I woke up to a great email this morning. Our supporting artist Ralph Del Mundo developed some key colour images of two of my major characters from the Planets in Peril series. Jovian Slade and Nathaniel Gage. These are fantastic so I thought I’d share them here.
Jovian Slade – Planets in Peril
Nathaniel Gage – Planets in Peril
I just received new concept art for Planets in Peril from Ralph Del Mundo. Here are three key characters from the Story.
1) Nathaniel Gage – Nathaniel lives as a humble wheat farmer on the planet of Caminity. His mother died when he was born and his father disappeared mysteriously several years ago as he stood up to the ruling government known as the Supremacy. Nathaniel grew up on his own trying to find his place in the world. He is the hero of the story. IN his late teens he was chosen by the Essence for a great calling, but neither he nor anyone around him understands yet just what that is.
2)Here listed as Bok Globule (But I will confess this is not her real name or correct role in the story. This Tranku Princess/wizard has a very important role in the series, but I will keep that to myself for now.
3)Supremacy Hunter Robot – These robots have been created by the Supremacy with one purpose and one purpose only: Hunt and destroy. The Supremacy has several thousand of these robots and often sends them to track disobedient citizens. These robots have authority to act as seeker, judge, enforcer and even executioner.
Planets in Peril N B H Concepts
Jovian Slade is the mentor to Nathaniel Gage. Not only does he save his inexperienced life a handful of times, but he begins to train him as to his real purpose and why the essence has chosen him. Jovian is an exiled Tranku warrior with amazing powers. (More on why he was exiled later.) His powers include controlling the energy fields around us and in matter. This power actually comes from a relationship with allies, ancestors and masters of the past. (coincidentally this is a power also possessed by the evil villain Humm.) Jovian is also a master at several weapons including his light-bolt firing bow and a variety of edged weapons.
Below are some concept drawings of Jovian Slade. While I like all of the artwork submitted to me on this character there is one that was selected as the primary concept moving forward.
early jovian Slade concept
This same concept from above was also rendered in colour by the same artist.
Early Jovian Slade Concept in Color
One of the reasons why I particularly like this colour image of Jovian is that it becomes more apparent that his power involves beings from an unseen world. In this Image we see Jovian conjuring up his allies and ancestors for some kind of an activity. I also liked the weapon in this concept drawing although I didn’t want Jovian to have it. You’ll see in the next image however that I have some significant changes made to Jovian. He became younger, put on some more clothes and slightly more clocked in mystery.
Jovian Slade concept drawings pip
Jovian Slade concept drawings pip
The drawing that I chose to represent Jovian best was the centre one. This done by Artist Ralph del Mundo. The robes are modified Tranku warrior/priest robes and we also see more of the weapons that Jovian is accustomed to. I like the other two drawings as well, I am thinking that the more Samurai looking face is closer to what I envision Jovian will actually look like, yet older.
The Other figure I really enjoy because of the character of the moustache. It makes him look like a memorable hockey player from the Calgary Flames will I was growing up named Lanny McDonald.
Lanny McDonald from the Calgary Flames
Lanny is a great guy and everyone considers him a great hero in our community. So I like the idea and will use it for one of the future freedom fighters with The Disturbance. (More on them later.) Just a little fun trivia on Lanny McDonald and me. When I was in elementary school (I think it was grade 4) Lanny McDonald can to our school and gave a talk. Afterwards I got to shake his hand. Several years later I met him again after they had won the Stanley cup in 1989 and Lanny remembered coming to my school. Cool.
I don’t claim to be a great artist, but I like to try and come up with a few sketches here and there to pass over to the professional artists working with me on this project. Here’s a drawing I did of one of the Supremacy troop transport ships. I wanted them to feel like sharks circling in a battle. I think it turned out okay. But to be honest I’m always excited to see how these ideas look when they come back from the pros.
Supremacy Troop transport
Anyways here are some details on the ship:
Speed: 330 km/hr
Capabilities: This ship transports troopers from the larger galactic vessels. It is not capable of travel in space over long distances but is instead used to transport troops through atmospheric conditions.
Troop capacity: 1 squadron which is 50 troops.
Number of ships in operation: The Supremacy has a fleet of more than 5,500 of these vessels. Typically a galactic vessel will have a fleet of 100 of these ships in it’s docking bays ready to deploy troops.
Here are some first looks at the Supremacy Hunter robots from Planets in Peril. These were designed by Ralph Del Mundo. I think he did a great job! The varieties of Hunter robots are used in different circumstances in the story by the villains. My personal favourite is the one with the chain appendages. It’ll be interesting when Jovian and Nathaniel get wrapped up in those.
Supremacy Hunter Robots PIP
Planets in Peril
Planets in Peril made the Yahoo news today! Our announcement of the upcoming feature film was picked up by Yahoo news. The article shares some inside info on the plot points of the film as well as insights into some of the characters and origins of Planets in Peril. It’s a great article and I am happy to see people taking an interest in the project. It has been so fun working on the story and I look forward to sharing it with everyone. Here’s the article if you want to check it out:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/planets-peril-movie-coming-100600929.html
Planets in Peril
Planets in Peril has signed a deal to become a feature film. The details of the deal are not yet available to the public, but preproduction has begun.
