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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
Check out my exclusive interview with Batman v Superman concept artist Constantine Sekeris!
It's a big year for DC comic movies. The Justice League (2017) movie is coming in November and Wonder Woman (2017) is the biggest movie of the summer. So, I thought it would be fun to go back to last year's Batman v Superman movie. Constantine Sekeris, one of the talented concept artists working on the film, was kind enough to grant me this exclusive insight into the design in the film. He's a professional concept artist who's worked on blockbusters like Spider-Man 3 (2007), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and AvP: Aliens vs. Predator (2004).
Why didn't Doomsday have bone spurs? What comic series inspired Wonder Woman's costume? How was Robin's costume inspired by the comics?
Maurice Mitchell: What did you work on for the film?
Constantine Sekeris: When I first got the call from [costume designer], Michael Wilkinson, to come on and help concept on some of the lead characters on Batman v Superman he had me start some images of Batman based on some rough PhotoShop sketches he did to get the ball rolling first. This was our first movie working together so I had to see how he liked to work and he needed to see how I interpreted his ideas and sketches.
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
I did some early passes on Batman that weren't in the right direction, which was then passed to my good friends Jerad Marantz and Keith Christensen.
After that initial start, he asked me to work on Wonder Woman which he had a really great rough start on her and referenced a lot of the old comics and new 52 looks as well. Wonder Woman actually came together pretty quickly in the first initial pass. Michael really captured her iconic look in the first pass and all I was really doing was refining all the details. But, as an overall design, she was pretty much there. We went on exploring in detail her tiara, chest plate, belt, gauntlets, boot design, and skirt. We explored a lot of options which then eventually were passed on to Jerad Marantz and Warren Manser.
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
In between conceiving Wonder Woman Michael had me work on Aquaman and Robin as well.
Again Michael and Zack Snyder had a really great initial idea for him with tribal tattoos and simple overall design of him with his green pants, trident, long hair and beard similar to what has been posted online. He was a lot of fun to work on. Very well cast in my opinion as well as Wonder Woman too.
For the Robin suit that you briefly see floating in a glass cage Michael Wilkinson mixed a bit of the classic with the new 52 look. I was very lucky and fortunate to work on these iconic superheroes I grew up loving and such a big fan of. To help bring them to life on the big screen was a dream come true and I'm very proud of how they look. Jose Fernandez, owner of Ironhead Studios did a lot of the practical costume fabrication on the main characters especially Batman and Wonder Woman and fans have responded very positively to their overall look. Truly the best work on all these characters.
Alongside working on the superhero characters, production designer Patrick Tatopoulos allowed me and Jerad through Michael to do some Doomsday design work knowing our creature background. To add to the exploration that Vance Kovacs and Patrick were doing.
Vance and I had gotten some traction and I mixed in some of what Zack liked from Vance and I. In the end, I believe Patrick's design ended up on screen. Jerad did some amazing options that were close to the comic, but the spikes were a hurdle and Zack didn't want them to be so prominent where they take over the overall look of him as he is first born but protrude as he gets stronger and bigger to make sense of them without looking so stylized and keep the serious tone of the film.
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
MM: Was there a particular design you found the most challenging?
CS: In my opinion, they're all challenging any time you bring an iconic character like this to life. You want to stay true to the source material and update them to be believable in their setting. Michael Wilkinson had such a good initial overall rough pass at all the characters and a great costume concept team that we all worked together to help in any challenge or difficulty.
In my personal process if I have any problems I just go back to the source material in the comics and usually find a good solution. That's basically how I overcome those challenges.
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
MM: When designing for Wonder Woman, how much of a challenge was it to redesign the iconic costume?
CS: Working on Wonder Woman, costume designer Michael Wilkinson started with a lot of comic source material to capture her iconic look. When I was tasked to work on Wonder Woman Michael already had a really good rough sketch of her to start from. From there we broke each part of the costume down and really spent time detailing and refining her costume in-depth doing versions of her line work on her torso piece.
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| Batman v Superman (2016) concept art by Constantine Sekeris |
From there breaking that down and doing version after version on her trim chest eagle detail and continuing in depth with the same process on the gauntlets, boots, tiara, skirt and so forth.What helped the most with her look was that Zack Snyder story-wise had her be a Mediterranean look and that she finds her costume from her heritage. Again, it was amazing to work on her and help bring her to life.
She looks bad a**. And sexy at the same time.
MM: As a costume concept artist/creature designer what are the differences in your working process?
CS: As a costume concept artist I get hired by a costume designer and work with them and help realize their vision. Each costume designer works very differently and so I accommodate to each the best I can to be versatile for them and help illustrate or build the characters in 3D and really break down that specific character.
With my background stemming from practical FX designing and building costumes and creatures back in the day. These days studios will call me to help do some initial pitch art work to help develop a project very early on to see if it's something pursuing with their limited budget. If it's something of interest then a production designer and costume designer will be hired and really design it from scratch.
These days when I get an opportunity like that I do more than just character and creature work I also do keyframes as well so you see these creatures and characters in their environment and see the tone the studio is going for and exploring.
As a creature designer, I will either get a call from a producer and or production designer and mainly focus on all the creature work.Whether it be a makeup design or a digital creature design where then I will work in 3D and then pass my model onto VFX or for previs. I usually like to start with rough sketches to get a general idea of the silhouette and design then I jump into Zbrush and flesh it out in detail all around.
So the studio, director or anyone involved can see the creature character orthographically. I will get it close to photoreal as possible.
MM: Where will we see your work next?
CS: Next you'll see some of my work in the next Thor movie Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Black Panther (2018) and now I'm currently working on the Avatar sequels.
See more of Constantine Sekeris's amazing portfolio at http://artofconstantine.com and https://www.artstation.com/artofconstantine!
Click on the links if you want to see more of Constantine Sekeris' work or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on my blog.
Official Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Summary
"Fearing the actions of a god-like super hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before."Directed by Zack Snyder
Cinematography by Larry Fong
Production Design by Patrick Tatopoulos
Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter and Gal Gadot
Release Date(s): March 25, 2016
Official Site: http://batmanvsupermandawnofjustice.com
What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice what did you think?
© Copyright 2016 DC Entertainment, Atlas Entertainment, RatPac Entertainment, Cruel and Unusual Films, Warner Bros. Pictures. All rights reserved
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