Darian's Game: My Ender's Game Fandom Part 1

This post took want longer for me to formulate than it needed to be!

 If you follow me on this blog, you probably know that the majority of my creative efforts were focused on my fan art obsession with the movie adaptation of Ender's Game that came out in November of 2013. In fact this very blog was born as result of this movie production.

A FAN'S HISTORY

Me at Endercon 2002. Check out my M.D. Device T-shirt. What a nerd.

I have been a fan of the book since I read it many years ago when I was in college and immediately loved it.  I started creating fan art for it constantly and posting it online, gaining a small bit of recognition from the Orson Scott Card (OSC) fan community, which eventually included Card himself. At a book signing at a Border's in Bailey's Cross Roads, Virginia, I showed him some of my fan artwork and he enjoyed it so much that he gave me his contact information and told me he wanted to talk to me about using those designs. The conversation eventually resulted in him licensing some of my imagery to sell on his website www.hatrack.com and eventually would include usage in the The Authorized Ender Companion, usage at Endercon in Utah 2001, and usage in the 2008 Marvel's adaptation of Ender's Game: Battle School.  I had my name credited in the "Special Thanks to:" section of a MARVEL PRODUCED COMIC BOOK. Standing in the comic book store reading your name in a comic book was pretty exciting. Needless to say I bought multiple upon multiple of copies.

Ooh there I am!!!

Over the years when I would attend more OSC book signings and he would introduce me to the audience (something he didn't have to do.) and tell them about my Ender's Game fan art. At times afterward we would share conversations, where he would tell me that if Ender's Game became a movie he would "try" to get my designs into the movie, but he also assured that there was no guarantee that would happen. That was more than fair, I should have no expectation for that to happen, I was just ecstatic that my favorite author at the time liked my artwork. This was still when rumors of studios finalizing a deal for production seemed imminent almost every day.

Well, time past and a studio deal came and went (Warner Bros.) and then it seemed that the movie would never be made.. I admit that I didn't keep great contact with OSC over those years and I moved on to other things and other authors.

Imagine my surprise in 2011 when I hear that out of the blue the movie version got green lighted! Excitement filled my mind as I reminded myself about Card's "promise" (it was no promise) of "trying" to get my work into the film.

WARNING: DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR START BELOW THIS LINE:

I for some reason thought that I should be getting a call any day now from the production company or from Card himself saying, "Darian, Were making a movie. I need your help. Let's get to work!

 Yeah...That didn't happen.

Nor, should I have expected it too. It's not like I was an artist who has experience in the movie industry. I was just a regular artist who managed to get his favorite author to like his work. I had no experience or comparable skill set that was needed to gain serious consideration for employment on this film. Boy, do I know that now.  Have you seen the incredible concept artwork created for this movie? If not please take a break from this post and gaze upon it by visiting the sites of these various artist listed below. No, really do it now...

Battle School Concept Art by David Levy

Sean Haworth - http://www.seanhaworth.com/SH_Design/Enders_Game/Enders_Game.html
Ben Proctor - http://www.benprocter.com/journal/2012/7/8/enders-game-wraps-production.html
David Levy - http://vyle-art.com/
Robert Simmons - http://www.robertdraws.com/enders-game/
Stuart Hunter - http://www.stuhuntervfx.com/

http://conceptartworld.com/?p=28938

Back from my digression....

When that "call" didn't materialize, I still held out hope with this one notion. If I could get back in contact with Orson Scott Card, or in contact with someone with the production company, I could convince them to at least allow me to apply for consideration of contributing my artistic vision to this movie.

This was also the thinking of my good friend and fellow Ender's Game fan Steve Sywak. Steve is well experienced engineer with an aerospace and entertainment background and a deep understanding of applied Physics. We met back in the day through our mutual interest in the book and while my fan obsession focused on visual and artistic rendering of the story, Steve was heavily focused on the scientifically sound designs of the technologies and locations that were described in the book, particularly the layout of Battle School. Card consulted him multiple times, for his expertise in various publications related to the Ender's Game Universe. I featured his work on the blog here a couple months ago.

This is Steve everyone. This is the Battle School he designed.

