Action Movie Genre :: Samurai - Painting by Vito Soriano

Characters from Comic Books
and Blockbuster Movies

The samurai warrior...he's in the realm of the ninja, medieval knight, the western gunslinger, the assassin and the kung fu master. If you play Mortal Combat, you know how popular this genre is today. I think Matrix has taken it to another level.

Popular games in the video game development industry are everywhere. I still remember how comic books were my idea of home entertainment! But illustrators and character conceptual artists will always come up with something new, and it's hard to keep up these days. A young artist usually finds inspiration in poring over pages of illustrated comic book superheroes (I sure did!).

And of course movies do it too... with even more action figures. Fine art and illustration are both fun to do. Many comic book-inspired movies have taken the action movie genre to another level with computer graphic images or cgi. So today's designers need also to learn how to create puppets and work with animators, special effects and compositor artists.

So much learning curve and teamwork! (whereas painting is a solo project).

Contemporary Japanese films continue to impress us with visual power and inventiveness -- with or without digital special effects. I always enjoyed the great samurai films of director Akira Kurosawa (Rashomon, Throne of Blood, Seven Samurai etc.) for their storytelling as much as the imagery. (I must have developed this research in cinema more deeply than I did with the comic books).

Though both areas must have a good story and character development. (Traditionally), comic books tend to exaggerate whereas in (Classical) painting everything is more subtle in telling a story.

Dream Art Projects

Every now and then, a great art project surfaces, and in comic books, it usually happens in the creation of the cover art. It's every illustrator or photographer's dream to land a cover art job , because so much depends on its success. It is what sells the issue --- and some are so good that they become collectable.

Hand painted billboards were also a lot of FUN... and I had my 'fill' in this field before digital prints took over. My brother Ben Lao still revisit our Album Art days, when we used to paint record album covers and movie posters everyday. These were smaller panels (6 x 6 square ft.) and they were perfect for experimental painting techniques in oil.

Now you see why I'm developing cover art and billboard art platforms for myself here. And now I get to do the best of both worlds.

In time, I will open them for you to submit and contribute. Just bare with me. I'm busy painting, and building these platforms then ... I like to see your own dream projects ... legendary heroes and characters, action figures (like this menacing swordsman), cover art illustrations and tattoos and photos ... when Content 2.0 opens... stay tuned...




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