Check out the spectacular creature concept art of 47 RONIN

47 Ronin may have disappointed audiences on pretty much most levels, but I have to admit that the movie was just chock full of fantastic creature designs and special effects. I’m still calling the movie 47 Whoa’nin, but it’s these particular bits of concept art that got translated into the final movie that for me, gave it at least one highlight.

Taking plenty of inspiration from Japanese mythology and folklore, the beasties in 47 Ronin were something else entirely. Framestore via io9 have released a bunch of that art, which you can see below. Framestore is responsible for an entire feudal kingdom of the art that made it into the film, as Kevin Jenkins, Art Director & Lead Concept Artist, explained:

After some initial work was done by the Production Design team, myself and my team then handled all creature and effects designs for the show. All the designs were meant as a tribute to the wonderful Miyazaki movies, as that was the Director’s inspiration as well.

I was especially pleased with the dragon design as this was a last minute addition and was a sequence added well after production had wrapped. I produced the initial sketches for the dragon, which then were worked up by the team and handed over to VFX.

Now if only the movie could have matched up to the visuals, we might have seen something much better instead of that haphazard insult slap instead.

Last Updated: January 10, 2014