How an Eye Camera Design for Alien Romulus Film Was Created

Introduction

My name is Pablo Dominguez Aguilar. I'm a Concept Artist and Art Director for Films and Games. I'm mainly engaged in film work and have worked in the industry for 8 years. I started my career very early in my 20s and have been working hard until now, and hopefully, I will keep doing it for years. I started working in this industry because back in the day, a friend of mine showed me ZBrush, its capacity and detail, and how everything gets translated later on in a movie or game. So, I decided to start learning it by myself using tutorials and practice. I utilized this software along with Photoshop and opened my workflow by learning Modo, Octane, and more programs. I got my first job as a Matte Painter for El Ranchito VFX, working for some commercials. Then I worked on Game Of Thrones and, after that, jumped into Marvel and Disney projects as a freelancer. I also worked in-house at ILM London on such projects as Aladdin, Star Wars Epic, Avengers, and many more. Now, I've been art-directing for TerraForm Studios and also freelancing on my own, working on projects like Alien.

Inspiration & References

I got the job straight from Fede Álvarez. He asked me on Twitter if I wanted to join a TV Alien film and then go into cinemas later on. At first, if I remember right, it was intended for Hulu TV.

The eye was Fede's idea. He wanted to have a camera controlling the EchoProbe instead of a Pilot. Also, since we went more into the "classic" Alien style, it needed to feel weird but believable and not too sci-fi, like something you can imagine an engineer from the 70s would do. Back in the day, there weren't 360 cameras, so the idea was to put many lenses to have 360-degree video recording capabilities. We did a few variations, but Fede chose the final design rather fast.

I'm the Concept Artist, not the 3D Modeler of it. In concept art, we use 3D, but only for design purposes, so all the geo you see in my work is not a "clean" topology. It's all done for the purpose of design. The main ref was the 70s and 80s old film and TV cameras.

Modeling

I used only Blender, and since the challenge was to be quick and keep things easier, I modeled the structure and downloaded some Lens 3D models to add them to the design, also using some wires from my asset library.

Topology, Unwrapping, and Texturing

I don't do topology and only deliver the design. All the textures are in Box Mode with no UV or topology. As for texturing, in concept, we put a basic texture, and if detail is needed, I paint on top.

Rendering & Lighting

I used Cycles for all shots. I created a main HDRI using Photoshop and added some extra light beans to achieve a better visual.

Conclusion

If it's a prop design for a film to be printed or crafted for use on set, the best way will be to detail and give it a nice 3D effect, but there's no need to be super clean.

Sometimes, they only use the plane and 2D schemes and work on top of that. Also, in film, they usually have a 3D Print Expert to remodel and fix anything that can be an issue, so our job is to focus on design and not on the tech aspect of it. I learned how to work only using Blender and not my usual combination of Blender and ZBrush as a challenge to myself. I would advise beginner Concept Artist to make sure that you find good designs and be original. Don't go into the tech part too much, as that's secondary for design. However, if you want to be a 3D Modeler, you need to learn all the tech and have a clean 3D portfolio.

Pablo Dominguez, Concept Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine