Category Archives: Uncategorized

This week I thought I would cast the design net a little further out...and feature a costume, makeup, special effects, and creature designer. Sir Richard Leslie Taylor is the creator and head of New Zealand film prop and special effects company Weta Workshop. Raised in the small town of Patumahoe, just outside of Pukekohe, Taylor was educated at Wesley College, Paerata.

A close friend of Peter Jackson, he and his company created all of the props, costumes, prosthetics, miniatures and weaponry for Jackson's epic The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. For his work on the three films, he shared in winning four Academy Awards. This included two for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in Make Up and Visual Effects, and two for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in Costume Design and Make Up.

Academy Awards

Nominated: Best Costume Design, The Lord of the      Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Won: Best Makeup, The Lord of the      Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Won: Best Visual Effects, The Lord of the      Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Won: Best Makeup, The Lord of the      Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Won: Best Costume Design, The Lord of the      Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Won: Best Visual Effects, King Kong (2005)

Film Credits

The Wind in the Willows (visual effects supervisor) (in production)

2012 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (creatures)

2011 The Devil's Rock (design & effects supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2009 The Lovely Bones (design supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2009 District 9 (design & effects supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2008 Eel Girl (short) (effects supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2007 The Water Horse (supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2007 30 Days of Night (designer: Weta Workshop, effects supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2006 Black Sheep (special effects)

2005 The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (creative supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2005 King Kong (special miniature effects)

2005 The Legend of Zorro (miniature train designer: Weta Workshop, miniatures designer & supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2003 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (creatures: armour and miniatures, workshop supervisor: Weta Workshop - uncredited)

2003 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (miniature effects supervisor: Weta Workshop)

2002 The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (creatures: armour and miniatures)

2001 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (president: Weta Workshop - uncredited, supervisor: special makeup, creatures, armour and miniatures / Weta workshop - uncredited)

Young Hercules (TV series) (creature special effects - 6 episodes, 1998-1999) (creature special effects designer - 2 episodes, 1998)

1998 Heaven (special effects)

1996-1998 Xena: Warrior Princess (TV series) (special effects designer - 3 episodes)

1997 Tidal Wave: No Escape (TV movie) (miniature effects supervisor: Australia)

1994 Once Were Warriors (prosthetics)

1994 Heavenly Creatures (borovnian prosthetics and suite effects designer, prosthetic effects)

1994 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules and the Lost Kingdom (TV movie) (special effects designer: Weta Ltd.)

1993 The Tommyknockers (TV mini-series) (alien supervisor: New Zealand)

1992 Braindead (creature & gore effects, stop motion animator)

1989 Meet the Feebles (puppet maker)

This week, I want to talk about comic books and politics. Should comics be influenced by politics? And have comics lost some of their sense of social justice?

Now, to get to the bottom of this, I have to go back to the Silver Age of Comics, the late 50's to early 70's, a time of great social and political reform and upheaval, especially in America. The prevalent black civil rights movement saw the birth of the first black superheroes, such as Black Panther and Falcon at Marvel and Black Lightning at DC. But even before then, there were some instances of comics favouring civil rights. For example Real Fact Comics issue 5 (DC, 1946) ran a highly favourable piece on Paul Robeson, a black actor/ singer/ athlete, which included the phrase "He already, by example, has taught the world, as well as his race, that color has nothing to do with greatness." which was hugely progressive for a time when there was still segregation in federal buildings. Also some comics featuring white protagonists came out against racism, such as Green Lantern/ Green Arrow, The Avengers and Captain America (admittedly the later two really only came out against racism when they had the two aforementioned black heroes amongst their rooster of characters). However, whilst black people seem to be doing well in comics now, I still think that some ethnic groups are being left out. For example, whilst I can think of a few Asian superheroes, I struggle to think of many Hispanic heroes and I can only think of at best 3 representatives each for any religion that is not Christianity. I can't name any explicitly Muslim heroes apart from Dust from the X-Men (Simon Baz is never said to be Muslim as far as I'm aware, just Arab-American, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) and I can't think of any Hindu heroes off the top of my head.

Then we come to more a political side. Whilst I am glad to see a decent proliferation of LGBT heroes and heroines in comics today, I can't help thinking that the writers are actually shying away from any big political story-lines that might result. This is also now true about dealing with racism. It's almost as if they are denying that these problems exist. I know comics are still meant to be aimed at younger people (some might say kids), but surely that's a good enough reason to do it. By including any character specifically as a "good guy" (Batwoman, Hulkling and Wiccan from the Young Avengers, etc.) you are saying that it doesn't matter who they love, hopefully making an impression. So why is the bad side being ignored. They're saying "this isn't something that is wrong" about being gay, so why are they not saying "this IS something that is wrong" about the hatred and violence directed at people just for being different.

Anyway, that's my two pennies worth. I'd like to hear what you guys think about this subject. However, be warned. I want a fair and reasonable discussion, so if I see anyone being unreasonable or being intolerant towards any group mentioned above, I will be removing your comments.

