SiDEBAR - COMICS, ART & POP CULTURE

Podcast Episode 158: KEKAI KOTAKI

 
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Hey, 'Nation!

When I met Kekai Kotaki (or 'Cake' as we call him here at the 'Bar) several years ago at the 2005 Concept Art Workshop, I was amazed and inspired by his talent and his awesome sketchbooks. Though he was a fresh face to the scene, I knew for certain that his skills would take him far. And that they have.

Since 2004, Kekai has worked consistently in the gaming industry, starting as a texture artist, and making his way briskly up the internal ladders of NCSoft and ArenaNet, to become the lead concept designer on GuildWars 1 and 2.

Yet even with the demands of his day job, he still finds time to do freelance work for clients like Tor Books and their art director, Irene Gallo.

Kekai is an artist of rare acuity and vision. The images he creates immediately immerse you in the realms illustrated. Some fantasy artists require a suspension of disbelief or a familiarity with the subject matter at the very least, in order to make you believe. Kekai provides you with immediate recognition — regardless of your situation.

Even though his method is abstraction, he assaults your senses with his evocative character designs, atmospheres and solid compositions. The majesty of his landscapes and environments are beyond reproach. The images we've presented here are a select few, but they will leave you in awe.

As we discuss in the interview, Kotaki has created so much content that's been used in promo adverts by the gaming industry, that you may recognize them all, and never have known they were his. As such, we recommend you check out his site and blog for a bigger piece...of 'Cake'.

- DWiGHT

Below is a small gallery of Kekai's images. There's a distinct "wow" factor at work!

 

 

This is one of the images mentioned in the interview. The one Cake said Daniel Dociu kinda art directed him on (to good results).

 

Podcast Episode 142: The Many Faces of JUSTIN 'CORO' KAUFMAN

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If you check out this podcast on the regular, you know that for the most part, we're fans of all kinds of art. Comics, animation, illustration, concept and fine art, sculpting... It doesn't matter, we dig it all.

And that's what makes a chat with Coro Kaufman so apropos. He digs it all, too. This guy is proficient in so many different areas, he's got it covered from the rooter to the tooter, as we say here.

Other than being an amazing concept artist and painter, designing t-shirts, CD covers and art directing for Massive Black, one of the most exciting art production studios in the entertainment business—he's now on the precipice of adding published comic book creator to his resume.

If you know anything about Coro, you know that he co-founded Massive Black with his buds back in 2005. Since then, MB has become a complete juggernaut in the video game and film industries. Much of the ideation, crafting and finished production you see in today's most popular games comes from them.

In between all the work for clients Coro and Co. have done over these last five years, he started writing and drawing a graphic novel in his spare time (we say comic book). It's called Transient and it began as his modest attempt at a sequential art story dealing with the homeless. I say modest because it's grown to almost 200 pages long (just...damn).

In the interview, we spoke to Kaufman about his continued progress with Transient and about his gig as a concept artist and art director for Massive Black.

He also opens up about his early life as a graph kid painting murals on the streets of El Paso, TX where he grew up, living life today in San Francisco and being the "art monkey" he confesses to be (a man after our own hearts).

- SWAIN

**Below are various images from El Coro. Some Transient stuff, potraits, random pics and what have you.

 

  

 

 

 
 
 
 

Podcast Episode 133: 'Tales from The Cryptcrawler' - SiDEBAR Sits Down with Concept Artist BRAD RIGNEY

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You know what's interesting about art? It's as much a personal discovery for the viewer as it is for the creator. Some artists have the ability to transcend tradition and break open the possibilities of commonly used technique—and include you, the viewer, in that process.

Doesn't matter if you're looking at a video tutorial, an on-line gallery or if you're in a good ol' brick and mortar museum (hey, now), you're taken on the journey with them.

We're of the opinion that Brad Rigney is such an artist.

Dude's stuff is so well done and so in there, it's insane. Dwight was the first one to point out how effectively cinematic his lighting is. He literally puts you in the scene.

