Well folks, here's some more information gathered from discussions with the artists of The Phantom Menace as they've done several tours and lectures promoting the film. In this second of three segments (missed the first one? Read Part 1 here!), we'll take a closer look at Terryl Whitlatch, creature designed on TPM. Look for the third and final segment featuring Iain McCaig soon:

As Terryl began her part of the talk, she really did her best to re-state the sentiments Doug had mentioned regarding the time involved on the project and the enormity of the task ahead of them, even at the early stages where there was no script. Beginning by discussing the design origins of Jar Jar, she drooped noticeably (and in a pretty comic fashion) when she had to recall George's first description of the much-beloved goof: 'tallish, gangly, non-human...'

Now, remember in the last post that I mentioned that designers really can't stand an environment where they have completely clear skies to explore? That is, limitations or parameters are a designer's best friend? Well... that went right out the window again. It just so happened that the design process for Jar Jar had begun before it had begun, uhhh... lemme explain that? Actually if you look at the top spread on page 72 of the Art of TPM and read the caption that goes along with it, you'll find out that the initial Jar Jar drawing was actually what I call a 'frustration drawing'.. every so often you have to find a way to get around your frustration or artist block. For Doug, he did this through sheer tenacity: every day he had a goal of doing four to six finished drawings, for Terryl it meant turning her attention away from the problem at hand, and just getting kinda goofy with her pencil, allowing herself to have some fun.

For Iain, who is ready to leap out the window at the first sign of bad drawing, he merely works a drawing past its saving point, often finding that his sub-conscious has led him along a path his conscious could not follow... (i.e. Darth Maul, one of Amidala's gowns, etc.) So, Terryl had to have a few moments of fun, and the drawing stayed out in the open... George happened by and saw it on her board, and thought the right start had been made. Beginning to consider Jar Jar's environment and the appropriate life which populates our world, Terryl began to draw some influence from Hadrosaurs, Emus, and other creatures whose anatomy would lend themselves to an environment of a swamp, and whose structure would make for a noticably alien, yet vaguely familiar means of moving (Jar Jar's walk was pre-conceived by Terryl before Ahmed came along... matter of fact: the first actor who was Jar Jar was French-Canadian... wonder what the 'stereotypers' would have done with that?)

One of the things Terryl really enjoys about Star Wars is that, "You can really picture yourself there..." This harkens back to sentiments long held by fans of the films, that maybe the inhabitants aren't of this earth, but they look as if they're from some 'earth' somewhere... and it's in this credibilty in the design that the origin of a lot of Star Wars' strength lies. Creating a total ecology for the swamp meant creating, approving, discarding, and re-designing a number of creatures and other elements... one of the creations was the Nuna. Most people will remember the Nuna as the poor unfortunate creatures who are romping about in front of Jabba during the pod-race... well, Terryl says that Nunas bounce! So don't worry...

The length of the whole design process can be staggering, as well as highly instructive and rewarding. It's well-known that Terryl's background is in vertebrate zoology, and this understanding of form and function has brought her, along with her undeniable skill as a draughtsman, to the forefront of creature design. Part of her skill was evident when Doug had run into a few problems with a couple of his own creatures... and Terryl more than capably took them from Doug's design to the forms that made it on the screen (most notably in the Kaadu and Eopie)

Still, the procees can be long even for the best. Given all of the considerations and drawing for Jar Jar, it took a year and a half from the first blurb on him until all was approved.

Now, design is about contrast, so in contrast of course Sebulba was nailed down in two drawings... essentially a camel having a really bad day, Sebulba was given the color of an easter egg. The concept of a creature whose locomotion involved the same limbs given opposite tasks of ours held up from the get-go, and this steadfastness to the initial concept helped keep the process short.

As people watch the video of TPM when it arrives, it may be worthwhile to do as Terryl suggested and watch the swamp scenes at a frame by frame rate. there are a lot of great designs in there that move past so quickly, and in the scenes you see a lot more of Terryl's work than you realize.

We've got part three on Iain McCaig coming early next week!