(will update this continually in the coming days)
Thursday 11 October: sorry everybody I am off work today, so I don’t have any updated photos at the moment. It is raining here at the moment so I don’t suspect they’ll get terribly far today, but I will post updates as I take them.
Friday 12 October:
you can see the scaffolding is missing from the left side now, so that side is done; the wires are hanging on the right side; they have to whitewash the wall first, then draw out the design before painting.
they did the whitewash so fast!
how to draw a billboard on the side of a building! the art is printed on some paper, they roll it out a couple feet at a time, line it up, and do a rubbing. sort of like a giant paint by numbers.
by evening, nothing new to report really. they finished the template art and obviously paced themselves to take a solid day to lay it down.
i might add, those guys are having so much fun! they hoot and holler at streetwalkers and are just making the most of being 30 feet off the ground painting a building! it’s hilarious to watch.
Saturday 13 October:
morning! Indeed, they are at work today. I too am at work and will step out a couple times to take some extra snaps. unfortunately in the template art that is on the wall, I don’t see any text. but the graphic-to-be looks incredible!
Sunday 14 October:
unfortunately I won’t have another update today because I’m going kayaking in the East River and won’t be heading to that part of town! so I’ll leave you to mull over how it was at dusk when I left work on Saturday, yesterday. will they be working on Sunday anyhow? actually, probably, yes. I’ll have images up Monday then!
(she’s got those big brown eyes…. hey, is that a cherry she’s popping in her mouth?!)
Monday 15 October:
updated photos coming shortly. you should all be quite pleased with the progress!
finish tomorrow??
Tuesday morning 16 October:
you can see the building, and thus the billboard, from a couple blocks away!
walking back to work I overheard on the street,
man 1: Whoah. Is that paint?
man 2: Yeah.
man 1: Holy shit!
it’s a very impressive piece of work! but it looks like it will take one more day yet. Lola’s cleavage is done but there’s still a fair amount of hair to paint, the Rockstar logo, and touchup on the ‘V’ in ‘IV’ for the game title.
Wednesday 17 October:
overcast and cloudy day. they’re finishing up on the logo, then will probably blaze through the rest of the right side. unfortunately i can’t say i see room for a release date or any last-minute guerilla tactics, but it’s still a fucking impressive ad campaign!
lunchtime:
nearly done!
packing up the gear a little after 7pm. I wasn’t able to get a ‘finished’ shot in the daylight because they were literally still touching up at dusk, and didn’t remove the scaffolding and equipment out of the shot until after sunset. will post completed shots ASAP (i’m not supposed to be at work tomorrow, but maybe I make a special trip for all of you!).
Thursday 18 October:
Finished, final shots. This post is officially closed! Sorry it was an overcast day again, so the photos aren’t saturated with color. But you get the effect. It’s an impressive billboard. It’s been fun watching this thing transform, and I really appreciate all the visitors and comments. But alas, we wait for a release date, and more importantly, to play! GAME ON!
update:
one more final shot that shows the building in good sunlight with saturated color, and also exemplifies the number of pedestrians who parade up and down Canal Street every day – tourists #$^!&*!! and thanks to Patrick from WikiGTA.org for the animated gif!
(see here for previous incarnations)
(or here for these images larger from my Flickr)
Update 2 Jan 2008:
As you can see, the billboard has been painted over. It ran for just over two months. Thanks everyone for watching!
Seems like some people found a pattern. The first ad appeared before the first trailer then the second before the second trailer. I’d bet my soul that this new ad means a new trailers on the way. The proof is just to hard to resist!
@Nevets: I heard that too (GTAF any?) and I bet we’ll be getting the 3rd trailer soon as well.
😀
LennDawg I WISH I worked for rockstar! but alas, I do not!
as for any text or date, I don’t see anything outlined on the wall, but that is not to say that they don’t have something planned up their sleeves, or that it isn’t purely guerilla marketing, and will release further info online *first* before then going back to the billboard? either way a third trailer would be the hot jawns!
Its 7:43 on the 16th over here in the UK already! I was right about them leaving the blank square but will it contain writing???
hmm, last updated the 14th. It’s the 16th now, meant to have GTA in my hands… Any updates?
He, I see fellow admin ‘ook here. Just stopping by to whore your page once more.
Can’t wait for that date!
