Bat Signals

My daughter calls me “Batman” and my lucky number is 27 so this post is rather personal and close to my heart. When some of my most adored actors, musicians, and artists pass on I create a tribute piece honoring their memory. I also create works for other fan favorites who have passed on going back decades. Since I started these tributes in 2014 I have designed visual remembrances for Christopher Reeve, Robin Williams, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elvis, Harry Houdini, and Bill Bixby, among others. When our original live action Batman passed in 2017 I added Adam West to my list. The Batman legacy goes back nearly 86 years, and began when we were first introduced to him in an issue of Detective Comics.

We’ve been hooked by The Dark Knight’s exploits since Bob Kane, artist, and Bill Finger, writer, introduced us to the Batman in 1939 in Detective Comics issue #27. Since Batman’s inception artists have been riffing on the design of his iconic calling card, the Bat Signal. His arsenal of vehicles, gadgets, and weapons all don monikers in seemingly endless applications of Batman’s sleek, legendary brand. Every offshoot of his shadowy legacy introduces another plethora of reinventions of his favorite bat toy concepts always giving him an edge against the baddies.

There have been numerous attempts in spelling out “Batman” within the shape of the logo from comic books to the big screen. None of them ever satisfied what I thought could make the mark even more iconic. If there was a way, a puzzle hidden within the geometry of the letters, that could be plotted forming both the logo and the letters simultaneously, a true graphic design nirvana just might be achieved. This exercise was put into motion the week Adam West passed at age 88 from leukemia.

When Adam West died on June 9th in 2017 I got to work. I thought it was just the right moment to design a logo tribute for the original live action Batman himself. After half an hour of thumbnail sketches I arrived at a potential solve. I hopped into Adobe Illustrator and over the course of a few hours I arrived at a solution that captured both the bat symbol and the name hidden within the letterforms. I achieved the holographic version with Adobe After Effects, Video Copilot Element 3D, and Maxon Red Giant Holomatrix and Universe. Don’t miss the video below when Los Angeles City Hall paid tribute to Adam West for his rich history “making people happy, making them laugh, and trying to make this world a better place.” I’ve also included a mix of silly scenes from The Lego Batman Movie from February 10th, 2017. Best Lego movie ever!

“Black. All important movies start with a black screen. And music. Edgy, scary music that would make a parent or studio executive nervous. And logos. Really long and dramatic logos. Warner Bros. Why not Warner Brothers? I dunno.”

“DC. The house that Batman built. Yeah what Superman? Come at me bro. I’m your kryptonite. Hmm, not sure what RatPac does, but that logo is macho. I dig it.”

“Okay. Get yourself ready for some…reading. ‘If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change. Hooo.’ — Michael Jackson. No. I said that. Batman is very wise.”

“I also have huge pecs, and a nine-pack. Yeah, I’ve got an extra ab. Now, let’s start the movie.”

— Excerpts from my favorite Batman film, The Lego Batman Movie, 2017.

Vecna’s Telltale Line Reveals a Hidden Secret

“It is time,” Vecna echoes casually taunting as it’s time for his next victim’s life to come to an end. He becomes stronger with each passing casualty eventually granting him enough power in forcing the portals wide open unleashing utter Hell onto Hawkins. Once he has consumed his four primary victims with each reverberating clang of the impending grandfather clock, he will be capable of opening all four gates.

When he achieves this the earth cracked, shook, and fiery, devilish lava spewed forth cutting across the landscape, even melting Jason in half in the Creel House attic as S4’s climax erupted to an end of bellowing, black smoke and impending doom. Will knew it was just the beginning. The “beginning of the end,” Vecna taunted Eleven earlier in the finale “Piggyback” episode when he held her captive in his hellish Mindscape.

Upon closer inspection of the infamous line Vecna repeated as he consumed each victim, I discovered a message hiding in plain sight. In the dead center with three letters on each side the S and T come together as referring to the show’s title Stranger Things. Not so exciting, but the next one will be quite telling. There are three Is in the line “it is time.” If we change those Is to 1s we get 11 on the left side and 1 on the right side. The primary storyline for season four is quite literally the battle between Eleven, Jane Ives played by Millie Bobby Brown, and One, Vecna aka Henry Creel played by Jamie Campbell Bower.

It’s quite literally “Eleven to One” in Stranger Things Season Four. Hiding in plain sight in Vecna’s line “it is time” hinting at the season’s primary plot point: an epic battle between two of Doctor Brenner’s pet projects during his tenure at Hawkins National Laboratory, filmed at the former Georgia Mental Health Institute in Atlanta.

