《阿凡达》角色设计经历编辑本段回目录
你接受过何种艺术教育？
我成长在一个充满艺术氛围的家庭。我的父亲是名医生，但是却非常热爱艺术。而我的母亲直到现在仍然创造着具有艺术性的被褥和衣物。我的哥哥和弟弟也都进入了电影产业。我的童年可以说都是围绕着艺术和艺术家转悠。我的父母经常带我们兄弟几个去纽约以及华盛顿的各大博物馆和美术馆，并频繁访问他们那些艺术家朋友们的工作室。我也参加了Central Pennsylvania当地的艺术节。中学的时候我开始在当地的艺术工作室接受正式的艺术课程。那时候我学习到了工业设计的相关内容，并获得了纽约布鲁克林Pratt Institute学院的工业设计学士学位（B.I.D.）。
你是否已经规划好要进入这个领域，还是一切都只是出于偶然？
我热爱绘画也喜欢电影，但是正如我们所知道的，当时根本没有哪一家学校能够教你画太空船和生物。我的父母在汽车设计方面有所研究，而我也发现ILM（游戏邦注：工业光学魔术公司，由好莱坞著名导演George Lucas于1981年正式创立）中拥有深度的工业设计规模，所以我便决定朝着这个方向努力。我的目标是从事真人动作电影设计工作，但是一开始我并未直接进入这个领域。在1990年夏天我成为了位于佛罗里达州奥兰多的Disney Feature Animation的一名实习生，并由此经历了长达10年的动画创作。随后我来到了伯班克的Disney Animation工作室，带着“进军好莱坞”的梦想，我希望能在此多接触那些从事于真人动作电影的设计师们。让我感到吃惊的是，我曾经一起共事的两位特效动画师曾经担任过ILM的动画师。他们分别是Gordon Baker和John Armstrong，并参与了《风云际会》，《东镇女巫》以及《终结者2》等真人动作电影的动画特效工作。
Joseph C.Pepe(from characterdesignnotes)
你能否跟我们说说在过去几年里，哪些设计师对你的启发最大？
给我带来最大影响的是Mark Nelson的父亲Robert A. Nelson。我的父亲收集了很多Robert的作品。他真的是一位富有想象力的插画家。而其他对我产生影响的艺术家包括 Leonardo Da Vinci， Michelangelo， Bernini，Egon Schiele等许多人。
你在作画时使用了何种媒介或程序？
我习惯使用铅笔在动画纸或者阿诗水彩纸上作画；或者我会使用Photoshop软件。我会用数码照相机拍下的照片，并将其整合进Photoshop中。
你是如何加入Stan Winston Studios？
我的哥哥Louis将我介绍给他的好友Kevin McTurk这位资深的特效美术师。他很喜欢我的作品，我们也保持着联系。当我离开了Disney Feature Animation时Kevin带我见了ADI工作室的Alec Gillis和Tom Woodruff，那时候他们正在寻找一名概念设计师。2003年7月，我与他们签订了3个月的协议以设计《AVP》中掠夺者的武器和装甲。当完成了在《AVP》的工作后，我的朋友Chris Grossnickle问我，“你的下一步计划是什么？”我却垂头丧气地回答“回家”，他就说要把我介绍给Stan Winston Studio的朋友，因为他们约好了见面，而他刚好能够趁此机会将我的作品展现给这位朋友看。幸好我每天都带着文件包。而正是那时我见到了Christopher Swift（Stan Winston的资深设计师），他看了我的作品后充满了兴趣，而我也留下了个人信息。几周后，我接到了Swift的电话，他问我：“你多久能来上班？”我快速地达到：“15分钟内”。因此，我便开始了4年的Stan Winston Studio工作历程。
First Na' Vi designs(from characterdesignnotes)
yp j Pepe在2005年12月6日为James Cameron的《阿凡达》设计的第一个纳美族男性和女性形象
你是如何加入《阿凡达》的创作中，从最初设计开始这些生物的创作又发生了何种演变？
2005年中旬，当我还在Stan Winston Studio时，Stan Winston在陈列室召开了一个会议。他说他已经与Jim（Cameron）见过面了，而Jim已经花了一年的时间在准备下一步电影的开发，而我们有两周的时间可以为这部被称为“Project 880”的神秘电影创造一些“新颖”且“惊人的”设计。Winston说只会选择2名设计师去尝试着完成这项艰巨的任务。隔天，Christopher Swift和我同时被叫到Stan的办公室开会。他让我们两“为Jim展现一些出色的创作。”随后，在同一周我们会见了Jim Cameron，并花了2个小时阅读了电影剧本。但是对于我这个阅读速度如此慢的人来说，根本不可能在2个小时内完成。然后Jim给予了我们来自ILM，Neville Page, Yuri Bartoli, Jordu Schell以及Wayne Barlowe的完整图像下载内容。那时的我真的既兴奋又害怕。