BD: I understand. What about Alice in Wonderland?

SL: I was on that project for a long time. I think seven months and that was incredible. First of all, it's a project that perfectly matches Tim Burton, and I'm surprised it hadn't been done before by him. And my illustration efforts included a lot of things. I was one of many illustrators to work on the Hare house, I did a lot of Tulgey Wood, I designed the tree that the Cheshire Cat resides on, some interior Red Queen Castle architectural elements. And my illustration style was pretty much black-and-white, for the most part; completely desaturated, very grainy, a very painterly style that's very different from Watchmen and some of these other projects... it's very Old World in feeling, something that represents more of a charcoal rendering. But, again, it was all done digitally in Photoshop. The final piece itself looks more like it was a hand illustration... And it was so much fun. There's a lot to design for a project like that and it was a process that included a lot of talented artists. Rob Stromberg [Avatar] was the production designer and there's a lot of post work.

Concept images were photorealistic to capture the mood the filmmakers were going for. 

BD: Yes, I know. Sony Pictures Imageworks is doing the visual effects under the supervision of Ken Ralston. And it sounds like a fascinating hybrid of techniques.

SL: Yeah, absolutely. They're working like mad on it right now.

BD: And Surrogates?

SL: My part on that was pretty small: I worked a little bit on the FBI headquarters. There's a sub-level that includes this station that monitors everybody's surrogate. And it is this central hub of information. I was involved with a number of other people in developing the look of this sub-station, and the Watcher drone itself. And I was also involved a little bit with another illustrator, TyRuben Ellingson, in developing the main weapon along with the stim chair, which is where the real people lie and communicate with their surrogates.

BD: What about re-imagining Fantastic Voyage?

SL: I was one of a small team of artists that helped develop some visuals for that, maybe two years ago. And I developed some of the vehicles that exist within the body. And that was a blend of organic and mechanical elements -- very saturated, very bright colors, although dark as well because all the elements [also] provide the source of light. It was a unique challenge in that way too. I don't know the details of the project since I was involved, but I was recently contacted and asked if I was interested in being a part of that, as it's now ramping up again. Who's involved? I don't know. But I would guess that my initial involvement had to do with the pitch itself and now it sounds like they finally want to implement it and they have the entire film to design. But that's just my guess.

Check back to VFXWorld for more Watchmen coverage, including a two-part vfx article and in-depth interview with director Zack Snyder.

Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN and VFXWorld.