Did the Duffer Brothers intentionally add this Easter egg when scripting this climactic season? No idea, but either way it’s a pretty cool coincidence if it wasn’t planned in advance by the show’s creators. When will we be reunited with our favorite cast in 2025? The clock is ticking, and it’s less than a minute to midnight.

“Vecna taunted 11: ‘I sought out a means to open my own doors. I sought your power. So don’t you see? Once again...you have freed me. It is over, 11. Once, I had hoped to have you at my side. But now I only wish for you to watch.’”

— Vecna / One / Henry Creel as portrayed by Jamie Campbell Bower, Stranger Things Season Four. July 1, 2022.

Sushi Grade

After nearly thirty years of crop marks and keyframes I came to realize that I’ve never tackled color grading cuisine. This struck me as odd since I’m such a foodie like the rest of my family. My favorite sushi restaurant, Irashiai, is just a short walk from my front door. My sister and I just had lunch there earlier this week. Their sushi chefs pride themselves on presentation as much as their bold blend of umami richness in every delicious dish they deliver to our table. I keep an ongoing photo library of each of my visits there. Color grading these four shots was more challenging than I’d imagined. I’m quite pleased with the final results.

It’s been a gentle balancing act between retaining and gently sharpening texture details and highlights while pushing the sushi’s saturation a smidge richer hoping to tantalize the viewer’s tastebuds. During the process I also removed some harsh black one pixel outlines that were introduced around the highlights during the sharpening processes. Once I removed the inherent haze I paid close attention to giving the reflections on the table some love, too, by bending them towards more golden hues. I used Affinity Photo for all of the color grading and visual corrections such as spot sharpening for fine details.

G R A D E D

O R I G I N A L S

The Sun Came Out Last Night and Sang to Me

I stumbled upon what would become a mashup pairing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Elvis last night when I was watching the first scene in Encounters. Set in the desert, we are introduced to U.S. government research and military figures and a French researcher. They are struck dumbfounded when they arrive on the scene. There are multiple fighter planes appearing quite out of place as they had all been reported as missing in 1945. They note that the planes look brand new, but the pilots are nowhere to be found.

After the camera pan reveals the last few planes, one marked “33,” we cut to an old man repeatedly muttering “¡El sol salió anoche y me cantó!” The American translator deciphers his echoed exclamation as: “He says the sun came out last night. He says it sang to him.” This translation inspired me to post these two graphics together as they represent the encounter and also the aforementioned singer. I imagine if Elvis was revealed at the end of Encounters when the ship opened up revealing all of the travelers he’d certainly be taking care of business.

I originally designed these Encounters and Elvis graphics last year via a combo of a few quick sketches, Illustrator, Cinema4D, After Effects, and Red Giant Holomatrix & Universe. Yesterday I spent some time adding additional distortion details in Affinity Photo. The more I transition away from Photoshop the more inspired I feel as I am discovering new tools in Affinity Photo each day by just experimenting and playing around. It’s rather invigorating to say the least. I feel like a kid again back in art school. The silvery magenta color palettes were inspired by asking myself what would be the opposite design and color theory of the movie poster for Close Encounters of the Third Kind depicted as a dark highway at night leading into the unknown.

The white lines leading the eye to the vanishing point and then up to the base of Devil’s Tower was quite effective. This film cemented this location near Sundance in northeastern Wyoming within the jurisdiction of Crook County as a hot tourist destination icon. Both works began by cleaning up the concepts in Illustrator for the vector linework. Then I imported them into Cinema4D and built up the environments around the titling. I planned on adding most of the fine detailing in comp rather than in 3D. I kept my scene in black and white while focusing on modeling and lighting. Once I arrived at an overall tonal rendering for each I rendered out EXRs which I then dropped into After Effects where I pushed the exposures, added the Holomatrix and Universe distortions.

Laughlin : What the hell is happening here?

Project Leader : It’s that training mission from the Naval Air Station in Ft. Lauderdale.

Laughlin : Who flies crates like these anymore?

Project Leader : No one. These planes were reported missing in 1945.

Laughlin : But it looks brand new. Where’s the pilot? I don’t understand. Where’s the crew? Hey! How the hell did it get here?

Old Man : ¡El sol salió anoche y me cantó!

Translator : He says the sun came out last night. He says it sang to him.

[Literally : The sun came out last night and sang to me! ]

Supervisor : Ask them if they want to report officially.

Air Traffic Controller : TWA 517, do you want to report a UFO? Over. TWA 517, do you want to report a UFO? Over.

TWA Pilot : Negative. We don't want to report.

Air Traffic Controller : AirEast 31, do you wish to report a UFO? Over.

