 | |
| Godzilla (2014) "Chinatown Spore" concept art by Vicki Pui and Gareth Edwards |
Check out Godzilla (2014) concept art by Vicki Pui and Gareth Edwards!
Gareth Edwards first experience with Godzilla was not from the movies, but the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series and the "silly little baby Godzilla" called Godzuki. He told Cloture Club his friends would make fun of him by always referring to the film as "Godzuki" to the point where his phone "learnt the spelling more than it learnt Godzilla." Despite that imagery the new Godzilla movie is far from a cartoon. Edwards based it on real events like Hiroshima and the Fukushima nuclear disaster. He said the message of his film is "we don’t control nature, nature controls us and we need to accept that and not be so arrogant because it’s something that... I don’t know, we are going to keep finding ourselves in this problem if we believe that everything is within our control and nothing can ever go wrong." One of the talented artists that helped bring his vision to life was Vicki Pui and she kindly agreed to an exclusive interview about working on the film.
Pui is a professional concept artist who's worked on major films like Pacific Rim (2013) Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010).
Click on the images to enlarge.
Maurice Mitchell: How did you get involved on the film and what did you work on?
Vicki Pui: I was asked to interview for the project by the supervising art director Grant van der Slagt, who I have worked with in the past. After that, production designer Owen Paterson and director Gareth Edwards reviewed my work and invited me to join the project.
Although I did a great deal of location images, I mainly focused on the underground spore nest sequences (both Philippines, nuclear plant, and San Francisco), which a few other illustrators had worked on beforehand (Eddie del Rio and Matt Allsopp). Eddie had previously done a few illustrations with the director that were very beautiful, and Matt had storyboarded some very striking grey shaded panels as well. I continued the development with Owen and Gareth in the final stages, where more practical logistics would be of concern. As for the Chinatown spore nest paintings, Owen had a great idea of how the city would collapse, and how the soldiers would navigate through the fallen buildings. Gareth actually did quite a bit of Photoshop work on both Chinatown images, I think he was itching to paint rather than watch the rest of us have all the fun.
MM: That's amazing that Gareth Edwards was able to contribute artwork! And while working on the project was there one design that you spent more time than any other design?
VP: The spore nest was the most difficult for me, and after a while I decided to hand draw the image instead of painting the nest digitally. It was probably the most successful attempt.
 |
| Godzilla (2014) concept art by Vicki Pui |
 |
| Godzilla (2014) concept art by Vicki Pui and Gareth Edwards |
I'll be among a large group of artists on Brad Bird's Tomorrowland and Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, which are both slated for release next year.
Find out more about Vicki Pui's career at her IMDB page at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3001748.
Click on the links if you want to see more of Vicki Pui's work or Godzilla artwork on my blog.
What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Godzilla what do you think of the designs?
Official GODZILLA Synopsis
"An epic rebirth to Toho's iconic Godzilla, this spectacular adventure pits the world's most famous monster against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence."
Directed by Gareth Edwards
Cinematography by Seamus McGarvey
Production Design by Owen Paterson
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, David Strathairn, Bryan Cranston, Sally Hawkins
Official Site: http://www.godzilla-movies.com
Release date: May 16, 2014
© Copyright 2014 Legendary Pictures, Warner Bros., Toho. All rights reserved
Related Posts
- Smashingly Beautiful GODZILLA 2014 Concept Art by Frank Hong
- Here's What Garth Edward's GODZILLA Almost Looked Like
- Exclusive: Interview with GODZILLA 2014 Concept Artist Brian Cunningham
- Exclusive: Unbelievable GODZILLA Concept Art by Warren Flanagan
Follow @filmsketchr
You are spoiling me with all this Godzilla concept artwork!
ReplyDeleteThe final spore nest was creepy.
It is creepy David. I actually find the hand drawn one more so. It’s amazing stuff.
ReplyDelete