1st Recom Unit, Avatar: The Way of Water. 2017-2018.
I was fortunate to spend a lot of time developing the look for these characters, their costume, gear, weaponry, hair, patches, and more... All in collaboration with our amazing leaders, Costume Designer Deborah Scott, and Production Designer Ben Procter.
One personal highlight was hearing Jim Cameron's reaction to seeing this line up for the first time, something along the lines of "we've got the right guy on this."
I loved diving into the research, reading up on special forces units, the gear they use, their specializations and idiosyncrasies... Every little detail contributing to the overall sense of realism and believability.
It was a treat to be able to drop Ben Procter's Kestrel gunship behind the group, to give the image that classic pre-flight team photo flavour.
I also led the concept art team at Weta Workshop in designing all of the dozens (hundreds?) of unique tattoos for the recom team members. There are some amazing ideas and backstories captured in those, hopefully more on that soon.
This image is included in The Art of Avatar: The Way of Water, along with hundreds of other pieces of concept art from the incredible art team.