Originally found by an eagle eyed member of JoeDios.com, a website for concept art company Massive Black has been unveiled, and along with it, a bunch of great looking concept pieces for potential use in the G.I. Joe line.
Actually if you look, a lot of these ideas were borrowed for G.I. Joe throughout the Pursuit of Cobra, G.I. Joe: Renegades, and even the Ghost Hawk II has some strong elements from the VTOL in this artwork. Some of this stuff looks fantastic.
For obvious safety and cost reasons, Hasbro cannot make toys with this many hard edges and details, but for sure the inspiration was there for the HISS, the Black Dragon, and the Ghost Hawk II. The stuff that wasn’t used like the APC and the Tank wasn’t used for pretty obvious reasons, in my mind, as they are very evocative of similar vehicles from Aliens and HALO. While G.I. Joe has clearly pulled some inspiration from those properties in the past, those two examples strike me as being extremely blatant.
To me the biggest loss is the incredible concept for The Baroness, a much more combat ready soldier looking version of that character. Amazing looking figure there. Pretty neat to see some of the steps taken towards our retail offerings. Check out the gallery below, and hit up the site itself, too.
Every Joe fan’s favorite package artist Mike Thompson had a stretch where he was posting several awesome pieces of his Joe art on an almost weekly basis. Working as a package artist through the Rise of Cobra and into the Pursuit of Cobra era, Mike’s excellent blog, Mike T Artworks showcased his excellent renditions of characters like Spirit, City Strike Scarlett, and Whiteout.
He’s taken a break from posting G.I. Joe related art, most likely because he’s either shown most of it already, or is still waiting for them to be cleared by Hasbro to post…but today that changed! During our interview of Mike Thompson on the What’s on Joe Mind podcast we were lucky enough to see some of his other pieces, and now he has posted them via his Twitter page.
These head shots were to be used on some canceled Wal-Mart 2-Packs featuring Nano-B.A.T., Zap, Budo, and Dr. Mindbender. Check out these excellent images below. Also make sure you keep your eyes on MikeTArtworks.com which is his main site featuring some fantastic work that he’s done over the years. He has some amazing talent, even if you’re checking out some non-G.I. Joe work, I think you’ll appreciate what he does. He’s obviously a geek at heart!
no images were found
To hear straight from the source about the process for producing this incredible artwork, hit up the embedded player below to listen to our interview with Mr. Thompson. It’s enlightening to say the least!
Folks who listen to the What’s on Joe Mind Podcast have obviously heard all of us interact with Chuck, and the fact that he does YouTube video reviews…I know I’ve been joking with him about it, but he does cover some G.I. Joe items, and hey, he’s a funny guy, so I’ll give him some free pub here.
Some of his more recent G.I. Joe reviews involve Pursuit of Cobra and 30th Anniversary figures.
First and foremost, he reviewed the 30th Anniversary Law & Order:
He also has covered the Cobra Viper as well, which is a very nice figure:
You guys should check ’em out, especially if you’re a fan of the podcast.
Frustration from the glut of merchandise clogging retail pegs and blocking the release of subsequent waves of highly-anticipated figures seemed to be the theme of 2011. When new G.I. Joe figures finally made their way into our collections, the countless accessories, innovations in articulation, and intricately-detailed sculpts made the class of 2011 among the best we’ve ever seen in the 25th Anniversary-style era. Hasbro surprised with the release of the Sky Striker as part of the 30th Anniversary line, disappointed with the cancellation of the G.I. Joe: Renegades animated series, and energized with the trailer for the live-action movie sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Not to be outdone, licensees such as IDW Publishing and Sideshow Collectibles continued to impress with their offerings of G.I. Joe merchandise, an indication of the strength of the G.I. Joe brand. In retrospect of 2011, A Real American Hero, Generals Joes and The Terror Drome team up to bring you the best of G.I. Joe 2011.
Click the Read the Rest of this Story link below for the full details.
As always, full credit must be given to notpicard who has been able to dig up some fantastic stuff over the past week or so. Late last week he directed me towards a couple of different sites he uncovered online, and while the style of the art from the two sites is quite different, they have one thing in common. Some bad ass G.I. Joe conceptual drawings and paintings!
First, I’d like to point out Indigo Studios, who were apparently the folks behind the Pursuit of Cobra paintings that served as backdrops for the slideshow at the G.I. Joe Convention in 2009. They may have been used elsewhere, but I’m not sure where. All I know is I am absolutely in love with these paintings, and I am fired up that there is now a place to see them in all of their medium res glory. They really capture the whole Pursuit of Cobra aesthetic pretty perfectly, I must say. I do find it a bit odd that the human characters don’t bare much resemblance to the Pursuit of Cobra characters we got, but the vehicles and environments make up for that. You can find Indigo Studios right here, and I’ve mirrored the fantastic images below.
no images were found
Next are some images from SoupGraphix.com, who appear to be a graphic design company much more animated in spirit, but equally cool. They appear to be behind some of the recent Convention logos, and apparently had some input into the G.I. Joe: Renegades logo, too. There are some pretty neat ideas below that we have not seen anywhere. Question is, are they unused logos from projects past, or potential clues about stuff still to come? Regardless, I’ve mirrored a few of the images below, hit up SoupGraphix.com to see the rest.
no images were found
I friggen love this stuff. Thanks again to notpicard for his eagle eye lookin’ out!