Rigney works in the gaming industry for companies like Wizards of the Coast and Bungie. His contributions to Bungie's Halo ODST have helped to make it one of the most successful video games ever.

One of the aspects of Brad's background that is so cool is, he was inspired not that long ago by many of the images he saw in the ConceptArt.Org community. After spending some time honing and kneading his skills like so much dough, he joined, and now he stands as one of their biggest success stories—making the dough instead of just needing it (okay, bad play on words).

Coming out of the Magnolia state (that's Mississippi), he's a family man with a wife and daughter, and he's knockin' the art world on its ass! Just look at the images we posted with this blog entry and you'll recognize the 'skillage'.

Our conversation with him went off the rails a lot, but it was all good. We talked about everything—his beginnings, work ethic, influences like artist Richard Corben and filmmaker John Carpenter, the late, great Patrick Swayze (!). But throughout all of it, Brad was as open and free with us as he was in his tutorial—A Hostile Takeover. What a great guy.

If you haven't seen the clip from his downloadable video, click here. If you haven't been to his DeviantArt page, click here. And if you haven't heard our interview with him yet, by all means, click above—it's waitin' for ya.

**Click here to see the real Brad Rigney!

Podcast Ep. 131: 'Using Your Illusion' - SiDEBAR Interviews Visionary Storyteller IAIN MCCAIG

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Terminator 2, Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We could stop there and have your rapt attention, right?

We won't.

Iain McCaig is one of the most lauded and respected artists working in film today. He's virtually on every artist's list as, not only an influence, but a hero. Those that have met him in person all say the same thing, "He's like the most positive teacher or professor you've ever had in your life!" That's a quote, by the way.

Iain has worked as either a concept or storyboard artist on all of the movies mentioned above—beginning with T2 in the early '90s when he was employed at Industrial Light & Magic. Today, he's often hired as a consultant, as well as a designer, by studios like ILM, Disney, Pixar and etc.

His own studio, Ninth Ray, a collective of the artists he met while working on the Star Wars properties, has been behind things like Outlander and the highly anticipated John Carter of Mars, due out in 2012.

While he makes his home in Canada, we caught up with McCaig on the job in California and it truly was a dream come true. He was one of the names at the top of Dwight's personal pursuit list for SiDEBAR, and man...did he deliver. Tons about his background, filmwork, process and upcoming personal projects.

Listen in for the game we played with Iain after the interview called 'Either Or, Choose One—No More'. Twas mad fun. Not only was he down to play the game, but he turned it back on us near the end. Awesome, right?

And we have to mention here that the road to this interview was paved with the help of some very good friends. Guys like comic artist Leland Purvis, concept artist Dermot Power and new buddy J.J. Torres were instrumental in helping us get in contact with McCaig. We thank them sincerely and profusely.

And of course, BIG OL' GIANT THANKS to Iain himself for hanging out. What an incredible guest and a terrific person.

**Yes, the title is a reference to Guns N' Roses third studio album. It looked cool enough when we typed it in.

Ep. 115: Power to the People - Concept Artist DERMOT POWER Comes to the 'Nation

Dermot is referred to by some as a concept artist's artist. We're certain that's because not only do producers and directors who hire him love his work, but so do his peers.

(Here at the 'Bar, we just call him a beast—this dude is killin' it.)

As a matter of fact, his whole filmography is filled with ridiculous eye candy. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, three of the Harry Potter movies, Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, V for Vendetta and he just finished up on Alice in Wonderland with Tim Burton.

Dermot often gets hired to create characters, creatures and costumes, but don't sleep on his environments—they're the sh*t as well. Take a look at the images on his site for Gotham City and those castles from The Chamber of Secrets.

We chatted with this Irish born artist from his home in the U.K. and he gave us an ear full. Power confesses to being a bit of a talker (he is). We confess to suffering from the same thing (we do). But what he had to say, especially as it pertained to concept art, was definitely worth hearing.

In the interview, he describes what it's like working in the film industry, dealing with producers and directors, and how to handle George Lucas himself deciding the fate of your ideas.