随后我回到了Stan Winston Studio，开始在网络上进行各种搜索。当我有了想法并开始创造我的第一个形象时，我真的投入了150%的时间和精力，并希望能够在短短的两周时间内创造出最优秀的作品。幸运的是，我的妻子也很乐意我能够与Jim Cameron合作，所以她并不在意整整2周时间看不到我。在接下去的14天时间里我每天花了20个小时去创作。很巧的是，我的首次展示刚好是在2005年12月7日，也就是我生日的那一天。真的很不可思议，因为我要在生日这一天向Jim首次展示我的作品！而Chris Swift，John Rosengrant以及我们的主管都曾经跟我说过在《终结者2》中与Cameron共事所经历的可怕的事。所以那时的我真的非常紧张。我反复地告诉自己要淡定，即使Jim以各种理由吼我也是很正常的，因为他是Jim Cameron啊！幸运的是，尽管Jim全程都摆着一张扑克脸，但是至少他是满意我的作品，瞬间让我觉得即使是2个月的辛苦也是值得的。随后，当Cameron最终敲定剧本后，我便开始了长达2年半的《阿凡达》创造工作。
Tsu tay (from characterdesignnotes)
左边：Pepe在2005年12月14日创造的第一个版本的Tsu Tay。右边：Joe在2007年1月15日最终确定的Tsu Tay，这是根据演员Laz Alonzo的照片进行的设计。
在《阿凡达》中，有哪个角色或者动物的设计对于你来说是特别具有挑战性的吗？在这部电影中你最喜欢的设计是什么？
我想最具挑战性的设计应该是Thanator兽。这个形象最初被叫做Manticore，每个人都在尝试着创造这个设计。可以说，Thanator兽是唯一未在Jim心中形成明确形象的角色。他只确定了一个基本的概念，“宇宙中存在的一种粗暴的食肉动物。这是一种带有6只脚的豹科动物，头戴装甲，尾巴有剧毒，装甲颌可以张的很大。”这个形象真的花费了众设计师好几个月的时间，都不知道淘汰了几百张插图了。但是Jim总是对形象不甚满意。后来在生产过程中，Cameron画了一副草稿，而Neville Page便将其具体化，构建了ZBrush模式，也就是你们在电影中看到的形象。我本身在这个过程中就反复修改了不下50次的构想。
我在电影中最喜欢的设计是Neytiri，并不是因为我是该角色的主要设计师，而是因为她真的是一个很适合这部电影的角色。真正说来，应该是Jim Cameron设计了这个角色。并由其他设计师去填充她的外观。WETA努力创造了她的外表而Zoe Saldana赋予了她生命。所以才能够创造出如此优秀的角色。
Neytiri(from characterdesignnotes)
左图：2005年12月6日，Joe Pepe关于Neytiri的第一个仿真概念是来自于James Cameron的想法。右图：2006年9月22日，Pepe的最后设计是基于演员Zoe Salanda的照片。
能否跟我们说说你是如何基于角色扮演者去创造相对应的纳美人？
在电影中，所有角色都与它们的扮演者相类似。因为没有人会愿意看到纳美人形象是Zoe Saldana等角色扮演者的原来面貌，所以我们便决定使用扮演者的3分之1脸部特征进行创造。WETA的Joe Letteri，Cameron以及John Rosengrant都同意这种方法。Cameron, John Rosengrant和我花了2个半月的时间，根据Saldana的照片创造了最初的Neytiri设计。那时候我为每个扮演者拍了照片，并结合Photoshop软件进行创造。当敲了Neytiri的最初设计后，我便能够以2-4天的速度创造接下来的每一个角色。
2007年1月，Pepe关于Jake, Eytukan以及Mo’at的最终设计，分别是基于演员Sam Worthington, Wes Studi和CCH Pounder的照片进行创作
在创作《阿凡达》期间你是否遇到过一些有趣的故事能够与读者共同分享？
我觉得参与《阿凡达》创作最棒的体验便是能够与一群有才能的人共事，一起创造出这部巨作。与Cameron合作真的很有趣。看着他投入于工作并时常听他自言自语地说着与电影的相关内容真的是件很好玩的事。
电影中唯一出现的纳美族婴儿形象(from characterdesignnotes)
我的很多学生都认为在创造一个角色或生物时应该使用大量参考对象。你怎么看待这一点？
我想说，如果H.R. Giger之前并未参考人体，我们便看不到1979年的《ALIEN》中的生物形象。如果Stan Winston并未采纳Jim Cameron的“蟹下颚”参考意见，我们也不能创造出《PREDATOR》。如果你无视了周边的世界，你便难以发挥创造性。创造与艺术没有规则或边界，任何大师级设计师或者当代艺术家在激发灵感的过程中总是会依据一定的参考对象。想象总是来源于我们看到或体验到的内容，而这就是所谓的参考。真正具有创造性的人会推翻一切障碍，并且不会局限自己的想法。所以为何我们要自己创造规则去限制自己的创造性和艺术呢？
在设计一个新生物或新角色中哪一个部分最有趣？哪一个部分最困难？
