Exclusive: Andrew Probert Talks About Designing 'Star Trek,' 'Battlestar Galactica' And His 'Digital' Art

Normally, I only post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, but this is a very special post.

Andrew Probert has been a designer for over twenty years, but his most famous work was on Star Trek: The Next Generation. A legend in the concept design world, Andrew G. Probert has an artistic career working on some of science-fiction's greatest Hollywood productions.

His Hollywood career began as a designer for Glen Larson's Battlestar: Galactica. He was a major contributor on the planned Star Trek television sequel Star Trek: Phase II and the film Star Trek: The Motion Picture as concept designer/illustrator.

Probert's career has spanned numerous influential television shows like Airwolf and Street Hawk and films like Back to the Future and *batteries not included (1987). He's also the creator of the iTunes app "Concept 101: The Worlds of Andrew Probert."

He was kind enough to answer a few questions for my blog. He talks about his inspiration for Battlestar Galactica, how his being a Trekker influenced his designs of the Enterprise and his approach to "digital" drawing.

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a production illustrator?
While attending Art Center College of Design, as an I.D. [Industrial Design] student, a bunch of us heard there were some amazing sketches down at Long Beach State college, I think it was, and we went down there to check 'em out.  They were pre-production sketches produced mostly by Joe Johnston for Star Wars (the first film).  That was when I wanted to do that, right then & there.

Q: Do you usually start with a lot of sketches before you draw, or do you just start and see what happens?
I always start with as much information I can get, regarding what it is I'm asked to Illustrate or Design.  With that in my head, I usually get into my 'form-follows-function' mode and start sketching the item based on it's practical usage, operating mode, entry/exit methods, etc... everything an Industrial Designer does when looking for a Design solution.

Q: What was your most surprising inspiration for the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica?

My Cylon sketches started with Ralph McQuarrie's (RIP) preproduction paintings & sketches but I moved away from those when I hit up the idea of the Cylons being one group of many "Ancient Astronauts" that are supposed to have visited Earth during Mankind's early years.

I then came upon the idea that maybe the Cylon's helmet & armor influenced the look of Greek armor & helmets in particular so I developed that idea and it worked.

Q: You've done a lot of concept art, but you've also done storyboarding. Do you have a preference between them?
Even though I have a strong understanding of the cinematic story-telling process and the dos & don'ts of where to place the camera, maintain screen direction & all, I feel I'm more valuable in providing designs of hardware, props, and sets because of my Industrial Design training.  I'm able to surmise how these 'products' might be manufactured and how, in my opinion, they would best be formed to satisfy the duties for which they'd be constructed.

Q: What went through your mind when you were redesigning the USS Enterprise for Star Trek: The Next Generation?

There was a lot of angst among the Star Trek fans about how we were going to "replace" their beloved original version of Star Trek.  Being a Trekker myself, I could understand their concerns which I was dedicated to address the best ways I could.

My first task was to design the bridge and I took as many details as I could, from Kirk's original bridge, and incorporated them into what Gene has asked me to come up with.  When Herman Zimmerman came on board as Production Designer, he asked me to consult on the remaining sets in order to provide continuity with the look of the new bridge as well as provide as much familiarity as I could get into those other spaces, the transporter room layout & details, for instance, as possible.

At the same time, I moved into providing designs for the ship's exterior which was accepted & approved by the Producers rather quickly.  As for design thinking, I wanted the ship to look like a very advanced version of Kirk's ship including the hull's general coloring while grabbing bits & pieces of newer Starships along the way.

Although painted kind of a pearl gray, the original miniature picked up a lot of blue from the SFX blue-screen background, making it look blue-ish on television so I called out colors to emulate that coloring.  Then for some unknown reason, however, the FX team optically neutralized the coloring down to grey.

Q: While working on Back to the Future, how much of Ron Cobb's work remained in the final design of the DeLorean?

Probably 80% is still Ron's. I provided all the remaining detailing and a couple of small changes on the car.

Q: What do you think is your greatest achievement so far?
My four beautiful children... all with families of their own now.

Q: Do you prefer digital or traditional art tools?
I'm still clumsy when "painting" on a computer.  Therefore, the only 'digital' painting I do is using the digits found at the ends of my arms.

Q: You recently acted in the fan film Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II as Commodore Probert. How did you get involved and what was it like working on it?

Image: Andrew Probert (left) Gil Gerard (center) with James Cawley (right)
I met James Cawley at a convention and we hit upon the idea of my doing a cameo in his next show.  Well, I got a script and (fighting my notoriously bad retention skills) memorized my few lines.

When I showed up on set, however, several of my lines were handed to another actor, which really threw me to the point of not remembering anything.

I then ended up making kind of mess of my scenes and can only hope now that they edit me into some perceived cinematic glory.

Q: Are you still producing art personally or professionally? If so where can we see it next?
I do offer Art Prints on my website but along with that, I have, for a while now, been creating hand-painted Renderings for the calendar:  'Star Trek - Ships of the Line' every year or so.  That's probably the most consistent showplace for my new pieces.

I am, on rare occasions, commissioned to provide a painting for someone looking for original Art.  Last year I was invited to speak to the I.D. department of the University of Cincinnati and, of course, I'm still invited to speak at conventions, every so often, but since I haven't been involved in any current productions for awhile, my talks are pretty much retrospectives.  Having said that, I'm developing kind of a Hardware Design Workshop to supplement those slideshows. 

