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Unseen Visions: The Allure of Concept Art from Unmade & Unused Films

The article discusses the value and allure of concept art for unmade films and unused parts of films, highlighting their rarity, historical significance, artistic merit, and the 'what if' factor they evoke, and mentions an upcoming auction featuring such pieces from various films.

November 30, 2024

a collage of drawings and sketches of where the wild things are

Lot #457. Where the Wild Things Are | Pre-Production Documents Including Original Sketches

The world of film is filled with "what ifs" and moments that "almost were." Scripts that never saw the light of day, casting choices that fell through, and special effects that remained on the drawing board. And it's in this realm of the unrealized that we find some of the most fascinating and collectible artifacts of cinema: concept art for unmade films and unused parts of films.

These pieces offer a glimpse into alternate realities, roads not taken, and visions left unexplored. They are tangible remnants of creative energy, imagination, and the collaborative process of filmmaking. But what makes them truly desirable and collectible?

A Window into the Creative Process

Concept art provides a unique insight into the evolution of a film, from its initial conception to its final realization. We see the initial sparks of inspiration, the brainstorming, the experimentation, and the gradual refinement of ideas. It's like being able to trace the artist's and filmmaker's thought process, witnessing the birth and development of characters, creatures, and worlds.

Rarity & Uniqueness

Often, concept art exists in limited numbers, making each piece inherently rare. This is especially true for unmade films, where the artwork might be the only surviving evidence of a project's existence. These pieces become capsules of lost potential, capturing a moment in time that never fully materialized.

Historical Significance & Artistic Merit

Concept art can serve as a historical record of filmmaking trends, technological advancements, and the evolution of visual effects. It reflects the aesthetic sensibilities of a particular era and the creative vision of the artists and filmmakers involved.

Many concept artists are incredibly talented individuals, and their work stands on its own as fine art. These are not just sketches or preliminary drawings; they are often highly detailed, beautifully rendered pieces that showcase the artist's skill and imagination.

The 'What If' Factor

Perhaps the most compelling aspect of concept art for unmade or unused films is the sense of mystery and intrigue it evokes. It invites us to imagine what might have been, to ponder alternate versions of our favorite films, and to explore the roads not taken.

a black and white drawing of a woman in a futuristic dress .

a black and white drawing of a woman with short hair

a drawing of a monster with horns on a white background .

a black and white drawing of a mummy on a white background .

a pencil drawing of a group of zombies on a piece of paper .

a black and white drawing of a monster on a white background .

a pencil drawing of the incredible hulk standing on a white background .

it is a pencil drawing of a zombie without a shirt .

a black and white drawing of a monster attacking a man .

a drawing of a skeleton in a black frame

1. Lot #19. Bicentennial Man | Constantine Sekeris "Milla Jovovich as Galatea" Concept Artwork, 3. Lot #140. Kong: Skull Island | Paul Komoda "Icarus Tigris" Concept Artwork, 4. Lot #161. The Mummy | Miles Teves Concept Artwork, 5. Lot #171. The Lost Boys | Early Unused "Vampires" Concept Artwork, 6. Lot #234. Superman Lives | Kerry Gammill "Doomsday" Concept Artwork, 7. Lot #238. Hulk (1997) | Kerry Gammill Concept Artwork, 10. Lot #420. Ghostbusters | Bernie Wrightson "The Gates of Hell" Original Concept Artwork, 11. Lot #457. Where the Wild Things Are | Pre-Production Documents Including Original Sketches,

Highlights from 'Hollywood Legends: Sci-Fi, Horror, & Action' Auction

The upcoming "Hollywood Legends: Sci-Fi, Horror, & Action" auction on December 12th at the Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills offers a treasure trove of such concept art, including:

Where the Wild Things Are

Pre-Production Documents Including Original Sketches

Estimate:

$300 - $500

A collection of ten sheets of pre-production documents for the Spike Jonze-directed fantasy film Where The Wild Things Are (Warner Bros, 2009). This collection includes original colored pencil drawings, production made copies, photographs, and more.