我觉得最有趣的工作便是调查研究。我真的很享受调查研究的过程。这种乐趣是来自阅读，学习与发现新事物的过程。
最困难的有两部分，第一部分便是开始，而第二部分是获得认可。很多时候我发现很难开始进行设计，除非被截止日期压得紧紧的，而我不得不为此加快脚步。而得到认可则是另外一个关键问题。
生物–个人理念
在自己的设计或工作经验中，还有哪些生物设计是你所喜欢的，为什么？
在《阿凡达》中还有一个我很喜欢的生物，Direhorse。刚开始是Wayne Barlowe提出一个带有细长脖子和鬃毛且头小小的生物形象。而Neville Page和Jordu Schell进一步塑造了这个概念，并交给Stan Winston Studio做进一步的具体化。其实我加入《阿凡达》是别有用心的，因为我想看看电影产业中的顶尖人才所创造的设计草图和雕塑品。首先便是Christopher Swift，他设计，塑造，指导并掌控设计了《侏罗纪公园》系列电影中的迅猛龙角色。其次是Joey Orosco，他设计并塑造了《侏罗纪公园1》中的三角恐龙以及《侏罗纪公园3》中的脊龙。我真心希望能够看到这些人塑造的作品！我可以让Swift塑造出Direhorse头部的初步设计图，然后我将其拍下来并围绕它确定颜色。能够与Swift进行如此合作真的让我感到非常兴奋。他所雕刻出的最终Direhorse形象几乎都呈现在电影上了。而我只是在Photoshop上进行设计修改和颜色设计。在与Orosco的合作中，我能够看到我所设计的角色慢慢变成了实体模型，我发现从平面设计到3D立体形象的转化真的是一个神奇的过程。他们两都是非常了不起的设计师，而我们正是在彼此间的技术交流与协作中进行《阿凡达》的设计工作。
creature-personal concept(from characterdesignnotes)
现在，谁是你最喜欢的生物设计师？
Wayne Barlowe，Takayuki Takeya和Yasushi Nirasawa。他们都是非常杰出的设计师。我曾经看过很多相类似的生物创造，就像是来自于同一个设计师之手，或者出自于同一部电影或视频游戏，尽管事实并非如此。但是这三位设计师却总是能够让自己的作品与众不同，即他们会尽可能设立高标准创造作品，并影响其他设计师。
你现在在忙些什么？
我现在正在研究3D Conversion Unit的彩色印片法，以尝试着创造出一些不一样的新内容。同时我还参与了将传统的中国动画电影改编成3D效果的工作。关于设计，我最近加入了Tom Cruise（游戏邦注：美国著名影星）主演的一些电影中，包括《One Shot》，《Rock of Ages and Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol》，进行妆容，发型以及道具的设计工作，不久前我也参与了《Conan the Barbarian》，《Monkey King》（甄子丹主演的真人动作类电影）的生物和角色设计，以及《Predators》的场景，道具，武器和装甲设计。
面对如此繁重的任务，你还有时间创造自己的作品吗？
我真的很想再次创造人体绘图。想想上次的创作都不知道是多久前的事了，应该还是在迪士尼的时候吧。我也有几个属于自己的电影理念或者绘画想法，而我也总是尽可能地保持思维的活跃，以便能够真正表达出自己的想法而不再依赖于他人的想法。
未使用的理念
作为设计师，有什么事是你想做但却还未尝试的？
这也是我自己一直在琢磨的问题。我经常与朋友开玩笑地说道，我有一长串的遗愿清单，而我已经完成了一些有关设计的重要内容了。但是肯定还有一些事是我现在未曾想到。
你是否遇到过“艺术家瓶颈”？如果有，你又是如何去克服它？
当然了，我也遇到过不少瓶颈，工作本身不就是一个问题集合体吗！而这时候我便会找朋友出来聊聊天，或者拼了命地画画，如此我便更有动力重新回到工作中去克服瓶颈了。有时候我也会选择观看喜欢的电影而从中寻找灵感。
你从设计师朋友身上获得了何种重要经验？
不要让任何人的言行阻碍了你前进的道路，也不要让任何人浇灭你的热情。在与Cameron会面后，我的一位设计师朋友说我因为参与了《阿凡达》的设计工作而“大肆炫耀”了。尽管我知道他只是在开玩笑，但是我认为他这么做也是在打击我那时的满腔热情。知道了这一点我反而更加努力地准备下一次会议的展示作品。还有一位与我们蛮亲近的设计师朋友在我刚开始进行《阿凡达》的设计工作时说道，根本不可能创造出如照片般逼真的设计作品。而他也在几年后也为此事跟我道歉了。
身为一名设计师，你又从中获得了何种重要经验？
虽然有才能的设计师很多，但是我就是我。
你认为创造一个具有“吸引力”的角色或者生物的关键是什么？
关键？哈哈，我至今也未摸清楚这个诀窍！我只是在尝试一些我认为不错的想法。我并未想着如何创造出一个“形象的”角色，因为观众对于整部电影的反应便能够让你知晓角色，生物或电影的吸引力之处了。
有一些设计师认为“形象的设计”是指他们用手写板绘制出的“形象的”角色。我认为这只是他们的片面观点，因为如此看来也只是电影和故事具有吸引力，角色和演员仅仅起到补充作用。
