12 Page Booklet

AARON MCBRIDE Visual Effects Art Director ILM: San Francisco By TREY STINSON

AARON MCBRIDE The Art of Entertainment The VFX Art Director peels the curtain back on his career and gives us a closer look at his art in comics, books, and movies. After joining the ILM Art well as Oscar-winning Visual Effects Department in 1998, Aaron Supervisors Dennis Muren, John McBride worked as a concept Knoll and Scott Farrar. artist and designer on A.I. Artificial Intelligence and Minority Report. His work has been chronicled in Since then he has served as designer various “Art of” books including: and art director on The Avengers, Pirates of the Caribbean, Iron Man, Iron Man and Iron Man 2, Rango, The Avengers and many more. Revenge of the Sith, and the Pirates Additionally, McBride’s work was of the Caribbean films; the second exhibited at the Society of Illustrators installment of which, Dead Man’s museum in New York City and has Chest, won an Academy Award for been profiled on Extra, The Big Idea best visual effects in 2006. Aaron’s with Donnie Deutsch, MTV, and in The concept design work has been New York Times widely recognized by directors like Steven Spielberg, Gore Verbinski, He wrote and illustrated the graphic George Lucas and Joss Whedon as novel Old Wounds for Lucasfilm 2

Publishing and Dark Horse Comics characters and creatures. and has illustrated covers for many So this was probably a dream job Star Wars publications including: for you? Star Wars Insider Magazine, The Del Rey Novel Lords of the Sith and the Yes it certainly was! I moved to upcoming Battlefront novelization. California a little over 20 years ago to specifically get a job at ILM. I actually Recently he finished work as ILM studied animation and experimental Visual Effects Art Director for Jurassic filmmaking in college, but around World and is currently working on graduation I had decided that what upcoming Lucasfilm projects. I really wanted was to work here. What I loved to do was draw. The art Questions for the Director department was (and still is) a smaller team, but I realized that’s what I How would you describe your own wanted to try and join. style as an artist? Has there been a time when your I tend to like creepy things. Creatures artwork helped influence a story have always been a big part of that. I decision in a film? branch out of course in different styles, but I always feel most comfortable There was one moment on Avengers doing something that’s a little off- [2012]. We had this giant leviathan putting! creature that comes out the portal in the climactic battle and plays an Can you summarize your role and important role. Hulk actually punches day-to-day responsibilities? it. That creature was at risk of being cut from the movie, but our design I’m a Senior Art Director in the ILM Art convinced the director Joss Whedon Department. I still do some concept to lobby to keep it in. art myself, but a lot of what I do now is supervising other artists. We have Continued on page 9 multiple projects going at the same time, usually in different visual styles. Our work serves as a reference and visual guide for the production of visual effects shots, as well as the outright design of elements in the film. I usually specialize in doing 3

Toraidhe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles It is a period story in the spirit of Often shortened to TMNT or Ninja Last of the Mohicans and The Guns Turtles, are four fictional teenaged of Navarone. It follows a group of anthropomorphic turtles named people from different walks of life after Italian Renaissance artists. From who, on the eve of a world war, have their home in the sewers of NewYork immigrated to the last unoccupied City, they battle petty criminals, evil place in the world. A coastal city overlords, mutated creatures, and on an ancient continent steeped in alien invaders while attempting to myth. Before long it too becomes a remain hidden from society. desirable staging point for massing armies on both sides. At its core The Turtles first appeared in an Tóraidhe is about the lengths people American comic book published by often go to to reinvent themselves, Mirage Studios in 1984 in Dover, New rise above their station or sink Hampshire. The concept arose from beneath, all in an effort to gain the a humorous drawing sketched out approval of others. by Eastman during a casual evening of brainstorming and bad television with Laird. 4

Pacific Rim The film is set in the future, when Earth is at war with the Kaiju, colossal sea monsters which have emerged from an interdimensional portal on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. To combat the monsters, humanity unites to create the Jaegers,gigantic humanoid mechas, each controlled by at least two highly trained pilots, whose minds are joined by a mental link. Focusing on the war’s later days, the story follows Raleigh Becket, a washed-up Jaeger pilot called out of retirement and teamed with rookie pilot Mako Mori as part of a last-ditch effort to defeat the Kaiju. 5

Jurassic World Kong: Skull Island Jurassic World is a 2015 American In 1944, two World War II fighter pilots, science fiction adventure film, the American pilot Hank Marlow and fourth installment of the Jurassic Japanese pilot Gunpei Ikari, parachute Park film series, and the first film onto an island in the South Pacific in the Jurassic World trilogy. Set 22 after a dogfight and engage in close years after the events of Jurassic Park, combat, but the fight is interrupted by Jurassic World takes place on the same a giant ape. 29 years later, in 1973, Bill fictional Central American island of Randa, head of the U.S. government Isla Nublar, which is located off the organization Monarch, plans a Pacific coast of Costa Rica, where a search for primeval creatures on the theme park of cloned dinosaurs has recently-discovered Skull Island. He operated for nearly a decade. The park hires a military force commanded by plunges into chaos when a genetically- Lieutenant Colonel Preston Packard, engineered dinosaur escapes from its tracker and former British Special Air enclosure and goes on a rampage. Service Captain James Conrad, and anti-war photographer Mason Weaver. Brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell visit Jurassic World, a dinosaur theme In 1944, two World War II fighter pilots, park on Isla Nublar, of which their American pilot Hank Marlow and aunt Claire Dearing is the operations Japanese pilot Gunpei Ikari, parachute manager. Claire assigns her assistant onto an island in the South Pacific after ZaraYoung as the boys’ guide, but they a dogfight and engage in close combat, evade her and explore on their own. but the fight is interrupted by a giant Elsewhere on the island, U.S. Navy and very angry ape. veteran and ethologist Owen Grady has been training four Velociraptors and researching their intelligence. 6