Here’s a little bit about Planets in Peril from the creator, Douglas Vermeeren:
The idea for Planets in Peril came while attending my film classes in the early 1990′s. Although I believe I’ve been working on the concept and the story ever since I saw Star Wars as a boy in 1977.
In my film classes I learned about story structure, characters and all the elements of great filmmaking. After re-watching and enjoying several old classics like Star Wars, Raiders of The Lost Ark, Star Trek and other fantasy adventure films I began to put to paper my own distant planetary system. But here the universe was on the verge of collapse. It wasn’t the world of Star Wars where people had been ruled for years under a dark Empire – and had not Luke come along thins would still have continued just fine. Mine was a Universe that was actually on the brink of Annihilation. And it wasn’t just about conflict between people – it was literally a conflict against the energies of the universe. Naturally I had my dark villains like The Supremacy (More on that later) and Humm. But even they were no match for what was about to happen.
Nathaniel Gage, Early concept – Planets in Peril
My hero Nathaniel Gage was very different than a Luke Skywalker, Captain Kirk or others typically experienced in this genre. Instead he could be compared more to a Peter Parker. A young man confused literally about everything. And he didn’t fit in. Not with the heroes, not with the villains. Not with anyone. I was especially fascinated by Jovian. Jovian was a priest in the sacred temples of the Tranku. The Tranku had been selected nearly 7,000 years ago to protect the sacred manuscripts that prohpesied of these end times. (and in fact even contained some escape routes if you knew what you were looking for.) Jovian however had been exiled from the temple because he broke some of the rules. (Actually one in particular which we will talk about later.) The thing that I enjoyed about Jovian was that he had a limited degree of mystical powers. I have always been interested in the powers of the mind. Especially ESP and Telekinesis. Jovian had those powers. (Not like the force in Star wars – which had Luke by the Empire Strikes back easily pulling lightsabers out of the snow or Yoda with little effort lifting X-wings out of a swamp.) But this was more like we see in ‘real life’ where the practioner needed focused concentrated effort (even stressful at times) to make even smallest object move. This power left the practioner tired and exhausted. I did not want it something that would finish a battle quickly, nor something where you could simply choke a random person who had a lack of faith ala Darth Vader.The story evolved and grew into what it has become today. Originally it started as a story for a….
– See more at: http://www.free-press-release.com/news-planets-in-peril-movie-coming-1388247767.html#sthash.uBv0PTJ8.dpuf
http://www.free-press-release.com/news-planets-in-peril-movie-coming-1388247767.html
Here’s the updated logo design for Planets in Peril.
Planets in Peril
The idea for Planets in Peril came while attending my film classes in the early 1990’s. Although I believe I’ve been working on the concept and the story ever since I saw Star Wars as a boy in 1977.
In my film classes I learned about story structure, characters and all the elements of great filmmaking. After re-watching and enjoying several old classics like Star Wars, Raiders of The Lost Ark, Star Trek and other fantasy adventure films I began to put to paper my own distant planetary system. But here the universe was on the verge of collapse. It wasn’t the world of Star Wars where people had been ruled for years under a dark Empire – and had not Luke come along thins would still have continued just fine. Mine was a Universe that was actually on the brink of Annihilation. And it wasn’t just about conflict between people – it was literally a conflict against the energies of the universe. Naturally I had my dark villains like The Supremacy (More on that later) and Humm. But even they were no match for what was about to happen.
My hero Nathaniel Gage was very different than a Luke Skywalker, Captain Kirk or others typically experienced in this genre. Instead he could be compared more to a Peter Parker. A young man confused literally about everything. And he didn’t fit in. Not with the heroes, not with the villains. Not with anyone. I was especially fascinated by Jovian. Jovian was a priest in the sacred temples of the Tranku. The Tranku had been selected nearly 7,000 years ago to protect the sacred manuscripts that prohpesied of these end times. (and in fact even contained some escape routes if you knew what you were looking for.) Jovian however had been exiled from the temple because he broke some of the rules. (Actually one in particular which we will talk about later.) The thing that I enjoyed about Jovian was that he had a limited degree of mystical powers. I have always been interested in the powers of the mind. Especially ESP and Telekinesis. Jovian had those powers. (Not like the force in Star wars – which had Luke by the Empire Strikes back easily pulling lightsabers out of the snow or Yoda with little effort lifting X-wings out of a swamp.) But this was more like we see in ‘real life’ where the practioner needed focused concentrated effort (even stressful at times) to make even smallest object move. This power left the practioner tired and exhausted. I did not want it something that would finish a battle quickly, nor something where you could simply choke a random person who had a lack of faith ala Darth Vader.The story evolved and grew into what it has become today. Originally it started as a story for a comic book series. Naturally the original story has grown into what has become today.
Any ways stay tuned to this blog and I will share more about the development of the story for the film. (Like most fanboys I just hope they get it right. and trust me that even harder for the creator.)
Planets in Peril has also just completed a contract for several games and apps to be available through itunes later this year. And we are currently in preproduction with the film.
Planets In Peril concept logo
Planets in Peril is an upcoming science fiction feature film. This group will share behind the scenes news, development, photos, videos and inside information about the upcoming film. If you like Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings or similar stories you will enjoy Planets in Peril.
On this page we will post new developments regularly so you can follow the development of this new film and get a behind-the-scenes perspective of how the film is created and the characters are brought to life from concept to completion.
PlanetsinPeril 