AirEast Pilot : Negative. We don’t want to report one of those, either.

Air Traffic Controller : AirEast 31, do you wish to file a report of any kind to us?

AirEast Pilot : I wouldn't know what kind of report to file, Center.

Air Traffic Controller : AirEast 31, me neither.

David Lynch on Consciousness & Bliss

I’ve been subscribed to the “T&H Inspiration & Motivation” channel on YouTube for a long time. Just came across this gem. David Lynch gets it, and I love how he articulates how it just keeps getting better. His sincere, inspired dialogue speaks volumes. The power of the mind is deeper than we can currently fathom. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some serious spelunking to do in the space between spaces.

It took me 50 years to begin to unravel my own shared, collective consciousness. I share David’s sentimentality in that it not only gets better, but the more I allow the flow to expand, the more exponential the growth. This awakening is quite inline as to how Leonardo da Vinci describes how everything is connected to everything else. There’s no denying it. The cosmic playground is endless and filled with joy.

“There’s an ocean of pure, vibrant consciousness inside each one of us. And it’s right at the source and base of mind. Right at the source of thought, and it’s also at the source of all matter.”

— David Lynch

Refuge Hope & Awakenings

“Mental hospitals and institutions are not prisons for the body, mind, and soul. They are places of refuge, hope, and awakenings.”

I will continue spreading truth surrounding mental health. It’s one of the most direct ways to defeat the blindness of ignorant stigmas.

Sir Ridley Scott: Win the Crowd

In honor of Sir Ridley Scott I’ve updated my Gladiator title graphic I created last year and crafted two new ones restyled for Gladiator II pushing more fire and a bit more carnage. I’m including a few frames showing aspects of the compositing process as well.

My 30 handcrafted blood splatters will be available soon for free. I was going to release them as a font, but time got away from me. I’m going to save them as high quality PNGs. Feel free to use them in any project both personal and commercial. I’ll drop a post when they’re ready.

“Then listen to me. Learn from me. I wasn’t the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd, and you will win your freedom.”

— Antonius Proximo as played by the late Oliver Reed (2/13/1938–5/2/1999), Gladiator, 2000

The following scene between Proximo and Maximus rings true when it comes to my outlook for 2025. Let’s make it an incredible year and win the crowd! Word of mouth advertising is still more powerful compared to any series of social media posts. People still prefer face to face communication. Without it we lack the very humanity that defines us.

Proximo : “The Coliseum…(long, deep breath inwards). Oh you should see the Coliseum Spaniard. 50,000 Romans, watching…every movement of your sword, willing you to make that killer blow. The silence before you strike, and the noise afterwards, it rises…rises up like…like, like a storm…as if you were the Thunder God himself.

Maximus : “You were a gladiator?”

Proximo : “Yes I was.”

Maximus : “You won your freedom?”

Proximo : “A long time ago The Emperor presented me with a Rudis, it’s just a…a wooden sword. A symbol of your freedom. He touched me on the shoulder and I was free.”

Maximus : (laughing) “You knew Marcus Aurelius?”

Proximo : “I did not say I knew him. I said he touched me on the shoulder once.”

Maximus : “You asked me what I want. I too want to stand in front of the Emperor, as you did.”

Proximo : “Then listen to me. Learn from me. I wasn’t the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd, and you will win your freedom.”

Maximus : “I will win the crowd. I will give them something they’ve never seen before.”

Spontaneous Combustion: The Creative Spark

In 1981 when I was 9 years old my Dad returned from a business trip with a gift in hand. He surprised me with what I now consider my “holy grail” of gifts I was given as a child: Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Illustrated Screenplay. While it contained the entire script depictions and dialogue, it was also fully illustrated. Accompanying the complete script, including location, time, and scene setups, it was chocked full of storyboards depicting action, blocking, light source locations, camera movements, and even some key frame depictions of Marion as she lost her grip and fell from the statue in the Well of Souls just before Belloq and his baddies sealed their fate. Little did I know what was waiting for me on the last twenty pages.

Anticipating something magical was about to be revealed, I turned over page number 103. There at the top of the page read “Exterior: Desert Island Altar — Night.” My eyes slowly scanned every word before reaching the first line of dialogue: “Marion, don’t look at it. Shut your eyes, Marion, don’t look at it no matter what happens.” Reaching a fever pitch as I was nearing the bottom of the page there was the first glimpse of a generous handful of ILM's blueprints revealing how they would create the most spectacular movie climax in cinematic history. It was complete with meticulous notes describing the elements needed to bring the storyboard to life. My life was forever changed through the illumination provided by this book.

