"A Close Shave" ("The Italian Job")
Throughout the course of our gallery, and even when it was on hiatus, Jake and I would constantly pass ideas back and forth with each other on all kinds of flicks. It was part of our creative process. In fact, some of our best pictures came out of those brainstorming sessions. So, when I tossed an idea for "The Italian Job", it wasn't even on the schedule. We weren't going to do it. We had "Finding Nemo" in its place which we assumed (and rightly so if you ask me) the best film to represent that weekend. But things had a way of getting out of whack and "Finding Nemo" was moved up a week, leaving a gap in our schedule. And since I personally said that year we wouldn't have a delay or a missed week, I took it upon myself to keep our streak going.
Now when we planned these Summer Blockbuster pics, there were four ways we could draw them: base the picture on the activities from the film, do a word play on the title, create our own poster based on the film, or have a pic based around the actual actors from said film. My idea fit into the 'play on the title' category: having Erik work as a waiter in an Italian restaurant. Hence... "The Italian Job".
As you can see, I didn't go that route. Instead I took the more difficult path. As you may or may not know, the film has a chase scene of a car being pursued by a helicopter. Knowing I had never successfully drawn a car before, or even a full-fledged action scene, I decided to tackle the scene as though the characters of our beloved comic were the stars. The results just happened to be one of my best efforts. The characters were spot on. The perspective was tricky but works. Even the car and helicopter look good. Plus, I managed to pull off an interesting windshield effect; something so subtle you probably wouldn't notice if I didn't mention it. To say I am proud of this pic is an understatement. This one ROCKS! - Tony