Also covered are his eight years as a comic book artist, how he once lost his portfolio on a city bus and what's up with that new blog anyways.

Mad fun and interesting stuff with Mr. Dermot Power. He's a talented guy who stays in demand and we can see why.

Oh, and do check out his brand new blog featuring the panel-a-day webcomic thingy he's been running (a hint: read it from the very bottom, up).

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Ep. 112: Does ANDROID JONES Dream of Electric Sheep?

With much respect to Phillip K. Dick, do prepare your limbic system for the art assault of Andrew Jones—if ya can!

My stalwart companion, Dwight, attended a ConceptArt workshop back in 2005 and let's just say, he came back changed. For the better, of course. It was a totally immersive and communal experience for him, and one that really opened him up creatively.

Names like Coro Kaufman, Jon Foster, J.P. Targete and Andrew Jones got brought up a lot afterwards and I gotta admit—I kinda got changed, too.

I was brand new to concept art as a field (like many, I suppose). And even though the term itself wasn't as en vogue then as it is now, there was already a proliferation of young artists rockin' it hard.

Plus, ConceptArt.org sounded like the coolest place on the planet! Twelve million people a year visiting and sharing images with each other, in one on-line community? Who could hate that?

Okay, I'm digressing—back to Mr. Jones.

Andrew (or Android) is one of the co-founders of ConceptArt.org and its entertainment business other side, Massive Black. In the early days of his career, he worked for ILM, Black Isle Studios and Nintendo, before eventually stepping out with Jason Manley and Coro to do their own thing. The art world has never fully recovered, by the way.

As we've mentioned before on this site, this guy does it all and well. And consistently. Concept art, illustration, fashion design, body art, teaching at workshops, live digital performances—everything.

His 1000 Portraits Project from '02 was just a motherf*cker to behold. As you followed the changes in the images, you started to see extreme changes in the artist, too—literally (it was nuts).

On Saturday, November 7th, Andrew's very first gallery show, Liminal Rez, will jump off. Push Studio in San Francisco is the place, 7PM is the time and it'll probably be bedlam. Jonsey is really popular and well, really good.

We're honored to have had this young art warrior come on and hang out with us. We've been big fans for like, five years now, so it was a long time coming.

And the devil's in the details on this one, folks, so don't sheep. Umm, sleep...sorry.

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Ep. 89: Makin' Moves with TOMMY LEE EDWARDS

An artist friend of ours once referred to Tommy Lee as 'Boss Player' and we have to agree. Even though the guy is way laid back and approachable, you can just tell he's got some cool stuff goin' on behind the scenes. And he does—trust! But more on that later...

I first got hip to Tommy back when he and Rick Veitch did that Question series for DC in 2005. His lines had all this crazy energy and charisma to 'em. I remember looking at those bold ass gestures and thinking, "Man, this guy has no fear!" Plus, he colored the book too, which also stood out to me.

We ended up meeting him and the rest of The BLVD Studio at a Heroes Con in Charlotte the next year. All super nice guys, by the way, and all major talents in their own rights.

After The Question, Edwards worked on Bullet Points, What If, covers for Daredevil, and 1985 with writer Mark Millar. All over at Marvel. As a matter of fact, most of his mainstream comic book work since '05 has been for Marvel. Hmm...

Beyond comics, his name is also a staple in the movie world. He's contributed to the style guides for a couple of films you may have heard of: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Men in Black II, Batman Begins and Superman Returns.

Not to mention, he's doing concept art for a Hughes Brothers picture that's in production right now. Here's a teaser for you—there's an Oscar-winner in the lead role who's a huge star. Now, that's what we call makin' moves!

We cover that project, his craft, Star Wars, conventions and comic shops, and everything else we could in the time we had with TLE. Hope you enjoy this special extended episode and we'll see ya next time!

TLE's Site

**For this one, we played snippets of the following: Will Smith's "Men In Black", Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California", Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It", "Duel of Fates" from Star Wars and Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild".

Photo taken by Albert Hughes.

