Interview: Michael Broom

Michael Broom is a concept artist, special effects illustrator, creature designer and was a key artist in the development of recent movie Predators. I recently got to chat with him and we talked about his work in some detail. Read on to learn about concept art, as well as the secrets of making Predators.

AvPGalaxy – Hello Michael, I’m so glad you decided to take the time to chat with us. First off, tell us a little about yourself and how you got involved with Predators.

Michael Broom – Hi, my name is Michael and I design monsters. I’ve been in the film business for about 5 or 6 years, I moved to California after living in the South all of my life and wanted to get into the monster movie business.

I’d heard that Robert Rodriguez was involved in ‘Predators’ and I was pretty sure KNB would be approached about the show. One day when I was over there, doing some artwork for Greg Nicotero, and I mentioned that I was really interested if it came in. A few weeks later he called me to get started.

AvPGalaxy – Predators is a film we have wanted to see made for many years. One of the things I really appreciated was all the character design – What kind of reference material did you use for this movie?

Michael Broom – For one thing, I took frame grabs from the ‘Predator’ DVD to utilize as my color scheme, to try and keep a palette that was from that same world. I have dozens of reference books and with the internet at my fingertips reference is always a click away.

I’m of the mindset (as a lot of FX guys are) that Predator was pretty much done right the first time out. The challenge is to see what I can bring new to the table and still keep it within that realm. I was always fascinated by those Predators on the ship at the end of part 2, and what kind of story they told by just looking at them. That old Predator had a gun from some pirate or something, which his clan undoubtedly had a run-in with somewhere in the past (now there’s a movie I’d like to see!).  So I really tried to bring that kind of storytelling into some of my ideas and designs.

I really went back and looked at primitive African, Amazonian, and Native American tribes to see what kind of decorations and adornment they used. A number of my drawings had feathers or scarification or war paint of some type. I even did some Egyptian-styled helmet designs at one point, to try and tie in some of that flavour of artistry to give it a familiar vibe of an ancient civilization.

AvPGalaxy – We’ve seen your work on Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. How was this time different from working on AvPR?

Michael Broom – It was very different. For one thing I was working at two different shops. Amalgamated Dynamics hired me for AVP2, and KNB EFX took up the duties for ‘Predators’. Both places are quite different to work with.  Alec or Tom are more likely to draw me a sketch, while Greg is more likely to show me photos, art, or reference a film for an example. Each place varies in their own style, techniques, and preferences.

Another factor was that there was a lot more time on AVPR. It seems there was just a few weeks to get things done for ‘Predators’ but I remember being at a few different meetings, over the course of a few months. On AVPR, the Strause brothers would come to the ADI studio to check out work and give feedback on artwork. I did a lot of work on the Wolf Predator for that, and worked on designing his armor and weapons. Just that, in itself, was a big design phase.

AvPGalaxy – Talk us a bit through your work on Predators. What was your job there and what did you design for Robert Rodriguez?

Michael Broom – I never actually got to work with Robert Rodriguez. I worked with KNB EFX (more specifically under Greg Nicotero) and they just handed in work from there. The way I understand it is that the production team in Texas just had artists (including myself) generate a lot of ideas and sketches and just picked through them and got their favourites (like a buffet), which is pretty smart when you think about it for being such a short build time. They have an in-house design department there in Texas that I’m sure refined things and detailed what needed to be looked at more.

Greg pretty much told me to start coming up with Predators, and I began to kick out sketches. Some I fleshed out in Photoshop or in color a bit, and tried to follow up with things that he responded to, or that he told me the Production responded to. I remember getting an email from him that said something like “They like the one with the bone jaw, and the one with the horns” and I was thinking  “Which one with the horns?” [laughs]

AvPGalaxy – What was your first impression of the film’s script?

Michael Broom – Script? Um, I never read it. Usually I don’t, it’s really only my job to know what the monsters are supposed to look like.

AvPGalaxy – Are you happy with what you saw on screen?

Michael Broom – Yeah! It’s always exciting to see something that you helped influence (even in a small way) on the big screen. I went to Mann’s Chinese on Hollywood boulevard
to see it. I was so excited about it. Heck, two of the guys are wearing helmets that were directly inspired by my sketches, how could I not be excited about that?

AvPGalaxy – Can you remember the first thing you were asked to do on Predators?

Michael Broom – Yep, Greg asked me to draw a profile and straight-on view of the original Predator to have a jumping-off point for the creatures. I’m pretty sure the second sketch I did is the one you have posted on the right with the closed mandibles and alien-bird feathers.

AvPGalaxy – How much time did you get to spend on concepting for this movie?

Michael Broom – Like I said, it was a pretty short build-time for the crew so just a few weeks. It was pretty run-and-gun. That can be a good way to work sometimes. It gives you a more instinctual, primal brainstorming design phase.

They have to get sculptors started pretty quickly, I would imagine. From there it has a whole process of molding and painting before those can get made into the Predators you see on screen.

AvPGalaxy – Could you please describe your general work flow: How you progress from the original idea to your first sketches, and finally on to the full concept? Also, what techniques, tools and software do you use?

Michael Broom – Wow, that’s a big question. Well, sometimes I don’t get to do more than a rough sketch. Somebody will see something that they like and immediately hand it over to a sculptor to work up a maquette and I’ll never get another pass at it.

Ideally, though, I’ll start with a drawing or a sketch and scan that into Painter or Photoshop and start building it up. Sometimes my sketches are really loose, and I’ll write notes on them to myself about colours or textures that I want to use. Digitally, pretty much anything is possible now. It’s really quite amazing, and things can evolve in this stage. When I was working up helmet designs for ‘Predators’, I did a few in a digital sculpting program called Zbrush. I took frame grabs from the first film of that mask and made a ‘clay’ material that matched the metal I saw in the film, so it was kind of like sculpting in the same metal. It had a really cool look.

I overlayed photos of frogs and alligators in Photoshop to experiment with different types of skin texture, cloned in textures of rusted metal (and sometimes sampled textures right from previous films) for the Predator armour… I just tried stuff out to see what I could come up with.

Artistically, I like to use everything; I try to work in as many mediums as possible. Even when I’m just sketching for a show, I’ll switch over to markers or something so I don’t get stale. Time is always a factor, though, so I don’t get to paint as often as I would like.

AvPGalaxy – On average how long does it take you to complete a concept?

Michael Broom – It depends, sometimes I don’t get very much time. Other times, things gets refined a lot. In some cases, directors had rather have 10 or 12 loose sketches to choose from before you refine and spend a lot of time detailing out a design.

AvPGalaxy – How much creative freedom do you have when you’re making concepts? Are you told specifically what to draw or are you free to do your own thing?

Michael Broom – Again, it depends on what the project is and who I’m working for. Some directors have a very specific idea in mind, other times they want to see what ideas you come up with. It’s not really ‘art’ in the traditional term, it’s more of a practical application. It most importantly has to serve a purpose. It’s a visual language so that everyone on the production is on the same page.

I had a lot of freedom on ‘Predators’, and on AVP2 as well, early on…I will usually put out my more personal concepts and ideas first, and see if any get responses. I’ll be the first to say that some of my ideas are pretty wild.

But, ultimately, I’m a tool, what they would call in the old gangster movies ‘Cheap muscle’, to get the job done, and I’m totally fine with that. I come up with ideas and draw, and try and get the director what he needs for the project.