ammm... my portfolio... :)

[yoshi_mazaki]

...with some movie posters and experimental things...

www.tom-arthur-opasinski.com

also:
www.yoshi-mazaki.com - coming soon...

~yoshi

[Chuck,Mate.]

dude...........
are you serious?
you`re the guy that does these insane cool posters?
man, you`re like a god to me.
can you please tell us more about process, thechinque, etc`?
that`ll be very appreciated.

[andreasrocha]

:eek: wow

Impressive! I didn't know they all came from one person. I always thought it was done by some company.

If you truly did all those (which I still can't believe) I bow before you.

[gilberteaz]

Great Stuff! I really liked the "Evolution" images. I liked watching the image sequence from the begaining of a poster concept and watching it evolve to the final poster. I pretty much buy every digital illustration, and computer painting, tutorial books I run across at my local book stores. And Illustration portfolio books from Spectrum and Ballistic. If you created a tutorial book from your Evolution images I would diffenantly buy it! You should really seek out a publisher to create a tutorial book. There really isn't that much on computer illustration tutorial books out there mostly illustration portfolio books. You would make tons of cash! Actually you motivaded me to free up some time this weekend to work on my own illustration skills. Again Great work!

[yoshi_mazaki]

hi.. :) im at work now so my email is going to be really short.. :)
ofcourse there are few agencies working on posters, i'm just one of the artists working there.. :) this weekend i'll try to put something together about HOW THE PROCESS LOOKS LIKE when were designing a poster...

thank you... :) have a awesome day.
~yoshi

[Rafael Rivera]

cool man, I can't wait to read your process.

[yoshi_mazaki]

...to illustrate "poster-building" process i'll copy'n'paste part of an article for 2d artist magazine (issue 012):

Big campaigns - for an "A" category movies - start about a year or even two years before premiere. Most of the time a few agencies are trying to "solve the problem" - design a poster. Some agnecies "are strong" with comedies, some with dramas and some with sci-fi themes - Studios have to choose the "right agency" for each job. And it's not an easy job when the movie is in pre-production stage. Some Studios share only general idea about the project, some Studios deliver a script from the movie and some let us watch rough-cut before we start to work and brainstorm about poster and campaign. Those informations - from Studios - are confidential. Once again: it really depends on a project, it's stage in production or time left to premiere. Then, with Creative Brief an Agency gathers their "creative force" to brainstorm - to set up not just a look of the poster but all the aspects of the campaign... each little thing have to fit into marketing plan and have to be accepted by countless amount of people - ofcourse everyone have his own "five cents" and general idea how it (campaign) should look like. We have to VISUALIZE it also - and this is the tricky part. In meantime we (Agnecy) have to prepare a lot of things: sketch presentations, conceptualize, gather reference for projects (style, feel, treatment), to arrange special photoshoots - with actors, models or just props, create a logos (separate presentations simultaniously), establish a "feel" of the campaign and once movie is shot we can use a screengrabs also for our purposes. From this point work on a poster is divided into "presentations" where Agnecy prepares about 10-20 posters for each meeting with Client. Some Art Directors and Designers are assigned to particular job permanently and some work on it randomly - talent and style plays a big role here. Going back to "presentations"... each one of them is a bit different, sometimes full of "tweaks" sometimes we have to try "something new"... a different approach. Each "comp" (pre-poster) is created in scale so we don't have to deal with 2GB files each and every time. Once a "comp" is approved for it's final stage - it has to be rebuild at higher resolution and bigger size - usually: 27 by 40 inches. From there.. goes to the printer and... around the world. :) I've simplified this process a bit here. Sometimes we have to do few photoshoots, hire some additional artists - as I said, it really depends on a project and Studio where project comes from.

...and that's basically it... :) basically.
have a nice weekend.