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Ep. 83: From Book Covers to Video Games, JP TARGETE Has Many Styles

JP's name has been comin' up on this show since literally day one. He's an accomplished artist and illustrator who's resume includes companies like Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Flight Games, Bantam, Tor and Warner Books. Dwight got a chance to meet him at the ConceptArt Workshop in San Francisco, back in '05, and became an overnight fan. When he got back, D regaled me with tales of huge 3x5 foot canvases, live painting demos and lots of oohing and aahing!

Needless to say, it was only gonna be a matter of time before we reached out to JP and extended the offer of a podcast chat—and here we are.

While he has an extensive background in illustration, book covers to be precise, Targete's current title is Art Director at Ignition Florida. His job, he tells us, is to set the look and style of a video game, then guide the visuals through all the various stages to completion. Outside of his AD position at Ignition, JP says he still picks up freelance gigs, but laments that there's only so much time in the day to get it all done (we feel you, sir).

Also covered in our conversation is his relationship with his Dad, who's an architect, JP's days painting romance book covers (Fabio!), some stories about the life of an illustrator, and a description of the term he calls "Dark Fantasy".

Our thanks to the man for takin' a minute to hang out with us. We had an excellent time!

**Another thank you goes out to our buddy, Chuck Harper, for submitting some questions for JP through our message board. Go, Chuck!

JP's Site

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Ep. 70: NEVILLE PAGE Breaks Down Cloverfield, Avatar and Watchmen (not really, but hey...we tried)

OK, don't let this guy fool you. Yes, he's talented. Yes, he's a kick-ass concept artist. And yes, he's quite humble about all of those things. But he's tellin' tales out of school when he says he's not funny—that's a lie! In his bio, he confesses to having done stand-up before and we're not surprised. He was a hoot and we had the best time with him! Alright, on to more serious matters...

Cloverfield and the upcoming Avatar, Watchmen, Star Trek, Tron and Piranha 3-D all have one thing in common—concept designer and artist, Neville Page. Neville is another in a long line of talented folks my bud Dwight keeps finding and bringing to the SiDEBAR mics. And I'm not mad at him for doing so! Most people don't know who the designers are on films (or anything else for that matter) because designers almost never get the spotlight. Almost. Today, that's gonna change, especially for one Mr. Page.

I won't spoil much here about his background 'cause frankly, it's too interesting. You definitely need to listen to the show though to get the fullness therein (trust!). Let's just say his life as a regular guy—was hardly regular! He was born in Great Britain, grew up in Chicago, moved to California as a teen, and spent a few years pursuing a whole other career in the entertainment biz (OK, I can't hold back...go here).

After a few years of waiting tables, Neville realized this other career pursuit wasn't working out and enrolled at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. It was there he met his best friend and future business partner, Scott Robertson. They struck a bond and after graduation, started a consultancy firm together. They also started teaching at Art Center and both still do to this day.

Our interview with this guy is full of laughs and mad cool stories. I mean, stuff like being in the Swiss Riviera and discovering a school for girls right down the road. Getting off the phone with James Cameron while driving to a meeting in Hollywood about Cloverfield. Names like J. J. Abrams, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana and Ralph McQuarrie popping up everywhere. And let's not forget the lovely Zoe Saldana (...sorry, I couldn't resist).

We wanna thank Neville for bringing not only his perspective and insights to the show, but also his good humor. He was awesome!

**The title of this interview is a reference to all those pesky Non-Disclosure Agreements (bah!). And in honor of Neville's R&B past, we played some of DeBarge's "I Like It".

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Ep. 64: Chiuists Unite! - BOBBY CHIU of Imaginism Studios Comes to SiDEBAR

OK, how's that for a rallying call?

Bobby Chiu has been referred to as the new Walt Disney by some and that may not be much of an exaggeration. He's full of...well, imagination, has vision for days and does seem to embody Walt's whole philosophy of moving forward. In just a short few years, he's graduated from the ranks of hired artist, and gone on to CEO and Educator. And he's still a pretty young dude (whoa)!

