Author Archives: djuby

Gargoyles!

This week’s challenge is to create a kick a** gargoyle. Could be a traditional stone figure, a creature come to life, scary, funny…whatever you got!

You only get one entry so spread those creative wings and fly!

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.

Contest closes Sunday, June 2 at 6:00pm eastern.

Comic book and superhero fans are a tough bunch. Few characters when brought to life on screen are as closely scrutinized, or widely criticized, as when an iconic comic book character makes the leap to the silver screen.

Let’s face it…there have been many disappointments.

As an ardent Bat-fan my life long goal is to slap Joel Schumacher as I repeatedly shout “Nipples? Nipples? Nipples? Ok, so it was actually the designer’s idea, but Joel had to approve it…and he did…otherwise no nipples.

But few costume designers have felt the wrath of comic book fans more than Louise Mingenbach.

Her credits include The Usual Suspects, Superman Returns, The Hangover and GI Joe: Retaliation. But in 2000 she enraged scores of X-Men fans when the first of the Bryan Singer series was released.

For decades fans thought they knew what the Xmen looked like. You know, blue, yellow, the mandatory X. But Mingenbach had a much different take on these beloved characters. Blue and yellow was replaced with black leather and the whole team took on a tougher, and some would argue much more adult, look.

I was one of a dozen or so stitchers hired for this film when it was filming in and around the GTA and Hamilton, Ontario. While I was aware of Xmen, I was at the time not what one would consider a fan, but I knew, or thought I knew, what we were going to be producing. While most of the stitchers just took the sketches and got on with it, another stitcher – Thomas – and I sat kind of dumb founded before getting down to work. Early on in the process we sat down for lunch.

”What are you working on?” he asked.

“Wolverine” I answered. “He looks like a really well dressed biker. What about you?”

“Storm. Kinda dominatrix-ish”

And the rest of the crew was equally dumb-founded. I did not think it was particularly bad...just different...and kind of lifeless.

Recently it was announced that Mingenbach will return to the X fold as costume designer when Singer directs X-Men: Days of Future Past which is slated to open in July 2014. While fans online praised the return of Singer, the return of Mingenbach was greeted with less…lets call it enthusiasm…and Singer knew it.

He recently Tweeted: “For those of you wondering… no leather suits.”

What are your thoughts? Did she get it right re-imagining these iconic characters? Do you prefer the look of X-Men: First Class? Bat-Nipples?  Which movies got it right? Which got it wrong?

Sound off!

Thanks to all those who participated in the first of the new Pop Quizzes. All the entries were excellent. Having a little trouble uploading a picture of the winning entry for some reason, so I will try to add it as a response to this post. Wish me luck.

The first atomic cannon was fired in Nevada on May 25, 1953

This week’s challenge is to choose one of the Atomic based public domain comic book characters from the link below…

http://pdsh.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Atomic_Characters

and remake them for 2013!

You only get one entry so give it your best shot!

 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.

Contest closes Sunday, May 26th at 6:00pm eastern.

The Pop Quiz has been resurrected. Check the Blog tomorrow morning for your first 36 hour challenge.

Colleen Atwood

Colleen Atwood has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design ten times and won Academy Awards for the movies Chicago in 2002, Memoirs of a Geisha in 2006, and Alice in Wonderland in 2011. Atwood has collaborated several times with directors Tim Burton, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Demme.

Her movie career started after a chance encounter with someone whose mother was designing the sets for the film Ragtime, and she got the job of a PA (production assistant) in the film. She worked as an assistant to a costume designer and eventually earned her first film credit for A Little Sex.

An important turning point in her career came when, through the production designer with whom she had worked in Joe Versus the Volcano, she met director Tim Burton. Atwood and Burton worked together on over seven films in the next two decades, starting with Edward Scissorhands and including Sleepy Hollow, Ed Wood, Big Fish, Planet of the Apes, and Sweeney Todd.

Selected Design Credits

2012 Arrow (TV series)

2012 Snow White and the Huntsman

2012 Dark Shadows

2010 Alice in Wonderland

2009 Nine

2007 Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

2004 Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

2003 Big Fish

2002 Chicago

2001 The Tick (TV series) – Pilot (2001)

2001 Planet of the Apes

1999 Sleepy Hollow

1996 Mars Attacks!

1990 Edward Scissorhands

This Kitten Has Claws!

 For my first Costume Blog I wanted to get people’s opinions on one of the classic characters in the pantheon of comic book characters.

Catwoman made her debut in the premiere issue of Batman (#1, Spring 1940). As “The Cat,” she wore no mask or special outfit. Since that time she has evolved through at least nine lives with a wide variety of looks from her seductive early film noire persona to the Catwoman we know today.

Personally I find it difficult to pick a favourite. In “The Dark Knight Rises” I loved the simplicity of the catsuit and thought the cat ears that flipped down to create goggles was a stroke of genius. Seriously, how else could you fit kitty ears into Chris Nolan’s GothamCity?

Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman wore a handcrafted catsuit stitched together in a fit of madness. I giggled a little as she pulled a trolley needle from her sewing kit and slipped it onto her finger as the first of her claws, yet I have not worn one since without that image flashing through my mind. I have, however, resisted the urge to buy nine more.

For pure sex (kitten) appeal I’m not sure that Julie Newmar’s look could be improved upon which is perhaps why almost 50 years later she is widely regarded as the definitive Catwoman. The cinched waist, stiletto heels and shimmering metallic claws made her look seductive and timeless – and the saxophone underscore didn’t hurt!

Some looks were not quite as successful. There was the “Playboy Kitty” look with it’s Dracula like collar, the uninspired purple unitard with thigh high black boots, and of course, perhaps the worst of all, Halle Berry’s inexplicably bizarre costume in her ill fated turn as Catwoman…which wasn’t really Catwoman…but…well…you get the idea.

Got a favourite? Least favourite? Sound off!