Concept artist and creature designer Michael Vincent has shared some more artwork he created during the development process for Prey. Vincent was one of the primary conceptual designers for the look of the ‘Feral’ Predator, working under the conceptual direction of StudioADI for the project.
In contrast to some of the earlier and more traditional looking Predator designs of concept artist Kyle Brown, Vincent’s design ideas ended up being the basis for the finalized look of Feral.
“To paint a predator… Swipe to the end for my favorite idea that didn’t make the movie… We made quite a few paint options… like ALOT… Alec and I share a fondness for bright colors in nature – this mandrill-ish variant felt “Feral” to me… it’s always a good day when a director chooses the one you love…Alec Gillis provided me images of the body sculpt by Andy Bergholtz and Joey Orosco.
I proposed a whole lot of different paint schemes… I will have to post them all here soon… there were many… last image is my idea for a gelada baboon lip-flip… Didn’t make it into the movie, but the anatomy is there for it, he don’t got that upper lip for nothing! I made this image afterwards but proposed it during production… In fact you can see here the original plan for the mandible tissue was to cover them all the way to the top, then they fold back into the mouth.. in response to a note to conceal the mandibles.. the challenge was to find a way to do so without compromising the Yautja flagship characteristic… In the film they re-exposed them.”
Vincent also recently posted to Twitter about different mouth color variations that were tried, inspired from animal threat displays:
Weapon concepts for Feral were developed by Vincent as well. Here’s a look at some idea drawings for the weapons we saw in the film such as the Cut Clamp and mines, and some others we didn’t see like a glaive / snake-sword hybrid!
And most recently shared to Instagram by Alec Gillis, there were also numerous dreadlock styles explored by Vincent.
Michael Vincent has been regularly posting concept art from his time on Prey so Be sure to check out his ArtStation, Instagram and Twitter! Fellow concept artist Kyle Brown also shared a lot impressive Prey concept art which we posted recently. If you haven’t already seen them, be sure to check them out here!
Our concept art gallery for Prey is continuously being updated, so take a look if you’d like to see all the artwork we’ve compiled from the film’s development.
Be sure to keep your targets set on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for all the latest Prey news! You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube to get the latest on your social media walls. Be sure to join in with fellow Alien and Predator fans on our forums as well!
Even with all the good work on modeling, lighting, animation, etc etc the final image is less convincing than the practical - regardless of what some may whine about ADI 's work.
No issue with the CGI muscle twitches They weren't very noticeable and hardly distracting. I think they complement the practical suit just fine.
I'm pretty sure the texture / light is physically accurate to what a subsurface material like skin would render.
What stick out the most is the compositing stage when a note must have dropped to say "raise the gain of the creature to make it look more visible" there's a clear potato/mask on the head only to emphasize on the contrast and saturation. There's even secondary masked drawn out on the mouth and eyes to make them stick to reveal all the details completely out of exposure compared to the rest of the body which match the practical, this makes the whole picture seems very uncanny. It's a trend greatly lead by Marvel movies to leave nothing in the shadows so everything is crystal clear when you reveal a character, especially their face, but it's more likely a last minute compositing or even color grading choice that was made rather than a lighting error at the CGI render stage.
I do prefer the Practial look, perhaps because it's bizarre and they weren't trying to replicate skin in a human manner like the CGI does since latex doen't have the same index of refraction and fresnel proprities around the edges than human skin does, giving it a more "alien" look without falling within the uncanny trench.
Also the fact it hide more than it reveal is much more powerful especially in daylight in my opinion.
What he said
MPC lmao
ADI lmao
As a guest, you cannot see attachments. Please login.
Practical
https://www.mpcfilm.com/app/uploads/2022/10/BB0250_0005_TD195plate.1062-1280x495.jpg
CGI
https://www.mpcfilm.com/app/uploads/2022/10/BB0250_0006_TD195.1062-1280x495.jpg
https://www.mpcfilm.com/en/filmography/prey/
I absolutely love the sound of that.
Maybe not to such an extreme degree, but I always thought the concepts of the laser shot Predator, particularly the NECA expanded lore version would make for an interesting Predator. A technophile hunter.
If it ain't broke...
After absolutely loving Prey, I want to see an Alien and Predator meet for the first time ever on film, in the far future.
Like Feral looking at the rabbit and wolf.
Seeing a Predator on the backfoot for once, going "what the hell are you?" to the Alien this time.
Then again the AVP games were guilty of the same thing too. Predators just don't change much.
In the OG AVP comic the only weapon they had which was recognizable was the wrist blade. The Burner we've never seen on screen, and the staffs were not the combi-stick, but regular hand-crafted spears. Plus there armor was quite different. Of course, back then they didn't have the sequel or anything else to work on.
I'm not totally against the Predators being relatively static throughout time. if you think about it from the cultural standard point of tradition. "These are the weapons of our fathers, now choose yours." type of thing.
I just think of it as different seasons, like the US has. This time it was bolt season (bow season). Next time it might be plasma caster season (rifle season).
I'd prefer it if the plasmacaster existed and just went unused. We've seen Predators who opted to not use them like various members of the Lost Tribe and Falconer. Feral could easily be a case where he didn't use one on that particular hunt or didn't have one.
And that to me opens up more interesting story ideas because now we ask "what was the earlier models like?". It's a space version of a hunting rifle, so one can go that route, or you could visually explore its origins. We know the ships have that kind of technology, so did they start on the ships and they adapted to the technology to be a hand carry? Are they war weapons that gradually took other uses? Are the earlier models really bulky? I could easily see an earlier hunter's kit having some weird belt fed variant. Putting the technology at a later point in time doesn't feel right to me given the directions you could go with that.
I like to think that an elder briefed Feral before the hunt and wasn't given the option to use the beloved plasma caster.
There's no doubt that the character is a badass and it was seriously fun to watch hun in action - absolutely loved that!
But I didn't like the face or the mask. What confuses me is the decision to use darts as the pred's weapon. I understand the whole "earlier technology" thing, given how long ago the film takes place - but their ability to master interstellar travel but at the same time NOT have an energy-based weapon doesn't stack up for me...
I do like the movie though. Offering it on Hulu / Disney+ was a good move to renew interest and could be just the ticket needed to green-light more films, anthology style.