Dwight was an admirer of Chiu's work from afar, while I had only seen a few things here and there. That is, until we ran into Bobby and artist Kei Acedera at this year's Heroes Con in Charlotte. They had an exhibitor booth set up for Imaginism Studios, their home base, and had mad lines all weekend. A listener and friend of the show named Chuck Harper prompted me to go by and check 'em out, and I was blown away! All their books and prints featured these really cool and interesting looking characters—it was all that!

Later that night, at the hotel bar, Bobby came over to Dwight, myself, Chuck and his buddy Beau, and chatted with us for like two hours—solid! Didn't really know us from Adam, but felt our enthusiasm and joined in with his own. The next day, I went back by their booth to thank him and he and Kei kindly gave me a copy of their sketchbook, Water Worlds.

As people go, Bob is the exact right mix of talent and complete lack of pretension. He's as regular a guy as you'll find, but obviously has immense drive.

Speaking of which! His drive recently put him on a fantastic Hollywood project with a very famous director, and he talks about it early in the interview. We also get into Schoolism, the whole subway sketching phenomenon and some of his philosophies about drawing and life.

So relax, breathe deep, exhale yourself some Chiuism—and prepare to be converted!

http://www.imaginismstudios.com/

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Ep. 60: STEPHAN MARTINIERE - The Gentleman Artist

Some people are born to do it all. Or at least it seems that way! They can do so many things well, it comes off more like destiny than determination. Artist and illustrator Stephan Martiniere is certainly perceived to be one of those people. In his 25 year career, he's had his hand in nearly everything—animation, illustration, comics, TV, film and he's currently the Creative Visual Director for Midway Games Chicago. So you can add video games to his resume too (yeah, yeah, I know that's not exactly everything, but it's damn close).

Our introduction to this uber-talent's work came through very familiar channels. We're Spectrum guys and Stephan's work has been featured in the anthology several years in a row now. All of it awesome and most of it from his book covers for Tor Books (good lookin' out, Ms. Gallo). When you see the man's images, brace yourself, because you'll lose your mind—seriously! His dazzling city and spacescapes, and his far off worlds are so fantastic yet so familiar all at the same time. It may indeed be science fiction, but man, does it feel real to geeks like us!

Speaking of real, the accolades he's received from industry peers is absolutely real. Spectrum, Hugo, Thea, Chesley and many others have all honored Martiniere over the years with awards for his artistic excellence. They all know he's the mack man. And we do too, for that matter! That's why we shot him an email asking him to slum a bit by coming on the show for an interview. He accepted the invitation saying something about "never having done a podcast before and it might be fun." [Note to audience: We have no proof, but we suspect ours may be his last podcast—so listen in while you can!]

The conversation with him covers much, but just like the intro to this text, not everything. Dwight and I thought we had the best chance of not embarrassing ourselves by keeping it simple. So we got some stories from Stephan's art school days, a little concept design and illustration talk in there, nerded out on video games for a minute, and ended it with the good stuff. What is the good stuff, you ask? Hmm..? Well, you'll have to tune in and find out, now won't you?

**For this episode with the gentleman artist, we played a snippet of Sting's Send Your Love. The lyric about sending your love into the distant dawn just seemed so appropriate. [Also, as is my luck (Swain), I was very sick while recording this and you can hear me gently hacking in the background—my apologies!]

http://www.martiniere.com/

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Ep. 48: The Dreaded Marko - SiDEBAR Talks to MARKO DJURDJEVIC

Marko Djurdjevic finally visited the esteemed SiDEBAR mics and it was all that with leftovers. Of course, like anything else worth having, it was not without a cost. Let us back up...

When we started this show over a year ago, the very first podcast we made, praised and extolled the virtues of The Dreaded Marko (mispronouncing his last name, of course). We also used one of his X-Men First Class covers for the blog entry featuring his daring re-designs. I've (Swain) been enamored with the guy's style since he started doing covers exclusively for Marvel. Dwight's been a fan since he met him at the Concept Art Workshop in San Francisco back in 2005—wearing a beautiful hand-painted Elektra jacket, no less.