你是否能够提供给角色或生物设计师，或者那些刚刚踏入电影产业的新手们一些建议？
踏进这个产业并好好享受创造的乐趣吧！同时也不要放弃其它类型的艺术创作。因为你永远都不知道下一个雇佣你的人是谁以及他需要你接手的项目是什么。尽管在电影产业中有许多消极因素，你必须想尽办法地忽视它们，专注于自己的艺术和创作中。如果做不到这点，你便很容易走进一些误区，并难以达到自己预期的目标。
游戏邦注：原文发表于2011年10月21日，所涉事件和数据均以当时为准。
（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，作者：Jennifer G. Oliver）
An Interview with Character and Creature Designer Joseph C. Pepe
Jennifer G. Oliver
What kind of an art education did you receive?
I grew up in a household of artists. My father is a doctor and art is his hobby. My mother still creates artistic quilts and wearable art. And both my older and younger brothers are in the film industry. I’ve been around art and artists throughout my childhood. My parents took us to all the museums and art galleries in NYC and D.C. as well as visit family artist friends’ studios. I also participated in local art festivals in Central Pennsylvania. While in high school I started taking formal art classes at a local art studio. From there I studied Industrial Design and received a B.I.D. at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY.
Did you always envision yourself in this type of career, or did you arrive at it through a series of unplanned events?
I always loved to draw and I loved film but there were no schools that we knew of that had an education program that taught you how to draw spaceships and creatures. My parents did some research on automotive design and that the artists at ILM had degrees in Industrial Design so I headed in that direction. My goal was always to get into live action film design but my career didn’t start off that way. I was accepted into an internship at Disney Feature Animation in Orlando, FL in the summer of 1990 and followed a great career in animation for over 10 years. Then I transferred to the Disney Animation studio in Burbank to “be in Hollywood” hoping that I would start meeting artists that worked in live action. And to my surprise two of the Effects Animators that I worked with both had been long term ILM animators. Gordon Baker and John Armstrong animated on WILLOW, Witches of Eastwick, Terminator 2 and several other live action films.
