The good folks over at
Comic Book Resources recently scored a lengthy interview with the Co-Visual Development Supervisor behind Marvel's upcoming
Captain America: The First Avenger film. Revealing new concept art along the way, check out excerpts from the interview below, and a link to the full interview lower.
From working on other Marvel movies, is there a unified style you try to bring to the features -- a sort of movie house style?
"I think there is definitely a continuity in the concept art itself because there is a continuity of artists that are creating the art, and hopefully a continuity of the designs on screen that place all of the characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We don't really try to do a "style" because our art is really just a step in the process. Whatever we make has to become real at some stage, so mostly we are just trying to make the art as realistic as possible while still remaining an inspiring design and piece of art. As far as the continuity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we've been able to design the characters across multiple movies so we try to include as much continuity as possible. The direction we get from the directors is specific to their movie, but the direction we get from Marvel can be about unifying the characters across movies. I worked on the designs for both the First Avenger Cap suit and Avengers Cap suit, so I'm really excited for the sense of character change you can get from seeing him come into the modern world."
Were the "Ultimate" comics a big inspiration for the movie costume, or were you influenced by different versions of the comic book character?
"Bryan Hitch's work was definitely a big influence for two of the Cap suits. The "Ultimates" is a really great source of inspiration. For the red, white and blue suit, we definitely were looking at how Bryan was able to make the suit feel a bit more real, and trying a few things ourselves. I always loved treating the cowl and mask as a helmet and chinstrap, and I used that in my most early drawings. The "Ultimates" Cap was also the inspiration for using military webbing, or straps, as part of the costume. Generally, those straps are meant to hold the up the soldier's belt that has extra ammo and gear attached. I always saw it as accomplishing that, as well as being a type of body armor, but also as part of the system that held the shield when he wore it on his back. Even if that shield is relatively lightweight, it would still need something to securely fasten it to his back. The straps that come off his chest are very similar to the ALICE webbing that was used in Vietnam. Using the straps as the stripes across his torso then seemed like an elegant design solution. In the end, the main design aspects of this suit are meant to be about making it appear soldier-like, functional and tough. This is the suit where he fully embraces his role as Captain America, so we wanted the iconic silhouette that everyone loves, but we wanted to clothe it in function and the period.
For the Leather Jacket costume, I did like the "Ultimates" WWII suit, but I was directly inspired by Kevin Maguire's work on the "Adventures of Captain America" miniseries. There is a section in that where Steve goes out on a mission before he gets his official costume, and he's wearing a leather jacket, goggles and a wool hat. I thought making it a helmet made a bit more sense, and using American aviator goggles would add the requisite period feel. While I was working on that, I bought a few M1 helmets and the aviator goggles on eBay. It was great to have the real things to work from. Those goggles are a beautiful design, they are one of the coolest things I own. Joe was really interested in making that suit about the USO costume underneath -- that he turns away from the USO costume by covering it in the leather jacket, but over the course of his first mission, that jacket is ripped to shreds and Cap's true colors show through. I always loved that direction; it's a brilliant way to use the costume to show the character's journey.
The USO suit was meant to be directly inspired by the [Jack] Kirby design. We tried to keep it as close to the original as possible. It's as straightforward a design as we could achieve. It's a truly iconic design and I hope we did it justice."
From "Iron Man" to "Thor" and now "Captain America," your concept art and designs feel very grounded in reality. With this in mind, how did you go about designing and painting the fantastical Red Skull and Hydra?
Oh, wow, I certainly hope so. I did a Cap image as part of an upcoming "Avengers" cover, but I don't have anything lined up for a "Captain America" comic. He truly is a great character and I'm amazed I've been lucky enough to work on a few of his film designs. I fully respect the responsibility to try and do justice to such a beloved figure, and I hope the movie designs are a welcome addition to the 70 years of "Captain America imagery." They were a joy to work on and I am exceedingly proud to have been a part of the movie.
For the rest of the lengthy interview, head over to
Comic Book Resources!
Captain America: The First Avenger focuses on the early days of the Marvel Universe when Steve Rogers volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America. As Captain America, Rogers joins forces with Bucky Barnes and Peggy Carter to wage war on the evil HYDRA organization, led by the villainous Red Skull. Starring Chris Evans, Sebastian Stan, Tommy Lee Jones, Hayley Atwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Stanley Tucci and Hugo Weaving, the film releases July 22, 2011.