That Timespace poster

I remember saying I wanted to save going wackier for another poster when I was doing the teaser poster, so I started thinking further about some of the thematic ideas present in the film. Took these things and tried to integrate them in a fairly abstract way. Now, the way my brain works didn't allow me to fully focus on the approach I was wanting to take until I finished working on something else.

That's just the way it's gotta be I guess. But when I did finish what I was doing, I was able to get the idea I had down pretty quickly and it's what I ended up settling on. Working through to the actual finished version, it became inclusive of several different mediums. After penciling and inking, I ended up using India ink to give a wide range of grey tones. Then came layers of watercolor on top of that, then gouache.

Timespace poster.
Pencils, inks, India ink, watercolors, gouache, 11x14 on bristol board

The idea was to have James Pratt stepping into the time machine and seeing a bunch of crazy stuff on the inside. But not just any crazy stuff, more specifically the vices or devices he uses to get his means to their ends. All the unruly things he does to achieve his goals, right in front of him leading him to his inevitable destination.

rough layout

Melting clock hands, cyanide in a syringe, cocaine, a single bullet, the hourglass necklace, blood: all being sucked into this rip in reality/space (more twisting of clock shapes for that rip) containing blackness becoming illuminated by white light. Don't want to give away what that is or how any of this stuff directly relates but it is contextualized in the film. Those objects are also referential to the three planetoids floating around. They have faint faces on them- the other three main characters in the film. They are all directly intertwined in the narrative through the choices that are made by James, so that's why they are there.

Original unused layout designs

My original ideas above came several months ago and still was presenting these ideas but in a slightly more literal way. I felt it was more fitting to go for something less straightforward given the nature of the time travel in the film and what state the main character is even in.

Hope these things give you some good thoughts to eat (oh boy yum) and ponder if you haven't seen the film yet. Sometime later this week Timespace is to be released online for rental on Vimeo. I'll definitely be posting a link here when the time comes.

I've seen how the film has come together from working closely on it with it's esteemed writer and director, my good pal Daniel Ziegler since January when it was just a rough idea little idea of a time travel movie in his head. I've seen him finally just about wrap up editing the film this past night after weeks and weeks of working his tush off and it was very surreal to see that end point in sight. Seeing those ideas that were cultivated be there in such a powerful way is totally nifty!

That Timespace teaser poster

My fellow scientists... This is probably the first of what will be a few eventual posts about Timespace. There's still stuff I'm not able to share since the film hasn't been released for the general public yet but once it's out there I'll talk about why I did what I did and what I even did. For now though, here's a teaser poster I painted a few months ago when there was a break in production.

I thought it would be neat for a teaser poster to just have a pretty straightforward image (save the wackier stuff for later, y'know?) of the main character, James Pratt, stepping outside of the time machine... That big ominous dingdong ominously in the background.

teaser poster, acrylics on canvas 8x10

I still wanted to take that basic idea and give it something peculiar with what you see happening inside of the time machine. Swirls of all kinds of crazy space energy, just like some psychedelic vortex you're stepping into. James' body is also vaguely dissipating into that craziness with the little white stars popping off of his figure.

It also helped to juxtapose the brighter colors with the darkness encompassing the rest of the things in the dark desert there. James is a pretty mysterious dude, so it's good. I like using acrylics because you're able to get a good range as well as some more subtle ones, and it's a pretty forgiving medium. It was a pretty dinky canvas I was working on, however. Wish I could have used a better one but alas, it was not to be.

roughs are rough

I was pretty sure with where I wanted to go with this from my first little sketch here. It's fun having James fiddling with his neato little watch ring; a little tic he tends to do. He's got the sleeves rolled up, he means business.

When I can, I will share some cool behind the scenes Timespace stuff. But in the meantime, I am resuming my quest for my studies once more tomorrow- as well as doing other stuff on the side. There will be sneak peeks, I gots the goods.