August | 2013 | Meinert Hansen

From the vaults – Me and Steely Joe

I found this Polaroid of me with the full-scale costume of Steely Joe, which I designed for ‘The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne’ back in 1998. This was at Texa FX in Montreal where all the creatures and prosthetics were made. They did incredible work for the show. I didn’t realize at the time that it was the first real steampunk television series, and it was my introduction to the genre which I love so much. What a trip it was, walking on sets and seeing life-sized versions of my designs. I had the pleasure of going through that experience on more movies later, but this was my first big production and I put my all into it.

Here are a couple screenshots of the steam-powered cowboy in action. I wonder if the series will ever be released on DVD.

Race to Mars – Proper credit

I updated my portfolio to include a proper credit for my Race to Mars illustrations. I was contacted by the designer of the vehicles – Kurt Anthony Micheels – through Facebook, in a message dated from 2011 which I just saw now. Folks, check the tab that says “Other” in your private messaging page – tons of missed emails, not just junk.

As I was only working freelance on the show for two weeks, all my drawings went through approval from the production house in town, and subsequently I should have been more careful to find out exactly where the designs actually came from before putting them in my portfolio and calling it “Concept Art” instead of “Illustrations based on…”. I’m glad Kurt alerted me to this – no one like to see someone else’s name on their creations, and I’ve always made sure to play fair in this business.

Mirror Mirror concept sketches

Just before I worked on Batman: Arkham Origins, I very briefly worked on Tarsem’s “Mirror Mirror”. At the time, it was still called “Untitled Snow White project”. All these sketches were a work in progress, as it was very early in the pre-production, and the director was still finishing up on Immortals. I started with Snow White’s bedroom, which was supposed to be very sparsely decorated. The fun part was coming up with a wall pattern based on the style of Kay Nielsen. There were also some sleigh designs, the village and some studies of the forest elements.

Oshkosh Museum – Pictures from the steampunk exhibit

Here are pictures of my work on display at the Oshkosh Museum, kindly sent to me by Michael Breza, who set up the exhibit. I would love to visit and see the many other cool objects and artwork at this fine exhibit, but alas, my time is all taken up these days.