THE KILLER THAT LUCAS CREATED

 Okay, we storyboard artists are a perceptive lot, who call things the way we seem them. We show people the dark underbelly of life that few can stomach, and fewer still have the guts to bring to the light.While working in the three man storyboard dept that is “THE A TEAM” over at building 99 at FOX, Eric, Benton and myself came to the conclusion that Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker was a stone cold blooded killer.Now, please put down the lightsaber and bare with me. This was all figured out while simultaneously drawing action packed sequences for John Singleton, and doing impressions and line readings from both “48 HOURS” and “ENTER THE DRAGON.”  Benton seemingly has the advantage while doing Bruce Lee (as he speaks English and Cantonese as Bruce did), but I still think my Lee is better.Back to Luke, the evidence on Mark Hamill’s most famous character (not counting his voice work voice as “The Joker” on the 1990’s Batman cartoon) is evident in the original STAR WARS.We know that as a farmboy on Tatooine, Luke used to “bullseye Womprats in my T-16 back home.”  So, this kid essentially shot animals for fun from a moving vehicle. I doubt that he ate the Womprats, so this was all for his enjoyment.Luke gets a message from a robot his Uncle Owen bought from scavengers (the company you keep) about a “Princess” being in danger. Hey, as a native New Yorker, I have met many a “Princess”, and they are actually quite resourceful without a man’s help.So, this “farm boy” trespasses on a government sanctioned space station (after being in a shootout in a parking lot) with not one, but two pirates, Han and Chewie. Did I mention the old man who cut off an arm in a bar fight?Once the ship has landed on this space station, a couple of clean up guys (I bet just doing their jobs and they probably had kids) walk up the entry plank to the Millennium Falcon.  We then hear blaster fire right afterwards.What do you think happened to them?  I’ll tell you.  Those poor unarmed men were executed, that’s what.Luke and his criminal friends (whom he met that bar, where the shorter one killed a guy/Greedo – and no George, Greedo did NOT shoot first) break into a jail. Then, they start to shoot the guards. Just shot them down cold and had the nerve to steal and then wear their uniforms. The horror! And…gross!!  What kind of sick fetsh is that??After the old man is killed by his former student (who worked for the government) Luke goes crazy and starts killing more government officers!!  He only stops when he hears the “voice” of the old guy that just got killed! Coo-coooooo.By the way, didn’t that old guy Obi Wan age really, really badly? He was premature gray in his mid-thirties when he let his “friend” Anakin catch fire next to a lava river (were he left him to die, btw) spends twenty years in exile, and ends up looking seventy.Anyway, Luke makes a getaway in the “Pirate ship” where he yells “I got ‘im, I got ‘im” after happily blowing up a government pilot.  Even if the so called Empire was still using clones, that clone pilot may have had dog at home, to say the least.Luke and the other malcontents known as “The Rebels” then come back to the space station with a small fleet where ca-razzzzy Luke kills some more government pilots, before hearing voices once again, then blows up the entire space station with a torpedo ( who designed that station?) which took with it thousands of more people.Luke later goes on to destroy more government property, find out some unpleasant family secrets, corrupt a tribe of teddy bears and kiss his sister.Couldn’t Luke have at least vented his rage on finding and killing a older but still inane Jar Jar Binks???I’m just  saying.

CUT!

Trying for a little play on words as I sit here in the barbershop. My “fro” is getting to be a bit much. Not that I look like Clarence Williams III in “THE MOD SQUAD”, but I do have the sudden urge to tackle someone with a “swan dive” and give an alluring look to Peggy Lipton.  Hey, Peggy still looks mighty good. Did you catch her on “ALIAS” a few years back?

Anyway, this has been a rather tiring week.  I had a physical. Excellent blood pressure thank you, but my female doctor, got a little close while doing a very necessary and regular procedure for a male patient. Let’s say, I will NOT commit a crime, because I am just not made for the rigors of prison.  After the exam, I can’t even go through the back door of my house without getting a cold chill.

Meanwhile, at the office, things are still going at a steady, if not hectic pace on “THE A TEAM”. We still don’t have an official cast, but the guys and I are still churning out a good number of boards. I can’t describe the last action sequence (never do that on a current job) but we have been on it for quite some time, and it was good to finally wind it down to get to a new scene.
When you do an action film, everyone naturally wants to at least board an action scene. Not that scenes of conversation and angst aren’t cool, but especially being a guy – on The A Team – you want to render a number of frames of guns, punches, overall mayhem and perhaps a frame or two of “B.A.” saying “I pity the fool”.

Yes, all of the above do happen in the movie.

Anyway, as the “head guy” (just three of us boarding), I’ve been handing out assignments.  I am very careful to make sure that we all get cool stuff to work on, including action.  Benton was the last guy to be hired, so he’s been doing fill in scenes until this week. Patient man that he is, Benton’s been rewarded with starting the next big action scene, but so far, he’s only doing the set up to the action, so far.

Taking a short break here, as I am now “up” for a haircut with my barber, Al.

Oops, so much for the “short break”. It is now after 12:30 in the morning as I am trying to wrap this up.  I have decided, (with some major…suggestions from my wife Betty and friend, Larry ) to do a graphic novel. To this end, I went to the comic book shop “Meltdown” to pick up some inspiration.

