Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538315
32 KEYFRAME But a great car design is more than just a story engine. It can tell the audi- ence about a character and the world they're living in. Ronnie Senteno, a Vehicle and Prop Designer on Batman: Caped Crusader, goes through a series of questions every time he designs a car. Who's going to drive it? How much money do they have? What purpose will the car serve the character? Other questions deal with worldbuilding. When is the project set? Who designed and manufactured the car? Thinking like this comes naturally to Senteno, since he started out studying Transportation Design at ArtCenter College of Design. The work left him unsatisfied, though. He'd gone into vehicle design because he loved cars and was fascinated by how designs and tastes change from decade to decade, but he found the industry wasn't a place to pursue his passion. TAG Vice President and Art Director Roger Oda, who worked on Motorcity as a Background Designer and later designed vehicles as a Vis-Dev Artist on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, has met many animation artists with transportation design backgrounds. "But early in their careers they might have gotten an internship and realized how corporate it is," he says. "Car design is about the product, and there are lots of restrictions, including those based on economics, so you're going to end up designing a cup F E AT U R E this page: Ronnie Senteno dove deep into character to create Eel O'Brian's car for Batman: Caped Crusader. opposite page: The chaotic streets of Cairo provided tension in the opening sequence for The Bad Guys 2. DESIGNING EEL O'BRIAN'S CAR, SENTENO ASKED HIMSELF QUESTIONS LIKE WHAT WOULD A SPORTY, SINGLE GUY DRIVE IN THE 1930S? 32 KEYFRAME Batman: Caped Crusader images courtesy of © 2024 Warner Bros. Animation.