I will be returning to Trek Radio this weekend on Saturday at 11am PST for what is sure to be another wacky interview. If you have any questions for me, you can mail them to zach@startrekradio.com or call in live and raise hell during the interview on 347-321-8955. If you have Skype, you can add “hailing.frequency”. Be sure to tune in at www.trekradio.net
Had a great time this weekend shooting a bit part, in Ben Alpi’s Indi western, “Cowboy Creed”. Thanks Ben!
More here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150409749216104.355004.570346103&type=1&l=62191223e5
Craig Frey recounts creating the cover art for the 2012 Ship Of The Line calendar.
8472 vs Borg – John Teska
Many of you know Steve Neil already. For most of his life he has been a professional makeup artist for motion pictures and television. Steve worked for Fred Phillips in the Star Trek:The Motion Picture makeup department. For the last year, working with Gary Kerr’s definitive plans, Steve has built a six foot, original series Enterprise. At the tail of the article find a video that Steve sent over, and when you’re thru with that, check the blog roll and visit his site. The man is amazing. If you have any questions for Steve, ask away, he’ll be monitoring your comments!
This shot from VFX’s Eric Alba. It doesn’t get much cooler.
I was on a VFX panel at the Television Academy, in North Hollywood, sponsored by Newtek, and privileged to to sit in with the likes of Ron Thornton, Chuck Comsky, and Eric Hance.
My first day on the job working DS9 – I slid the makeup case under my desk and never looked back.
Mike hired me to design graphics, but as soon as Herman found out I could sketch, he had me designing hand props. Mike had an idea about hand props that would snap into walls or consoles.
An unused variant of my cover for the Pocket Books Trek novel, Kobayahi Maru. This model of the NX was the original approval model of that ship, which I built in the art department. It had one important difference from the final CG model, the windows were larger. I preferred the larger ports, because it made the ship look smaller, and more vulnerable.
Falling Prey – Fred Pienkos
(Left) Lansing in his iconic role as Gary Seven, in the classic double-duty TOS episode, “Assignment Earth”. AE was a backdoor pilot for a new Roddenberry series that was never realized. (Right) Lansing prior to Star Trek, in his arguably quintessential role as General Frank Savage, in Quinn Martin’s WWII epic, “12 O’Clock High”.
Robert Lansing was one of the most underated actors in television during the 1960′s. That may have been because Lansing was known as a hot head. By the end of the first season of 12 O’Clock High, inspite of his stellar performance, Lansing was sacked by QM. He may have been a difficult man on stage, but we are left with an incredible character on screen, that more likely than not, benefited by Lansing’s personal intensity.
One of the great mysteries is why 12 O’Clock has never been released on DVD. Well, you’re in luck. Below find the pilot episode of “12 O’Clock High” in it’s entirety. At least watch Lansing tear up the teaser, and then stick around for the title sequence, with music by the always amazing Dominic Frontiere, who scored the original Outer Limits.
Kudos to the supporting cast, including Paul Burke, Bruce Dern, Frank Overton, and Paul Comi.
Andy Probert has a landmark painting in the works for the Ships of the Line 2014 – The aftermath of Wolf 359, and starfleet’s salvage operation of the monumental battle. One Borg cube left the once mighty Federation fleet an awe-inspiring vista of wreckage. Here are some of Probert’s exploratory sketches of a starfleet tug and salvage vessel. The CG model is a light, and perspective guide. As you work your way down the images, note that we are working our way backward in the design process.
A few happy snaps I took of the set, in preparation for decking the it out with graphics. I figure at this point we had 1-2 days before they would be shooting in there. Put the spurs to ‘er, Chuck!
Somebody up there likes me – Mikey O gave me the assignment to finish off this set of the Bajoran interceptor bridge on DS9. It’s all about speed, and knowing your topic. The camera waits for no one, and it never blinks. I had designed all of the Bajoran emblems and etc, so I was the man for the job. Bajoran interfaces reflected the culture, and it was all based on the wormhole. Wheels within wheels. I also broke up some of the white ceiling plexi with graphic gingerbread that made use of the Bajoran military emblem.
(Above) Movie posters of the great Frank McCarthy. (Top L-R) The Dirty Dozen, PT-109, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. (Above L-R) The Blue Max, Around The World Under The Sea.
When I was growing up, movie posters were usually incredibly electrifying paintings that were larger than life. They distilled in one mind blowing image all the excitement that one motion picture could possibly contain. Frank McCarthy was one of the all time greats, and his movie work is seared into my brain. When I get the occasional cover assignment from Pocket Books, and loads of action is called for, I always think of McCarthy.
The way I approach one of these novel covers is not at all the way I approach a shot for a television show. On a show, we go for as real as possible. On a novel I go larger than life, and painterly. Here are two new action covers, one for one for the big Vanguard finale, Storming Heaven, and one for Enterprise: The Romulan Wars.
(Above) Vanguard: Storming Heaven. (Below) Enterprise: The Romulan Wars.
Ready or not, here it comes… a full day of blogging here on the Drex Files! I’ve actually had a few days to relax, and I’ve rounded up a cargo bay full of stuff that I want to share, and hope that you’ll tag along!
