in Photoshop are not quite as easy.

Have a great weekend dude!

Your bud who can't wait until the 22nd;

Dougle Munkey

If I Only Had a Brain...

Neill baby, how's it going. Do you like the new header? Grabbed a font from Blambot (awesome free fonts). Great place.

So here's a piece that got into Spectrum 16. That makes me happy because a lot of people made fun of it. Gave me a pretty hard time...for a year.

It's an enchanted scarecrow. It wanders farmers fields keeping pests away. Everyone laughed at it's size. "Jesus; how big are the crows?" "You need a bigger scarecrow to scare the scarecrows." Blah, blah, blah. Neill have you seen the Guild Wars world? I'd say this scarecrow is about the bare minimum you would need. I mean check this shit out, there's 'effing dragons!

It was canned, almost immediately. So, I entered in Spectrum, because I still liked it. BOOM! It got in. I win, they eat crow; scarecrow.

Your dancing monkey;

Doug

Wood Elf

Neill Blomkampenstein, what's the charge? Get it? Yeah, pretty lame Frankenstein reference. Oh wells, they cant'st all be wieners.

So man, what's up with elves? I remember those guys being pretty scary as a kid. Well, at least some of them. The Wood Elves from the old Hobbit cartoon were creepy little fuq's. Granted, they had the glowing crown variety too, but now elves seem to be solely angelic, clean, pointy eared caucasians, with great aim. I want some creepy elves. The kind that might help you out, or might eat your liver and wear your pancreas as a hat. You never really know.

So that brings me to da' art. Creepy elf thing. It's fantasy, quick and easy really. It's lunch art, so no too much time to put into it. I've worked on a fantasy game for around six or seven years now. Fantasy seems to come pretty easy...sigh.

Damn, I want to draw robots shooting lasers.

Your long lost biological Father;

Doug Williams

Fungus

Neill-dog, what's the chinchilla, man?

Here's an oldy-moldy-goody from many moons ago. I just added some hair to the balls and threw down a ground (Lunchtime work). Mushy, icky, swampy environment. Like the dead marshes in LOTR: The Two Towers. This s-o-b would blend in a lot better in the final enviro. It lures smaller animals towards it's gaping hole and crams em' on in. Nom, nom, nom.

Well back to it. Wish I could show you my work art. Fun stuff lately.

Your half brother;

Doug

Really Neill? Really?

So here I am thinking that you're just to busy with your new movie to contact me. Little did I know, you're hanging with your new buddies at private screenings. That's right Neill, I know your secret. Chiggity check it:

@slashfilm I'm not allowed to say anythng about what I thought of Avatar, but saw it in a screening room with neill blomkamp, who didn't sign an NDA. He loved it... I will say this, it's hard to disagree with Neil :)

For the record, your new pal can't even get your name right.

I thought maybe we could see this together. I was even going to buy the popcorn. You're on your own if you want a drink though. Now, well I guess I'll have to go with my Wife, or Dad, or Dan, or...well, there's lots of people I can see it with. Not the point.

To be honest, I don't blame you. Shit, I really want to see Avatar too. I've wanted to see it since 2003 when Cameron first started talking about getting people back in the theaters.

I knew somebody who was concepting for the Alita idea; Cameron had the two ideas in early pre-production for a while. The artist IM'd me when they decided to go with Avatar. Being an Alita fan, I was a little bummed. Then I sort of (complicated) worked with another guy who had done some work on the creature design with Neville Page. Two guys from our studio came back telling us his stories about working on Avatar. Pretty good stories.

I'm glad the flick is getting good buzz. I'm a bit of a Cameron fanboy. YES, EVEN TITANIC.

So you liked it?

Come sail away....

Neill! Sorry man, been busy. I know what you be thinking though; I don't care. I DO!

Here's a lunch quickie. I wish I had more time with it, but I know I'll probably never touch it again. Wanted to Foss it up a bit more with some cool patterns and . Oh well. The bottom folds up and the back and the legs extend to land. The legs would work in sort of the same way they do on a dragonfly. The ship could land on some seriously uneven terrain.

Anyway, can't wait to see what you do next.

Chillin' in my new room;

Doug Williams

Lunchtime Space Chicken

Can you imagine this flick Neill? It's like a space action/restaurant tie in movie. There's the flag ship the USC-KFC and it's commanded by The Colonel. Get it? Space chickens. Shit, it could be huge. Imagine the dialogue,"How about some gravy with that?--KABOOM!" "Looks like that bugger is in twelve pieces Colonel, we could use a bucket!" "Look out, hear comes the Crispy Twister!!!" You get the idea. Eventually we'll bring in other franchise restaurants. Maybe a little USC-AnW? Huh? Get those Canadians involved. Major Ursus would be in charge of that ship. He would have a whole family working with him, the Berger family. Like Papa Berger, Teen Berger, and so on. It's genius.

Actually...I was just dicking around at lunch, this guy is a nothing from and for nothing. Oh hey, have you seen this Vancouver site? It's pretty cool, you should totally be on it. Carly Pope is on there, and I think she's purdy.I sat through Dirt because of her.