The Avengers the Avengers fight “foes no single superhero can withstand.” The team, The Avengers are a fictional team famous for its battle cry of, “Avengers of superheroes appearing in limited Assemble!”, has featured humans, series comic books published by mutants, androids, aliens, supernatural Marvel Comics. Labeled “Earth’s beings, and even former villains. Mightiest Heroes”, the Avengers originally consisted of Ant-Man, the The Asgardian Loki encounters the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the Wasp. Other, leader of an extraterrestrial race Ant-Man had become Giant-Man by known as the Chitauri. In exchange for issue #2. The original Captain America retrieving the Tesseract, a powerful was discovered trapped in ice in issue energy source of unknown potential, #4, and joined the group after they the Other promises Loki an army with revived him. A rotating roster became which he can subjugate Earth. a hallmark of the series, although one theme remained consistent: 7

CREDITED WORK 2019 Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series (Video Game) 2018 Solo: A Star Wars Story (concept artist) 2018 Pacific Rim: Uprising (concept artist) 2018 Deadpool 2 (concept artist) 2018 Ready Player One (illustrator) 2017 Kong: Skull Island (visual effects art director: ILM) 2017 Star Wars: The Last Jedi (concept artist) 2016 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (concept artist) 2015 Jurassic World (senior art director) 2014 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (senior art director) 2014 Noah (senior art director) 2012 The Avengers (visual effects art director) 2012 Battleship (visual effects art director: Industrial Light & Magic) 2011 Transformers: Dark of the Moon (concept artist - uncredited) 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (visual effects art director) 2011 Rango (character art director) 2010 Iron Man 2 (visual effects art director) 2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (visual effects art director) 2008 Iron Man (visual effects art director: ILM) 2007 Evan Almighty (concept designer: ILM) 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (art director) 2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (art director) 2005 Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (art director) 2003 Peter Pan (conceptual artist) 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (art director) 2003 Hulk (conceptual artist/designer) 2002 Men in Black II (conceptual designer: ILM) 2002 Minority Report (lead concept artist: ILM) 2002 Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (concept artist) 2001 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (concept artist: ILM) / (storyboard artist: ILM) 1999 Star Wars: Episode I - Phantom Menace (production assistant) AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS • Artwork on exhibit at the Society of Illustrators Museum in New York City • Profiled on Extra, The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch, and MTV • Dead Man’s Chest: Winner of Academy Award for best visual effects 8

Continued from page 3 We naturally look for technical talent, which is important. But something Where does knowledge of unusual that sticks out to me is when I filmmaking craft come into play? meet people who aren’t satisfied with their work. They want to keep pushing I learned something from another it and make it better. They’re hungry Art Director here – Alex Jaeger. If to learn. It keeps me in shape too! you come from an art background, you always want your artwork to Who has influenced your work? be the star of the show. But Alex would remind me, “Sometimes One specific person was a graphic you’re not designing the coolest novel artist named Brian Bolland. So thing in the frame.You need to know often you’d see comic book characters cinematically what purpose this with the same stock expressions used assignment has for the story.” So if repeatedly. But Bolland tailored it’s a handheld gadget that’s onscreen each expression as if the hand- for seconds, you want it to clearly drawn characters were live action convey only what the audience needs actors. No drawing was the same. He to know. If it’s a big creature that will approached it like a movie. be the focus of a major scene in the film, that’s when you pull out all the stops. You always have to obey the tone of the story. You’ve been here for 20 years now. What has kept you as part of this team all that time? The variety in the work we do is great, but it’s really the people here that make it worthwhile. When I first started I realized that I was working with the artists who did all the films that inspired me growing up. And now it’s the younger artists who inspire me. They’re doing all sorts of new things. This is the best place to be. What do you look for in those young artists who dream of working here? 9

Chances are you have seen one piece of work that was designed by Aaron McBride. For more than 20 years his work visualizing characters, creatures, technologies, and far-flung locales can be found in comics, video games, books, television, and full-length motion films. The number of projects that McBride has been a part of alone is a testament to the quality of work he creates. What would Avengers be without the Hulk going toe to tow with the leviathan? Thanks to people like McBride we have a few seconds of amazing that gives us something to enjoy and take our minds off the busy every day, and what he has accomplished through skill and hard work, we have incredible moments that brighten each of our lives. Without him, entertainment is a little less entertaining. 10

REFERENCES 1. (“Employee Spotlight” April 2019). Referenced by https://www. lucasfilm.com/news/lucasfilm-employee-spotlight-aaron-mcbride/ 2. (“Industrial Light and Magic” 2017). Referenced by https://www.ilm. com/people/aaron-mcbride. 3. Diaz, Jesus. (April 2014). Tóraidhe: A gorgeous graphic novel about a futuristic world war. Referenced by https://gizmodo.com/i-cant-wait- to-read-this-awesome-looking-futuristic-gr-1556901661 4. IAMIG (Feb 2015) Meet our Speakers : Aaron McBride. Referenced by https://www.iamag.co/meet-our-speakers-aaron-mcbride/ 5. McBride, Aaron. (March 2019). aaronmcbride.artstation.com. Refecenced by https://www.artstation.com/aaronmcbride 11