Did you see Rod Roddenberry’s Trek Nation on the Science Channel? Bar none, one of the best docs on Star Trek ever. What I miss most about Star Trek, is Gene Roddenberry, and that is what TN is about. Gene died when Rod was only 17 years old. Trek Nation is the journey of a son discovering his father. It’s extraordinarily touching, and you and I are a part of it. Trek Nation is not to be missed.
Now… on with the blog!
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Battlestar Galactica: Blood And Chrome is finished, and I have some free time to get back to the Drex Files!
I’m in the midst of organizing a massive post day that is guaranteed to curl your synapses, AND I’m guaranteeing a rock solid date, Sunday Dec 04 (although it is not out of the question that I may be ready earlier. If that happens, you’ll be the first to know!). There will be previously unseen goodies from the past, brand spankin new artwork from upcoming Pocket novels, and a rockin’ new Drex-TV video blog! Even as we speak, the Ships Of The Line posse is preparing retina scorching animations for a new edition of SOTL: ACTIVE DUTY! More lost VFX home video from Gary Hutzel, and new interviews with folks who have made Star Trek more than a TV show. So thrusters at station keeping, and standby to receive transmission!
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With the near completion of “Blood And Chrome”, I’ll finally have time to get back to posting on the Drex Files. Hang in there, and I’ll be back with more stuff that I know you’re gonna like!
By the way, “Chrome” is hugely awesome, and I have to say that I have never been prouder of anything that I have ever been involved in. The show is all adrenaline, and I think that fans will be elated.
I also wanted to mention Ben Alpi’s indie film “Cowboy Creed”, where yours truly will be putting his 1870s six guns and leather to good use later this year. The film will reunite me with my pal John Carrigan, of “New Voyages” fame. When you get a minute check it out, and maybe even contribute so that we can effectively “drawdown”, pardner!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/runicfilms/cowboy-creed-short-film
And while you’re at, you can check out my fancy gunslinging progress here:
http://maxrem.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/gunslinging-progress-video-02/
At any rate, as we race to button the last bits of “Chrome”, I’ll be rounding up some interesting stuff for the Drex Files, including more Ships: Active Duty See you then!
Just in from my good buddy, and workmate, Matt Boardman. Awesome job editing the animated work of our calendar artists together. Thanks to all the gang who put so much into their pages, and now into these animations… Wilde, Rem, Richter, Rademaker, Rivard, Graves, Probert, and that Drexler guy.
Full blog day soon, and with more ACTIVE DUTY!
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The start of my progress log for an off beat new obsession; Hollywood western style fancy gunhandling.
“Just one more reason to be very, very, nice to Doug…”
Gary Hutzel
For all you subscribers to “Nacelles Monthly”, our popular new Tech Fold. It’s a tad on the lower rez size to give you a reason to buy the calendar : ) But still enough to dig it now!
I’m out! See you next time, gang!
Reprovisioning At Sea
Dan Uyeno
No kidding, this gentleman has an understanding of the starfleet design ethic that would give Leah Brahms hot flashes, Geordi La Forge an inferiority complex, and cause Scotty to wet his pants. That’s bowlin’ it right down the center, sonny. Join us as the Mad Koi himself takes us through the numbers -
This image came from a real round about way. I started out using the cargo ship in a Kobayashi Maru like scenario with the classic face off view. I moved on because it was to flat and quite static. Many very dissimilar ideas and much feedback later I return to that cargo ship, fate. This time it is a more dynamic composition that depicts an everyday task of re-supplying a deep space explorer. I like this more than any of the other ideas I presented because it is different.
I quite enjoy working with these unseen eras of Star Trek. I keep finding I always return to them after exploring existing eras. I can explore ideas and mix known elements within the adjoining eras. These two ships allowed me to meld two ends of known design, but keep them very different in over all appearance. The cargo ship would be more of the TMP end of the spectrum, where as the Balmung falls closer to the Ambassador class in detail and time frame. But each has details that interrelate as well, depicting a continuous renewal of the fleet through the passage of time. The cargo ship should lend a feeling of a ship that was slowly updated over a long period of time utilizing older repurposed elements. The thought being cargo ships wouldn’t be the first to get all the new technology, but get what works and is reliable.
(Above) The U.S.S. Balmung with her new materials and warp coil elements. This image is still WIP so some of the smaller detail elements are missing from this image.
(Above) This is one of the work bees for the cargo ship. Since these would be small elements I did not add a lot of detail to them. The crates are all made to fit in spaces on deck and in the slots for the cargo pods.
A detail view of the inside of one of the cargo pods. It shows how they slot into the pod and are arranged on the deck of each pod. The pods are modular and can just be detached as a whole or even reconfigured internally.
A rough render of the arboretum that is located in the upper rear right side of the saucer.
A close up of the rear mess hall/bar, large room with tables and chairs, and a bit of a peek into the upper shuttle bay. You can just see the observation interior at the top of the bay. The slots for more work bees can be seen in the upper right.
This shows the cargo ship without the crate pontoons. This is part of a modular system so that other items can be mounted to the struts.
A test render of the underside view of the U.S.S. Balmung.
I hope that the viewer can find new details with each viewing of my image and can read past the visual story to a story untold. It was a joy to work with Doug on this and his simple right to the point crits really helped me decide a direction to take, to solidify my wayward attention. I apologize for not be as entertaining as other guests on the blog! Hopefully this gives a small insight into the image.
-MKF
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