~yoshi

[ximahmoud]

:eek: god damn awsome .. fantastic .. flawless .. beautiful work man

[Rabid Peanut]

Rarely do students like me get to get a quick in depth synopsis of the process, many thanks to you man, any specific posters you designed completely yourself that we should look at in particular?:)

[balaji_san]

Excellent!!! love your works.
Thanks for sharing

Cheers,
Balaji

[yoshi_mazaki]

...lately, i think it was: nativity, paris je t'aime... hitcher.. hollywoodland... it's really hard to say.. theposters i'm working on now are going to be around next year or even later... :)

~yoshi

[Extropalopakettle]

Thats incrediably impressive, I had no idea you did all of those. Bravo!

[yoshi_mazaki]

...thank you.
~yoshi

[gilberteaz]

It must be frustrating trying to create a poster design to please so many people. I worked for a advertising agency for over three years. I worked with sales people and customers, coming out with a design. Most of the designs I did started with three to five roughs. Then the client would choose one and add changes. Then I would create two versions from the one design just to give the client two to choose from. Once a add is chosen it was sent to the printer to create a small sample to make sure the colors print out correctly. I would make color changes if necessary and then we where done. I would get excited knowing that thousands of people would see my design.



The one thing I don't miss is? I would get extremely frustrated with clients that would continue to make the most slightest changes to a ad over and over again. I would end up with ten versions of an ad that you would have to look at for a minute or two to see what the differences are between them. And I would get the clients daughters boyfriends brother took a art class in high school and he thinks the sky should have a sunset in it. Plus working with the boss was the worst he would draw sketches of what he thought his clients wanted. And when the ad was complete it was no way close to what the boss had in mind. And he would apologize for the stick people he would draw on his sketches. They where so bad I couldn't make them out. Come on a three year old can draw a stick person. Right before I left people where quiting left and right. They were all abandoning ship! They said the boss is taking down the business. Last I heard they where still in the red! I do not miss this part of the job!

[yoshi_mazaki]

...imagine... for ONE poster we create FEW HUNDRED "comps" sometimes... my personal record was: 475 or close to it... :) i understand your frustration with clients... but thats the beauty of our job - commercial artists. we'll have to deal with clients all the time - so we love it and do it or: not... :)

~yoshi

[yoshi_mazaki]

...i'm planning to update my website in march... :)
thanks for visiting.

~yoshi

[MackSztaba]

Cool stuff.:D

[daniel ching]

well served you this how much the photos hem? congratulations? really Very good?.;)

[yoshi_mazaki]

...thank you all for emails. really. :)
ive decided to post an entire (raw) article - 2d artist magazine - to answer few more questions.

thank you. :)

~tomasz


Interviewer : Ben Barnes

Hi Tomasz, Thanks for Talking to us.
- Thank you Ben... pleasure to be here. :)

1. A lot of our readers will have already seen your work around, how did you get started in designing Film Posters?
O, thank you. :) I?ts a looooong story (am I really that old? LOL)... but to make it short ? here it goes, true story: "light-years" ago, as a kid, back in Poland i've seen an awesome poster at my favourite theatre for (one of my favourite movies) Indiana Jones (1989?) and then, righ there - for about 20 minutes or so, and very seriously - I thought about making posters, stearing at that window with my mouth wide open. :) At that time I've been painting a lot - at school and at home. After few years my parents got tired of my "paintshop mess" and my official (traditional) painting career stopped right there. Fortunately (for me) my grandma (yeah, shes pretty cool) bought me shiny new Commodore 64 and sort of "new era" started. There was no mess at my room anymore... heh. I can't figure out why exactly, but at age of 15 I went to Inland Navigation School instead of Art School. Go figure. With new computers and new programs - at school and at home - I've kept experimenting with graphics, did some jobs on a side... some 3D, some 2D, some animations... nothing crazy. From today's perspective. After graduation, with degree in Navigation (!)... I still wanted to continue and do my masters degree in that field - it's my big hobby after all. Unfortunately - this time for me - i couldn't continue in navigation: my vision was to bad to pass the tests and... I've had to do something else in my life than become an officer on a ship. Hmmm... what could I do? You guessed right: design and graphics was my choice. After few years and few next computers (from Amiga 500 to IBM PC 386SX) slowly I've started to work in traditional advertising as a designer. In meantime Photoshop became my main tool and I've started to feel pretty comfortable with it. Became a real tool - where I din't have to struggle with it to achieve something that I've imagined. I'm simplyfying here a bit to keep the story short... :) Few years later I became an Adobe Certified Expert - when still in Poland. Shortly after trip to US I've decided to try to find a job there (here?). And I did. But still not in "movie poster business". Not even close. :) After a year or so... an agency from Los Angeles (Seiniger Advertising Group) found my website, with my portfolio and contacted me about potential job. After loooong... 2-3 minutes of thinking, I've decided to go... :) And the story really begins here... Anyway. Here is a FUNNY part: this agency designed... Indiana Jones poster, years ago... :) I guess, thing called "circle of life" really exists. I've had a chills on my neck when i saw this poster on their walls - right before my interview. After Seiniger I took few other jobs (Art Director, Senior Art Director) in the industry and as for now I'm joining Crew Creative - located in Hollywood. One thing still didn't change much... my tool, I'm still using Photoshop as my main tool. More often I have to use some 3D programs also to create something from scratch - Maxon Cinema became my tool of choice, both on Mac platform. I really enjoy Posters, good posters. :) My way to do it was kind of long but worth it. :)

