COSMIC MOTORS WALLPAPERS. FINALLY.

Hi! After so many people kicking frequently my cosmic ass, I cranked some night shifts and created a few Cosmic Motors full size wallpapers. More to come!

Click the link below to download full resolutions and enjoy. Frankly, looks best on your 30" at 2560 px.

Cosmic Motors Wallpapers here!

Gotta run, Daniel

MY FIRST TEST CANON 5D MkII

Yesterday, I rolled out my new Canon 5D MkII and stepped on a seductive battlefield... a friends fashion show in Los Angeles. That camera rocks. I still have to figure out some fancy features, but I caught fire and will return taking Cosmic Motors related beauty shots this summer. May the casting begin.


I shot this show opening in poor and warm stage lighting with 50mm at 1.4 aperture, 4000 ISO. No flash.

Best, Daniel

ALIAS AVAILABLE FOR MAC!

Alias, my preferred 3D software package, is now also available for native Mac. I will test it next week, I heard good things about it and prices went down. Thank you for putting the Galaxion car on the packaging. Btw, the final surfaces on that car were masterfully handled by Erik Viking Skoglund.


More about the new Alias 2010 here!

Best, Daniel

LOS ANGELES: INTERVIEW WITH SYD MEAD & DANIEL SIMON

The march issue No 189 of Japanese/English magazine CAR STYLING features a 14 pages article "Conversation between Syd Mead and Daniel Simon". The interview was initiated by Car Styling board Mr.Fujimoto, Mr. Matsunaga, Mr. Kaneko as well as Roger Servick and Michiko Durinski.

In "The essense of Concept Design" we chat about or design philosophy, job experiences and share thoughts about future and past. Mr. Mead and I know each other since a few years now and became friends, but never spoke together in public before.

Thank you for the wonderful afternoon at the L.A. Autoshow and the nice drinks you organized. Car Styling magazine is available worldwide in special bookstores or online - see below.

Best, Daniel

http://www.sydmead.com/

http://www.carstylingmag.com/

PUMA GLOBAL AD CAMPAIGN DESIGNED BY DANIEL SIMON

This is a recent design adventure into the world of sportswear - a global ad for PUMA. The project was directed by the danish agency Robert/Boisen. Posters should hit Puma stores around the globe this week.


I designed the legs following certain design briefings by the client. The given ad theme can be described as the following: Unveiling some uber-tech soccer boots that a fictive Puma research lab is developing secretly. But until these magic shoes are available in the far future, you better stick with the latest foot wear you find in Puma stores today.

For 3D modeling I relied on Autodesk AliasStudio 2009 software and rendered the final wire in Bunkspeed hyperShot Pro 1.5

Best, Daniel

design: Daniel Simon COSMIC MOTORS www.danielsimon.com
client: PUMA AG www.pumafootball.com
agency: ROBERT/BOISEN & Like-minded www.rblm.dk
modeling: AliasStudio2009 www.autodesk.com
rendering: hyperShot Pro www.bunkspeed.com

LOS ANGELES: DANIEL JOINS FILM UNION

I am happy to be accepted as a member of the American art directors guild, the IATSE Local 800. This allows me to legally work as a designer on U.S. feature films.
Best, Daniel

http://www.artdirectors.org/

LAS VEGAS: BOOK SIGNING

Wow, thanks everybody for waiting in line for so long. That was truly amazing. Thank you!

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Best regards, Daniel

LAS VEGAS: A SPEECH ABOUT THE FUTURE

It was a pleasure being a keynote presenter at the huge Autodesk University event, with a total of about 500 presentations over one week and 9000 guests. The Venetian Casino Hotel in Las Vegas was probably the only place on earth to host such a monster event. So, thank you Autodesk (Chris Cheung!) for the invitation and to you for the overwhelming response on my presentation. Hope to see you again!




More info click here!

Best, Daniel!

LOS ANGELES: SPEAKING AT THE L.A.AUTOSHOW

I was honored to be invited to the Los Angeles Auto Show as a keynote speaker on November 20th, 2008, at the L.A. Convention Center. I shared some critical and naive thoughts about motor racing of the future.




Best, Daniel

http://www.laautoshow.com/

SAO PAULO: F1 WEEKEND WITH FERRARI

Thank you Peter, Scuderia Fiat & Ferrari for that amazing invitation to the final GP of the F1 season 2008. That nail-biting event had no happy ending for Felipe Massa, who visited us in the Fiat hospitality shortly before the race. Then, when he crossed the finish line first, we celebrated his F1 world championship - not noticing that Hamilton surprisingly slipped passed Glock's Toyota in the very last moment, earning that one little point he needed to win the championship instead! I had tragic moments between all the Brazilians! But congrats to the young Lewis.

