This weekend Indiana Jones: Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opens and I'm pretty darned excited. I love the Indy movies. My parents took me to see Raiders of the Lost Ark at the theatre when I was a kid. Usually we saw movies at the Drive-In so it was a real treat to sit in a proper theatre to watch a film. Raiders just blew my mind. I loved every second of it (and still do). The face melting scene at the end and the ghosts terrified my mother. She was sure we'd get nightmares from it. I didn't. But I did gain an undying curiousity in the art of movie making. Long before the internet and giant chain bookstores, I had to get all my info from what magazines I could find at the used bookstore and the corner shop. I still love figuring out how an effect is done...something that's lost a little mystery with all the green-screen business going on. I'm way more interested in a practical effect than something digital.Which brings me to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...I'm a little nervous to see another Jones movie. I trust Spielberg to make a fantastic movie but Lucas...oh, Mr. George Lucas seems to have suffered some kind of debilitating head trauma when it comes to writing a good story. I'm a little nervous about his part of the movie. That and I've seen a few commercials on tv and there are certain scenes that look really, really green-screen fake. The truck chase in Raiders is so great because it's really happening on a dirt road. The Kingdom chase through the jungle that I've seen in clips looks fake, fake, fake.
Enough about the movie. These sketches were done for a t-shirt that I have yet to make. I just can't settle on an Indiana Jones that I want for my shirt. Do I want the trademark smirk or the mystery man in the fedora (below)? Do I want a straight-up Indy or beefcake him out a little more? I just couldn't decide so I've let the project sit to the side for a while now.
Best,j.
