Ĭorrection: This article has been updated to clarify George Hull's role in the creation of Jupiter Ascending. For more of his work, check out his website and Facebook page. When I started messing around with an airbrush in the late eighties/early nineties, he was probably the hottest airbrush artists on the scene. Giger passed away yesterday (February 5th, 1940 May 12th, 2014) at the age of 74. George Hull's original concept art for Jupiter Ascending has been republished here with permission. Science Fiction concept art by Hans Rudolf Giger I am sorry to hear that H.R. the highest prize for a conceptual designer.'

'To be asked to help invent a bold new visual vocabulary for a world.

The result is massive, hulking ships with many delicate floating wings.ĭespite the challenge, Hull says Jupiter Ascending was a 'dream assignment' precisely because the Wachowskis were so demanding. But he also incorporated aspects of an architectural movement known as Brutalism. For some ships, Hull drew from forms in nature, like moths, butterflies, and even peacocks. To create a unique visual language for the film's vehicles, Hull turned to some seemingly contradictory sources for inspiration. A large visual effects team brought the concepts to life on the big screen.

Hull's focus was on the ships in the film - a massive team is responsible for the final product that made it on screen, including nearly 20 additional conceptual designers and art directors under production designer Hugh Bateup. As he says, 'my job is to bring fresh shapes, textures, and details to their ideas.'

'Creating something fresh - even slightly - in a genre that has a lot of movie spaceships, robots, and technologies, was the most challenging aspect!'īut he wasn't starting from scratch - Hull tells The Verge that the concepts and ideas in the Wachowskis' script 'were already bold and unique by the time I began designing.' He adds, 'They drive everything visually and had already imagined the big picture from day one.'Īs a key conceptual designer for the film, Hull had to take the Wachowskis' outline of the visual world of Jupiter Ascending and turn it into a cohesive whole. Hull tells io9 in an interview (edited here for clarity) that the Wachowskis 'are always striving for over-the-top aesthetics.' He notes that they 'wanted a visual style for their film that was unlike anything they had seen before.' But, as Hull explains, that's no easy task. 'The Wachowskis are always striving for over-the-top aesthetics.'

Sci fi ships concept art