In my mind if there was anyone who could merge the technical with the artistic vision needed to pull off Ender's Game it was him. This guy designed stuff for Cirque De Soleil shows!!! Also, he wrote a technical paper that had been inspired from a design of a physical accurate Battle School.  I had no experience like that. I watched him try to contact every producer, artist, janitor, and bell hop that was attached to the film production and no positive response about working on the film

The same outcome paralleled my friend Noah, a super talented and experienced musician, Ender fan, and established friend of Orson Scott Card. He had hopes of scoring the movie or at least getting an original song in the end credits. No one was interested. Still check out his song "Pretend" here. (I did the cover art for that)

My thinking was if these guys couldn't even get a response from the production company. It was a long shot of me ever, ever being considered.

That made sad a bit. I just wanted to help bring this book to life because it meant a lot to me for variety of reasons. Mainly, I knew what it was like to be Ender...well not the killing part or the high degree of stress, or the threat of my life being in constant danger, or the super genius stuff. I shared some qualities.  I wasn't a third, but I did have an older brother. He wasn't evil or sadistic like Peter, but we fought at times.  I, like Ender, also wanted his love and approval.

 At 11 years old I was taken out of my regular elementary school in fifth grade and placed in a Gifted and Talented program (G&T) at another school across town. My parents decision, not mine. Through that experience I know what it's like to be isolated for a time not knowing anyone. I also understand what it's like to compete against peers in the academic arena who are touted as being the smartest and brightest.  I also know what it's like to play games against these peers, mainly in a reworked version of Stratego, where we modified the rules to make the game play more interesting. Over that school year I also understand how I was able to forge friendships with some peers, and become adversaries with others intentionally and unintentionally. Like Ender, I also understand what it means to be constantly watched by teachers and adults who were in charge of running your education, and me questioning their intentions.

Did I also mention that I went to Space Camp that school year too?

Proof that I went to Space....camp

With "all" those personal experiences in my life, reading a character who was living through similar events, interactions, and emotions wrapped in spaceships, lasers, and other sci-fi stuff made Ender's Game was one of the best book's I ever read.

With that love of the source material, plus my success with getting my designs used in other Ender related items, I couldn't let it go of the fact that I would not be a part of this movie. I was mad and felt that I did all this work and had such a strong vision of what this movie was supposed to look like that I couldn't accept anything else.

I decided before Summit put any imagery out, I wanted the world to see what my vision for the Ender's Game would have been and at the same time have a catharsis of sorts allowing me to move on from my obsession with story.
 
What better way to do that then to post all that material on a blog. Thus started http://ArtofDarian.blogspot.com!!

STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO: A BLOG IS BORN

Pretend- Music Inspired by the Ender's Game Movie

Recently, a friend of mine and musical genius Noah Silver asked me to do some cover artwork for a release of his Ender's Game inspired song "Pretend."

 

Go download this song at his Bandcamp site: http://noahsilvermusic.bandcamp.com/track/pretend-enders-game-credits-song  This song should be on the movie soundtrack it sums up the Ender experience as a whole and is a damn good song!

Or listen to it hear it here:

Noah, myself and Steve Sywak are planning to shoot a music video for this song later this summer1 Stay tuned for details!!!

The Battle Room in Detail- Part 1

When Summit and company finally dropped the first official movie poster for the Ender's Game movie we finally to get a more in depth peek into Ender's world, more specifically the Battle Room.

 

In a phone  interview with Yahoo Movies , the film's director Gavin Hood gives more specifics about the Battle Room. Equipped with that information and using some of my 3D modeling skills in Trimble Sketchup I am able to give you a more complete understanding of how I think the Battle Room will look in the movie.  

In case you live under a rock the Battle Room in the movie will be drastically different than what you read about in the book. If you want to see and in depth book designed Battle School check out this presentation by "The First Battle School Engineer," Steve Sywak here .

First difference is there is only one Battle Room, not nine. Also, another major difference highlighted in the Yahoo interview

        "is that in the original text the Battle Room is described as being a giant hollow cube. But Hood felt that to really convey the size and dimensionality of the space, it should be spherical. Hood said he then proposed, “What if we could see through? What if we could see out of the space, and we’re moving around the Earth and turning at the same time?” He said he felt that would create “a really strange, disorienting experience,” that would better capture the notion in the book that in space there really is no up or down."

So with that explanation in mind, plus information I gleaned from the poster, and other information I gleaned from a not meant to be seen picture that popped up on the internet, I am able to develop a general model of what the Battle Room in movie could look like. (click the picture for an expanded view)

 "So how big is the interior of the Battle Room? Hood said, “This is the high school football field, only it’s in three dimensions. It’s the size of a football field in all directions: up, down, left, right. And the idea is teams jump out from opposite ends of this amazing space and play this amazing game of 3D paintball, almost.”

 Football Field Image from Ducksters.com

From Steve Sywak's analysis of the Battle Room from the story and his further detailed explanation in the Authorized Ender's Game Companion being a cube of 75 m (246 ft), it looks the Movie Battle Room will be much larger and with views of Earth and Space providing backdrops to the battles.

I have provided a couple of point of view snap shots of what it would be like to be in the Battle Room during daylight and night time hours.

Of course the structural elements  that you see in my model are just guestimations about their arrangements from the poster, but as we get more visuals I can refine it to match. That's all for this post. In my next post I will talk about Stars and Flash suits!

For now I will leave you with some screen captures of my model of the Battle Room in Google Earth:

 Aww Snap! A Battle just erupted!! Which way is the Enemy's Gate???!!!!

Army in flight!

 From Opposite Gate POV

Fan Made Ender's Game Poster Give Away!

Everyone, I am coordinating a contest with Endersansible.com, where I am giving away one of my Ender's Game poster designs away to 3 individuals. Read the details below: (Cross posted from Ender's Ansible)

Giveaway: Fan-Made ‘Ender’s Game’ Posters

March 23, 2013 Webmaster

 

by Artist Darian Robbins

Hey Ansible readers! We’re giving away some posters from ‘Ender’s Game’ artist Darian Robbins. Darian has rendered designs that appear in various ‘Ender’s Game’ comic books, including the battle school crest and a drawing of Steve Sywak’s battle school design. He has also designed army logo T-shirts that appear in Orson Scott Card’s online store.
We will randomly select 3 winners at the end of the contest and each winner will receive one poster designed by Darian of his/her choice. The rules are simple:

1. Be a resident of the United States or Canada. (Minors, please ask your parents for permission before entering this giveaway.)

2. You have the opportunity to enter only twice.

First, you can leave one comment on this post telling us which poster is your favorite. Multiple comments by the same user will be deleted. Please fill in your email address when you comment so we can contact you if you win!

Secondly, you can tweet both Darian and the Ender’s Ansible Twitter once. Example: “@Darian_Robbins @EndersAnsible I love the Save China poster! #endersgame”

3. This giveaway will end on Sunday March 31, 2013 at 11:59 PM PST.
The three randomly selected winners will be announced on Monday April 1, 2013. The winners will have one week to claim their posters by emailing us which poster they would like and their full name and address as it should be mailed. If any winner has not claimed his/her prize in one week then he/she forfeits the prize and a new winner will be selected.
Some of Darian’s posters are pictured below Check out more of Darian Robbins’ ‘Ender’s Game’ posters and other fan art on Darian’s blog or in our fan art gallery.

Go to Endersansible.com right now and enter!!!!

Ender's Game Movie: Let the Online Marketing Begin... and Continue

After much wait, it seems that the Ender's Game Movie marketing has been turned on. You might have read that that Cryptozoic Entertainment, who will be producing a trading card set for the movie, released what was described as a "1 minute and a half long" trailer of the movie with "raw footage" and special effects (c/o Endersansible.com)  to attendees at the GAMA Trade show in Las Vegas,NV.

Reviews were positive, and you can glean more about that from tweets from the lucky attendees included in posts on the fandom websites. (Endernews.com, Enderwiggin.net, Endersansible.com)

But wait ladies and  gentlemen there's more:

Not only are they sprucing up the 1st trailer for mass distribution, it appears that the other gears of online marketing like websites and social media campaigns are cranking up too.

