AVATAR - Fire and Ash
Lightstorm Entertainment
Concept Design | Pre-Production
Credits
Director: James Cameron
Producer: Jon Landau
Production Designer: Dylan Cole + Ben Procter
Senior Design Consultant: Jonathan Berube
During my time with the Avatar Art Department, I had the opportunity to work on a broad range of tasks, including storyboards, keyframe illustrations, set designs, look development art direction, and studio photography.
Keyframe illustrations played a crucial role in the production process. They were often the first visuals created directly from the script. While some of these focused on set design, the primary purpose was to establish the lighting and overall mood for an entire sequence.
These illustrations typically employed wider camera angles than any specific shot described in the script, providing as much coverage as possible. In the final cut, the sequence would be broken down into multiple inserts with tighter camera framing, highlighting characters or key actions.
THE ARMADA
Creative | Pre-Production — Sequence Design
One of the most rewarding parts of working on Avatar 3 was getting to translate James Cameron’s vision from the script into some of its first images. These keyframe paintings were more than concept art—they were an early attempt to define the sequence itself: the environment, lighting, composition, camera framing, scale, and dramatic intent of the moment.
What made the process particularly valuable was seeing James later approach those same sequences during production, often using the paintings as a visual starting point. I could observe what he preserved, what he changed, where he moved the camera, and how he refined the storytelling. Seeing those decisions firsthand became an unexpected education in directing—one that has had a lasting influence on how I think about framing, visual storytelling, and designing a sequence before stepping onto a set.
The final stage was perhaps the most rewarding: seeing the work come back from Wētā FX as finished imagery. The essence of many of those original keyframes was still there, but elevated through performance, cinematography, simulation, lighting, and final VFX into something far beyond the original painting.
There is something uniquely satisfying about starting with words on a page, creating one of the first visual interpretations of an idea, and then watching hundreds of artists and filmmakers carry that idea forward into the final frame.
NETE ASH CAMP
Creative | Pre-Production — Sequence Design
One of the most rewarding parts of working on Avatar 3 was getting to translate James Cameron’s vision from the script into some of its first images. These keyframe paintings were more than concept art—they were an early attempt to define the sequence itself: the environment, lighting, composition, camera framing, scale, and dramatic intent of the moment.
THE FLUX BATTLE
Creative | Pre-Production — Sequence Design
One of the most rewarding parts of working on Avatar 3 was getting to translate James Cameron’s vision from the script into some of its first images. These keyframe paintings were more than concept art—they were an early attempt to define the sequence itself: the environment, lighting, composition, camera framing, scale, and dramatic intent of the moment.
The final stage was perhaps the most rewarding: seeing the work come back from Wētā FX as finished imagery. The essence of many of those original keyframes was still there, but elevated through performance, cinematography, simulation, lighting, and final VFX into something far beyond the original painting.
There is something uniquely satisfying about starting with words on a page, creating one of the first visual interpretations of an idea, and then watching hundreds of artists and filmmakers carry that idea forward into the final frame.
Vortex Deformation
During the final battle, vehicles approaching the vortex are violently twisted and pulled apart. To explore what that could actually look like, I took Haisu Wang’s Kestrel model into Houdini and simulated the deformation directly.
It was more elaborate than a typical keyframe workflow, but the simulation produced shapes and distortions I would never have designed by hand—giving us a unique visual language for the effect.
What made the process particularly valuable was seeing James later approach those same sequences during production, often using the paintings as a visual starting point. I could observe what he preserved, what he changed, where he moved the camera, and how he refined the storytelling. Seeing those decisions firsthand became an unexpected education in directing—one that has had a lasting influence on how I think about framing, visual storytelling, and designing a sequence before stepping onto a set.
The final stage was perhaps the most rewarding: seeing the work come back from Wētā FX as finished imagery. The essence of many of those original keyframes was still there, but elevated through performance, cinematography, simulation, lighting, and final VFX into something far beyond the original painting.
There is something uniquely satisfying about starting with words on a page, creating one of the first visual interpretations of an idea, and then watching hundreds of artists and filmmakers carry that idea forward into the final frame.