Wow guys! Great entries this round. From the classical to the whimsical, and even some great battle scenes from inside the forum. Well done.

Choosing a winner for these things is never easy, but I loved NHA247's mech marauder!

So congratulations! As a prize...such as it is...leave a link to a character of yours you would like me to redesign in the comments section, and I'll give it a whirl.

Your Pop Quiz challenge is to create an awesome gladiator! They can be male, female, mech, mutant, modern, classic, futuristic – whatever floats your creative boat!

You only get one entry so be creative, and above all else, have fun!

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine forums,ImageShack, PhotoBucket, or whatever);

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• The image must be new and designed specifically for the Pop Quiz;
• Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his “Bayou Belle” character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
• Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). See this post on how to get the direct link for most sites.

This contest will close at 9pm Eastern on Sunday, September 8^th.

The winner of the Pop Quiz will receive a redesign of one of their original creations of their choice by yours truly.

        The Incredible Ve Neill.

One of the most renowned Makeup Artists in the motion picture business, Ve Neill has set many standards of excellence in the makeup field. Over the course of her career Neill has won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, four Saturn Awards, a BAFTA Award, Local 706 Best Character Makeup Award and the first Artist to be awarded Hollywood Foreign Press “Makeup Artist of the Year” Awards well as the first Makeup Artist to be honored as Makeup Artist of the Year by MAC Cosmetics

Neill created space travelers for the first "Star Trek" film and for the hit comedy "Galaxy Quest", rock ' n roll vampires for Joel Schumacher's "The Lost Boys" and visions of the Afterlife for Tim Burton's wacky comedy "Beetlejuice." She turned Johnny Depp into “Edward Scissorhands” and "Sweeney Todd" and "Captain Jack Sparrow" , Robin Williams into "Mrs. Doubtfire," Martin Landau into Bela Lugosi for "Ed Wood" and brought to life an onslaught of villains, beauties and super-heroes for Warner Brothers' early "Batman" series.. In 2010 she headed up the Special Makeup FX Dept. for the film “Thor”. In the fall of 2010 she swung in to action as the Dept. Head for “The Amazing Spiderman”and has recently had the huge hit, “The Hunger Games” starring Jennifer Lawrence. Currently she is keeping busy on the Spiderman, X-Men, and Hunger Games sequels. She added the title, “Judge” to her resume for the hit reality TV Show “Face Off” on the Syfy channel.

Selected Credits

2015 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (makeup department head, makeup designer) (pre-production)

2014 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (makeup department head, makeup designer) (pre-production)

2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past (beauty makeup designer: Jennifer Lawrence) (post-production)

2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (makeup artist: Andrew Garfield / Emma Stone, makeup designer) (post-production)

2013 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (makeup department head, makeup designer) (post-production)

2012 The Amazing Spider-Man (makeup department head)

2012 The Hunger Games (makeup department head, makeup designer)

2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (hair stylist: Mr. Depp, makeup artist: Mr. Depp)

2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (makeup department head, makeup effects creator) – Academy Award Nomination

2006 Eragon (makeup artist: Durza, motion rig unit)

2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (makeup department head, makeup effects creator)

2005 Constantine (makeup department head)

2004 The Chronicles of Riddick (special makeup effects artist)

2003 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (makeup department head) – Academy Award Nomination

2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember (makeup artist: Mr. DeVito)

2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (key makeup artist)

2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas (makeup artist)

1999 Stigmata (makeup effects supervisor)

1997 Amistad (makeup department head)

1997 Gattaca (makeup supervisor)

1997 Batman & Robin (key makeup artist)

1996 Mars Attacks! (makeup artist: Mr. Nicholson)

1995 Batman Forever (key makeup artist)

1994 Ed Wood (key makeup artist) – Academy Award Winner

1993 Mrs. Doubtfire (key makeup artist) – Academy Award Winner

1992 Hoffa (supervising makeup artist) – Academy Award Nomination

1992 Batman Returns (makeup supervisor) – Academy Award Nomination

1991 Hook (makeup artist: Julia Roberts)

1990 Edward Scissorhands (makeup department head) – Academy Award Nomination

1990 Dick Tracy (special character makeup artist)

1988 Beetlejuice (makeup artist) – Academy Award Winner

1987 The Lost Boys (makeup artist)

PBS announced today that Tuesday, October 15, 2013, is "Superheroes Night," featuring a three-hour block dedicated to the groundbreaking program SUPERHEROES: A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE. The newest film from Emmy Award-winning producer/director Michael Kantor (BROADWAY: THE AMERICAN MUSICAL; MAKE 'EM LAUGH: THE FUNNY BUSINESS OF AMERICA) will premiere at 8:00 p.m. ET and include insightful interviews from Stan Lee; actors Adam West (TV's "Batman") and Lynda Carter ("Wonder Woman"); Geoff Johns (chief creative officer, DC Comics), Jeph Loeb (head of television for Marvel Entertainment); Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) and cartoonist/author Jules Feiffer (the long-running strip "Feiffer"), as well as appearances by the late comic book icons Joe Simon (co-creator of Captain America) and Jerry Robinson (who helped create the Joker). A full list of interviewees who appear in the show is located at the end of the release.

