Post

2/26 Setting the scene. Zion dock, art by Geof Darrow:

3/26 Marc Gabbana: "This [below] was an original acrylic painting measuring 35” x 25”, which took about 3 weeks to draw and paint back in 2001 I believe. Production designer Owen paterson showed me materials from Geof Darrow -drawings of the dock, bridge and wall details- as well..."

"...as all the ships -drawn by various artists in the art department, including George Hull- which were mostly drawn as orthos, front and side views." George Hull (Dune): "This is a cutaway for the Dock to see an elevation of the fleet landed." 4/26

5/26 Marc Gabbana: "I redrew all those elements in perspective, to fit in the scene. I remember painting small acrylic color comps (4” x 6”) to establish the color palette and mood of the scene. I originally sketched out a few 3-quarter view perspective sketches and color..."

"...comps to make the scene more dynamic, but the Wachowskis preferred a symmetrical composition." 6/26

"[The Wachowskis] asked me to continue painting as they loved it so much already! This was a very fun painting to work on, and the rest is history! This painting was instrumental in communicating the needs of the production to everyone at Warner Brothers and VFX house ESC." 7/26

Marc Gabbana: "The Zion dock was partial full set, partial miniatures and also modeled in CG. All those elements were matched seamlessly in the final film. So it’s difficult to to tell them apart." 8/26

The Machines Grant Niesner: "I created 3D concept models and test rigs of various machines based on Darrow's concepts and was the VFX Art Director at Tippett Studio for the 'real world' scenes from the first flight of the Logos to Neo being plugged in at the Machine city". 9/26

10/26 "When the production was just getting started, I learned that the Sentinels would play a major role and would not only be seen close up in CG, but also made into practical life size props for various scenes. I was never happy with the lack of detail in the original Sentinel..."

"...and proposed a new design that would follow the same basic blue-print, but would be more refined, a bit more organic and also be more feasible to be created in a practical, real world form." 11/26

"I was given the go-ahead and did a number of rough sketches and 3D model studies based on the original sentinel." "Prior to that I was in charge of interpreting Geof Darrow's 2D designs of the APU and the Digger machine." 12/26

13/26 The APU [Armored Personnel Unit] original design by Geof Darrow, originally done for The Matrix (1999):

14/26 Grant Niesner: "For the APU, I proposed some articulation in the upper arm/shoulder section as well as designing the back of the machine, for which there were no designs. I then created the 3D concept model with a simple rig and created several test animations to show..."

6/11/23, 1:54 pm2 reposts5 likes

"...how it could articulate. Again, this was going to be a practical, full size prop, and needed to be designed in a 'realistic' way." 15/26

Marc Gabbana: "Another unused storyboard sequence involved the Sentinels slicing APUs with their red lasers during the Zion battle." 16/26

"If you remember, the Sentinels used lasers in the first film, but the Wachoskis decided to not use lasers as weaponry for these films, and instead rely on their tentacles for combat." Wise choice. 17/26