Tom Kidd artwork of WOTW

[jeffwaynefan]

Hi Guys

What do you think of the artwork of the machines and martians that artist Tom Kidd did for the illustrated book in 2001. I must say I like the machines.

[EvilNerfherder]

nice,spooky and gothic...but ,as I grew up with the JW version it's hard to shake the image of his tripods when comparing.. I'm coming round though especially after having read the book many times over the years.

[Thunder Child]

The Tom Kidd images are very good. I like the horse like stride of the Machines. But the Machines themself are a little bit too organic in my opninion.

Greetings,
Johan

[Bayne]

[glow=red,2,300]The paintings are all done in a nice old-fashioned style, so many of the depictions of the tripods have a rusty brown colour to them. The tripods are still not entirely accurate most notably missing the basket and the handling machine appears to have 6 legs. Still the artworks are really beautiful, with a real depth of feeling in every brushstroke. By far my favourite WotW illustrations! [/glow]

[Thunder Child]

That picture of a Martian on spirits is very good in my opinion. Just look at the faces on the people looking at it...

Greetings,
Johan

[RossH]

I talked to Tom several years ago via email, he even sent me a few scans of his WOTW artwork for me to see (the book was delayed being published for about a year). He has a great retro-scifi style, and worked on concept art for Disney's Atlantis.

He was very knowledgeable about the book and I thought his paintings were probably the closest yet to both the atmosphere and the horror described in the book.

I think the tripod design for the movies will be the hardest task for those involved. The Wayne versions I liked when I was young, but now they are almost comically naive and toy-like.




Anyway, check out Tom's his other stuff at:

www.spellcaster.com/

[JonT]

any links for these pictures?

[MikeH]

There's a few examples on Dr Zeus' site drzeus.best.vwh.net/wotw/illus/interior.html. I've just got this book myself, and I love the illustrations, particularly as there are several I haven't seen before. I like the handling machine particularly, and the fighting machine in the storm.

[JonT]

cool thanks. wow they are great, i like the handling machine and the downed FM.

[mctoddridesagain]

I love 'em, when I saw a couple of scans on Dr Zeus's site I just had to get a copy, so I did!

You'll notice that there appear to be two different FM designs - the cover machine, which has a distinct and separate section atop the main body, and some others inside that are slightly flatter and have only one main section to the body. Also, the Flying Machine on the inside cover is different from the one illustrated later in the book. I suspect he painted them all over several years, so may have used earlier concepts that he'd already finished.

[JonT]

yeah i see what you mean, i may have to get me a copy of this book. i think the flying machine is cool, even though i have always had the design from the PC game stuck in my head, i think this one is well good and reminds me of a stealh bomber.

[lanceradvanced]

McToddRidesAgain said:

You'll notice that there appear to be two different FM designs - the cover machine, which has a distinct and separate section atop the main body, and some others inside that are slightly flatter and have only one main section to the body. Also, the Flying Machine on the inside cover is different from the one illustrated later in the book. I suspect he painted them all over several years, so may have used earlier concepts that he'd already finished.

If you go through the book, and look at the illustrations you'll see that -all- the machines are diffrent, even within the same painting. I thin it's one of the more intrequing aspects, as if each martian built it's machine to it's individual prefrences.. "Mass customization" as it were, on a grand scale.

[JonT]

yeah i like that idea

[Lensman]

I love those paintings: Beautiful, very artistic, and quite atmospheric. I love his depiction of the flying machine.

However, I don't consider the tripod depictions to be authentic. The tripods are described as looking metallic, not organic. The individualized shapes in the paintings imply they are grown rather than manufactured. This seems to contradict the indications of heavy industry going on in the Martians' bases (pits). And if he omitted the rear baskets that's another strike against the accuracy of the designs.

[JonT]

ah yeah a valid point, i had forgotten about that, but these depictions are still great, i dont think they would work if he did them as huge metalic monsters.

[lanceradvanced]

Lensman said:

However, I don't consider the tripod depictions to be authentic. The tripods are described as looking metallic, not organic.

Considering what I've seen of Tom's work, particulaly the Gnemo peices I think that that's the way he does metals, a dark brass or copper bronze or gunmetal , but still metalic - his style doesn't lend itself to gleaming metalic chrome.

[ClaytonForrester]

Perhaps the majority of a Tripod is a polished ,gleaming silvery steel,but maybe the upper shell of the ''operator's area'' is ''brazen'' or bronze-toned?Perhaps it's an alternatiing combination throughout a Tripod's ''color scheme''?

[mctoddridesagain]

I'd go with that. I definitely think Tom's paintings are of metallic machines, but as someone else notes, the browns and rust colours he uses can be deceptive.

In any case, H G isn't too clear, describing them as aluminium in one sentence, and with a 'brazen hood' in another (as ClaytonF notes).

I'm planning on building my own, as authentic as possible (hah!), fighting machine soon, and I may opt for aluminium in some parts, brass in others.