Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1542693
The Fantasticar Like many graduates of Art Center, my alma mater, designing and building a car was a life goal; for this reason, I was delighted (and intimidated) by the challenge of creating a new take on the iconic Fantasticar. We knew the car had to feel distinctly retro- futuristic and include iconic touchpoints of the era: bubble canopies, chrome fins, turbine shapes, aerodynamic surfacing. But we wanted to push past the silly and naive versions of retro- futurism and find something truly elegant and dynamic even by modern standards. We were inspired greatly by the GM Firebird IV concept car, as well as the Ford FX-Atmos. The refined spirit of these cars provided a starting point, and from there, we looked to the source material. The original Fantasticar was a cluster of four vehicles that connected together in a diamond pattern. While we knew our car would be a single vehicle to allow for interior dialog scenes, we embraced this diamond configuration in our seating arrangement. Ben Grimm occupies the driver's seat at the front, while Reed and Sue occupy the middle row, and Johnny takes the backseat. Designed and built entirely from scratch, the Fantasticar required a large team of talents to bring it to life: Concept Artists, engineers and fabricators. Joe Hiura led the team and the NASA-worthy surface modeling. George Hull, Benjamin Last and Ed Natividad all contributed to the beautiful shape of the car, while our steadfast on-the-ground Art Director, Oliver Hodge, interfaced with Nick Bonathan from SFX coordinator Alistair William's team to bring the car to life. We built two physical cars: one full hero vehicle with a working canopy and Tesla drivetrain, and one stunt chassis for the more aggressive driving shots. Galactus' World Ship After so much time immersed in Reed's optimistic retro-future, the design of Galactus' World Ship was a refreshing challenge. From the outset, we looked to Jack Kirby, whose cosmic machinery has always possessed a strange, mythic geometry—shapes that are whimsical, impossible and yet profoundly iconic. The World Ship needed to feel at once ancient and brutal; a product of cold, driven engineering with one purpose: to feed. After much exploration with powerful images and animations A. FANTASTICAR. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY JOSHUA VIERS, CREATED IN OCTANE AND PHOTOSHOP. MADE FROM A MODEL BY JOE HIURA, WITH PRELIMINARY DESIGN WORK BY GEORGE HULL, BENJAMIN LAST AND ED NATIVIDAD. B. WORLD SHIP EXTERIOR. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY TILL NOWAK, CREATED IN UNREAL ENGINE AND PHOTOSHOP. C. WORLD SHIP INTERIOR. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY THOMAS DU CREST, CREATED IN BLENDER AND PHOTOSHOP. D. BAXTER APARTMENT. CONCEPT ILLUSTRATION BY JOSHUA VIERS, CREATED IN OCTANE AND PHOTOSHOP. MADE FROM A RHINO MODEL BY PATRICK DUNN-BAKER. A B