SUPERHEROES, cowritten by Kantor and Laurence Maslon, was initially to premiere October 8 and play over three weeks, but the series will now be a one-evening event of super entertainment.

Narrated and hosted by Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Showtime's Ray Donovan), SUPERHEROES: A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE is the first documentary to examine the dawn of the comic book genre and its powerful legacy, as well as the evolution of the characters who leapt from the pages over the last 75 years and their ongoing worldwide cultural impact. It chronicles how these "disposable diversions" were subject to intense government scrutiny for their influence on American children and how they were created, in large part, by the children of immigrants whose fierce loyalty to a new homeland laid the foundation for a multi-billion-dollar industry that is now an influential part of our national identity.

"SUPERHEROES: A NEVER-ENDING BATTLE is one of the most comprehensive surveys of the vibrant comic book industry ever created; it explores cultural histories in an entertaining and educational way - just as PBS viewers have come to expect," said Donald Thoms, Vice President, Programming and Talent Management for PBS.

SUPERHEROES will be presented in three one-hour parts:

PART ONE, 8 PM: "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" (1938-1958)

During the Depression, the popularity of dozens of superhero characters opens the door for a new generation of artists and writers. World War II creates a patriotic fervor for star-spangled adventurers to represent the American spirit at war and on the home front, but in the 1950s, superheroes are caught in the fire of government scrutiny and regulation. When the thrilling "Adventures of Superman" is broadcast on the new medium of television, America's first and greatest superhero leads the entire comic book industry to renewed strength.

PART TWO, 9 PM: "Great Power, Great Responsibility" (1959-1977)

In the 1960s, a new breed of superhero emerges in the pages of Marvel Comics, inspired by the age of atomic energy and space travel and, in turn, inspiring the pop culture and pop artists of the time. Spider-Man, the Hulk and others are the first to have "problems" with which an adult audience can identify, and contemporary social issues make their way into comic books. Black powerhouses such as the Black Panther and Luke Cage appear on the scene, and the pages of "Green Lantern/Green Arrow" explode with relevant storylines as comic books are forced to confront the reality of an increasingly complex world.

PART THREE, 10 PM "A Hero Can Be Anyone" (1978-Present)

Modern enthusiasm for superheroes has been embraced in all forms of media and by all demographics, beginning with the historic Superman movie featuring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. In 1986, Batman is overhauled as The Dark Knight to reflect the nocturnal underside of his character, and Watchmen bring new sophistication to comic book narratives, illuminating a violent and politicized world. In the burgeoning new millennium, superheroes have taken over popular culture with feature films, television shows and video games complementing a new generation of web-based comics that bring superhero adventures to every corner of the world.

In addition to the names listed earlier in this release, the full list of interviewees who appear in SUPERHEROES includes: artist Neal Adams, Ed Catto (Bonfire Agency), writer Chris Claremont, writer Gerry Conway, writer Paul Dini, writer Mark Evanier, writer and editor Danny Fingeroth, historian William Foster, artist Ramona Fradon, artist Irwin Hasen, the late artist Carmine Infantino, writer and artist Phil Jiminez, writer Gerard Jones, publisher Jenette Kahn, the late artist Joe Kubert, artist and co-publisher of DC Comics Jim Lee, comic store owner Mike Malve, artist/writer Todd McFarlane, screenwriter Ashley Miller, writer Grant Morrison, writer Gary Phillips, writer/editor Denny O'Neil, writer Trina Robbins, chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment Joe Quesada, casting director Andrea Romano, artist/designer Arlen Schumer, writer Louise Simonson, writer/artist Walt Simonson, Man of Steel director Zack Snyder, artist/writer Jim Steranko, writer J. Michael Straczynski, colorist Christina Strain, writer/editor Mark Waid, writer/editor Len Wein, writer Marv Wolfman and author Bradford Wright.

So, as we near the premier date of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's big step onto the small screen with Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D, I thought it would be a good time to ask, which comic book property would you like to see given a shot at a new TV series? It could be another addition to the MCU, a Marvel property with no connection to the Avengers or even a DC hero. But, I want you to think Live Action here, so no 'toons.

Personally, I'd like to see The Runaways given a chance. They're an interesting team, not one of Marvels big hitters, but they've got enough of a following for it to work. You've already got an age demographic set out in the age of the characters and you can deal with social subjects, connect with the audience.

So, what do you guys want to see?

First let me apologize for making this a very brief post without the traditional five finalists or a finished picture with the winning caption. I am not feeling well thus the quick and dirty format of this post. Also since I am not feeling well I will not be posting Anime Talk today. So that being said let me announce this weeks caption winner.

William Peterson : “First me, and now he’s playing Batman?”