SPIES AND LIES

 

This Blu-ray packaging design project provided me a fun opportunity to explore mid-to-late 60s spy movie visual asthetics. This three-film collection of Shaw Brothers modern actioners is full of clever characters, glamorous gals, groovy gadgets, furious fisticuffs, and of course, outragiously "sixties" set designs. That's what makes them so fun to watch.   

For this triple feature, SUPER SPIES AND SECRET LIES (which includes THE GOLDEN BUDDHA, ANGEL WITH THE IRON FISTS, and THE SINGING THIEF) I split the real estate vertically and contained the actor's inside "surfboard" ovals with various related iconography breaking the borders. Since I went with a consistant "themed" color palette, I decided to make the art grayscale to achieve a more cohesive overall appearance. I also added some weathered aging and a psychodelic font treatment to help sell the time period. 

For the booklet cover I simplified it down to the various MacGuffin iconography representing each film.

The James Bond movie series was a pop culture phenomenon all over the world. With the craze perhaps reaching it's boiling point in 1966. But the ripples continued for a few years, with action "spy" films riding out the decade. With each culture adding their own local flavor. The Hong Kong filmmaking giant, Shaw Brothers, was no different. These 3 films certainly flaunt their cinematic inspiration proudly. But they are more than low budget copies of Her Magesty's most popular agent, they illustrate the tastes of the HK film audiences of the time. Less sex, more fist fights. Less WORLD DOMINATION, and more down-to-earth, localized stakes.

For cinema buffs, it's fun to spot the recognizable shooting locations. Two of the films included here were filmed on the Shaw Brothers Movietown lot in Sai Kung, without much effort to hide the fact. In ANGEL, our heroine rappels down the face of SHAW HOUSE (the iconic administrative building), while in THIEF, our protagonist has his climactic finale battle on the Shaw backlot amongst various standing, but dimly lit, martial arts film sets. 

Hey, whatever saved them a buck. But, I'm glad they did, because getting an "behind the cutain" glimpse into Shaw Movietown, however obscurred or lightly camouflaged, holds as much interest to me as anything they could've constructed for the film. Sadly, the glory days of Shaw's filmmaking dominance are long gone, and the site is due to be redeveloped into apartment flats.

Getting back to the packaging. I was under the mistaken impression it was to be a three-disc affair. So each film got it's own disc art and menu design. I don't think these were used in the final presentation. So here they are for posterity.

The disc art:

And the menus:

See you in 2025!

COPS OF FUTURE PASSED

 

Here's some Blu-ray cover art I did a couple years ago that I was starting to think might never get released. This title faced an extended delay as the distributor tried, ultimately in vain, to get a new higher quality HD scan of the original film elements. After two years, they finally decided to go ahead and do a very limited release of this 1993 goofy Wong Jing action comedy, FUTURE COPS. On the bright side, at least now there's an acceptible (if maybe not spectacular) HD version out there for fans. Yes, there ARE fans of this film. It's a bit broad for me personally. (And I often like broad humor.) And the cast is top tier. But for me, it just doesn't quite gel as a whole.

My brief from the client was to NOT raise the attention of CAPCOM's lawyers. The film has characters obviously inspired by the popular Japanese video game franchise, yet not officially licensed by CAPCOM. So my art should also not resemble the video game fighters too closely. The only "video game" reference is the old CRT monitor showing nothing but, appropriately enough, static. (Anybody else have a strange nostalgia for "tv screen snow"?) And the 8-bit font of the director's name. I leaned more into an anime style. It was a gamble, but the movie is a goofy mess, so I figured the art could be too. 

Actually this style of illustration more closely matches my normal, "comfort-zone" style (minus the manga-ish faces, which obviously is not my thing), than the painterly stuff I feel is expected of me for movie posters. As a young child I was heavily influenced by the artwork found in 60s-70s MAD Magazine. Early exposure to the work of Don Martin, Basil Wolverton, Jack Davis, Antonio Prohias and Sergio Aragonés boiled my brain, and certainly inspired my burgeoning imagination.

Side note: Recently, I was super lucky to catch the wonderful exhibition of original MAD MAGAZINE art and memorabilia at the Norman Rockwell Museum of Illustration located in his hometown of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Rockwell stuff was great, of course, but man, feast your eyes on that Wally Wood original?! Glorious!