Facebook, you mean? No, not just Facebook! Yes, they already have an official page and you can visit here, http://www.facebook.com/EndersGame. That's been up for some months.

I'm talking about standalone websites and a presence in more Social media venues that the public can engage and consume info. about the movie.

THE DEDICATED MOVIE SITE:

http://www.endersgame-themovie.com

No, there is nothing there now, but it now points to the Summit Entertainment website. (That wasn't the case about week ago). You can visit the subpage for Ender's Game which features a crisper logo and...

A couple "active" links. If you click on the "Visit the Official Page button" it will take you too...

What the?!! A bad link! That might be intentional because they might not be ready yet. (If it's not, please fix , Summit Web Team.) If you look at "The requested..." line, at the end you have the URL of what might be

A ENDER'S GAME MOVIE COMPANION SITE:

http://www.if-sentinel.com

Right now if you click it, you are directed to the Summit Entertainment homepage, but in the near future it might be a companion site that hosts games, downloads, info, etc.

Lastly,

The "OFFICIAL" TWITTER ACCOUNT FOR THE ENDER'S GAME MOVIE.

https://twitter.com/EndersGameMovie

I put quotes around that because there have been some that give the impression, but are not. No shade just facts.

If you are on Twitter, follow them now, and let them know we are glad they made it!

Formics, Flash Suits, and the VFX Industry

It's been an exciting couple weeks in the Ender's Game Movie Universe with the release of another movie still and some logos of Battle School Armies. Every time I see new pictures that show how they are bringing the movie to life, it makes me want to see more.

I go searching for movie related imagery on the internet, mainly using the IMDB, to look up the artists who are working on the movie and then check their online portfolios. (if they have them)

Most of the time I don't get anything, but other times I hit pay dirt.

My latest find comes from a marvelous CG artist named Frank Belardo, check his work out here at www.chiselingpixels.com. His work is phenomenal! Frank happens to be doing work on Ender's Game, but these images are NOT, I REPEAT, NOT, IMAGERY FROM THE MOVIE. He lists these as sketches in his portfolio on his website. Of course, If I get a request to take them down and they disappear from the said artist website ...then you make your own judgements. Not like it hasn't happened before *blank stare*

Again, THESE ARE NOT FROM THE MOVIE...

...but if it was... I wouldn't be mad because they are close too how I envisioned a few things. My first picture resembles how I thought a Formic would look.

 

I'm not going to spend time trying to find a quote from the book and match the description, his picture just reminded me of my own vision, as you can see below.

Frank also created a model in his portfiolio that he called "Future G Suit" that I think would be perfect for a Flash Suit.

It is form fitting with protective padding much like a motorcycle rider suit. Below is how I envisioned the Flash Suits.

I make posts like this because not only do I want to see the world that they are creating inspired by one of my most favorite books I have ever read, but more importantly, to highlight the awesome artists who are bringing their expertise to this film. These people are not just names that roll with the credits at the end of the film, they make the vision that you see on screen. They create the environment and the action that allows you to suspend your belief and enjoy the story at it's full capacity. They provide you an escape route to entertainment and make it possible for "unfilmable" films to be made.

There have been news reports that 60% of this movie will have CG effects in it. That's alot. The movie would not look and feel the same without their efforts, technical expertise, nor professionalism. I have never paid to see a movie that had acting in front of a green screen ONLY *cough* ...Before Effects Tumblr. Not denying the power of a great actor to entertain and engage your attention through their talent and  presence alone, but if that is what I wanted for this movie, it should of been a stage play.

With all the turmoil going on the in the VFX industry, I detect a lack of respect for artist like Frank and their contribution to the movies we watch today. I have watched how Rhythm and Hues went bankrupt from their work on Life of Pi. Heck, even Digital Domain, the company responsible for the CG effects on Ender's Game is just emerging from bankruptcy proceedings.  In the Life of Pi, a movie that won Best Visual Effects Oscar because most of what you see on screen is CG, and yet Ang Lee couldn't say any congratulatory note to them? Even the Visual Effects Supervior, Bill Westenhofer, got ran off stage when he tried to mention the plight of the VFX industry. Ridiculous!