Documents include hand-drawn and graphically designed diagrams for the positioning of human actors inside the life-size suits of the Wild Things, three character design sheets for the Wild Thing named Ira, three sheets containing images of a sculpture of a face of one of the Wild Things, and a Basic Block Diagram of Control System Layout that includes hand-written notations and taped on elements. The Ira character designs are by artist Constantine Sekeris (a copy of whose signature is present on two of the sheets), the largest of which contains the logo for Steve Johnson's company Edge FX in the lower right; the Control System Layout also features this logo. Edge FX did preliminary designs for the look and mechanical aspects for the Wild Things in the film, until the production ultimately hired The Jim Henson Company to build the screen-used animatronics.

Largest: 17 x 14 inches

Ghostbusters

Bernie Wrightson "The Gates of Hell" Original Concept Artwork

Estimate:

$15,000 - $20,000

An original gouache and water color painting by legendary comic book artist Bernie Wrightson depicting "The Gates of Hell" for the classic horror-comedy Ghostbusters (Columbia, 1984).

Wrightson created his artwork based on an earlier draft of the screenplay that contained a sequence where the Ghostbusters went into Hell through a gate and down a treacherous, otherworldly path. This sequence was ultimately not included in the final film, and replaced with The Temple of Gozer appearing on top of The Shandor Building for the final showdown.

Wrightson is most well-known for co-creating the iconic comic book character "Swamp Thing" alongside writer Len Wein for DC Comics in 1971. He illustrated a highly acclaimed graphic novel version of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein where he drew the characters accurately based on their descriptions in the original novel. Wrightson also created artwork for other comic book titles such as "The Punisher: Purgatory," "Batman/Aliens," "Spider-Man: Hooky," as well as concept art for films The Faculty, Galaxy Quest, Spider-Man, The Mist and more. He developed a close relationship with author Stephen King after drawing the comic book adaptation of King's film Creepshow, which led Wrightson to create adaptations and illustrations for other King works throughout the years. Wrightson passed away in 2017.

The piece is housed in a custom black frame with skull adornments in each corner. Wrightson's signature is present in the lower right.

Framed, 27.75 x 21.75 inches; sight, 19.75 x 14.5 inches

Hulk (1997)

Kerry Gammill Concept Artwork

Estimate:

$300 - $500

Four pieces of concept artwork for the unmade 1997 film Hulk based on the Marvel comics superhero character. These pieces are by artist Kerry Gammill with three of them realized in graphite and one production copy printed on stationary from Steve Johnson's XFX. Gammill's signature is present on two of the pieces, as well as printed on the production copy.

The film was to be the directorial debut of screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh after his collaborator Joe Johnston left the project. Billy Crudup was cast in the lead role of Bruce Banner / The Hulk. The film was going to follow Banner conducting an experiment with gamma radiation on three death row inmates - Novak, Deacon, and Hector - that goes wrong and ends up mutating all of them. Banner turns into The Hulk and the inmates slowly star turning into monstrous insect creatures. Gregory Sporleder was cast as Novak and Lynn "Red" Willams was cast as Deacon.

This set includes a drawing of The Hulk, two drawings of the recently mutated "Novack [sic]", and a drawing of "Super Deacon."

Universal Pictures spent $20 million on development, computer animation, and prosthetics work and then shut the movie down because of its ballooning budget and lack of faith in a first time director. The studio would later make a Hulk film in 2003 starring Eric Bana and directed by Ang Lee.

Largest: 14 x 10.5 inches

Superman Lives

Kerry Gammill "Doomsday" Concept Artwork

Estimate:

$200 - $300

A piece of original concept artwork for the character Doomsday from the infamously unmade superhero film Superman Lives. The artwork is by artist Kerry Gammill and realized in graphite. Gammill's signature is present in the lower left. This was "Design Option #3" for Doomsday and was completed when Gammill was a part of Steve Johnson's XFX company.

Superman Lives is one of the most famous unmade films of all time, mostly due to the amount of A-List talent involved in the project. It was to be directed by Tim Burton, written by Kevin Smith, and starring Nicolas Cage as Superman. The plot of the film was going to take cues from the famous comic book storyline, "The Death of Superman," and have the villainous Brainiac and Lex Luthor team up to summon the lethal Doomsday that successfully kills Superman. A mysterious Kryptonian force known as "K" revives Superman and takes the form of an updated costume that artificially produces all of Superman's powers until he is back to his own strength.

The film was ultimately shelved due to high budget constraints, despite costume tests and fittings of Nicolas Cage in both the classic Superman suit and the updated bioluminescent suit having already occurred. A feature-length documentary about the unmade film was released in 2015 entitled The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?