Could you tell us about some of the artists who have inspired you over the years?
One of the biggest influences is Robert A. Nelson, father of Mark Nelson. My father collected Robert’s art. He is a fantasy illustrator that my father met back in the late 1970’s. Others include: Leonardo Da Vinci. Michelangelo. Bernini. Egon Schiele. Gustav Klimnt. John Auguste Dominique Ingres. Jean Leon Gerome. Degas. Hans Bellmer. Arthur Rackham. Heinrick Kley. H.R. Giger. Wayne Barlowe. Moebius. Bernie Wrightson. Nirasawa. Kathsuhiro Otomo. Syd Mead. Sorayama. Katsuya Terada. Takayuki Takeya. Mamoru Nagano. Shirow Masamune. Neal Adams. Barry Windsor Smith. John Bryne. Simon Bisley. Joe Johnston. Frank Frazetta. Renzo Piano. Lebbeus Woods. Joel-Peter Witkin. Peter Beard. Herb Ritts.
What mediums or programs do you use to create your art?
I use pencil on animation paper or Arches watercolor paper; and Photoshop. I have a digital camera to take photos for integration into Photoshop also.
How did you come to work for Stan Winston Studios?
My older brother Louis introduced me to a friend of his named Kevin McTurk who is a veteran practical FX artist. He liked my portfolio and we kept in contact. After being laid off from Disney Feature Animation Kevin contacted me to see if I was available to interview with Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. at ADI because they were looking for a concept artist. They hired me on AVP back in July of 2003 for three months to design the weapons and armor for the predators. Once AVP was finished a friend named Chris Grossnickle asked me “where are you going next?” and I said disappointingly “home.” He said that he would introduce me to a friend from Stan Winston Studio that was coming to pick him up and that he could set up an interview to show my work. Fortunately I carried a portfolio with me every day just in case. I showed Christopher Swift, a veteran Stan Winston artist, my work on the spot. He liked it and I gave him my info. A few weeks later, while brushing my teeth, I received a call from Swift in which he asked: “How fast can you get over to the studio?” and I gurgled “15 minutes.” And that turned into my four year adventure with the gang at Stan Winston Studio.
How did you come to work on “Avatar”, and how far had the creature designs evolved before you began to work with them?
While I was working at Stan Winston Studio about mid 2005, Stan Winston brought the entire studio to the display room for a meeting. He said he spoke with “Jim” (Cameron) who had already spent a year developing his next film, and that we have been given two weeks to show him something “new” and “spectacular” for his secret film “Project 880.” Winston said that only two artists would be chosen to try and accomplish this daunting task. A day later, Christopher Swift and I were called into Stan’s office for a meeting. He said that the two of us “better show Jim some cool shit!” We met with Jim Cameron that week in his Santa Monica office, were given two hours to read the scriptment (which was more than a two hour read!) I didn’t get to finish it!! I’m a slow reader. Then Jim gave us the ultimate download of images from ILM, Neville Page, Yuri Bartoli, Jordu Schell and Wayne Barlowe. I was really excited and intimidated all at once. I went back to Stan Winston Studio and started a lot of research on the Internet. Once I got to the point of starting my first image I put 150% of my time and energy into doing the best work I possibly could for the next two weeks. Lucky for me my wife was just as excited that I was working with Jim Cameron and didn’t mind that she didn’t see me for two weeks. I spent about 20 hours a day for the next 14 days cranking out artwork. Our first presentation was on my birthday, Dec 07, 2005. It was kind of surreal. It was my birthday, I was getting to show my artwork to Jim for the very first time, and both Chris Swift and John Rosengrant, our Supervisor, were telling me horror stories about working with Cameron on Terminator 2!! I was getting real nervous. In my mind, I was telling myself don’t worry, if Jim yells at me for any reason, just think “C’mon, it’s Jim Cameron yelling at me!” Fortunately, although with a poker face, he really liked my work and the two weeks turned into two months. And after Cameron’s hiatus to finish the script, I worked on Avatar for over two and a half years.
