Since I last wrote about illustrator and concept artist Marc Gabbana back in 2005, his website has been revised and expanded with many more of his wonderful concept illustrations for films like Matrix Reloaded, Martix Revolutions, Star Wars Episode I and II, Monsterhouse, War of the Worlds, Beowulf, and the recent Disney production of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol.
Gabbana has a versatile style, ranging from atmospheric realism to highly rendered but delightfully cartoony flights of sci-fi whimsey. He also works in a variety of media, preferring digital for his recent concept illos, but working in acrylic, pencil, ink and marker for older pieces.
One of the things I enjoy most about his acrylic paintings and some of his more playful digital paintings (images above, middle), in addition to his terrifically fun use of brilliant colors and dynamic value relationships, is his approach to texture. Look for the detail crops of some of his robots and machines in which he delights in the pitted surfaces of worn metal.
His portfolio also includes illustrations for advertising, various publications, comic book covers, model kits and other products, as well as personal images in which he lets his imagination run wild.
Gabbana now has a blog, called Black Hammer, and has just released two instructional DVD’s through Gnomon Workshop, Visual Development with Marc Gabbana Volume One and Volume Two. You can see a couple of excerpts from them on Sketch Theatre.
He also did the recent cover for Airbrush Action magazine’s 25th Anniversary issue (May-June, 2010, digital version orders here), that includes a ten page article on Gabbana. In addition he created the illustration for the Spectrum 15 Call for Entries (images above, top, see my posts on Spectrum 14 and Spectrum 13).
As you explore his site and look back through the film concepts, be sure not to miss Gabbana’s beautiful pen and marker concepts for the Star Wars movies (above, bottom).