I purchased Ted Mathot’s “ROSE AND ISABEL”, a civil war graphic novel. Ted works at Pixar, and is the brother of artist John Mathot, who is the close friend of my close friend, Andrew Burrell, design artist on “FAMILY GUY”.  That was easy, right?  Benton brought both parts (I only bought part one) of the book and recommended it.  I dig the art.

Ted uses a “Cintiq” monitor to draw on (no paper, no scanning) as I do.  I hope to give a review, soon.

Time for bed.Mother’s Day today. Kiss my wife Betty, go to church with her and son Joshua, call my Mom, and get some writing done. Oh yea, take the kid to see “IRON MAN”.
Talk to you next week. May even discuss “storyboards”.

FIVE FINGERS OF SKETCH

The one thing people always say when they see my work is “Dude, have you ever drawn any comic books?” Or, “you should do a graphic novel!”

Well, the fact is that my experience in comic books only truly extended up to my college years at The School of Visual Arts in New York City.  It was at that school that I studied under several legendary figures in the history of comics.

Will Eisner, creator of THE SPIRIT (soon to be a major movie directed by 300/SIN CITY creator Frank Miller and boy does it look JUST like those movies…and Frank, the Spirit was not supposed to move around like DAREDEVIL, but pardon that side bar…).

Harvey Kurtzman, an early architect of MAD MAGAZINE,  creator of Playboy’s LITTLE ANNIE FANNY.

Art Spiegleman who reimagined the horrors of the Holocaust into dominant cats subjugating mice in the graphic novel Maus, and Sam Viviano, who was one of the nation’s top caricaturists, and who is currently the art director of Mad.

Sam, was a great teacher by the way. What made him stand above any teacher I had in school was his ability to extract all of the experience he had at that point in his life (Sam was only about thirty) and teach us in such a way that we learned what he was saying and actually got better, while not becoming slaves as to how Sam would do things.

As, I’ve stated before, I’m working with two other gentlemen on “THE A TEAM” film.  When I look at Eric Ramsey’s work, I’d love to have the ease he has at sketching and having that simple elegance to his work. Eric is an inherent “doodler”. He takes all of the images in his head and some of them go directly into the storyboards, while others end up on the sides (and all around) the page.

Benton, is a consummate illustrator. He doesn’t “waste” any lines except for that in his work. Benton’s art is highly detailed, and where Eric’s style has a looseness that reflects his easy going personality (mutual friend Darryl Henley said Eric would “slip on a banana peel and land in a pot of gold”) Benton’s meticulousness and attention to detail is related to his more internal personality.

Myself, a geek who can do knuckle pushups on concrete, experiment occasionally, but I find my strength in “inked” lines (virtual ink, as I work on computer only…no paper, no scanning) and I try to be as simple and clean as possible.  No excessive amounts of detail, unless it is needed, such as environments and crowds. I am not an amalgam of Eric and Benton, not having Eric’s looseness, nor Benton’s knowledge on anatomy and sheer drawing ability.  My strength is shot selection and clarity of storytelling.

When I have spoke with younger artists, I try to teach my accumulation of skills, not any one facet.

As Bruce Lee started as a proponent of Wing Chun and Chinese “Gung Fu” who boasted of their superiority, but later said, “I don’t believe in styles”;I believe in getting to the point of being very good at your job, without detailing exactly how you get there.

I will tell people starting out what films to watch (JAWS) and what not to get into, excessive cutting. There are non-technical things I also get into. How you present yourself, in terms of dress, personality, and confidence. Also, how to be part of team and to be helpful. When you are working on a commercial, ALWAYS BE ON TIME, as when the director has to meet with you and that may be the ONLY time they have, don’t blow it.

As far as the issue of doing a graphic novel, I have always shied away because of the fact that my spare time –which can be quite short if I am on a movie, and then I come home to my wife and son – can be amazingly short, and I spend it writing scripts. The other reason, is my lack of confidence in my drawing skills when not doing loose boards.

I’ve always felt that in order to do comics, you should be as refined as possible. I know I have lapses in anatomy and perspective. I can get intimidated when I see people who have a firm grasp of the necessities when it comes to illustration. I have friends, Brian McGee and Lawrence Christmas, who make me want to become a used car salesman, when I see some of their detailed and picture perfect work.

But, my wife Betty told me (strongly, I might add after we saw IRON MAN) that I should hire an artist and write the graphic novel. To say that I was uncomfortable with this elongated exchange would be as accurate as “David Fincher’s work is kinda dark”.

What I did get out of the exchange, which was about as painful as what happens to Tony “Iron Man” Stark’s heart in the movie, was that, there might be a way to do a graphic novel in the future that I can do minimal work on and still have time for my other pursuits.

As I have been trying to sell a script for years, a graphic novel could be another way to go. The owner has full rights to the property they create and if a film studio buys it, you get the lion’s share of the money as well as a cut of merchandising if you work it right.

I work very hard when I storyboard a film, but, I guess, there are alternatives.

THE STORYBOARD ARTIST

 

Having studied martial arts, Warren Drummond understands how to draw action and exactly what is needed when shooting a scene. He’s worked on over thirty feature films including The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Bourne Identity.

 

www.warrendrummond.com