LEFT: Pepe’s first version of Tsu Tay 12/14/2005 RIGHT: Joe’s final version of Tsu Tay, 1/15/2007 designed from a photo that he took of actor Laz Alonzo
Was a there a character or creature design on Avatar which was particularly challenging? Do you have a favorite design from the film?
The most challenging creature to design was what became the Thanator. It was originally called a Manticore and everyone took a stab at the design. It was the only design that I know of where Jim didn’t have a complete vision in his head. He had the basic concept “ Toughest carnivore in the known universe. It is a black six-limbed panther from hell, with an armored head, a venomous striking tail, and massive distensible armored jaws.” It took months of artists and hundreds of illustrations. And still Jim didn’t like any. Then late in the production Cameron did a sketch, Neville Page fleshed it out and built the ZBrush model and it’s what you see in the film. I did over 50 iterations myself.
My favorite design in the film is Neytiri, not because I was a key character designer, but because she worked out so well in the film as a character. Jim Cameron really designed her. A lot of artists contributed to her overall appearance. WETA did all the hard work making her look incredible while Zoe Saldana brought her life. It just worked out incredibly well.
Evolution: Joe Pepe’s first photo-realistic concept of Neytiri from James Cameron’s concepts 12/06/2005 (left), and Pepe’s final design, based upon a photo he had taken of actress Zoe Salanda 09/22/2006 (right).
Could you tell us about the process you used to create Na’vi characters who resemble the actors who portrayed them?
All of the main characters resemble their actor counterpart. Since no one would see Zoe Saldana or all the other Na’Vi human actors it was decided to use the lower third of their face as a reference for the performance capture. Joe Letteri from WETA, Cameron and John Rosengrant agreed that this was a viable approach. Cameron, John Rosengrant and I developed the initial design of Neytiri with Saldana’s photo over a two and a half month period. From there I photographed all of the actors as they were cast for the film and took each one of them and put them through the Photoshop process. After the initial design was locked down with Neytiri, I was able to do a design for each actor between 2-4 days.
Pepe’s final designs for Jake, Eytukan, and Mo’at, designed from photos he had taken of actors Sam Worthington, Wes Studi and CCH Pounder, January 2007
Do you have any fun experiences or stories from your time working on “Avatar” that you can share with our readers?
My favorite experience on Avatar was meeting and working with all the talent that came together to make this behemoth of a film. Working with Cameron was a lot of fun. Watching him work and listening to him think out loud about making a film was amazing.
Pepe’s one and only infant Na’vi design appeared in the final film.
Many of my students consider the use of a lot of reference in creating a character or creature a “crutch”. What’s your position on using reference?
Let me start my answer by saying that if H.R. Giger didn’t reference the human body (i.e. the penis, skeleton, and BMW car parts) we wouldn’t have the original 1979 ALIEN creature. If Stan Winston didn’t take Jim Cameron’s “crab mandible” reference idea, we wouldn’t have the original PREDATOR. Not using the world around you is disempowering to the creative process. There should be no rules or boundaries to creativity and art. I don’t know of any master artist or contemporary that doesn’t or hasn’t used reference for inspiration. Everything that you have imagined is from something you have seen or experienced. I believe this is called reference. Truly creative people break barriers and don’t put limitations onto themselves or to their art. Why would you limit your creativity and art by creating rules?
What part of designing a new creature or character is the most fun? What part is the most difficult?
The most fun I have in designing is the research. I really enjoy it. The fun for me is reading about and discovering new things. Learning and seeing something new with research fascinates me.
The most difficult part is split into two sections for me. The first difficult part is starting. The second is getting an approval. A lot of the time I find it difficult to start the design unless I’m under a tight deadline. Deadlines force me to start immediately. Approvals are a whole other matter.
Creature-personal concept
Are there other creature designs that you have done that are favorites, either in terms of the design or work experience, and why?
