Transformers One: A Design Case Study

Transformers One: A Design Case Study

How do Transformers emote? That's the challenge that the ILM Art Department had to design. Working with Director Josh Cooley and Production Designer Jason Scheier, the team decided to embrace the clean and simple charm of the 1980s animated characters. To accomplish this, artists created faces free of panel breakups and used mechanical details
The Creator: A Design Case Study

The Creator: A Design Case Study

The world of the creator is full of wondrous life far beyond the story going on in the foreground. Director Gareth Edwards, having come from a visual effects background, had the vision to trust that ILM would build the world of the creator into his footage. Early location footage was painted over with various levels of world elements in ...
The Acolyte: A Design Case Study

The Acolyte: A Design Case Study

From lightsabers and starships to alien creatures and ancient temples take a look at more than a dozen conceptual artworks and designs made by ILM's team of artists in collaboration with Lucasfilm.
Transformers One: Concept Art

Transformers One: Concept Art

For Transformers one, the art department aimed to create shapes and silhouettes that appeared clean and simple from a distance, yet included intricate, purposeful details up-close, such as cut lines in the panels, smaller inset geometry, and layered panel work. Given that iconic Transformer designs often stem from their helmet shapes, the art ...
Alien Romulus: Concept Art

Alien Romulus: Concept Art

From Xenomorphs and Facehuggers to spacecraft and enviroments, explore the concept art that the ILM art department brought to Alien: Romulus.     ILM Art department: Aaron McBride, Amy Beth Christenson, Alexander Jaeger, Fred Palacio, Igor Staritsin, Mathilde Marion.
CREATURES + CHARACTERS

CREATURES + CHARACTERS

From the cuddly best friend, to Earth invading aliens, ILM brings to life the everyday and the unimaginable. Our team continues to collaborate with studios and directors to bring characters to life and create movie memories
KEY FRAMES + ENVIRONMENTS

KEY FRAMES + ENVIRONMENTS

In the ILM Art Department, every piece that is created is targeted towards bringing a filmmaker’s vision to life. The mantra; “Each image must tell a story, and ask questions,” What happened before? What is happening now? What is going to happen in the future? Those are the questions that make a key frame or environment evolve from still ...
LEGACY

LEGACY

There isn’t a designer in the ILM Art Department that doesn’t owe a debt of gratitude to visionary artists like Joe Johnston and Ralph McQuarrie, who were there at the company’s inception. Their genius, along with many other artists over the years, is part of the building blocks that make up our company’s DNA.
VEHICLES + HARDWARE

VEHICLES + HARDWARE

In the ILM Art Department, every piece that is created is targeted towards bringing a filmmaker’s vision to life. The mantra; “Each image must tell a story, and ask questions,” What happened before? What is happening now? What is going to happen in the future? Those are the questions that make a key frame or environment evolve from still ...
VISUAL EFFECTS

VISUAL EFFECTS

Design for visual effects is often epic in scale and but typically must remain grounded in the physics of our world to be believable. We are skilled with developing visuals that represent a pivotal moment in the story and often asked to visualize something we've never seen before. Being filmmakers themselves, our artists' design effects, ...
The Force Awakens Portfolio

The Force Awakens Portfolio

Since Industrial Light & Magic’s inception in 1975, every idea dreamt into existence found its genesis within the ILM Art Department. Forty years ago, legendary concept designers like Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston brought George Lucas’s brainchild of an asymmetrical Star Wars “used universe” to life, imagining fantastic worlds bursting ...
Post Visual Development in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Post Visual Development in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Movie fans know the term concept art as one of the earliest stages of filmmaking. Directors and writers collaborate with the ILM Art Department to visualize story beats, characters, design creatures, vehicles, and define a film’s tone and mood. But, even after the cameras have rolled, the ILM Art Department plays a critical role in finishing ...