I understand the artist are paid a salary in exchange for their efforts, and maybe part of that exchange contractually does not include the "pay" of appropriate recognition in the public. If that is the case then Studios and VFX company's should make sure the the "appropriate" recognition should be the type that folds and fits well in the wallet.  That "appreciation" should be enough to fund that artist's life so that they can continue to make art and worlds that Movie Studios love to capitalize.

Unfortunately, that doesn't even seem to be the case anymore, as evidenced by the growing amount of frustration and protestation I am learning about from social media of VFX artists (Check out the VFXsoldier Blog). I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant, and surely I am missing some understandings about transactions  between Movie Studios and the VFX industry. I am an outsider looking in, and there are alot of things I admit I do not know. But what I am seeing...I'm not liking. So, if there is something I am missing from the studio side, please inform me.

As I have researched artists who have or are working on this movie and shared brief engagements with some of them, cI have come to respect their hard work and creativity. Not Frank, btw, I have never communicated with or met him. Hope too though! I would hate for Ender's Game to get some awards next year, but not recognize the talented individuals behind the scenes that make the impossible possible and bring fresh stories to our eyes to enjoy. This sentiment extends to prop makers, costumist, gaffers, lighting, etc....everyone behind the camera. I acknowledge your talent and effort.

May the spotlight shine as brightly on you as you take a bow.

In the future, I will highlight some more artist working on this movie. They deserve shine as well!

-D

Antsy to see more imagery related to the Ender's Game movie? I got you!

I detect a general sense of tension in the Ender's Game Fandom (Really it's just me) about the lack of imagery surrounding the upcoming film adaptation.I thought I remedy that by scraping the Internets for any pictures that might be related to the production that we haven't seen yet.

Lo and behold.... I found this gem of what I believe is a corridor in the Battle School.

Picture removed at a nice request from the Movie PR dept.

Yeah, I know its small.

 I found it on a website belonging to one of the movie's Art Director's Clint Wallace (www.clintwallace.com). It was on the front page of the site under the "Current Projects" section. The title of the image is "BattleSchool_s"

Still that's a small picture, let's blow it up through Photoshop and examine further. Ooooooh.

Picture removed at a nice request from the Movie PR dept.

But I do have a picture of  a represenative 3D model I made from the picture.

Much better, but how do I know that this is from the movie?  Well, from matching up elements I have seen in other official pictures. Remember this picture from the production blog this past year of Roberto Orci on set?

 Certain elements on that picture match the one I found on Clint's website:

Picture removed at a nice request from the Movie PR dept.

Come on, don't you see it?!

The second set of images I found on the Internet that might be related to the Ender's Game movie, comes from the website of Brett Phillps (http://brettphillipsart.com). He is listed on the IMDB movie page as a model maker in the art department. 

Picture removed at a nice request from the Movie PR dept.

This is just one of a series of pictures of a foam board (?) model he made that is listed under his "Ender's Game" work. (Direct link here). I'm not sure what part of the set it corresponds too, but I am going to make a guess and say that it might have something to do with Fleet Command on the Eros facility. 

Enjoy, launchies! This post is sure to self destruct in a day or two...

It's Destructed...

Told you so...

Barracks Analysis Part 2: Graff's Symbol

Back to the Barracks again. AAAATTTTTEEENNTIONNNN!

Lets focus on the symbol on Graff's right shoulder.

 

Through the magic of Photoshop I have managed to zoom in and then recreate the symbol.

 

You can recognize the movie version of the I. F. Logo at top center, with a cluster of nested inverted chevrons located below. Is this the symbol of the movie version of the Battle School symbol, or is it a sign of "Colonel" Graff's rank? Guess we will have to wait and see with more still releases when they occur.

 

Finally A "Official" Vision of Ender's Game

At long last it appears that the cogs are starting to turn on the marketing machine for the Ender's Game Movie with Summit Entertainment dropping a still from the upcoming release with an exclusive article with Entertainment Weekly. Bask in it's magnificence.

