For "2012," concept artist Warren Flanagan created images of a tidal wave engulfing the Himalayas and a chasm in the Earth swallowing up Los Angeles. But early in his career, Flanagan exerted his destructive influence on a much smaller scale as a barman at Ireland's Ardmore Studios.
"I was up there for the wrap parties for 'Braveheart' and 'Far and Away,' and Mel Gibson and Tom Cruise would be walking into the bar, so it was pretty cool," he said.
The barman, who attended the Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design, soon landed a job in one of Ardmore's animation studios and moved on to several other Irish animation houses before relocating to Canada, where he worked as a storyboard artist on 2004's "I, Robot."
"That was a trial by fire," he says. "The director [Alex Proyas] threw down the gauntlet. It wasn't just about drawing ability. It was more about your ideas, putting forward interesting action sequences. And because of that, it definitely made me a better artist."
Flanagan then transitioned into an even more ideas-driven field. As a concept artist, he focuses on creating a small number of two-dimensional images that encapsulate the look and mood of important scenes in any given film.
Once approved by the director, producers and other key players, these images ensure that everyone -- from the production designer to the props master -- is literally on the same page.
"A lot of the visual-effects sequences that you see stem from one image to sell the idea, the scene or the shot," Flanagan said. "It's really just about visual storytelling."
Different strokes: Flanagan "paints" exclusively on the computer. "I use mostly Photoshop," he said. "It frees me up a lot because I'm always trying to emulate a film frame, and I can make changes very quickly. If I present an illustration and then two weeks later they require changes to it, I can just go back in and remove or add certain layers. It's fantastic for creating worlds and visuals that before would take a long time to do. They can be done very quickly now."
Staying flexible: To infuse his art with a dose of reality, Flanagan stays in constant communication with the production designer and the props master. "It's really important to work with the guys that are building the stuff," he said. "Something might look great on paper, but when it comes to building it, it doesn't look right. They also have certain materials, and they'll say, 'This is pretty cool.' And I'll take that material and emulate it in an image or a concept or a design. Or if they have an existing shape that looks cool, I can take that and run with that and design something around it."