[yoshi_mazaki]

2. To me, this seems like a dream Job! Are there any other jobs you would quite like?
It may seem like pretty easy going job... but it isn't. It's rewarding - in many ways, but it's not easy. It requires a "bit" of knowledge... from history of art, history of moviemaking, paint techniques, print techniques, some 3D, typography, drawing skills and... sociology even. All those skills have to "invent/create" a SINGLE image to represent a whole movie. I'm talking about good posters - nicely executed, thought thru, positioned and marketed well. For each movie an agency have to create FEW HUNDRED projects (called "comps") in few months period. Job looks fairly easy when you manage one project... but that never happens. Most of the time we have to manage few projects at once... and... things can get ugly pretty fast. As for second part of your question... hmmm... I'm thinking about matte painting. Hopefully I don't have to wait about 20 years to do it. :)

3. You have worked on posters and promotions for some of the biggest films of all time, the King Kong remake for example, do you have a few favourite projects?
Yes, I guess I'm pretty lucky and happy to work on those projects. As far as favorite goes... each year brings me one or two posters which I'm "not afraid to hang at home". This year... so far... proooooobably my poster for Paris Je T'aime and Hollywoodland series.

[yoshi_mazaki]

4. How much creative input do you have in the designs?
It really depends on a project I'm working on. Creative brief (from Studio) is a one thing, but execution and brainstorming is a different story I guess. Most honest answer would be: sometimes I have "total freedom" and I can just "go for it" where sometimes... eh... those sometimes... :) Please keep in mind that even with "total freedom" I have to apply and include all the rules and guides associated with present movie posters "style guide". There are guides and rules applying to title (size, placement, etc), subtitle, billing blocks (size, placement, etc), actors names, logos, trimmings, colors, proportions, likenesses, techniques... oh, many things you have to think about, when designing. After few years it comes kind of "naturally". Ofcourse I prefer those "go-for-it-projects" mostly... :)

[yoshi_mazaki]