Hope all is well!

Finger Lickin' Good;

Doug

Snazzy...

Dude, this zombie dresses better than I do. Seriously, I need to start dressing like an adult. No more hoodies and torn jeans. Maybe some fancy evening wear...uh...like for guys. Manly men stuff. Aherm. Anyway, I promise to swing by the mall before we meet to get a new outfit. Just let me know when and where.

If you get stuck on your new movie, feel free to contact me. I swear I'll fix it. As long as it's not technical. It's what I do. I'm a fixer. Not really, I'm an artist. I like to write though. Sigh.

Shit. I'm rambling.

Doug

PS: One more zombie.

So Darned Fun.

Hey Neill! You know what's fun to draw? Zombies. So gosh-darned easy to do. Especially if you paint over a photo, which I might have done on two of these. This is Pete, Carl and Dwight. They feast on innards, outards and brains.

How's the new movie coming? Let me just say one thing: three boobs. Yeah, right? Remember Total Recall? Time to bring that classic shit back. So if you add that, maybe have her say 'scabat' or something. It'll be like or little wink wink thing.

Have a good one dude!

Your treasured pet;

Doug

Success, or defeat?

Alright Neill, alright.

So you're never going to contact me. I get that. No worries though man, I totally don't blame you. I mean, you answer one nutjob, you gotta' answer them all right? Plus it's not like I'm the best out there, I'm sure your socks weren't blown off or anything. Still though, I have good ideas. The option is always open, just to let you know.

Still, I consider this blog a win. It's called 'Please Look at me Neill Blomkamp', not 'Please Hire me Neill Blomkamp', and I'm pretty sure you've looked. So that's a win right? I think so. Oh, and to the others viewing the site, don't be afraid to comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

So I figure, what now? Well, I'm going to keep posting here, but it probably won't be so geared to just you. Add some fun stuff, toony stuff. More like the work I'm doing at work. Neill, you can stop by get a few chuckles, have your ego stroked and go about your day with a smile on your face. So this is definitely not a 'I give up' as much of a ' time for me to do more than work on this Neill Blomkamp blog' kind of thing. I have a few stories I've been meaning to do, some random pieces, some work for the Emerald City Comicon. I'll probably end up posting some of those here.

Wow, major sickness went through my household. Nothing like four sick people with two that need nearly constant supervision. At any rate, we seem to be on the way to recovery. That's been the reason for no updates. Here's a quicky alien for the hell of it. I really need a workstation at home, I don't really care for my laptop situation. Lug that thing out every time I want to do some computer art? No thanks.

Sick sketches.

Not like 'whoa, sick sketches dude!' but more, 'Ugh. I'm sick. Wanna'-COUGHHACKCOUGHwheeeeze-sketch.'

I did get to read a book though. It's one the I've been meaning to read forever. It's called The Forever War. It would make a great HBO miniseries. Like two season would be perfect. So there's a few sketches on these pages from that. The rest, just feel good art. By that I mean, it made me feel good to draw or paint.

Nothing so serious. Hope all is going well Neill, have a great Halloween!

Doug

Cargo transport.

Neill! Busy, but good, art day. I guess working on UI elements gets the creative juices flowing...probably out of fear of becoming a UI artist for good (UI is actually fun at times, especially when it clicks, but I wouldn't want to do it forever).

Big and clunky. Expanded on the sketch below. The idea is that it uses a mix of scaffolding and electromagnetism to hold (pull) cargo containers. The more you pay the more secure your cargo. The cheaper you are the less likely to get your cargo, never no if one might hit a stray piece of space junk, or fall out of the mag field.

I always loved that one transport ship in Empire. It was so cool, so loose, like it didn't need anything to hold it together. That ship has influenced about all my big spaceships since. Because in space, why make something all aerodynamic and closed? No need right? Damn straight!

Again congrats on the green light!

Your little cornbread muffin;

Doug

Quick coloring...

...of a sketch from last night. I love playing with shape. Big flat planes Neill. We finally have the tech to make really different aliens, and what do we do...usually the same aliens from the past twenty years of sci-fi. I think that's one reason why I really liked the prawns. They had cool easy to read shape, even though they were very detailed. You could see the overall idea, without seeing everything. Hard to explain, but they were very cool.

Hugs and kisses!

Doug

Congrats dude!

Holy shit Neill! I mean really, wow! Greenlit already? Nice work. Of course, it means the my art isn't needed to help sell it anymore. Still, I'm excited to see what you do next. Man, that rocks.

Well, here's some sketchbookery mainly from last night.

Again, congrats!!!

Doug

Poppin' in.

Sup Neill; told you I'd be back from time to time.

Here's a goofy pencil sketch I colored at lunch. It's quick all around, the sketch was fast, and the color job almost as fast. Dude is pretty top heavy. Especially for those skinny legs.

Hey guess what, I just finished The Mysterious Cities of Gold. It's still as good as I remembered. In some respects even better than I remembered. Is 'remembered' a word? Should I just have said 'remember' instead? Nevermind, doesn't matter.