Anyway, I gave each character a background color matching their costume, bursting forth from manga panels with action lines, halftones and whatever else. Hopefully you get the idea, without it really looking like typical Street Fighter art at all. Mission... accomplished?

For the inside inlay I did another piece just for variety. I wasn't sure how much anyone would care for the cover art since it was a bit different. But I guess if you hate the cover, you'll hate the inside image too, since they intentionally share a common style. 

Surprisingly the film distributor included a double-sided poster with this release featuring BOTH art pieces. Yikes!

Next up... Would you believe... we put on our X-Rays specs, our tiny hidden cameras and our shoe phones (well maybe not the shoe phones, Chief) as we delve into the stylishly super groovy mid-sixties SPY MOVIE CRAZE.... via Hong Kong, no less.

Miracles Never Cease

This art was done for an over-the-top fantasy/martial arts double feature entitled TWO TOAIST TALES, which includes the films TAOSIM DRUNKARD (1984) and THE YOUNG TAOISM FIGHTER (1986). These are "loose" sequels to THE MIRACLE FIGHTERS (1982) created, for the most part, by the same team of filmmakers. Because of that, and since they are also very similar in theme and tone to that first film, I continued in the same art style I used for that film's presentation previously. 

Artistic inspiration can come from anywhere. Usually it just comes from watching the film and mixing that with a general understanding of the previous marketing done for the film and what poster styles were in vogue at the time of production. I try not to design something misleading with incongruous visuals. As a designer, it's fun to attempt to work in different styles from various decades and genres. That being said, in this case I remember seeing THIS image of what I think are toys. They might be CG renders, I don't know. But something about the composition struck me. So months later, when this project came across my desk, I had to design a slipcover which included elements from both films, my memory went back to that image of the toys/CG figures. 

 

Below is the result of that inspiration. (Maybe you have to squint to see it.) But, the inspiration is in there somewhere. I promise.  

Inside the Blu-ray packaging is my art for each individual film. Here's my cover art for TAOISM DRUNKARD. Yep, this is THE ONE with that chomping "banana" eating monster. Not real bananas, but... well, you'll just have to watch it yourself. It's nuts. (I think he'd eat those too, if you're not careful.)

The kung fu shenanigans continue in THE YOUNG TAOISM FIGHTER. Is someone fighting against Taosim? Shouldn't it be The Young Taoist Fighter? I watched it and I still can't remember what the heck was happening. So, what do I know. Anyway. There was a jiāngshī hopping zombie vampire at one point. And disembodied arms and legs flying around fighting some dude with a fanatical love for black mascara, complete with cartoon sound effects. Or my meds were out of balance again. Half the time, with these flicks, I can't tell which.

For the included booklet cover, I did a simple rendering of the reflexology hand map seen on a wall in one of the films. A respite from the above scenes of colorful chaos.

Next time... we go to the FUTURE, to go to the past.

Kicking and Scheming

This fun piece was inspired by the amazing (and quite prolific) Hong Kong illustrator, Yuen Tai-Yung. Considered "The Godfather of Hong Kong Movie Posters" as he worked on some of the most popular films made during their cinematic 'golden age' (1970s to 1990s). He's perhaps best known for his comedy posters for the Hui Brothers, as well as Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. These usually featured caricatured, exaggerated heads of the main cast in dynamic poses. Often against a simple white backdrop.

His orignal poster for the 1983 sports/action/comedy THE CHAMPIONS is one such example. In my updated version, I've continued that motif of the exaggerated head for Biao, with an added spash of color 'peeling' off his uniform. To, hopefully, give it more energy and excitement. The color-coded cast is lined up for battle (good guys in red, and bad guys in blue), matching the soccer/football jersey colors used in the film. All this is set against a diagonal slash of team colors, Yuen popping off against white, with faint magnified details of grass and sports jersey material.

I also included some chalk markings of mapped out 'play diagrams', which I have no clue if soccer coaches actually do. But, hey, if filled in negative spaces and drew the eye to my signature. Ha.

Next up.... MIRACLES never cease.

Tiger Man

 

This 1973 Hong Kong actioner shot in Japan, was intended to star Bruce Lee. But after his untimely death the lead role went to HK-Taiwanese martial artist Jimmy Wang Yu. And he gives a intensely crazed performance as the man driven to avenge his father's mysterious murder. Yes it's a who-killed-my-father-oh-YOU-killed-my-father-prepare-to-die flick.

