Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Designing vehicles for movies requires a different mindset for every project, each of which is very specific. As you can see in some of these samples, it ranges from futuristic to playful and over the top.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Tron | Universal Pictures
Project: Tron Bike
Being one of the first guys to get hired on Tron, I got the honor of taking a stab at some of the many vehicles for the movie. The bike, an icon, was the uber-next generation of the original light-cycle. This is how far I got before it was handed off to become what it is in the movie.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Minority Report | 20th Century Fox
Project: Mag-Lev
The parameters for the Mag-Lev cocoon was a free-over-the-top infrastructure that would support this way of traveling; the interior would match the interior of the owner’s apartment; and passengers would face each other to stimulate conversation, since the system steers the vehicle.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Batman & Robin | Warner Bros. Pictures
Project: Batmobile
This was my first movie gig, and the experience of working with the people in the industry was as good as the movie was bad. I think the car came out well. I sure had some other ideas on many details, but everything had to be stratospheric, which explains the giant wings…
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
xXx: State of the Union | Warner Bros. Pictures
Project: GTO
After the first Triple-X movie, the GTO got another makeover. Pushing a little bling with oversized tires and a custom interior, the six-color paint job made for a crazy experience just walking around the car.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Iron Man | Paramount Pictures
Project: Car
This could have been my last big-time movie car, since the trend is taking over of having car companies place their product in films. Inspired by the mask part of the suit costume, Tony Stark had to build his own super car. We were ready to build when the plug was pulled and Audi gave the money the producers needed to write it out of the script. Too bad - it would have been a bitchin’ toy.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Cat In The Hat | Universal Pictures
Project: S.L.O.W.
After three months of immersing myself into the world of Dr. Seuss, I gave up on drawing a straight line; this was the final result. I drew endless amounts of funny-looking vehicles, covering everything from boat to airplane to banana in the shape of a three-wheeler.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Death Race | Universal Pictures
Project: Mustang
The Mustang was one of the many cars that had be converted for the race to death. With armor all around, I had to keep the car recognizable but make it strong enough to be bulletproof. After a dozen vehicles, it became very tough to be original.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Knight Rider | Dutch Oven
Project: K.I.T.T.
After the pilot where I redesigned the next-generation Mustang KR-500 with relatively little impact on the car, the next-generation build for the series was more extreme. With just a few sketches, since TV doesn’t pay, the Mustang K.I.T.T. ended up looking just like the sketch. Which is scary sometimes, because a highlight can become a detail.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Exile
Project: Crawler
A giant urban assault vehicle was needed for a teaser. These things are fun and spontaneous. Built in SketchUp, it was then rendered in Photoshop to give it that weathered look with lots of graffiti.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Minority Report |
Project: Lexus
Probably my most gratifying work on a movie to date. After some initial sketches, the script called for a vehicle to leave town in. We had three months to design, model and build it. To me, it is raw and original; as any designer, I wish I would have had the time and money to better work out some of the details. But overall, it’s a piece I am very proud of.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Inspector Gadget |
Project: Lincoln Gadginental
After many different versions of rockets coming out of the Lincoln, with nothing really resonating with the director, I decided one morning to mount a full-size aircraft engine onto the trunk. It was a hit, to our amusement.
Entertainment Design
Vehicles
Batman & Robin |
Project: Redbird
Next to the Batmobile, the Redbird was the second key vehicle on the show. I was asked to explore many different directions until we achieved a shape that was simple and stretched looking. The engine was covered by an engine cover to play with the lights, which was a “theme” throughout the movie.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
The sky is the limit. Sometimes I’m given the opportunity to work on some really innovative products; other times I have to envision alien technology. It’s exciting to work in a realm where physical limitations are easily dismissed; it’s movie magic after all.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Stealth | Columbia Pictures
Project: EDI Interior
After being part of the design of the fighter planes, I was put on EDI (extreme deep invader), which is the artificial intelligence within a new superplane. The brain was shown in the form of a sphere, yet the plane needed an interior, according to the script, to house a sitting person. Otherwise it was strangely futuristic.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Spider-Man | Columbia Pictures
Project: Pumpkin Bomb
Inspired by the comic strip, the Green Goblin throws these little pumpkin bombs. The challenge was to create one simple sphere that could morph into a dozen ways to kill. With the help of Paul Ozzimo, who modeled many different variations, we developed up to 12 effects once the bomb is thrown.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Spider-Man 3 | Columbia Pictures
Project: Sky-Stick
On the third round of Spider-Man movies, I was hired to design the next generation of the goblin glider. Starting with a surfboard and moving over to a flying snowboard, I tricked out magnetic foot pads and added a rocket. Fun stuff...
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Iron Man | Paramount Pictures
Project: Suit Weapons
Finished with the car, I jumped over to the suit. Phil Saunders had been working on it for a while, and I was handed some little pieces that needed exploring - mostly things that were under the suit and popping out of it. Here’s a sample of a how small rocket launcher can be activated out of the thigh of the suit.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Iron Man | Paramount Pictures
Project: Face Mask
The mask, probably inspired by Darth Vader’s, needed lots of little electronic gadgets and cameras behind the shield. I was bummed to see that it didn’t make it into the movies.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Zathura: A Space Adventure | Columbia Pictures
Project: Robot
Looking at old tin toys, I started to design the robot in that family of historic toys. The director had one robot in mind though - it was less sophisticated and simpler in mechanics. I don’t think I ever got it quite right.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Battleship | Universal Pictures
Project: Alien Guns
The alien physique was very different from the human’s. It demanded weapons that function similar to ours but are handled differently, as the ergonomics of the aliens demand it. Here just one sample of the many guns and knives I worked on.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
xXx: State of the Union | Warner Bros. Pictures
Project: Communicator
Working with Gavin was just a joy again. He would give me a list of things to do for the week, and off I’d go designing everything from tanks to high-speed trains to weapons and gadgets. Here’s a communicator that’s strapped around the wrist. It came in many different versions and colors. Personally, I liked the stainless-steel look the best.