The super abbreviated version of Marko's path is this: he was born in Germany, started drawing, got work at 17, posted on Concept Art.Org in his early twenties, and took the world by storm minutes later. With a few...umm, embellishments on our part, that pretty much sums it up.

Check out the guy's handiwork and you'll be convinced like we were. Blade, Daredevil, Super Villain Team-Up, Marvel Illustrated, Wolverine Origins, Thunderbolts, Mystic Arcana, What If—the list literally goes on and on. Plus, tons of design stuff on Concept Art and they're all badass and all immaculately rendered by Mr. Djurdjevic. This man is the truth and YOU know it.

He recently made the excursion into doing interior pencils for the new Thor series written by J. Michael Straczynski and the book is a solid hit. He was filling in for the talented Olivier Coipel and just knocked it out. 

OK, back to the cost. We tried several times in the past to reach the man, but to no avail. And all jokes aside, it wasn't him, it was us, going through the wrong channels (duuhh). Finally, after getting the accurate contact info straight from the source at the NY Comic Con (all thanks to the FANTASTICALLY TALENTED AND GRACIOUS, PAOLO RIVERA—PAINTER EXTRAORDINAIRE HIMSELF), we made it happen.

Throw in three calling cards, six redials and bad sound coming out of Dwight's microphone, and you've got yourself one nice little Marko Djurdjevic interview. And we loved every minute of it!

**For this episode with Marko, we played a small portion of Depeche Mode's I Feel You, because we do!

Click here to download the show.

Ep. 47: Future Power People - JASON MANLEY of Concept Art.Org & Massive Black

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved." - Helen Keller

These are inspiring words from the great Helen Keller. We thought they rang especially true in the wake of our conversation with artist and art visionary, Jason Manley. His journey has not been without its obstacles, but talent, perseverance and the help and support of his friends has brought him far. And he's gonna go much farther.

We first heard about Jason like everyone else did, through his affiliation with Concept Art.Org and Massive Black. He's not only a co-founder of both companies, but also serves as their President.

Concept Art was started six years ago by Manley and two of his friends, artists Andrew Jones and Coro Kaufman. The three of them met and became buddies in their early twenties and kept in touch via the Internet. Creatively, there was a mutual respect and the interest to work and learn together—that's really how the ball got rolling. Jason had the idea of setting up a site where they could all share their projects and ideas, meet new artists, exchange information and the thing just took off from there! To date, there are 110,000 plus artists signed on as members of the CA community, posting over 1,000,000 images.

As time went on, acclaimed film artists, Chris Hatala and Pete Konig joined the group and they formed their second company, Massive Black Inc.  After spending time learning from each other and sharing previous art school and industry production experiences, they agreed that working together professionally under their own banner, was their next step. A couple of partners came and went and the team eventually settled in nicely with the addition of Executive Producer, Melissa Lee and 3D Director, Dan Staton.

Started on a meager $6000 budget, Massive Black is now one of the highest profile art studios in the entertainment industry—doing work for advertising, games, toys, comics, TV and film. It offers a full line of services to its clients: green light pitch development, concept design, storyboards, illustration, rigging, animation, textures, 3D modeling, product co-development and IP creation. Since the company's inception, they've completed over 175 projects for over 125 major companies working in the field, including 18 of the top 20 video game publishers. The MB teams are located in San Francisco, Shanghai and Bangkok.

While Concept Art.Org is a non-profit educational institution serving the international community and local students at the Concept Art Atelier, Massive Black is certainly its professional and practical other side. The two companies are essentially independent, yet supportive brothers when it comes to the world of art.

We caught up with Jason in Austin, TX right in the middle of a big move and talked about all of the above and a lot more. We also get into the incredible workshops they started doing around the world and some future plans for both companies.

Oh yeah, and Jason's over the whole "not doing art" thing, so watch out!

http://www.conceptart.org/

http://massiveblack.com/

Click here to download the show.