*waves at fellow website members*
Just wanted to say great work with the updates on here Nick, it’s certainly given us fan sites something to keep updated about. Would you mind if we used your images to create a feature article on our web site just showing how much effort Rockstar Games put into advertising GTA4? Obviously you’d be given full credit for the images and we’d link back to your blog, but we’d most likely need to host the images on our server if that’s ok?
The website is http://www.GTA4.TV.
Cheers, and keep up the good work.
dude, thank you very much for those pics. You are famous in Spain!!!.
http://www.mundogta.es
Hopefully we will have the final date release of the game today.
C ya
On the latest photo you write “Tuesday morning”.. Does that mean that there will come more photos later today?
ceedot, refresh refresh!
Psy, feel free to use any of the GTA 4 billboard images; larger ones are available on my Flickr account if you need.
rcj, thanks for the links and encouragement!
and Max, yeah I’ll get up at least one more photo today, if not two or three if anything substantial happens on the billboard.
thanks again everybody!
You are also famous in Czech republic 😉 . Thx much.
and also in germany, great work !
Rockstar should be embarrased. They owe you for the publicity.
I would not complain about that! ahha!
Excellent work.
well, something new up there???
is it finally finish??
update o plzzzzzzzz
Ooooh it was so close! It is a great work of art, amazing to think how much paint has been used on it so far. Doesn’t look like they’ll be any new information though
Hey to all the GTA4.tv guys as well
hopefully tommorow we wont just get a big FU in the corner there…
is it done?
aaaah the suspense is killing me 😛 i cant wait another day, but i gota admit im gunna be really bummed if its just an ordinary pic or the rest of the GTA IV Link at the bottom..Fingers crossed 😀 Tip Top work mate keep it up, many cheers from a bloke down under mate 😉
Just wanted to add to AJ’s post… great work from ALL of us downunder. I am really hoping that this billboard is featured in-game. Keep the pics coming!.
hahaha yeah that would be a sweet easter egg to discover, this game has so much going for it!
Hey! Thank you very much Nick for al the photos you’ve posted in this blog. I’ve had so much illusion to see if there was any Release Date xD!
– Petrus > gta.crew.net
maybe not only could they place this ad in the game, they could place this building in the game! that would be hot!
So, it doesn’t look there will be any dates or other pertinent info. Oh well, best we can hope for is a trailer at the end of the month. Though, I doubt that will happen. They have to stretch this out till next March or April.
maybe she talks?? 🙁
damn…
Hey mate, its been a great run and you’ve done an awesome job, cheers again and your right its an awesome piece of art, guess we can cross fingers for a possible trailer :).
its sooooooo good
Great works:)
Its so good 🙂
Thanks for keeping us up to date and allowing us to use your images.
Yeah, thank you for everythink, your work was amazing!
This has been fun to watch. Appreciate the effort. I think that not only should this building be in the game… but some dude named Nick (Ped) should walk around taking photo’s of the building. I can only imaging how many hits your site has got as a result of this. It is the least R* could do!
thanks again.. sad to see the end of it but does look great.
Can I used your pictures to create a still-motion sequence of the changes, and put in on our website ?
Of course with proper credits.
A bit disappointing that there has been no new info released, such as a release sate or something.
However, I’ve been glued to this blog for the past week, checking every 3 hours to see if a new photo had been added. 😛 Thanks a lot for keeping us so updated, it’s been very interesting. You’ve just earned yourself a new regular reader! 😀
nice, very nice. Thank you nick for the pictures, it was cool! good work
Patrick, feel free to use the images mate!
Thanks again to everybody else for all the comments. Hopefully our trailer will be released soon, and if anything happens to that wall, I’ll be sure to let you know!
Hi Nick,
This is what I’ve came up with:
http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/483514_7vxad/GTA_IV_BillBoard_Evolution.gif
Thanks for making the pics, letting me use them and keeping us up-to-date.
Patrick,
that’s awesome! excellent work!!!!!! if it’s okay with you maybe I can host the file and embed it up in the post proper? i love seeing the transitions in one frame!
Nick,
Sure no problem..
greatings earthlings
wow, nice update!
Cool! Hah I love how much effort they put into that stuff!!!
this is SoHo right?
phil45, yeah, the southern edge of SoHo, on Greene at Canal Street. check it out sometime if you’re in the area!
Wow, I worked across the street from that parking lot in ’83-’84! -for an architect, on the ground floor. (Alan Buchsbaum)
What a flashback!
Tanks for the memories!