Bradley G. Munkowitz is a much in-demand movie visual FX artist, introduced to FUTURE-ROCKER by fellow designer Ash Thorp. He has worked on Disney's TRON: LEGACY, and most recently, on this summer's Tom Cruise vehicle, OBLIVION. We caught up with G-MUNK - as he likes to be called - to talk about movie designs, and his new abstract art poster series.
GMunk, the graphics that you design for films like OBLIVION and
TRON: LEGACY ( I'm thinking of the hologram displays, especially ) look
incredibly complicated. For example, the 'TRON Throne Room' graphic: Not only is it a great cinematic sequence, but it contains some of the most beautiful and enthralling abstract art I've seen. Describe how these sequences come together. Every
little speck of visual information seems to have a journey on the screen. How does it go from your roughs to the finished sequence? Who works on what?
It all starts with a brief from the Director, then a long
process of research, reference, style frames, storyboards, animation production
and finishing. Yes I do appreciate and strive for a high level of detail in my
work and push very hard to make sure that isn't compromised in the final
product...
I always like to talk about
creating what you love, and savoring the process in doing so... The work that
speaks to you, deep into your soul, is the work you should be creating... I've
been doing this over 13 years, and have finally, in the past few years, found
that magical spark that's more inspired than I've ever been.
ART BY GMUNK
How did you create the art in your OpArt and GEO poster series?
I create them using Generated Geometry that is taken into
Maya, my 3D software of choice, and rendered using either mentalRay or vRay…
My main Inspiration is the great
Andy Gilmore, who is the modern-day master of this style... I'm also greatly
inspired by the great Victor Vasarely's artwork, and the copious usage of
psychedelics in general...
PONY STYLE, 2013
OCCULUS PERUZZI, 2013
PONY STYLE, 2013
MILLER'S CROSSES, 2013
[ Editor's note: There's more GMUNK art in MONOBLOG - out at the end of August 2013 ].
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[ FOOTNOTE FROM GMUNK ]
I've been living by a few quotes as of late, and I'd love to share them with you:
"Nothing is original.. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, lights and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work ( and theft ) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don't bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: 'It's not where you take things from - it's where you take them to.'"
- Jim Jarmusch.
"To progress in life you must give up the things you do not like. Give up doing the things that you do not like to do.. You must find the things that you do like. The things that are acceptable to your mind."
- Agnes Martin.
and my favorite:
The Law of Detachment
''In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty... In the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning...
And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe...''
- Deepak Chopra.
