One of my favorite concept artists is Ed Natividad. Mainly for his work on the Star Wars prequels, but also for his dynamic style.
Ed Natividad studied transportation design in Detroit, Michigan. An internship at GM’s Advanced Concept Center in Thousand Oaks, California, brought him to the West Coast, where he saw the potential for designing in film. He returned to Detroit to finish his final semesters, but took issue with the school’s required curriculum. Ultimately, he was expelled from school for reasons not known, ensuring that he would not work in the automotive industry any time soon. Jumping in a car and driving west for three days without a safety net was not necessarily a bad thing. It wasn’t as easy as Natividad thought either. He now works in the film industry on various productions such as Star Wars: Episodes I & II, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and I, Robot.I found a great storyboard from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones of Anakin and Padme fighing the REEK (bull-like), NEXU (lion like) and ACKLAY (a kind of dino-lobster) in the Geonosian execution arena (Petranaki arena).
Here's the scene from the original script
The REEK charges ANAKIN. He jumps up, and the beast hits
the post hard. ANAKIN lands onto its back, wrapping part of
his chain around its horn. The REEK backs off, shaking its
head angrily, which tears the chain from the post.
OBI-WAN ducks around the post as the ACKLAY charges. It
knocks the post flat, sending OBI-WAN sprawling. The ACKLAY
crunches the post between its claws, freeing the chain.
OBI-WAN leaps up and runs towards ONE of the PICADORS. The
ACKLAY takes off after him.
The NEXU arrives at PADMÉ's post and rears on its hind
legs. On top, PADMÉ struggles to tear the chain free. The
NEXU ROARS, displaying wicked, dripping fangs.
I tried to find a video clip of the Arena battle by itself, but the best I could find is this clip. Jump to 7:00 to see the section with Anakin riding on the Reek.
I far as I know Ed Natividad doesn't have a personal website, but you can see samples of his work at ednatividad.com
@2002 LucasFilm Ltd
What do you think of the storyboards? Would you want to fight these monsters?
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