14 x 10.5 inches

The Lost Boys

Early Unused "Vampires" Concept Artwork

Estimate:

$200 - $300

Two original pencil on paper sketches of vampires from the pre-production of the teen horror film The Lost Boys (Warner Bros, 1987).

These designs come from early in the pre-production process when Steve Johnson and his team was creating a more monstrous look for the vampires in the film. Director Joel Schumacher eventually brought in Greg Cannom to develop a more sleek and simple design for the vampire make-up. According to Cannom, Schumacher told him, "I've hired these sexy young kids, and I want them sexy. I don't want monsters." Cannom's designs were ultimately used in the film, making these scarier designs from Johnson's team a fascinating look into what could have been for this cult horror film classic.

One of the sheets contains a sketch of one full-bodied vampire with his shirt off, fangs bared, and claws outstretched. The other sheet features different looking vampires in various stages of detailing and in various poses, including one with a one of his claws wrapped around the head of a shocked soon-to-be victim. Handwriting on the back of each sheet indicates the artwork being for The Lost boys. The sheets are pages from a spiral sketch notebook, indicated by the spiral edge on the left side of both.

14 x 17 inches each

The Mummy

Miles Teves Concept Artwork

Estimate:

$300 - $500

An original graphite on paper piece of concept artwork by artist Miles Teves likely for the action-adventure film The Mummy (Universal, 1999). Teves is one of the most accomplished sculptors and concept artists for feature films in the past 40 years. His previous credits also include Legend, Robocop, Total Recall, Batman Forever, Men in Black, Galaxy Quest, Spider-Man, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and many more. His signature is present in the lower left and has a credit on the film as "Mummy Designer: ILM."

This is a highly detailed drawing would have been a preliminary piece of concept art when the designers at ILM were looking for the right look for the mummies. Director Stephen Sommers wanted the look of the main mummy, Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo), to move away from the classic "wrapped in bandages" look, but allowed the "Mummy Priests" in the film to look more classically wrapped in order to pay homage to the original 1932 film version of The Mummy.

17 x 14 inches

Kong: Skull Island

Paul Komoda "Icarus Tigris" Concept Artwork

Estimate:

$200 - $300

An original piece of concept artwork by artist Paul Komoda for the adventure creature-feature Kong: Skull Island (Warner Bros, 2017).

The artwork depicts the Icarus Tigris, a species of tiger that is found on Skull Island that was originally intended to appear in the movie, but was ultimately not included. The piece is realized in graphite, paint, and watercolor to bring this fantastical horned white tiger with blood on its mouth to life. Komoda's signature is present in the lower right. A partial, unfinished sketch is present on the verso.

A pair of Icarus Tigris creatures were going to be one of the first kinds of creatures that the human characters encounter on Skull Island in a scene where one of the humans kills one of the creatures, only to be killed by the creature's partner in retaliation.

8.5 x 11 inches

Bicentennial Man

Constantine Sekeris "Milla Jovovich as Galatea" Concept Artwork

Estimate:

$200 - $300

An original pencil-on-paper piece of concept artwork by artist Constantine Sekeris for the Robin Williams-starring sci-fi dramedy Bicentennial Man (Touchstone Pictures, 1999).

This artwork depicts actress Milla Jovovich as the female robot character in the film, Galatea. Jovovich was attached to the role during the development and pre-production of the film, sparking this concept design to be made. Ultimately, the role was played by actress Kiersten Warren and Jovovich went on to star in The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (Gaumont, 1999) the same year directed by her then-husband Luc Besson.

The piece also features hand-painted detailing and the artist's signature in the lower right. This is not only a professional and impressive piece of hand-drawn artwork, but it offers a rare look into a "What If?" scenario of a Hollywood production.

17 x 14 inches

These pieces represent a rare opportunity to own a piece of film history, to connect with the creative process, and to explore the world of unrealized cinematic visions. Consider these artifacts portals to alternate realities, tangible testaments to the power of imagination, and reminders that even in the world of film, the journey can be as captivating as the destination.

Register and bid now.

Live Auction

HOLLYWOOD LEGENDS: SCI-FI, HORROR, & ACTION

Dec 12, 2024

10:00 AM PST