This scene shows Battle School students in their barracks with Harrison Ford as Colonel Graff giving Asa Butterfield as Ender a stern look and probably some chastisement ala Full Metal Jacket style. I can almost hear the scene now:

This image gives us a better look at the scenery for the movie, and yes, it is not like the book. There are a couple of fan sites that delve into that more deeply into the comparison as to what is described in the book. (EnderNews, Ender's Ansible ).

From my interpretation this is how I envisioned the barracks:

I will say that the colors, structures, and room brightness of the official still reminds me of the layout of Avatar. Which is not surprising since one of the Concept Artists for that movie, Ben Proctor, is also one of the two Production Designers for Ender's Game. In the mean time while we wait for more stills if you want to give yourself some insight to the visual style the movie will take see his Avatar portfolio

Here's a little example below. I chose this image because it had beds, bright lighting, and a color scheme like the still above.

Still if you look through further through his Avatar portfolio you can see some designs that would make great looking battle simulators that Ender and the Jeesh use on Eros. For example:

THIS OR THE OTHER BEN PROCTOR IMAGES I DISPLAY IN THIS POST ARE NOT FROM THE ENDER'S GAME MOVIE. Let me be clear about that because I've gotten a note from Summit about some of my previous speculations about the movie artwork before. Since this type of setup was already used in Avatar, more than likely we will see something different for the immersive combat simulator in Ender's Game.

That's it for this post. Until next time remember....

Ender's Game Movie behind the scenes. Khylin Rhambo and 3D capture

For those of us who have been following the developments of the upcoming Ender's Game Movie. We spend alot of time trying to what is going on in decipher pictures that comes from the actors, crew, or production members in order to get some idea of how they will work movie magic to translate the story on screen

At the beginning of production one cast member Khylin Rhambo, who plays Dink Meeker in the film, posted this picture to his Facebook account showing him in a room of light. According to an article on Ender's Ansible he states that the "the technology in the picture was used to scan his face, take costume measurements, 'and other stuff.'” There was not much known about the technology until now.

In my recent internet travels, I encountered a Huffington Post science column called "Talk Nerdy to Me" run by their senior science correspondent Cara Santa Maria. In May she posted a video report called "How to make a Digital Human" which features the technology you see in Khylin's picture called Light Stage X.  Light Stage X is globed network of lights and cameras that was developed by the Graphics Lab at University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Studies, it's purpose, as one of it's creators and lab directors Paul Debevec, Ph.d states is a way of "digitizing people's faces to turn a real person in to a digital person that would be just as realistic as the real thing."

I can spend another 500 words or so giving you an overview about how this thing works, or you can watch the video (WATCH THE VIDEO). It gives a good overview about how it works, how they used it for facial captures for actors in movies and video games, and a example of how they generate a digital version of Cara. Awesome tech.

I can imagine that Digital Domain would be using this capture technology to generate 3D versions of all the kids for integration into CGI effects for the Battle Room sequences. It will be exciting to see how it comes out. This should give you some better understanding into how Digital Domain is spending their money on the Movie!

WARNING: NULL G BELOW THIS LINE

Ender may be the One, but remember Dink is GAWD!

Ender's Game Trailer - "At Game's End...The Truth Begins

On Earth...
Kids play games for fun
In Space...
kids are made to play games for survival
AT GAME'S END....
THE TRUTH BEGINS.

 My latest fan trailer for the Ender's Game movie. Featuring the song "M.D Device" by Stephon Jones http://soundcloud.com/sovarozum. There a few images I, Darian Robbins http://artofdarian.blogspot.com. created specifically the logos of the Battle School and the armies. The Battle School model is based off the design by Steve Sywak http://www.youtube.com/Boothby171 There are alot of production stills I took from the Ender's Game Production Blog http://endersgameblog.tumblr.com/. I used picture of Asa Butterfield taken by Suraj Partha twitter.com/surajpartha. Other imagery I pulled off the web and will update them accordingly as I find them.

Kids Eat First at Helga's Kitchen

If your hungry and in Rotterdam you can always find a meal at Helga's. Family are welcome! Kid's Eat Free!

Full Metal Ender's Game

On Earth, kids play games for fun. In space, they play them for survival