Entertainment Design
Weapons + Props
Constantine | Warner Bros. Pictures
Project: Jewelry
Doing only props on Constantine, I got into some really delicate pieces of jewelry with lots of “meaningful” inscriptions.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships + Planes
When designing or conceptualizing flying objects from different worlds, or the next generation of jet planes from this planet, nothing stands in the way of creating something new and innovative.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Dragonball | 20th Century Fox
Project: Helicopter
This movie was moving so quickly that several ideas were thrown out there, and I had to respond quickly with a design. I liked this attempt for a futuristic-looking helicopter. Naturally, it wasn’t used in the film.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Stealth | Columbia Pictures
Project: Plane
This is one of the many supersonic jet planes that were developed early on for the show. In the end, Oliver Scholl got the winning design and I jumped onto the interior of it. This shot shows the defensive flares that are set off, which makes make for a nice display.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Stealth | Columbia Pictures
Project: Cockpit
The cockpit had large screens and holographic displays—basically everything one can imagine was packed into the sci-fi interior. This is one of the later ones rendered in Photoshop.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Superman | Warner Bros. Pictures
Project: Zork Spacecraft
During the six months working on Superman, I had the pleasure of designing all the alien crafts. Here’s one of the shuttles that would take Superman’s nemesis to Earth. It’s sort of a life capsule in a more literal sense than a crystal sphere. Superman’s was a bit sleeker than this one to visually represent the good and evil.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Transformers | Paramount Pictures
Project: Scorpion
This is the first rendering of the scorpion transformer. I never got to develop anything though. It was a day here, a day there. Anyway, it was an early stab at it and I’m not sure who developed it further. Probably Ben Procter—his work was just amazing on that show. Hasbro should give him a percentage of sales for those robots. Seriously.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Serentiy | Universal Pictures
Project: Skiff
With just three weeks - the time available between shows - I jumped on Serenity to develop this skiff. It was supposed to have a very deconstructed look and not at all sophisticated. It’s fun doing stuff like this. Unfortunately I was off to another show.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Armageddon | Touchstone Pictures
Project: Shuttle
Back in the marker days - how times have changed. My first interaction with Michael Bay was all fun. There is nothing better than to be on a show weeks before the art department starts up and all you do is sketches for the director.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Dune
Project: Emperor Ship
For a pitch to make the movie, I got to design the ships for the four families in the story. The Emperor ship is tall and majestic, and absolutely a shape that has not been seen before. The project wasn’t picked up; it sure would be a fun one to work on though.
Entertainment Design
Spaceships
Battlefield Earth | Warner Bros. Pictures
Project: Alien Ship
A very heavily armored ship to harvest humans, flown by super-tall aliens. Ron L. Hubbard—what were you on when you wrote these? LOL
Entertainment Design
Key Frames
Only if time allows am I given the time complete a full illustration. It usually happens toward the end of a show, when designs aren’t that pressing anymore. Here are some samples of images where the pieces are pasted together or manipulated. Others are fully painted in Photoshop. Photoshop is a powerful program and will do anything you ask it, if you know how to ask.
Entertainment Design
Key Frames
Transformers | Paramount Pictures
In this scene, I was trying to illustrate the moment when the famous explorer, falls into the ice and faces the frozen Megatron. His glasses displayed in the front showing the inscription after been zapped by the robot.
Entertainment Design
Key Frames
Tron | Universal Pictures
This illustration shows the bike in action. Too early in the show to integrate any exterior, I had some time. So I just rendered a close-up to show the dynamics of the bike in something other than a side view.
Entertainment Design
Key Frames
Stealth | Columbia Pictures
Here’s the communication room that was set up on the ship to keep an eye on the EDI. The direction was to show a circle of mega computers with a main computer in the middle and an operator that can swivel around inside it.
Entertainment Design
Key Frames
Spider-Man | Columbia Pictures
During the last week on this show I ended up having some time, so I started a few illustrations. Here’s the classic scene of Spider-Man on top of the Chrysler building, with a great view of the city at night.
Entertainment Design
Key Frames
xXx: State of the Union | Warner Bros. Pictures
After several nose designs for the presidential train, I set up this quick illustration to showcase the designs. It is amazing that one week you design a tank and the next a speed train. Only in the movies...
Entertainment Design
Key Frames
Battleship | Universal Pictures
This shot explains the aliens’ weapons—or rather the result of those weapons. It turned into a funny conversation with Neil Spisak, the production designer, who immediately asked what the weapon that caused all that damage looked like. Which led to the chicken and egg question. I think you had to be there.
Entertainment Design
Commercials
Working on commercials is fun, intense and quick. One thing they all have in common is that you get the call on a Friday afternoon. Not sure why, but by Monday, they want to see what magic you created.
Site Design