Wicked: Art Department

From the outset, the team were keen to retain the design of Doctor Dillamond from the stage musical. The concept artists and visual effects teams visited a goat sanctuary to find the correct size, shape, and breed of goat upon which to begin their visual development. 

“His clothing took a while to design as we wanted to reflect the character in the materials and colours that suited the visual language of the film, and align it with the fabrics used for his human colleagues at Shiz,” says Concept Artist Dan Baker. “Because he was so iconic and central to the film he went through a long process of careful choices and collaboration with the Director.”

Building out an animal faculty from scratch was quite a large undertaking for the Art Department. They began exploring different animals that felt like a good fit for the role of  professor, and matched them with clothing or apparatus which would suit the subjects they taught. 

The snow leopard was popular from its initial designs, as it exuded a great deal  of character in its posing. Of the many different animals that the teams researched, the owl, fawn, shoebill, tamarin monkey, frog and snow leopard all made it into the film.

Working closely with Framestore VFX Supervisor Jonathan Fawkner, the artists considered appropriate animals that would be interesting and exciting members of the band. This exploration included animals of all different sizes and proportions, experimenting with how to arrange them in a visually interesting way, such as a tiny sugar glider playing a huge drum kit. The proboscis monkey developed into a multi-talented player using both hands and feet, and the chickens were a fun addition as their natural movements were adapted to suit the tiered piano. The Art Department enjoyed exploring what makes an animal “Ozian”, what aspects can we enhance or adapt to make them magical, while striking a balance with nature and grounding them in reality.

“We had the amazing opportunity to work directly for a few weeks with costume designer Paul Tazewell,” explains Concept Artist Dan Baker. “This was a brilliant experience for us, as it was so direct and fluid, which made the process very creative.” Working directly from the initial costume designs for the Human guards, the artists began to adapt the armour for Chistery’s anatomy and how the wings would break through at the back, following Tazewell’s established visual language.