Massa, leaving the pits at the Saturday qualifying, to set another Ferrari pole position. Photo by Luca!


Me in the Ferrari box, shortly before the Sunday race, trying to sneak out with a front spoiler ...

Ferrari pilot Felipe Massa visiting our hospitality, shortly before the championship show down. I was running around a corner at our cafeteria to get some food and stumbled right over him. Embarrassing-session. Sorry Felipe! Poor guys, how do they manage all that craziness?

So again, thank you Peter and everybody at Fiat & Ferrari for that spectacular & inspirational weekend.

Daniel

SAO PAULO: SPEAKING AT THE MUSEUM OF ART

I am glad having been invited as a speaker to the Evento De Design at the Museum of Art in Brazil's cultural melting pod Sao Paulo. The MASP is right on Avenida Paulista, one of Sao Paulo's crazy main streets. I was talking about my thoughts on future transportation and showcase some of my work.

Panel discussion on stage. Form the left: Anisio Campos - brazilian design legend. Me - being myself. Peter Fassbender - Head of Fiat Design Brazil. Lorenzo Ramaciotti - Head of Fiat Design incl. Maserati, formerly Chief Executive Officer of Pininfarina, developing the Ferrari Enzo, F430 and others.

It was very nice to meet everybody and I apologize if there was little time to catch up afterwards due to the tight schedule of my visit. Viva Brasil!

Abracos, Daniel

ROCKET RACING LEAGUE: COSMIC-MOTORS DESIGNS PLANE GRAPHIC

The Rocket Racing League celebrated its historic inaugural flight of the first contender - the Bridenstine DKNY Rocket Racer! At EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI, a two-time NASA Shuttle commander piloted the rocket plane.

The racing graphic of the DKNY-sponsored rocket plane was developed by Cosmic Motors in cooperation with DonnaKaranNewYork and the Bridenstine team. Due to technical requirements you can't do what you want. Within these boundaries we came up with a pretty clean and retro-futuristic look.

Thank you for this fantastic opportunity! Jim, good luck for your first racing season!! Granger, all the best for you huge project! Andy & Michelle - good job! For more info click here:
http://www.rocketracingleague.com/
To see the plane taking off at the airfield of Oshkosh on 07-29-08, click below!
Best, Daniel

TOKYO: BACK IN TOWN

I am back in Tokyo for the final presentation of a consultancy project. At a rare free moment I found myself with my Japanese producer in a Tsutaya bookstore in Tokyo, a sophisticated supplier of art and design books. Supported by Born Digital Inc. they arranged a Cosmic Motors promo shelve. Thanx, also to Rintaro-san from Tsutaya! So cool.



I am back on my drawing board soon.

Best, Daniel

LE MANS: 24 HOURS OF INSPIRATION AT ASTON MARTIN

I am always seeking for inspiration - this is what drives me to kick off new Cosmic Motors projects. So this weekend is hard to beat: the 24 heures du Mans - the glorious endurance race in France, where makers like Porsche, Ferrari and others wrote motor sport history.

We have been lucky enough to spend it inside the heart of the wonderfully Gulf-colored ASTON MARTIN RACING team, thank you Chris and all the nice Aston staff. Congratulations to David and his whole equipe for the GT1 victory of car No 009!! Fabulous. Marek, the car looks so awesome!! You are the man.


Thanx for the great hospitality.

Best, Daniel !
PS After all I am German, so: Audi, well done!

TOKYO: THANK YOU

Thank you for the overwhelming interest in the presentation and book signing. I was flattered by an audience of about 300 viewers from various Japanese industries such as Honda, Sony, Canon, Bandai, Sega or Sanyo and design schools.
Also, a huge "arigatô-gozai-mashita" to the team of Born Digital Inc., Autodesk Japan and my japanese producer for creating a trouble-free event.





Please, feel free to leave a comment, as there was unfortunately little time to get in touch with everybody.

Best, Daniel

TOKYO: COMO SPOTTED IN STORES

The japanese edition of Cosmic Motors was spotted in several quality book stores in Tokyo, such as Aoyama, Sanseido, Shosen or Kinokuniya. Pretty cool. Keep in mind that about 3000 new books are published every month in Japan. So being in the shelve is actually quite sweet.



Best, Daniel

TOKYO: MEET ME AT A COSMIC MOTORS EVENT

Born Digital Inc. Japan announced to host a Cosmic Motors event in Tokyo. I will speak at the Bellesalle Kanda Convention Building, 1:30 pm, June 2nd, 2008.
I will present my work flow followed by a Q&A. Japanese translation included. It's free - you can book a seat here:


http://www.borndigital.co.jp/news/topics/concept_seminar/

You better speak Japanese to handle that link ;o)
Hope 2 c u there, Daniel!