5. Take us through the process for creating Movie posters. How does it start?
Big campaigns - for an "A" category movies - start about a year or even two years before premiere. Most of the time a few agencies are trying to "solve the problem" - design a poster. Some agnecies "are strong" with comedies, some with dramas and some with sci-fi themes - Studios have to choose the "right agency" for each job. And it's not an easy job when the movie is in pre-production stage. Some Studios share only general idea about the project, some Studios deliver a script from the movie and some let us watch rough-cut before we start to work and brainstorm about poster and campaign. Those informations - from Studios - are confidential. Once again: it really depends on a project, it's stage in production or time left to premiere. Then, with Creative Brief an Agency gathers their "creative force" to brainstorm - to set up not just a look of the poster but all the aspects of the campaign... each little thing have to fit into marketing plan and have to be accepted by countless amount of people - ofcourse everyone have his own "five cents" and general idea how it (campaign) should look like. We have to VISUALIZE it also - and this is the tricky part. In meantime we (Agnecy) have to prepare a lot of things: sketch presentations, conceptualize, gather reference for projects (style, feel, treatment), to arrange special photoshoots - with actors, models or just props, create a logos (separate presentations simultaniously), establish a "feel" of the campaign and once movie is shot we can use a screengrabs also for our purposes. From this point work on a poster is divided into "presentations" where Agnecy prepares about 10-20 posters for each meeting with Client. Some Art Directors and Designers are assigned to particular job permanently and some work on it randomly - talent and style plays a big role here. Going back to "presentations"... each one of them is a bit different, sometimes full of "tweaks" sometimes we have to try "something new"... a different approach. Each "comp" (pre-poster) is created in scale so we don't have to deal with 2GB files each and every time. Once a "comp" is approved for it's final stage - it has to be rebuild at higher resolution and bigger size - usually: 27 by 40 inches. From there.. goes to the printer and... around the world. :) I've simplified this process a bit here. Sometimes we have to do few photoshoots, hire some additional artists - as I said, it really depends on a project and Studio where project comes from.

[yoshi_mazaki]

6. How important are Movie posters in the complete promotional set up for a film? Do you think it has changed with the availability of information through the internet?
Movie Posters are called Key Art (and respectively - Key Art Awards) here in US and i guess this name answers the question. Poster sets up a whole visual experience for viewers, elements from it are taken to all sorts of promotional materials, DVD's, CD's, books, clothes and the Internet. And the "Almighty Internet" have to be taken very seriously... information spreads with lightspeed there... if it's a good news or bad - can reach millions of people in a split second. It's a big advantage... but also a great danger to any campaign. We - designers - still design posters as posters but at the back of our heads we have to think: how this title would look like on a small banner? can i convert my artwork to horizontal piece? is my artwork to "busy" for a web? Designing a poster is a never ending compromise.

7. Do you have a favourite project after all these years?
Let me think for a moment... :) ...no, I don't have my favourite project. Yet. :) I really enjoy every (or most) project. This adrenaline rush, this excitement, challenge... it's... hard to describe. You just have to try it... :)

[yoshi_mazaki]

8. Do you have a dream project that you would like for the future?
Yes. Back in Poland we have very specific style of posters (www.polishposter.com)... and I would love to experiment with those kind of posters one day.

9. Do you have one piece of advice for any aspiring artists?
Be patient... sometimes it takes 20 years to do what you really love to do. :)

Thanks very much for talking to us, Good luck for the future.
- thank you. :)


Interviewee(s) : Tom Arthur Opasinski
Contact eMail : www@tom-arthur-opasinski.com
Website Address : www.tom-arthur-opasinski.com

[Bino]

Beautiful portfolio ^^

Bino.

http://binoland.blogspot.com/

http://portfoliobino.free.fr/

[yoshi_mazaki]

...thank you guys. :) ...for all emails also.
have a great day.
~yoshi

[DColonna]

I know that this is getting repetitive but wow awesome work. Thank you for sharing!!!

Dan

[6dollarman]

Outstanding work.

...6dollarman

[yoshi_mazaki]

...thank you guys. this work is like neverending "war" between this what clients want and this what i want to give them... marriage of those two can be interesting in momst cases... :) not all... but most... :) my friend is programming new website for me as we speak, so... soon.. maybe in may, i'll post some new stuff, mixed with old stuff ofcourse... :)

have a happy easters! :)
~tomasz aka yoshi mazaki

[yoshi_mazaki]

...new sites are up...

www.tomasz-opasinski.com
www.yoshi-mazaki.com

[yoshi_mazaki]

...i'll be updating my website in next few weeks or so.
just added: EVOLUTION and BLOG (sorry, but only in Polish tho)....

http://www.tomasz-opasinski.com/
http://www.tomasz-opasinski.com/tao_evolution/

...have a happy holidays... :)
~tomasz