Daily Prime - Transformers ONE Orion Pax & Optimus Prime Concept Art & Design Notes from ILM

Transformers ONE is more than meets the PRIME, telling the story of how the cogless miner became the leader of the Autobots! ILM turns us on to more concept art and design notes on the two sides of the lead character. Here we get to see all kinds of behind the scenes with views on most of the design elements. Read on to see the images below with comments on each element.

How do Transformers emote? That's challenge the ILM Art Department had to design.
Working with Director Josh Cooley and Production Designer Jason Scheier, we decided to embrace minimalist charm of the 1980s animated characters. We avoided panel break ups and unnecessary greeblies across their faces so their performances, emotions, and humor could shine.

We focused on the eyes.

The 1980s animated charcters had flat glowing shapes instead of eyes. So, we designed irises, eyelids, and eyebrows that could dilate, move, focus and change based on the character's feelings.

Artists know the highlights in eyes are often what bring a painting to lige, so in line with that idea, the pupils were designed as a light source that can brighten and intensify with the characters' changing emotions.

To find the right type of panel break up, Jason directed us to reference Art Deco design. We used those bold shapes and beautiful patterns to create the proportions and form languages of the Transformers and their alt modes.

The lines looked clean and simple from a distance but up close they were intricate and purposeful. They mirrored the larger shape language of the bots so everything came together in a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing form.

Each character had to be unique in their design and faithful to the source material but also evolved; all while still being cohesive and looking like they belonged together in the world of Transformers One.

Not only that, they had to TRANSFORM!

After exploring vehicle shapes, the next step was to build the characters in 3D, rig, and animate them to make sure every panel, joint, gear, wheel, and exhaust pipe could seamlessly transform from robot to vehicle.

It.. essential for us to make sure that each character could transform 1:1 without cheating scale or form language.These are Transformers after all. Once the design and animations were successful, adjustments had to be made as the Miner forms evolved into their COG forms.

These are the final Orion Pax COG designs. The concept blockout model was animated with keyframes to provided transformation reference to the animation department.

Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime and his design had to incorporate signature elements like his helpmet, mask, chest window, and shoulder stacks. Additionally, the design featured a chest cavity that to fit the Matrix of Leadership.

Optimus Prime deploys the Energon Battle Axe, which was designed by Evan Whitefield, to deploy from his wrist The aim of the Energon Battle Axe was to offer a modern twist on the original 1980's design while remaining faithful to its aesthetics. A symbol of Optimus Prime's identity is his classic helmet design. The goal was to honor this iconic symbol while giving it a fresh look. Adjustments, proportion changes, and the creation of multiple versions and styles were done to modernize the design while ensuring its recognizably and appeal to fans, resulting in what you see here.

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Agent Meister 2024-10-23 @ 2:42 am

Great Movie I already watched it twice! Can't wait to get it on Blu-Ray !

Decepticats 2024-10-02 @ 9:26 am

I owe Hasbro an apology. I was adamant I would not see TF-1 cause the previews looked patronizing and stupid, but my wife and I had no power for four days because of the storm here in SW Virginia and went to see TF-1 only because there was literally nothing else to do. And we absolutely loved it. This movie was such a pleasant surprise that we are going to see it again this week. This is a close second to the '86 movie for me and is an instant buy when it hits dvd/bluray. I only worry that due to poor box office numbers, it won't get a sequel, as it definitely should.

Marcusass 2024-09-14 @ 6:48 pm

Where can I get the images for the Transforme One Australian premiere on high resolution??

Agent Meister 2024-07-26 @ 12:20 pm

Can't wait to watch the movie. Should be a good movie!

TECHTRON 2024-07-25 @ 8:56 pm

Ok, If the movie is as good as the newest commercial, this is gonna be awesome. The initial commercials seemed to lean more to its humor, but I'm guessing its actually going to be more balanced.

Joe Velez 2024-06-04 @ 3:31 pm

That Sentinel Prime looks like a cross between Combiner Wars Skydive in robot mode and Fall of Cybertron Blast Off in alt mode.

Joe Velez 2024-05-09 @ 9:29 pm

Sure would be nice if I can look at an article on this site for longer than 2 minutes before my computer freezes due to all the ads.

Well, I guess Bot Shots people are going to be happy. Never really cared for them myself.

So are RiD 2015 Minicon people. I wanted to get them all but bailed due to the horrendous late wave distribution. While Overload is one of the better Deployer molds, it's not the best. I'm hoping for another use for Crazybolt. I have one Takara version and two Hasbro versions. Got them for super cheap somehow despite them being late wave figures. I don't think the Hasbro version even made it to physical shelves. I don't know how well it will fit into this movie or anything but it would be nice to see that mold again in some new colors. About as nice as it would've been to see new arms for the Overload mold to have the gun on the correct arm for Megatron lol.

I have a BIG feeling that Quintesson figure is going to be very difficult to find. I suggest preordering if possible. I'll be trying to get a few myself for my ever expanding Quintesson army. Given the look of that alt mode, I can see Hasbro using the Takara Prime Arms Micron Unicron mold for a Quintesson of some sort. It wouldn't look out of place. Hasbro finally released the Arms Micron Breakdown mold at current standard voyager prices even though it's said that he's larger than a standard voyager from back then so I could see them doing AM Unicron as a Quintesson retool at the voyager price.

It's nice to see a few of those big gimmicky "for children" toys actually looking decent. They have basic articulation and aren't hindered by the gimmicks.

TECHTRON 2024-05-02 @ 2:03 am

Despite what other people are saying, this has potential. Now it could also go horribly wrong... but that doesn't mean that it will go wrong. So far, I think I can give it at least a chance. This could end up being a movie that appeals to all ages that will both ignite the next generation of Transformers fans, and appeal to the older Transformers fans as well.

p.s. (this really is just hope because I really want this to go well)

Gates13 2024-04-19 @ 4:20 am

Oh... no. This is not for me. I'm really over the era of all characters are absolute dimwits. I'll have to pass and leave this for the age group it's targeted at. Hopefully we get back to thought-provoking kids stories at some point and stop dumbing things so far down.

Decepticats 2024-04-18 @ 2:51 pm

Wow! I mean, just absolutely wow! This looks like totally garbage. I hate the tf designs, the story, the campy, cheesy feel. Yeah, this is all an easy pass. Funny though, reminds me of a person who has zero self-awareness, but they think they're cool, but they are actually so cringy, it's embarrassing.

Lunatic Prime 2023-04-10 @ 8:30 pm

On 4/9/2023 at 4:11 PM, BaCon said:
With the Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts coming in hot and heavy for the June theater releases, it is easy to forget there are at two more Transformers movies in the works. The animated being directed by Toy Stoy 4's, Josh Cooley, is supposed to hit screens in 2024, but we don't know anything about it, until now.

It’d be awesome if it was in the animation style of the High Moon Studio games. The title could just be a working title and it would suit the new Studio Series Gamer Edition subline perfectly.

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