Over two years ago, I had the great pleasure of working with Kendal Cronkhite and the rest of the art department at PDI/Dreamworks on Mad2. It was this project that inspired me to explore a more graphic approach to my personal artwork, which then motivated me to create this blog.
44 comments:
Brilliant work, Erwin! Incredible lighting!
Beautiful work my friend! Inspiring stuff!!!
Curious Were those paintings done before they do the 3d layout stage of the production? You paint these from scratch? Or You paint over basic 3d shapes/textures that is provided but layout before they go into lighting?
I would love to see the evolution of a painting if you kept any process. If you didnt keep any before and after shots Maybe an explanation? Im just curious about your how you created these and how long you spent on one on average. =p
THanks!!!
Those are insanely detailed! I love the lighting and color execution..
Hi Benjamin,
Most of these color keys/illustration paintings were done on top of very rough layout shots before they go into lighting. Some were painted from scratch like the first two paintings on my website. The first one took a couple of days but the second painting of "alex in the sunrise" took only a couple of hours.
Usually we design the location before we start color keys. We do sketches, build rough maya models, what ever it takes. The "Hippo area" painting around the bottom of my webpage is an example of a location painting. That one took around a month to paint because of all the re-do's. Then we design the props before we start the color keys.
The "six paintings of the camera spin" were done on top of rough layout shots. These were done very fast because the designing was done and all I had to do is paint the lighting direction and make the colors look pretty. I think I did all these keys in a week with overtime. Very few layers were involved. The main characters were one layer, the crowds were all on one layer and the trees, distant rocks and clouds were their own layer as well. The grass texture was reused, I just repositioned it and copied and pasted it so it looked different on each key:) The trees and background rocks were taken from props already done like the 3 prop pages on the bottom of the page on my website.
The Quiver trees, Palm trees, and "Hippo area rocks" prop sheets were painted from scratch, no models. The quiver trees took about a month of discussion on how the design of the bark would look and peel. To bad you don't really notice it in the movie:( We weren't allowed to just slap photograph textures on the props, we had to interpret the texture in a retro stylized way and provide them to the surfacing department.
"What Julian would do" paintings were done on top of rough layout models. The third painting down of Julian looking at Melman's eyes is not a still from the movie. It was painted on top of a very rough layout model.
The keys with Melman and the giraffes, rough layout models were provided for the characters and the trees and background were painted from scratch. I made a leaf brush just for this painting.
The painting with rico blow torching the jeep was all painted from scratch except the distant trees, those were grabbed from approved tree props.
So depending on how complicated it was, most of these took about 2 to 3 days. Some took three hours and some took two weeks, it all depends on how many redo's and versions they want. Of course having layout models of the characters and the props already designed makes painting these a lot easier.
I hope that all this made sense. If not feel free to ask more questions.
-Erwin
Erwin you're inspiring me a lot with all your art work....Really amazing stuff.....K.I.T.
Hey Erwin
Your work is amazing..really like the paintings.
WOW, Really fantastic..
Thanks for update Madagasca2 artwork.
Very very nice work!!!
Great sense of light, colour, texture, shape and scale
Each one is consistant, clear, and really solid. Nice work Erwin!
wow you're really really good!i'll be here often.
your work is amazing, great job !
Hi there! John Nevarez just posted a link to you highlighting your stuff, but I think he got your name wrong...check it out...http://john-nevarez.blogspot.com/2009/03/edwin-madrids-work-on-mad2.html
I like studying your work by the way. Hope that isn't intimidating...
So glad you posted the Mad2 stuff (must have missed these while trying to design "Gerta"). These color keys are astounding...simply astounding!
WOW! Love your techniques and how you use texture. Great site!
Wow truly breath taking!!! Love your sense of lighting and color.
SIMPLY GREAT!
Nice stuff there buddy. You're the smoove one with the light.
truly amazing stuff! got any tips on achieving such light and value handling? do you work directly with color or greyscale first?
thanks for showing!
Wow, Your stuff is truly amazing! Style, colors, lighting, everything. I'll definitely return for more.
Thanks for sharing,
-Hans
I´ve just found your blog and I can´t believe how u draw! You´r amazing! A genius!
Gorgeous work. Great composition and use of shapes and colour. Thanks for sharing.
RAF
WOW!!!
Beautiful work!!
Just found your blog and browsed thru your website!!
Amazing paintings. What a treat!! So much colour and fantastic lighting and atmospheres.
Thank you for sharing.x
Ooooo, i hope you dont mind, but i have added your link to my blog. You under my inspiring talents.
Thank you.x
Thanks for the compliments everyone!
Daniel Ljunggren - For these paintings I worked directly with color but I would always check my values every so often through a greyscale adjustment layer.
Having good reference and going out landscape painting always helped me with my color and atmosphere.
the paintings are beautiful. Really great stuff !!
amazing job my friend. let's kick it again soon.
WOW, Fantastic!!!!!! Your work is top nutch my friend!!!! Love it, I realy love it!!!! Congratulation!!
Incredible job! You´re a GENIUS
I'm speechless. I have been a fan of your work for about a year now, and you blow me away further and further for every new piece of yours I see! Amazing!
you are amazing.
ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL WORK! Thank you for sharing your process
Beautiful paintings! from your video game to film to your personal work, you blow me away with the range you have. How often do you go landscape painting?
I really enjoyed the Dreamworks exhibit at SJSU on Tuesday, There were so many people there. Too bad I didn't get to meet you there. ah well, next time!
may I link your blog on my blog? thanks!
your work is incredible!
Hey james_oshea3,
Thanks for checking out the Dreamworks exhibit. It was really cool to see all the pieces up on display. To bad it was really crowded.
I use to go landscape painting at least once a week when I was a student but I rarely go out now. I should go out more though, it helps with color.
Your more than welcome to link my blog. Thanks!
Your work is amazing, I can feel the images!
Congratulations!
your artwork is beautiful!! Thanks for the link
Hey, I've followed your work on cgsociety. Glad I found your blog. Beautiful work.
Hey Erwin,
Thanks so much for the link! I am more than happy to do the same. Your work is absolutely wonderful.
Amazing paintings Erwin!...the strokes in the one of the volcano and the lighting is great!
Salud!!!!
My word I don't understand how you do it! Your composition and lighting really bring the life into your work.
you did some really outstanding work for mad 2! Thanks for the inspiration, and I can't wait to see more from you
Seems like there aren't many superlatives left to describe your work. So I'll just say your work is just wonderful and frankly I'm inspired.
Hi there! I absolutely love the Madagascar work! I truly am in awe and very inspired by what you have done! I was wondering if you could go into any explanation in how you create such stunning ground and grass textures. For example the grass in the 4th illustration from the top and the ground in number 7 from the top (in your posted madagascar images section on your website) I'm interested to know how you get the very graphic yet subtle angular deviations. Thanks for your time and post!
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