One that stands out for me that was also on Avatar was the Direhorse. It started with Wayne Barlowe who did the concept of the small jointed head with the rigid neck/mane. Neville Page and Jordu Schell did concepts and sculptures before it was passed to Stan Winston Studio to flesh it out. Since I began working on Avatar I had an ulterior motive, which was to see maquettes and sculptures created for the film by some of the top talent in the effects industry. The first artist was Christopher Swift, who designed, sculpted, supervised and puppeteered the velociraptors in all three Jurassic Park films. The second was Joey Orosco. Orosco designed and sculpted the triceratops in the first Jurassic Park and the Spinosaurus in JPIII. I wanted to see these guys sculpt! Because I was using photos in my design work and Swift wanted to sculpt I asked him to sculpt a small maquette of the direhorse head so that I could photograph it and do color designs on it. It was an awesome experience to work with Swift on that. Ultimately he sculpted the final direhorse maquette for the film. I did design modifications and color designs in Photoshop that were the finals in the movie. With Orosco, it was all about seeing him sculpt all of my character designs on life casts of the actors. Seeing my designs go from Photoshop to 3D clay sculptures was so amazing. Both are incredible artists and it was such a pleasure to be part of the process and integrate our techniques to develop the Avatar designs.
Mariq “injured” design and an unused concept for CONAN 2010
Who are some of your favorite creature designers working today?
Wayne Barlowe. Takayuki Takeya and Yasushi Nirasawa. They still stand out from the rest. I see too many creatures looking like they come from the same designer, film or videogame, even though they don’t. These three artists still stand apart and have broken visual barriers and set higher standards of creativity influencing a lot of artists.
Personal project-Phantom
What projects are you currently working on?
I’m currently working at Technicolor in the 3D Conversion Unit trying something different and new. I’m involved in converting a traditional Chinese animated film into 3D. As for design work, most recently I worked on several Tom Cruise films, One Shot; Rock of Ages and Mission: Impossible-Ghost Protocol, doing makeup, hair and prop designs. Not too long ago I did some creature and character design work on Conan the Barbarian, a live action Monkey King film with Donnie Yen, and set, prop, weapon and armor designs for Predators.
With a busy career in the film industry, do you ever find the time to work on personal projects?
I try. I’ve been itching to do figure drawing again. It’s been too long. I think the last time I did figure drawing was at Disney. Although I do have a couple of personal film ideas or drawings that I try to keep active so that I can express my own ideas instead of others.
Unused concept
What haven’t you done yet as an artist that you would still like to do?
That is what I’m trying to figure out. I’ve been joking around with friends that I have a creative bucket list and I have been able to check some important artistic items off that list. But the one that escapes me is the one I haven’t discovered yet.
Personal project- Bloodrayne
Do you ever have “artist’s block”? if so, how do you overcome it?
Of course I have it. Work usually is the problem! Sometimes all it takes to overcome the block is a swift kick seeing a friend just drawing or painting like crazy and it’ll inspire me to return to my own work. Sometimes I’ll watch a favorite movie to fire up the inspiration also.
Can you tell us about one of the most important lessons that you have learned from a fellow artist?
Don’t’ let anyone talk you out of putting your best foot forward. And don’t let anyone knock your enthusiasm. I had one artist friend tell me that I was a “show off” for producing too many designs on Avatar, after a meeting with Cameron. Although I’d like to say he was joking I believed he was trying to knock my overenthusiastic attitude and abundance of work. It just made me produce even more for the next meeting. And a close artist friend said that it would be impossible to make photorealistic designs that looked good when I started working on Avatar. He apologized to me a few years later.
Unused concepts
Can you tell us about one of the most important lessons that you have learned on your own as an artist?
There are so many talented artists out there, but there is just one of me.
Early “Blackhat” concept 06/07/2006-PRIEST
What do you think is the key to creating a character or creature with “appeal”?
The key? When I find out I’ll let you know. LOL. I just go with what I think looks good. I’m not into thinking I could create an “iconic” character. The public’s response to the whole film will decide what makes a character, creature or the film appealing.
There are some artists that throw the words “iconic design” around like they can design an “iconic” character with a subtle flick of the Wacom pen. That’s quite an ego. I just don’t think that’s how it works. To me it’s the film and story that are appealing, the characters and actors then add to that.
Do you have any additional tips, advice or words of wisdom that you could give to a character or creature designer, or an artist who is just beginning their career in the film industry?
Jump in the industry and enjoy it. Don’t turn other types of artwork down. You never know who you’ll meet that could hire you on another project. And although there is a lot of negativity in the film industry, ignore it the best you can and concentrate on doing art and being creative. If you don’t, you can get caught up in some crazy shit and derailed from your goals. （source:characterdesignnotes）
