Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1241865
Jort van Welbergen – Key Concept Artist Creating the concept art for Avenue 5 proved to be a uniue challenge from the start. It was my first time working with Simon Bowles, and unlike with some productions, early on he already had a clear vision of what Avenue 5 should be. Opulent, rich, science fiction yet realistic and believable, and with lots of variations. We started with the exterior of the ship and the main atrium at the same time to see if we could find a style that would fit both. I think I did over thirty iterations of the ship that first week, and half that amount for the Atrium. I discussed with Simon whether virtual reality might be a good idea for us and right away he was super enthusiastic. What VR allowed us to do was jump into our designs and walk around in them as we were creating them. As soon as we got it up and running, we put every new version of a set into virtually reality, Simon walked around and gave notes, and I went and improved on it. And then this would carry on until Simon was happy and we passed it on to the rest of the department. Stuart Kearns – Supervising Art Director As an avid follower of Armando Iannucci's work for over twenty-five years, I was so pleased to find myself on this, his most ambitious proect to date.As the Art Department created all the drawings for the sets in a variety of 3D CAD applications, we could build and break down scale versions of the sets using 3D printers within our own department. These models, combined with a virtual reality model of the main Atrium set, gave everybody involved a clear view of the ambitious set builds. To build the multifaith room (standing around twenty-two feet high), a combination of 7-axis robotic arms sculpting the 3D polystyrene sections were used. Once assembled, it was hard coated with a hand applied top surface, following its final filling and sanding, then the spray painting could take place. The pearlescent white surfaces throughout the sets were achieved with several coats of automotive paint and two final topcoats of lacuer. Although many different construction methods were tested, ultimately, traditional tried-and-tested methods and materials worked best. F G H I