Oh, and that melodramatic moment in the write up post below-delete. I don't like it anymore. I like the idea of the scene and holding the pups close, but the whole 'burrow in' bit is dumb. Part of the reason I liked your flick is because it wasn't filled with shit like that.

Man I love October, the colors are amazing! Have a great day!

Doug

Super roughs

Neill, I'm not sure how to say this...but I'm not going to be able to post for awhile. I know, I know. I have a few freelance gigs I have got to work on and my day job is keeping me pretty busy, and mentally fatigued at night. Not to mention, I just found out that they have the complete series of The Mysterious Cities of Gold on Hulu. It's a little dated, but much better than most the cartoon trash for kids these days. Later on in the series there is some great design. Seriously, you can take the time that you would have used looking at this blog and watch the show. I will post when I can though, I'm sure I can squeeze something in here.

So these comic pages are for my idea about D 10. They are super loose, and unfinished. For anybody else who doesn't want spoilers to D 9; DO NOT READ. Just for legal reasons let me say again that my ideas are fair game to Neill. If they create some jumping off point, go for it. If you're far less creative than I think you are, then steal it. No worries. Highlight to read:

mc001: MNU troopers storm the D 10 camp. There's a reason for it, but basically human support for the aliens is at an all time low. So in panel 1 they are pushing the aliens back, away from media camera's. It's genocide. Panel 2 is Wikus, who has kept a very low and lonely profile up until this point. Prawns are running and dying all around him, as seen in panels 3 and 4. Close up on sad Wikus eyes.

mc002: Panel 1 Wikus turns his head. In panel two we see what he is looking at ; two small prawns running from an MNU agent. Wikus turns to the kids to scoop them up as the agent bears down on them (Panel 3). In panel four we see Wikus retaliate on the agent, kicking (killing) him.

mc003: In panel 1 we see Wikus heading towards a group of stunned prawns. Panel 2 is the prawns talking over one another asking for Wikus to help them. Their hive like minds grab onto his defiance against the MNU and make him an impromptu leader (There is another who has risen from the Hive mind, but is not featured in these pages). In panel 4 we see Wikus looking around at a lost for what to say. In panel 5 we see Wikus' point of view. Through two tents Wikus sees that there are reporters behind the D 10 fence with cameras.

mc004: Panel 1, Wikus instructs the prawns to run towards the cameras. Panel 2 is a top down shown of the prawns running. Panel 3 is a man holding a news camera. Next is a shot of Wikus running with the kids in news footage (Panel4). Panel 5 is a close up of the scared kids. If you went documentary style with this film, like the last, I would add in a clip of someone talking about how quickly public perception can change. Something about how Mom's and Dad's across the world suddenly saw them as children instead of roaches. More eloquently than that, but you get the idea.

mc005: Panel 1 has the prawns now surrounded by MNU agents. The agents can't fire on the prawns though because of the camera's, deeper inside the camp it could look like a fight, but here right in front of the media, it would be a massacre. Panel 2 is the agents removing the media element. Panel 3 is the agents preparing a firing line. Panel 4 is the agents surrounding the prawns. They can't fire because of the circle they're in (Sort of like Wounded Knee, but the MNU agents are smarter and don't fire at eachother).

mc006: Panel 1 has Wikus looking at the kids and telling them to 'burrow in'. It's a little melodramatic, but I like it. My favorite scene from your film is only a few seconds long. It's when Christopher scoops up little CJ as he runs towards the ship. As a Dad who loves being a Dad, that scene almost brought tears to my eyes. It's fucking perfect. Panel 2 is the kids 'burrowing in' to Wikus' chest. Panel 3 has a shadow passing over them, one of the little prans looks up and begins chirping. Wikus looks up to the the MNU agents running away (Panel 4).

mc007: Wikus and the other Prawns are seen looking up, as a massive ship hovers above them.

I was going to have it make a loud 'VNNNNNNN' noise, but I think it's better if I save that for the end. These pages would be from the first half of the movie.

So there it is. I realize I should have storyboarded them out instead of going for comic pages, but hindsight is always 20/20. I would imagine lots of shaky came and chaos, but didn't want to draw little shake lines all over everything. It's hard, I can see it so clearly in my head, not coming out right on paper.

Moleskin Fun

Sup' Cuz? You know, I have family with the last name Neil. I think I mentioned that before. Just saying, shirt tail cousins and all that. Not sure why you haven't responded, you know, since we're practically family. No worries, probably just busy getting busy.

So, laid back weekend, went home to visit the rents in good old P.A. (Port Angeles, yeah the one in that tween book Twilight). So I didn't bring my laptop and didn't get any Neill work done. Went briefly to the zoo on the way over, drew some animals, and the rest was just goofing around in my free time. I love sketchbooking Neill. I really, really do. There's no hang ups, no expectations. Just let your effing lines lay where they may.

There is one D-9 page in here though, for a painting I'm planning.

Hey if you're ever in Victoria you should hop on the Coho and head over to P.A. My parents would totally put you up. Me Mom makes a mean Tuna Nuda' Casserole.

Hope all is well,

Doug