For the A MAN CALLED TIGER blu-ray package I designed a fairly typical 70s style exploitative action thriller poster. Wang Yu conveys his prototypical facial expression used heavily throughout the film. (Usually the last thing his adversary sees before it's "lights out".)

Tiger imagery is common in my town, from the school mascot to the tiger sancuary down the road. So some sublte stripes and blazing bengal colors seemed a natural fit, even though Yu is the only true "animal" in the film.

Overall the design came off as sorta "sharp". Not so much in clarity, but more in angularity. I think it's due to the pointy achitecture and jagged bleeding text. Oddly enough, I can't recall ever seeing a cablecar in a movie unless their was a fight atop it. Certainly more often than not. 

For the booklet cover design, I went with simple silhouettes in bengal hues. An airborne Jimmy rages out center stage, surrounded on all sides by dead men who just don't know it yet. 

Next time, we take the action to the soccer field.

IT'S RIGGED!

Amongst the Hindu temples and oil rigs of Bali. Ruthless gangs of mustachioed smugglers. A hot briefcase of cold cash. Glorious bell bottom jeans... and revenge. Sweet sweet revenge. 

This is gritty, hard film. Perhaps not quite exploitation, but darn close. So for my cover art I leaned into the hard contrasts of black or white. No gentle grays. Figures are coiled for action. Jagged edges point from all directions as if there's no easy escape. The title treatment, a leaning cross of interlocked text. The yellow/orange gradient is pulled directly from the original Hong Kong poster art as homage. All under a layer of grindhouse grime.  

For the booklet cover, black oil drips down the page along side visual references to cause and effect. Wealth. And/or Death. Two inevitable consequences for the characters in the film who deal with the stuff. You could say their ends were quite... "crude". 

I'll show myself out.  

Next time. A TIGER goes on a rampage!

It's a MIRACLE

This was a weird one. One of the stranger martial arts films of the 1980s. MIRACLE FIGHTERS, directed by the amazing Yuen Woo Ping, has a little bit of everything. Part fantasy. Part Kung fu. Part magic. But mostly just insane.

 

So for the cover art, the brief I gave myself was to convey a bit of that insanity, without spoiling too much of what awaits the viewer. There's a lot going on in the film, so naturally there's s bit going on in the cover art too. A chaotic swirl of strangeness. The film has a certain color palette which may exist more in my mind than on celluloid. But those spooky "black light" colors was the feeling I got from my viewing experience. Add a tag line, some warped titles, and let simmer for 5 minutes before serving. 

For the booklet included with the Blu-ray I got a little cheeky. If fact, it took some big "cojones" to design this cover. If you've seen the movie, you'll surely get the joke.

There's more to come in this style so stay tuned.

 

But next time.

DOUBLES get CROSSED! 

Save The Queen

For this piece I got to draw Bond, James Bond.... well, sorta. George Lazenby (ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, 1969) stars in this 1976 Hong Kong production, A QUEEN'S RANSOM (aka THE INTERNATIONAL ASSASSIN) where his role is reveresed. Rather than serving the Queen of England, he's in charge of a group of villians planning on killing her during a visit to Hong Kong. Well, sorta. It gets complicated.

For the cover art style I went with a painted collage on a stark, mostly blank background, popular with political thrillers and exploitation films at the time this film was made. A favorite poster style of mine as well. Angela Mao, Jimmy Wang Yu and Bolo Yeung get to flex amongst the Union Jack. 

It's interesting. When I get asked to design a package for a certain film. I watch the movie first. And at some point during the viewing I get a foggy vision of the cover image. The basic shape is there, along with some color and maybe text placement, but the details are fuzzy. I liken the process to being drunk in a bar. (Admittedly an odd analogy since I rarely, if ever, drink. But it's apt.) I can see the exit across the room. It's fuzzy, but it's my destination and I think I can make it. But as I make my way, staggering across the room, I zigzag into a table, get a chair accidentally wrapped around my arm, step in a bucket I can't get off my foot. Maybe pick up a random menu or an ashtray for some unknown reason. But eventually I make it to the exit, winded and perhaps a little worse for wear, but standing at my destination none the less. I made it. 