The forward, written by Steven Spielberg, struck me like a bolt of lightning. He described in such visceral detail the variable incarnation of the creative process. Unlike Doc Brown knowing the exact moment when the bolt of lightning would strike the clock tower via Marty McFly’s knowledge of the future while in the past, we never really know when we’ll be struck next, many times in the middle of the night. I’ve created some of my best work, as a child and also professionally, between the hours of midnight and dawn the following day. That’s when our minds are free and unfiltered. If you're still reading this, you know what I mean.

“An electrical impulse seizes the brain and snaps the eyes wide open in the dark. The adrenaline reaches the heart and no matter what time it is, the hand is wildly groping for something to write with. On the open flap of a book of matches, a shredded paper napkin, the cover of TV Guide, or on the palm of the hand, an idea is born. An unsuspecting world goes about its business…then, a year, three years, five years later the palm print is on everybody’s lips in a dozen languages, crossing over a score of cultures, religions, and ideologies. The world has a dashing hero, a magical diversion — a new movie.”

— Introduction excerpt from Steven Spielberg, Los Angeles, California, June 1981, from Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Illustrated Screenplay

Always Angry

Remembering Bill Bixby who passed in 1993. He would have been 91 today. Who was your favorite Hulk? I’m biased to the TV show with Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk and Bixby as Doctor David Banner. Yes, that’s not a typo. Banner was renamed David for the TV series instead of using writer Stan Lee’s designated Bruce moniker. Growing up with Jack Kirby’s comics rendition the TV and film adaptations had a lot to live up to in bringing the green giant to life.

While Hulk has been played by a handful of actors in film, Mark Ruffalo is a close second to Ferrigno bringing his intelligent humor to the memorable, iconic role. When I was 6 the bullies called me “Hulk” every morning when I got on the bus. I can’t blame them between my bowl cut, surliness, permanent scowl, and my features were pretty spot on to Ferrigno minus the muscles and green skin. I was actually squinting because I needed glasses.

Interactive Lighting Missing in Modern VFX

One hallmark of the pre-2000s VFX was the usage of interactive lighting. I’ve noticed a trend over the past few years in there’s either a complete absence of on-set interactive lightning or the faked spill or reflection is far too subtle to notice. This leaves us constantly watching a story that breaks the disbelief barrier every couple of minutes. This causes us to lose focus and interest in the film. The image below from Ghostbusters: Afterlife is a prime example of what’s I’m discussing here. Notice there’s very little spill and no reflections in her glasses.

It appears clearly that no one attempted to light her character or Podcast from the proton pack stream’s blazing light streams. If planned correctly there would be a heavy dose of lighting with harsh, nearly blown out highlights on them. The highest white value on them isn’t even close to the level it requires to sell this shot. It’s obvious the stream effect was added after the fact, and no one thought to light them both appropriately. There’s also the issue of no film grain in this shot, but that’s another issue altogether.

Steven Spielberg leaned heavily into using lighting as a character all its own in each scene in his films. There was always a strong primary light source, and additional lighting was used heavily in the VFX sequences such as lightning and the bolts that plowed through the Nazi soldiers during the film’s climax. The lighting was deliberate. It played a key role in order to fuse effects-heavy shots together. Close attention to detail.

While Indy, Sallah, and the Egyptian diggers are making headway into revealing the entrance to the Well of Souls there is lightning crashing across the sky behind them. On-set lighting was timed to match the composite cloud tank and lightning effects in the background. In the original theatrical release the lightning was accidentally comped over Indy by just a couple of frames. The shot below is the corrected one.

Back to the most prominent scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark using on-set lighting techniques after the crucial opening of the ark and the fate of the Nazi soldiers as beams shots through all of them simultaneously. Each soldier was equipped with practical lights to fire up so that once the visual effect beams were added it would seal the deal for the audience. It’s this interactive lighting that has been pulling a “Where’s Waldo” in recent years, quite prominent in Ghostbusters: Afterlife where there’s no color spill or intense edge lighting on the characters when they fire up proton packs spraying streams just inches from their faces.

Some careful attention to detail in the compositing could easily correct these omissions. An aggressive curves adjustment on the heroes plate lowering the blacks a while also raising the highlights to full value would help along with some spot glows for the highlights. Then by taking the streams effect, duping it, blurring it heavily, and then adding it over the characters could help fuse them better together. In order to really do it justice though, it should have been reshot with real on-set lighting and then comped in EXR format allowing for far more aggressive and photographic comping and color grading.

“Oh, yes. The Bible speaks of the Ark leveling mountains and laying waste to entire regions. An army which carries the Ark before it...is invincible.”

— Marcus Brody played by Denholm Elliott, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981.