KANYE WEST - COSMIC MOTORS

Grammy Award winner and hip hop guru Kanye West (Flashing Lights, Homecoming, Stronger) adds COSMIC MOTORS to his blog, saying "Ok...the very best space ships...perhaps".
Mega. I should do some album covers with him. Love his sounds.

Check out the Kanye West blog here!

Best, Daniel!

NEW YORK: COSMIC MOTORS BOOK SIGNING

Everything seemed to be set for a COSMIC MOTORS book signing at the Forbidden Planet store right at New York`s Broadway. But the schedule was too tight - the books came in a few hours late. I was already thundering in the cab to the airport.


Next time, New York.

Best, Daniel!

NEW YORK: COSMIC MOTORS RADIO INTERVIEW

COSMIC MOTORS Radio interview at Harry Allen`s friday show NONFICTION on WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM's.

After the recording at his Wall Street Studio I could not resist to take a heli flight over
Manhattan, they just took off in front of the studio from a peer. Nice trill!

 
I will post a link once the radio show is on air.  

Best, Daniel!

LOS ANGELES: ART CENTER VISIT

Thanx for the warm welcome at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena.
Great students, great talents, great spirit.... lots of fun!


Sorry if one or the other dedication doodle in the book was a little off - at least I tried!

Best, Daniel!

LOS ANGELES: COSMIC MOTORS PARTY

DSP-Publisher Scott Robertson and his wife hosted a wonderful Cosmic Motors release party in Los Angeles.



From our about 100 invited guests - friends, designers, producers and students - could make it quiet a few, like the movie designers Syd Mead, Neville Page, Nick Pugh, Dylan Cole and many more, although it was easter weekend and a good time to take the snowboard to the mountains.
Also, I had cover girl Prong with me, signing here Hardback Cover shot.
Thanx for coming and making this a wonderful and chill out evening in L.A.

Best, Daniel!

DSS: COSMIC MOTORS TRAILER RELEASED.

After weeks of CG renders and film editing the book trailer is finished!


To watch it on YouTube, click here:
Watch YouTube trailer COSMIC MOTORS

Its a three minute piece, blending imagery taken from the book
with subtle 3D animation of CoMo vehicles and very short shots
of me sketching.
A high quality quicktime version can be found at cosmic-motors.com
under the link TRAILER.

I hope it captures the spirit, spread the word!

Best, Daniel !

LOS ANGELES: CURB INC. RELEASING COSMIC MOTORS SHIRTS.

Curb Industries Inc. in Los Angeles lauched its small series
of COSMIC MOTORS T-shirts for boyz & girls.
Sale of dudes shirts started and you get a crisp print of the
Gravion Racer and its pilot on the front and a CM logo on the
back. A nice little stitched Daniel Simon-Logo is applied on
the sleeve. Curb sells red and white.

Check it out here at CURB.

The tight lady shirt version is coming soon! But I could not
wait to shoot my seductive lady friend wearing a preproduction
XS shirt.

I think your babe will look sweet in it too.

Best, Daniel!

http://www.danielsimon.net
http://cosmic-motors.com

BERLIN: DANIEL SIMON LAUNCHES CoMo BLOG

WELCOME !


Welcome to the blog of Cosmic-Motors.com!
The page is still being layouted, so I hope to go online the 31st of January 2008.
In this blog I will keep you posted at irregular intervals about the latest developments of Cosmic Motors.

In the meantime I say thank you all for the reactions and support!

Best, Daniel Simon

http://www.danielsimon.net
http://www.cosmic-motors.com

BERLIN: COSMIC MOTORS BOOK LAUNCH PARTY

Thanx everybody for coming to my book celebration party in freezin`Berlin!! Was big fun! My appartment will be sticky for the next couple of months, thanx to original russian wodka and other unknown liquids. Damn it.


Best, Daniel!

SAN FRANCISCO: SPEAKING AT IDSA CONFERENCE

Autodesk invited me as a speaker to the yearly International Design Conference IDSA Connecting 2007 in San Francisco.




Between the events I took the chance and thundered south to Laguna Seca Raceway to follow the qualification run of the LeMans Series. Damn, that noise!!! Tasty. I just made it back in time to San Francisco.


Thank you everybody for these great opportunities.

Best, Daniel

SAN DIEGO: COSMIC MOTORS AT COMICON 2007

Design Studio Press presented COSMIC MOTORS for the first time to public audience at the 2007 ComiCon in San Diego, California - the worlds largest fair for Comics, Games & Entertainment.
Thanx for having me there, it was a fun day!!!





Best, Daniel.