I just recently completed a series of Concept Designs for 'The Blue Man Group', working with another Artist/Designer Eric Wilkerson, creating new,... hmm, let's say 'props' for a show that is to debut in Las Vegas later this year or maybe in 2013.

And, lastly, I've just started creating a new website which I'm hoping will encourage me to post more materials and maybe even more art prints in the bargain.

Q: Thank you so much for your time.
You're very welcome.

You can see more of Andrew Probert's portfolio and work at http://www.probertdesigns.com.

Check out more of my interviews with amazing artists on my List of Interviews page.

What do you think of Andrew Probert's work?
Related Posts 

• Drive In And See Andrew Probert's 'Streethawk' Motorcycle Designs 
• Great Scott! Storyboards of Marty And Doc's First DeLorean Test From 'Back to the Future'! 
• Star Trek's Early Ferengi Designs Actually Look Cool

Drive In And See Andrew Probert's 'Streethawk' Motorcycle Designs

The hi-tech motorcycle for the 1985 show Streethawk was designed by veteran artist Andrew Probert (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Back to the Future, Battlestar Galactica) and here are some illustrations from his site.

Streethawk was one of my favorite shows as a kid. Not because it was any good, but I loved the motorcycle. While I was doing research for a post called Ten 'Knight Rider' Knock-Offs That Failed Miserably, I discovered Andrew Probert did the designs!

I had to see them and, thankfully, he posted a bunch on his site. Here are my favorites along with his commentary of each design stage.

Design Development
...of a new type of motorcycle that would have the capability of traversing rough terrain as well as reaching a speed of 300 miles per hour.

Research

The first thing any designer does is research the item to be designed. I soon suggested that this multi-role machine would need two real-world bikes to be the muscle underneath. I further suggested a Honda shaft-driven street bike and one of their dirt bikes.

The  Bike was constructed by Gene Winfield's 'Rod and Custom Construction, Inc.'and when they got a dirt bike, I asked it I could take some shots of it and a rider so I might have something, in my design process, from which to sketch.  That's Gene, himself, holding the bike and my rider-model.

First Concept

I wanted to give this bike a look to suggest that it could (somehow) generate enough power to propel it's rider to 300 mph, as required in the show's premise.  This is the earliest sketch, in the series, that I could find..apparently not having documented my usual initial scribbles..

Second  Concept

This is mostly a refinement of that first direction.  Right away, I was concerned about incorporating streamlined wheels, and a back section of the seat that would rise up, at high speeds, in order to support the rider.  I also designed the back wheel support in a way that it might cover the (proposed) two different drive systems.  I imagined that the bike would morph between the two extremes,. high suspension/handle bars and chain for dirt, morphing down to low suspension/handle bars and shaft for high speed street work.


Weapon-1

The bike's main 'beam' weapon was required for a variety of uses & missions, so I came up with the idea that it could pop out and then swivel into whatever position or angle that was needed.


Final Design

The producers unexpectedly fell in LOVE with a set of wheels they'd seen in some magazine and just had to have them on Streethawk.  I explained that it relegated the 'super-drive' system to a standard chain drive and they didn't have a problem with that.  Subsequently, this next & final design included their special wheel & brake system and was approved.  From that point a 'line' version of the drawing was blown up to full size and used to construct the body of the show vehicle.

Here's the opening which gives you some views of the cycle in action.

Check out the rest of Probert's STREETHAWK_Designs including the dashboard and exhaust system at his site ProbertDesigns.com

PHOTOS ON THIS PAGE: COPYRIGHT © UNIVERSAL STUDIOS, ANDREW PROBERT

Great Scott! Storyboards of Marty And Doc's First DeLorean Test From 'Back to the Future'!

One of the most pivotal scenes in Back to the Future (1985) was the first test of the DeLorean using Doc Brown's (Christopher Lloyd) pet dog Einstein. Andrew Probert () did storyboards for the film and posted the scene on his site.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the scene has some great visuals, from the license plate spinning in the street to Marty McFly's (Michael J. Fox) hair being blown back by the re-entry. Plus, there's a nice description of what the script calls the "Time-Slice."

I love Doc Brown's hair in these images. I don't know if it was before or after he was cast, but it's great. Probert describes the storyboards this way.

This is the sequence where Doc Brown runs his final test on the DeLorian [sic] Time Machine.

 

Amazingly cool stuff. Here's the original scene for a comparison.

Feast on these and other cool storyboards and concept art at Andrew Probert's site http://probertdesigns.com/.

Star Trek's Early Ferengi Designs Actually Look Cool

When Star Trek: The Next Generation came out they tried to introduce a new villain in the form of the Ferengi. They were kind of cool at first, but soon became a joke. I came across these concept drawings by Andrew Probert and have to say he did an amazing job.  I wish some of his ideas, like the Babylonian style beard had made it in, but such is the life of a concept artist I guess.

"I wanted us to loathe them, and despise them, and fear them, and also think they were ridiculous." Probert said. "We played around with a bunch of concepts. I kind of scrunched up my face, and popped my eyeballs, and bared my teeth, and put my hands up behind my ears. It was probably the most grotesque thing you could get. We always fear the thing that doesn't look like us. In this case, the idea was to take them away from looking like us, but of course they do look like us in some ways. They're weird, but they are still humanoid."

http://www.probertdesigns.com/