Doctor Strange boasts visual effects that are impressive enough to stack up against any other movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. For a story as demanding of mind-bending aesthetics as the battle between Earth and other dimensions, Doctor Strange’s visuals are one of its biggest strengths, an impressive end result for director Scott Derrickson. It should not come as a surprise that some of the movie’s marketing push is just as visually stunning and, well, strange.
Google, meanwhile, launched its own platform for eye-popping visual art with the Tilt Brush, which lets you paint over 3D landscapes using a virtual reality headset. Google unveiled the product in May, but has used it sparingly for any kind of online content. Marvel Studios recently teamed up with the tech giant to create innovative and stunning recreations of scenes and characters from Doctor Strange, which have now been revealed to the world.
Marvel teamed up with creative agency Denizen and 3D innovators RealD to recruit three Google Tilt Brush artists to “take part in a global VR painting experiment inspired by Doctor Strange,” according to a press release about the project. Marvel posted a thrilling video about the VR experiment on its Facebook page, showing three artists paint their own virtual reality worlds based on their surroundings and viewers “walking through” their incredible Tilt Brush-generated VR landscapes. Explore the work of each artist via the 3D YouTube videos below:
Artists Danny Bittman, Steve Teeple and Stuart Campbell used the cutting-edge art technology to paint virtual reality “alternate realities” based on the locations of the movie’s three Sanctums: New York City, London, and Hong Kong. Bittman honors the movie's world by transforming New York into a contorted, pixelated dream world. Teeple uses vibrant abstract imagery to make London look surreal, kaleidoscopic, and unrecognizable. Campbell uses his surroundings in Hong Kong and borrows visual cues from Doctor Strange to cover his world in futuristic flowing graffiti.
Denizen created the content in order to "mirror the otherworldly imagery of Doctor Strange," according to a press release. The work of these artists, and the innovative technology used to bring them to life, are nothing short of exhilarating to see. It paints (literally) such a promising picture for the marriage of art and technology for future artists to use Google Tilt Brush to their advantage, whether for movie marketing purposes or for their own original creations.
Fortunately for Marvel, RealD, and Google, Doctor Strange is a critical success and is projected to have a big opening weekend when it hits theaters. It has already scored $86 million in its international debut. The expected big success of the movie will certainly help this inventive project - and the artists - get the attention it deserves and otherwise would not have gotten if the movie had fallen flat.
Source: Marvel Studios