That's kind of how designing these covers goes. I see my foggy destination, but during the process of creating the final piece it zigs and it zags and goes through changes. It picks up a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Goes in this direction and I steer it back or let it go further sometimes. It's a combination of limitations of my tools, my skills, my time and my imagination along with expectations and requirements of the client all factoring in.

But upon reflection, I think it's that creative process of letting the art go where it tells me and not forcing it back to that initial preconceived notion that makes the journey worthwhile for me as a creative person. The art itself may also benefit. I've come to discover, that fuzzy early concept is only there to get me started in a direction (any direction), but being open to new ideas and fresh inspirations along the way to completing the art, is not only an important part of the process. It is the process.       

And it's the fun. I never know what my brush will do next. Or why the heck there's a bucket on my foot. And that, I find interesting. 

Next time.... things get a little weird.

JACKIE CHAN HITS 70

 

This month marks the 70th birthday of Hong Kong Cinema Superstar JACKIE CHAN! And to honor this special occasion, EASTERN HEROES Magazine is publishing a Special Edition all about 'you know who'. And I was honored to be tasked with creating a special cover for this issue.

RUSH HOUR director, Brett Ratner, is interviewed so his image on the cover was a prerequisite. Something from DRUNKEN MASTER 2 was another request. Otherwise I was left to do pretty much whatever. 

I figured a collage of the birthday boy throughout the years in front of, and behind the camera, was the most obvious direction. (I'm aware these types of commercial projects are not the place for risk-taking, experimental design). Jackie's wife, Joan Lin Feng-jiao, makes an appearance along with Chan's Chinese Drama School chums Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. The man that took Jackie under his wing, Golden Harvest studio head, Raymond Chow, raises his glass in celebration. Bruce Lee makes an appearance as his shadow loomed large over Jackie's early career, and of course Chan died for him in films while working as a lowly stuntman.

And so we remember where it all started, a little cowboy Jackie...stands poised to begin his accent. When he naively and fortuitosly signed up for a ten-year stint under the harsh tutelage of Master Yu Jim-yuen and began his upward spiral into the iconic stratosphere.

It's a rather busy image. For an even more full life. Happy Birthday Mr. Jackie Chan. Thanks for the thrills, the laughs and even a few tears. Seventy years. What a ride.

By the way Jackie, I know slowing down for you is only jumping off one exploading rooftop per day. But you'already left fans with a lifetime of breathtaking entertainment.

You've have earned a break.

If you ever choose to slowdown.

It's okay. We'll completely understand. 

But, like some perpetual motion machine, Jackie seems like he's riding an inertia comet. 

And we're just lucky enough to witness the splendor. 

God speed.

Mystery Solved

Another 'old skool' kung fu flick gets the grundgey, 'vintage-look' treatment. This piece for Joseph Kuo's fan-favorite THE MYSTERY OF CHESS BOXING was commissioned for the inlay cover of a Blu-ray release of a transfer of the only known surviving print. Not a negative transfer, but a banged-up 35mm fourty-year-old release print. So naturally the art is lovingly worn to match it's contents. 

The composition depicts the martial art 'players' strategically posing, sparring, and battling across the quadrants of a Xiangqi (Chinese chess) board. The limted color pallate takes it's cues from the game itself. The title spans the "river", with chess pieces in violent motion, mimicing the fighters above, and adding a little visual depth. 

I added folded damage to the art, not knowing that this would also be used as art for an included folded poster. Life imitates art I guess.  

Jackie Chan turns, what?, SEVENTY??? Yep. Already? That's next time...

Send in the CLONES

Welcome back for another increasingly random blog post.

This is a commissioned piece done for the cover of a publication. Since it focused on actors imitating Bruce Lee's appearance and martial arts movements (commonly refered to as "Bruceploitation") in the wake of his untimely passing, I tried to mimic the style of those cheaply painted film posters of the era. Complete with folds and sun damage.  

The four actors, professionally known as, (clockwise) Dragon Lee, Bruce Li, Bruce Leung, Bruce Le, are seen flexing in the looming shadow of Master Bruce. Set against a swirling sunset. The monlythic text, another retro design element, reflects the GAME OF DEATH jumpsuit styling, along with another silhouette of Lee from his statue, posing along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront in Hong Kong. Woooooah Hi-Yaah!

The clones may have faded, but Bruce Lee's "shadow" still looms large in the pop culture zeitgeist long after his sunset.         

Beware the "Xiangqi of Death". That's the game we'll play. Next time.