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| Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) concept art by Ryan Meinerding |
One of the biggest surprises in Guardians of the Galaxy was the cameo of Howard the Duck in the end-credits. Howard the Duck is a comic book character created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik who first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 (1973). It wasn't originally supposed to be in the movie at all and the design happened very quickly. The man they turned to to redesign the iconic character in just two days was Ryan Meinerding.
Meinerding is a conceptual artist and Visual Development Supervisor for Marvel Studios who's worked on major films like Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor and Iron Man and he shared some early concept art on his Facebook page.
Click on the images to enlarge.
"We had one plan for the first tag, and another for the second tag." director James Gunn told Empire Magazine. "Originally, we were going to put Baby Groot dancing at the very end of the movie. But we kept trying to think of different things. We had a bunch of stuff with Cosmo (The Space Dog, the Russian cosmonaut dog glimpsed in the movie and again in the end sting), and different ideas, and I think it was some combination of me and the editor Fred Raskin who said, 'Let’s put Howard The Duck in there.' What if The Collector looks over and sees Howard The Duck sitting there? And I wrote down the line, 'Whaddya let it lick you like that for? Gross.' Fred and I thought it was hilarious but we weren’t sure that (Head of Marvel Studios) Kevin Feige would go for it. But we told Kevin and Kevin couldn’t stop laughing. Every time he saw it, he was like, ‘We’re f***ing crazy! We’re f***ing crazy!’
"We decided to do it very late in the game, only a couple of months ago, and we had to design Howard that day. Then we gave him over to the visual effects company that did him. They did a good job very quickly – I think it was Sony."
Gunn talked Kevin Feige into letting his friend Seth Green voice the character saying, "I hang out with him a lot and we’ve been friends for a long time, over ten years now. I came up with a list of three guys I took to Kevin and said that these guys are all good friends, and I think they would come in and do it for me. He reacted really well to Seth Green."
The addition happened so quickly that not even Benecio Del Toro was aware Howard The Duck is in the scene. Gunn added, "Now I’m certain Benicio knows – I meant to text him this morning to see if he’s seen the ending tag that he’s in. I didn’t tell him and we didn’t show the tag at the premiere or any of the other places, and I didn’t tell Benicio. I thought it would be funny to just let him find out. He’s off doing his artistic things, I’m not sure he even knows."
Now, of course, everyone's asking if the character will star in his own movie after the ill-fated 1986 version. Gunn's not sure saying, "I’ll be honest with you, I was just talking about it with my assistant right now. It’s possible Howard could reappear as more of a character in the Marvel Universe. But if people think that’s going to lead to a Howard The Duck movie, that’s probably not going to happen in the next four years. Who knows after that?"
Here's what Howard the Duck looks like in the comics
Here's what he looks like in the concept art and the movie
"Here's my small, fun contribution to Guardians of the Galaxy! Howard the Duck!!" - Ryan Meinerding
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| "Howard the Duck" Marvel |
Meinerding also shared an early unused design for Rocket Racoon that was finally designed by Charlie Wen.
See more of Ryan Meinerding's marvelous portfolio at his site boyrobot.com or follow him on Facebook page.
Click on the links if you want to see more of Ryan Meinerding's work or Guardians of the Galaxy concept art and storyboards on my blog.
Via Comic Book Movie (Marvel Freshman)
What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Guardians of the Galaxy what do you think of Howard the Duck ?
Official Guardians of the Galaxy Summary
From Marvel, the studio that brought you the global blockbuster franchises of Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and The Avengers, comes a new team--the Guardians of the Galaxy. An action-packed, epic space adventure, Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy" expands the Marvel Cinematic Universe into the cosmos, where brash adventurer Peter Quill finds himself the object of an unrelenting bounty hunt after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by Ronan, a powerful villain with ambitions that threaten the entire universe. To evade the ever-persistent Ronan, Quill is forced into an uneasy truce with a quartet of disparate misfits--Rocket, a gun-toting raccoon; Groot, a tree-like humanoid; the deadly and enigmatic Gamora; and the revenge-driven Drax the Destroyer. But when Quill discovers the true power of the orb and the menace it poses to the cosmos, he must do his best to rally his ragtag rivals for a last, desperate stand--with the galaxy's fate in the balance.
Directed by James Gunn
Production Design by Charles Wood
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, Benicio del Toro, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close
Release date: August 1, 2014 (USA)
Official Site: http://marvel.com
© Copyright 2014 Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. All rights reserved
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