Design & Modeling
Renderings & Illustrations
Documentation
Photos & Video
Spider Drone & Sample Container
Venom
Description:
One of my projects for Venom (Sony/Marvel, 2018) was to design an autonomous spider drone and its sample containers. The drone was always intended to be a VFX element, but the containers would be both physical props and digital assets. In the early stages, it’s not always clear exactly how a design will be used, but I’ve found that taking the time to build in functionality and internal logic (especially for sci-fi elements) really pays off. It gives the design a purpose and makes it easier to answer questions that pop up later, like “How does the drone decelerate?” or “How do the canisters detach from the probe?” or even just, “What does this thing do?”
Having clear answers—or better yet, baking those behaviors into the design documentation—helps others understand your concept and keeps things from unraveling in post when time is tight and changes are expensive.
This was a fun and challenging design brief because it went well beyond static scenery. The drone needed to be understood in multiple states: stowed, landing, and actively gathering samples. That meant the design had to incorporate animated behavior alongside modeling, look development, and technical documentation. Being able to show how it worked as a complete system helped secure early buy-in from other departments and kept the design consistent all the way through post.
The sample containers (which were ultimately manufactured by a vendor through the Props Department) also needed some on-screen functionality. They only had to open and close physically—everything in between was handled by VFX—but we still needed to design them to feel like real, working objects.
I’m really proud of how both the drone and containers turned out. This was one of those projects where I got to use just about every tool in the box: Rhino, Maya, Substance Painter, V-Ray, Marvelous Designer, Illustrator, Photoshop, and more.
Having clear answers—or better yet, baking those behaviors into the design documentation—helps others understand your concept and keeps things from unraveling in post when time is tight and changes are expensive.
This was a fun and challenging design brief because it went well beyond static scenery. The drone needed to be understood in multiple states: stowed, landing, and actively gathering samples. That meant the design had to incorporate animated behavior alongside modeling, look development, and technical documentation. Being able to show how it worked as a complete system helped secure early buy-in from other departments and kept the design consistent all the way through post.
The sample containers (which were ultimately manufactured by a vendor through the Props Department) also needed some on-screen functionality. They only had to open and close physically—everything in between was handled by VFX—but we still needed to design them to feel like real, working objects.
I’m really proud of how both the drone and containers turned out. This was one of those projects where I got to use just about every tool in the box: Rhino, Maya, Substance Painter, V-Ray, Marvelous Designer, Illustrator, Photoshop, and more.
