Friday, November 7, 2014

Exclusive: Phillip Boutte Jr. Talks AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Mockingbird and Agent May Concept Designs


Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (2014) concept art by Phillip Boutte Jr.

Check out my exclusive interview with Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D concept artist Phillip Boutte Jr.!

A few weeks back we got to see several new designs for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.of Bobbi Morse (Adrianne Palicki) and actor Ming-Na Wen tweeted concept art of her lovely cocktail dress. I reached out to Phillip Boutte Jr., who is one of the costume concept artists on the show, and he kindly gave me another exclusive interview about working on these two designs.

Click on the images to enlarge.


Costume Designer Ann Foley told Marvel"I looked at all of her comic appearances and really wanted to try to bring elements of the look from the comics into the costume that we're doing now for the show because I know it's important to the fans. It's important to me to keep certain elements, but we had to change it, obviously, for practicality, because it had to fit into our world. It had to have a kind of tactical feeling to it too so that it made sense in our universe."


 

Maurice Mitchell: Was it hard to balance the look between the comic and the show? How many designs did it take? What was the most fun part of it?
Phillip Boutte Jr.: It is always a challenge bringing a character from the comic page to the screen because there are so many factors to consider. With Mockingbird, you want to pull from her original source material while at the same time making sure she fits into the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. world that has already been created - it’s definitely a balance! That was Costume Designer Ann Foley’s goal from the very beginning. She wanted to give fans something to be excited about but also make sure that Mockingbird fit in seamlessly with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. brand.

Fans will be pleased to know that we tried several different versions of her having the central panel in white, but ultimately decided on the grey. The thought being that not only would the white feel less tactical but it would have made her look like a target, and at this stage in the season the team is keeping a lower profile! I think the grey is a nice compromise because she looks tactical and stealth and still has the feeling of who she is in the comics.

The most fun part of it for me is getting to work with Costume Designer Ann Foley and the rest of the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. family. It's exciting to go to work and be challenged to help bring characters to life on screen.

MM: What was it like designing the cocktail dress for Agent May?
PB: Illustrating Ming is always a pleasure. She is the nicest person and she has a great laugh, which I'm very happy everyone finally got to hear in episode #204 (Face My Enemy). She laughs often in real life but as Melinda May, she is all business!




Ann's dress design for that episode is stunning so it was not really hard to translate it into a piece of art. The shimmering sequins are in stark contrast to what we are used to seeing Melinda in and it photographed nicely. Especially during those fight scenes!


MM: I know that you actually started out as an actor before transitioning to concept illustration. So, would you ever do a guest spot on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?
PB: Of course I would! My top cameo preferences would be:

1. Being a Hydra henchman and getting kicked right in the face by Ming Na.
2. Being a lab technician working on random gadgets in the background.
3. Deathlok Jr.?
4. Playing a random agent that literally dies right after being introduced to the team. Like, I don't even want to say anything. There is just me and 2 other agents and as soon as they say welcome to the team, EXPLOSION! LOL

See more of Phillip Boutte Jr.'s inspiring portfolio at http://phillipbouttejr.carbonmade.com and learn more about Ann Foley's brilliant career on her IMDb page. Plus, check out an interview she had with Tyranny of Style about working on Agents of S

Click on the links if you want to see more of Phillip Boutte Jr.'s work or Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on my blog.

What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D what did you think of the dress and Mockingbird outfits?

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